My little girl, all growed up

[William J. Decker]

Finished Plebe Summer, Asst Squad Leader, Sharpshooter (Pistol and Rifle) and she lived through it.

Lotta real great "kids" up there.

Enjoy

[ROBERT W. NEWLAND, JR.]

Very nice Will. Glad she's on our side

[Leonard E. Ungar]

All I can say is at least she's good looking not like her dad, Haaaaaaa Haaaaaa

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by lungar

All I can say is at least she's good looking not like her dad, Haaaaaaa Haaaaaa

You got that right, Len (you old fart, you). Roman nose (Jewish Nose?) and all.

Here's a picture of her platoon. For all you old salts, she will be in the 11th Company, the Fighting Tigers.

I gotta tell ya. The new mids are great people. They work their tails off.

The Academy campus (called "the Yard") is like Oxford, all green and old and wonderful. I took my youngest, Amanda, up with me. My wife was completely bogged down at work (go figure )

Toured the Academic Buildings. Simply amazing. The Academy only issues BS degrees and no graduate school.

Not only is there a Physics dept, but the have (and expect the mids to do their lab homework on) a 1.7 MEV linear accelerator (read: atom smasher), a really sophisticated "quite room" (acoustics), a kick *** electronics lab (be still my heart) and a "applied problem solving week", that rivals thge one at MIT.

Not only to they have an Aerodynamic Engineering dept, but they have 2 sub-sonic and one supersonic wind tunnels (the super-sonic one was built by the students and gets its power from an old C 5 jet engine).

Not only do they have a Marine Architecture dept, but they have 5, completely functional drag test tanks, including one that is 360 feet long.

The language depts (Chinese and Arabic are the current "hot" languages, but they offer 12) include total immersion classes, with native speakers. Elizabeth has already "qualified" (i.e., taken tests and "passed" Spanish I, II, III and VI, and Hebrew I through VI, as well as Arabic I through III. They want her to tutor a class on current Hebrew "slang". She speaks Hebrew like a native. A YOUNG native.)

They not only have a Nuclear Engineering dept, but they have TWO reactors (one, a graphite pile and one a pressurized water) on campus. They get to "play" with them.

The greatest thing was, my little one (my youngest) had always heard about her Dad being a Physicist, but never seeing it. I talked to some of the professors and they let me "play" with some of the "toys".

I made Amanda some 0.3 picocuries of "radioactive" Ammonia (with the linear accelerator) from a small test tube of water (inject protons into the H2O, to convert some of the oxygen to nitrogen and get H2N), just like I did some 39 years ago at the U of C. (Gee, my Dad can reall do this. He wasn't BSing me!).

I got along great with the other ld fart" profs.

All this, and the Academy is the least expensive (total operation cost / number of graduates) of all the military academies.

Just amazing.

I would ask that you pray for all the mids, their teachers and the Officers.

Thanks;

[John McKenna]

Well done Will... wow.

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by jmckenna1

Well done Will... wow.

No FREAKIN' WAY, John.

Well done, Elizabeth. It's all her. I am well and truely amazed. Not just by her, but by all of her fellow plebes, as well as the 2nds and the Firsties, who help, guide, kick butt and mentor the plebes. These are ALL "OUTSTANDING" young adults.

I was truely humbled by their excellence.

AND, they all kept their dress whites clean Go figure.

Two intersting details:

The first full day liberty (Saturday, from 10:30 to 12:00 midnight) ALL the plebes had only one place to go. Not a bar or a whore house or a tattoo parlor.

The all went so see "Batman, the Dark Night".

And, they all seemed to "get it" (i.e., Evil does exist, and has to be dealt with, not just explained away by social workers). They all seemed ready, willing and able to "stand in the gap". True warriors.

And,

They ALL, during Sunday liberty, went out of their way to attend services. Catholic, Lutheran, Presbitarian and Southern Baptist (and the Jewish service, on Friday Night. Many of Elizabeth's friends, from NAPS, attended, and none were Jewish. They all just wanted a place to get back together, again, and knew that Elizabeth would be there. Elizabeth did the Torah reading (in Hebrew, chanted) and read the "middies prayer".

I am tearing up, just remembering it.

The mids DRAGGED their parents to services. Please understand this.

You just gotta respect these young people.

You just gotta be humbled by them, by their attitudes and by their selfless service and the examples they set.

[mjohnson6]

Outstanding!

[Mario A. Kyriacou, CHI]

You should be very proud Will!!!

[William J. Decker]

Newest picture. They were doing "intercept and board" training.

Look at the REAL scary short girl, next to Elizabeth. And the two "big men" behind them, just shooting in the air.

It's called, in Plebe speak, "S to the M to the mother****ing T"

SMT. Satuday Morning Training. Happens right after Jewish services.

Again, go figure.

[George A. H. Luck]

Congratulations to both you and your daughter. We are proud of her.
Now if only the President can be talked out of gutting the military . . . .

[William J. Decker]

No congrats to me. She did it all. I am just an old, gray haired HI.

She is (becoming) a Warrior.

and, may G-d bless and keep them all.

America's finest!

Nuff said!

[Kenneth Lott]

Originally Posted by wdecker

Newest picture. They were doing "intercept and board" training.

Look at the REAL scary short girl, next to Elizabeth. And the two "big men" behind them, just shooting in the air.

It's called, in Plebe speak, "S to the M to the mother****ing T"

SMT. Satuday Morning Training. Happens right after Jewish services.

Again, go figure.

Wow, the little girl looks like she may be ten at least! Good for them all.

[Buck Hartley, CMI]

That is a BIG M-14 rifle. Glad to see they are still around.

[William J. Decker]

Originally Posted by klott

Wow, the little girl looks like she may be ten at least! Good for them all.

Trust me, Ken. In person she is about 5' nothing and real cute and nice. But, she can turn on a switch and become a very scary little girl.

[Devin Bolduc]

M-14 is a heavy trustworthy SOB, finest battle rifle ever built and a darn good farm rifle. 3 out of 4 whitetails at 400 yards, forth one had an ear shot off. 1.5 inches too far right on a moving target, gettin' old I guess.

Please pass on my thanks and a good job done.