SOM'PIN!
I have a question for any military person who can offer advice to my son.
He is graduating in June with a 4.0, in the Army Reserve, headed to boot camp immediately after graduation (he's a very bright, tough, and patriotic young man).
In the past few weeks, he has talked seriously about the possibility of a military career. He will be going to college second semester next year (tuition fully paid by the Army....thank you, President Bush!!). He doesn't know what his major will be, but by being both in the Reserves and college, he can take a dual track toward a career.
What I am interested in are opinions as to what may be the best course of action for him to become an officer, whether that be ROTC while he is in college, or some other method of achieving that end.
Obviously, this is just in the infancy stage, and I'm sure he will get plenty of advice from the Army itself, but I thought I might tap the great resource here at the USO, and get some opinions to be thinking ahead of time what he might do.
Thanks to anyone who can help!!!
43 posted on 4/5/02 9:42 AM Eastern by ohioWfan
I got the Johnson's Paste Wax for buffing the wood floor.
I will need the date for the Dance so I can have the Dance Cards printed up . . .
Dance cards were generally made of paper, although sometimes had elaborate covers of bone, ivory, silver or wood, and were small enough to be readily portable. They could be a simple card or a card folded in half, or contain several pages. They were generally given only to ladies (gentlemen were evidently expected to remember to whom they had promised dances). Often a small pencil was attached by a cord to the card, the cord also allowing the card to be suspended from a lady’s wrist or belt.
The front cover of the dance card told the occasion for the event, the location, the date, sometimes the price of the ticket, and often the name of the band that would be playing that evening. Covers became especially colorful and elaborate toward the end of the 19th century when the lithographic process became popular.
The members of the dance committee and the floor managers for the evening were usually listed somewhere inside or on the back cover. The floor managers saw that order and decorum were kept during the evening. They had to screen out undesirable elements, such as prostitutes who found masquerade balls easy to infiltrate, and they had to keep an eye on alcohol consumption, against which “dry” proponents railed bitterly in the 19th century. In addition they saw that quadrille sets were filled appropriately and that no young lady went without a suitable partner.
The interior of the dance card usually contained a list of the evening's dances, with spaces provided for the names of the gentlemen to whom the lady had promised them. Sometimes the dances were listed generically; "waltz" "polka" "two-step" etc., and sometimes the name of the musical selection was given; i.e., "The Washington Post March" - Sousa. These lists provide us with valuable information about the types of dances and the musical selections that were popular in any period. Cards from dances held at dancing schools for instance, often list dances that were more complex or more arcane than those listed on cards for dances held by postal workers or engineers. Dance manuals and "how-to" books often describe the dances that individual dance teachers preferred, and thought that people with taste should be doing, but the dance cards from actual events give us a clearer picture of what the public was actually doing. Of course a dance form listed generically allowed for personal interpretation. A piece marked "Fox Trot" in the late 1920's, for example, might have been suitable for a Toddle, Black Bottom, Charleston or Varsity Drag. The cards don't tell us about the possible personal variations of dances that were considered "improper" or even "vulgar." Even so, a further study of dance cards by period, geographical area and social class will provide a wealth of information about the past dancing habits of Americans.
OPERATION MOUNTAIN LION
I went to the Canteen Ballroom to polish the floor, and all this dadgum grass is in my way. What do you want me to do with it?
sniff sniff
