A Time to Blossom

A Golden Year

A hushed expectancy fell over Bensinger Squad’s dorm as the fire door at the far end of the corridor clanged shut and footsteps were heard approaching. The first full day back at Allegheny College after the Easter holiday had started normally enough with Shane, Noah, Will and Travis excitedly swapping stories about their respective holidays before breakfast, and again when they all met for lunch. Noah had stayed with Travis in Dakota, primarily at the invitation of Travis’s sister, Ella-Marie, and Shane had spent his holiday with Will in Florida. In the hub-bub of story swapping, no-one had thought to ask Nathan what he had done over Easter.

The Monday afternoon had taken a slightly different tack to usual when, after lunching with the Commandant to begin the process of cascading down the week’s Administrative Orders, Jackson had summoned not only the officer cadets to his own briefing but also a number of dorm seniors, Nathan amongst them, along with the heads of several sports teams and hobby societies. Clearly something was afoot.

When the guys had returned to the dorm at the end of afternoon lessons Nathan was still away and so Travis, in his capacity of acting Corporal, had taken the decision that they would all go over to the Ante-Room for tea as usual and then return to the dorm to await Nathan’s return from the meeting. The Ante-Room had been buzzing with rumour.

“I heard the President of the Sports Committee was at the meeting too. And the Chair of the Drama Society.”

“All of the seniors for the freshman dorms.”

“And the football team captain.”

“Wade Dawson said the Master Gunnery Sergeant of the Artillery Detachment was called in.”

“Carter Ramirez, the senior sophomore Corporal was there, I got that direct from one of the guys in his dorm.”

The door to the dorm swung open and Nathan entered to the unflinching gaze of four pairs of eyes.

“Sorry I’m a little late, guys, things over-ran. I’m sure you heard that Jackson’s usual Officer Cadet briefing meeting was expanded a little today.”

“We’ve already been to tea, Nat,” said Travis. “Brought you back a coffee and a pastry. Shane put them on your desk. We were about to start Private Study.”

“Thanks, guys. Give me a moment to put my text books away and change into smarts and then I’ll start Weekly Orders and brief you.”

As Nat strolled over to his desk and began to change out of his uniform, the guys quickly gathered the dorm’s arm chairs around the admin desk. Shane quietly moved the insulated coffee cup and the Danish pastry, a cinnamon and raisin pastry, Nathan’s favourite, from Nat’s desk over to the admin desk. After a few minutes Nathan closed his wardrobe door, straightened his tie and wandered over to the admin desk.

“Nice shirt, Nathan,” said Noah as Nat took a sip of his coffee.

“Thanks, Noah,” smiled Nathan, “I bought it in England over Easter.”

“You were in England?” asked Shane, “London? Did you go to the Tower, did you meet up with…”

Nathan interrupted Shane in mid-flow. “Yes, I spent Easter in England, Shane. Bought a nice new jacket similar to yours too as well as this shirt. But let’s get Weekly Orders done first, we’re already running late on that. Thanks for the coffee and pastry.”

The guys exchanged inquisitive glances as Nathan scanned the sheaf of papers he had brought back from Jackson’s briefing, put his coffee cup down and then sat on the edge of the admin desk to face them.

“Right guys, I’ll only read out the important bits from Orders this week, most of it is the routine admin stuff that you can read for yourselves when I pin them up on the board. I’ll just concentrate on the key points and then the additional briefing from Jackson. Everyone happy with that? Noah?”

Noah smiled and nodded. “I’m good, Nat.”

For a few minutes Nat ran quickly through the major points of Weekly Orders, outlining the Commandant’s, and then Jackson’s, expectation of the cadets for the final semester of the year and, more immediately, for the week ahead. Most of the content was general rather than of specific relevance to Bensinger Squad.

“Right,” said Nathan, pausing to take a sip of coffee, “that’s the bulk of general things out of the way, but now two items that are more important to us. First is sporting: it’s now only just a week and a half away from the first of our Invitational Golf Matches. That’s going to attract a lot of attention, including television with KWT-TV including us on their sports bulletins. Shane is going to be very busy in his role as Hospitality Secretary and Will’s going to be directing the backroom technology supporting the comms and scoring and stuff like that.”

“We’ll be helping out too,” said Travis, “Noah and me will be doing everything we can to support Shane and Will. They can rely on us, can’t they, Noah?”

Noah nodded. “We’ve got your back guys.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Nat, smiling, “And I was sure it was the case. You’ve gelled together as a great team, really impressed people. Which brings us to the second point. Travis, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you.”

