Thank you, sir. Happy Thanksgiving.

I can confirm that all I-1 boards, plaques and kites have been returned to their proper places on the I-1 wall, except the bonfire board which seems to have had one of its chains damaged during removal. I expect that a new chain with replace the damaged one in short order.

I've watched this thread for several days. Glad to see the Commandant get things replaced and restored where they need to be on I-1's walls.

The Corps reflects our culture, whether it be societal or within the military. We live in a politically correct world where on the whole, young people are softer, more parents helicopter, and we act and react based on our fear of a lawsuit.

Cadets sometimes do dumb things. They did them 50 years ago, they did them 25 years ago, they still do them today. It happens in every outfit. It apparently has happened in I-1 more than the norm. While the severity of the infraction may be significantly less than those in the past, the margin for error is a lot less today in the the politically correct world we live in. Sadly, today, a cadet can say something regarded as offensive or do something that in the past would be handled within the outfit and today there will be a University investigation or the Corps leadership will kick them out or move them to another outfit. Unfortunately, an 18-21 year old cadet, male OR female, can make a mistake of judgment, NOT break a law, and it will ruin their Corps career. If their attitude is not what is deemed as appropriate for today's Corps, they can be removed.

Sometimes we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. Unless, of course, it all ends right there. Cadets may not get the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, at least within the Corps. They may learn it outside the Corps as a result of being removed. Unfortunately, they lose the opportunity to benefit from the Corps experience. We learn good leadership from seeing it modeled in our leaders. Consistent, fair, considerate, decisive, concerned. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we also learn leadership from seeing poor leaders. Inconsistent, unfair, inconsiderate, indecisive, unconcerned.

Today, CTOs have a big influence on a lot of this. Some CTOs are more aggressive with it than others, whether with discipline, height/weight standards, appropriate attitudes, whatever. A lot is their call.

As the Commandant said, he is going to run the Corps the way HE see's fit. Has the Corps grown under his leadership? Yes. Has retention improved because he got rid of a lot of the stupid stuff? Absolutely. Have grades improved? Without a doubt. Has some of the "hardness" that was built in the cadets in the past been lost with these changes and cadets that either wouldn't have been able to get in or stay in from a physical stand point been diminished? For sure. I've seen cadets get kicked out for height and weight standards that could handle all the PT in the world and turn around and see cadets that in no way meet any kind of physical standard not get removed. Is the Corps still a great leadership learning opportunity for young people? Definitely.

I've rambled enough. Too much history with exactly what many are speaking of on here and I have really strong opinions on it. Some might agree, some absolutely won't. That's okay. My time being associated with anything in the Corps has long passed. Still love it, but can't bring myself to financially support it anymore. My little donation will not change anything in the end either for the positive or negative.

Texas A&M is still the greatest, most unique University in the world and the Corps is a huge part of that, even today. I still believe that. Gig'em.

The CTO's had a lot of power 15 years ago as well. Mine decided he didn't like guidon tryouts happening on the quad after CQ, so he banned it. All the rest of the major units still allowed it but mine. Talk about some pissed off people, guidons who had years of tradition stopped while the rest of them were still allowed to do it. It is capricious decisions like that which often get cadets into trouble. They think it's bs because it comes from left field from a CPT (retired) with no logic or explanation and they look for ways to do things anyway. Some CTO's think they are major unit commanders. Some are great. I think it's always been that way.