A look of alarm flashed across Travis’s face and was repeated on those of the other guys. “Last semester we took a chance and made you acting Corporal for the last few weeks, Travis. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to take those temporary stripes back.”

Travis looked dumbfounded but said nothing as he stood up and reached over to his uniform jacket, hanging on the nearby wardrobe door ready for him to iron later, and gently pulled the Velcro® backed stripes from the arm. As he turned back towards Nathan, he saw Nat was smiling, reaching into his back pocket, holding out a set of Corporal’s stripes, permanent stripes.

“There’s good news, too, Travis. Jackson has agreed with me, accepted my recommendation that your temporary promotion be made permanent. The Commandant has confirmed it in ‘Congratulatories’. You’re a full Corporal now, Travis. It’s published in ‘Orders’, so effective as of today, and you’ll be formally awarded a set of stipes at Parade next Muster Sunday. Time to get sewing…”

The mood in the room lightened as quickly as, just a few seconds before, it had darkened.

“Well done, Travis.”

“We knew you’d get it made permanent.”

“Now we really have to obey you.”

Nathan let the guys share the moment with Travis and took the opportunity to take a bite from his Danish pastry.

“Okay,” said Nat, wiping a crumb from his lip, “Back to the briefing. That concludes the Weekly Orders, you can read the parts I skipped for yourselves later. Now for the bit you are really wanting to know. Why did Jackson hold a bigger than usual briefing to start cascading the Orders down?”  The question was rhetorical and Nathan didn’t pause long before continuing.

“Over lunch, the Commandant discussed with Jackson the assessments the teaching staff have made over the first two semesters of this year for their grade predictions for graduation at year end. It’s looking pretty good: it seems that they are expecting a much better than usual set of results. Now, as you all know, academic excellence is always a priority here at Allegheny and so it isn’t easy to have a particular year of students stand out above their predecessors. This year, however, it seems the graduating Officer Cadet cadre appear likely to turn in just the exceptional results that would be required. So much so that a number have already received unconditional offers of places at the Ivy League universities based on their grade predictions. West Point too has already given several students confirmed places and the Commandant believes a second tranche of confirmed places will be notified in a few days.”

Nathan looked around the guys, all intently listening to him.

“You all know how well connected the Commandant is. If he hinted to Jackson that a second group of officer cadets were about to receive confirmed acceptance at West Point based solely on their predicted grades and the recommendations of the staff here, then it’s as good as certain.”

“I’m guessing Jackson and Kyle are amongst those already confirmed?” asked Travis. “Being Cadet Captain and Honor Student…?”

Nathan nodded. “Jackson didn’t go into any detail, but I’d guess that’s a pretty safe bet, Travis.”

Shane smiled, his face lighting up with realisation. “Kyle did get a letter from West Point over the holiday. I just assumed it was an acknowledgement for his application, but he didn’t say anything to me about it. Kept it private. He looked really happy though.”

Nathan continued. “As well as the predictions for the graduating class, the staff are also suggesting that the lower three years in the college are likely to exceed the running average performance over the last decade. That ties in, if you don’t know, with the Commandant’s tenure here. Each year being a little better than its predecessor. The changes the Commandant put in place since his arrival, the small tweaks here and there, the general way he runs this place, are all paying off. Normally, a Commandant serves about ten years before retiring, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the present Commandant seeks an extension to his tenure when the Governors and Trustees review his performance. He loves this place.”

“He does seem pretty good,” agreed Will. “My dad said he has brought about some real changes since my cousin was here.”

“My folks were impressed by the level of investment in new facilities the college has had in the last few years,” added Travis, “That’s what helped sway them into choosing this college for me.”

“He’s nice too,” said Shane. “He knows my name and always says ‘Hello’ and asks how I am doing after I salute him when I see him around.”

Nathan nodded. “Yes, it’s been noted that, hard as it is, the Commandant has made this place even better. But, as Jackson wanted to make clear, it’s not just the academic side of things that are on a high this year. Sport and hobbies are too. Most of our teams are at or near the top of their leagues. We’ve already won some cups and medals. There are probably going to be more. The Car Club’s New Driver scheme had a very high rate of first-time successes for people getting their driving licences. Art Club is doing well – and we all know Noah has had an exhibition of his drawings at the Carnegie. Basically, all the portents are that the sports and hobbies are going to have an outstanding year too.”

Nathan paused for a moment. “Which then leaves the third leg of the college triad to consider. Military skills and civil service. That’s coming together too. Our dorm leads the chart for the freshman mil-skills challenge. That’s had the result of giving all the other freshman dorms a real impetus to try and catch up with us, raised the general performance level across the board. Made sure the sophomores and juniors don’t rest on their laurels too.”

“Drill has definitely improved right up to Officer Cadet level on Muster Parades,” grinned Travis. “We definitely showed them the way things should be done.”

“The college’s response to the Snow Emergency iced that particular cake,” said Nathan. “And you led the way on that too.” He gave the guys a moment to look at each other, to realise that they had played a significant part in the college’s achievements, then said quietly, “This could be a Golden Year.”

“A Golden Year? What’s that?”

Nathan stayed silent for a moment, increasing the air of mystery, then spoke.

“A Golden Year is declared by the Governors when the college turns in an exceptional performance across all three target areas – Academic, Sports & Hobbies, and Military Skills. It’s only happened a handful of times in the entire history of the college. The bar is set real high. The last time it happened was in 1971.”

Nathan paused again to let the news sink in.

“Jackson has decided that this is going to be a Golden Year. That’s why we had the extended briefing with the captains of all the important teams, societies and dorms called to it. We’re going to deliver a Golden Year to the Commandant. Get him a 5-year extension to his tenure.”

Nathan looked around, rested his gaze on Noah. “Noah? You look as though you want to say something?”

Noah nodded. “I was just thinking, Nat,” he said, “It would look good on Jackson too.”

Nathan smiled, as did everyone else. “I’m sure Jackson has that in mind. But it will also look good on everyone. You know the silver ‘ARMC’ emblem we all wear on the epaulettes and collar of our ceremonial uniforms? That gets replaced for every student with a golden badge. Officer Cadets who go on to West Point are allowed to continue wearing it on their collar for their time there, marking them out as elite cadets. Those senior cadets who go to university or into industry or politics or whatever instead of West Point automatically graduate ‘summa cum laude’  - ‘with highest honor’. For all the junior, sophomore and freshman students, you get to wear the gold ‘AMRC’ emblem for the rest of your stay here. It’s a big deal. It goes on your record. People notice it. It will be with you for life.”

“The Commandant’s collar badge is gold.”

Nathan smiled. “Yes, Noah. The Commandant was Captain of Cadets here back in 1971.”

* * *

At dinner that evening the main conversation topic was no longer what each of the students had done over the Easter Holiday. The prospect of a Golden Year and, even more so, Jackson’s plans to ensure that it was a Golden Year were all that everyone could talk about. Well, almost everyone. On their return to their dorm after dinner, Bensinger Squad had a couple of other issues to discuss.

“You need to up your game, Corporal,” laughed Will to Travis. “Coming and sitting with me on our usual table instead of with the other corporals. They’ll think you were snubbing them…”

Travis smiled and looked over at the Corporal’s stripes sat on his desk, waiting to be sewn onto his uniform sleeve. “Yes, I did forget to sit in the right place. It’s true what Craig said though when he was here, about it being hard when you get your first rank stripe. Coming to terms with being in charge of people who were your friends.”

Shane smiled. “We’re still friends, Travis. It’s just that you’ve also got a harder job now. Nathan wouldn’t have recommended you if he didn’t think you could do it, would you Nathan?”

Nathan smiled. “Shane’s right, Travis. Craig too. It will be hard for you. It was hard for me when Kyle recommended me for early promotion. But you can do it, and the guys here won’t make it difficult for you. They’ll have your back.”

Will grinned. “Speaking of which, Nat, what happened to your back? And arms? In the showers this morning you looked like you’d been put through a mincing machine.”

Nathan hesitated, then light-heartedly said, “It was the Loch Ness Hamster, Will.”

“Loch Ness Hamster?”

“Yeah. It does a double act with the Monster. I was so busy looking out for the Monster I didn’t realise the Hamster was creeping up behind me. I’d have been a goner if Boots hadn’t pulled it off me…”

“You met up with Craig when you were over in England, Nathan? You never told us you were going to see him.”

“I didn’t tell Craig either, it was a surprise for him. I spent a whole week with him and his family.”

“A whole week?”

“How’s he doing?”

“Is he coming back?”

“Slow down guys, one at a time. In fact, let’s have a coffee. Noah, will you come and help me make some coffees? Shane, Will, you pull the chairs around. Travis, you might as well get your sewing kit out and start stitching on your stripes while we have coffee. There’s something I ought to tell you. About me and Craig.”

* * *