Monday, August 21, 2006

Opening Day

I suppose everyone would like to think that they would remember their first day of college, but the reality for me is that my first day was nothing but a comprehensive blurred memory. I suspect my son will always remember his first day.

After a tough week drilling with the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, my son was granted a 36 hour leave this past weekend. So he came back home and slept in Sunday morning. Later in the afternoon, I drove him back to school. As I was leaving, I passed by lots of police cars with sirens blaring and even slipped past a SWAT team beside the road. I just figured there was some kind of beginning of the school year drug sting. Little did I know that Blacksburg, VA was about to be locked down as police searched for an escaped prisoner.

Monday was the first day of classes, and my son was able to go to his very first class, Dr. Bud Robertson's Civil War class. To say he was excited about attending Dr. Robertson's class is an understatement. I believe that he's been looking forward to being in his class for several years now. Anyway, just after the class, the whole VT campus was locked down. Apparently, the escaped prisoner and certified killer had been spotted on campus (a report later proven to be false) so all students were ushered back to their apartments and dorms and ordered to stay put.

The prisoner was eventually found in a briar patch near the Virginia Tech airport, but not until he had murdered a police officer. While my son's 36 hours of leave resulted in an evening sleeping in, the prisoner's 36 hours on the lam resulted in two people dead and 25,000 people with a very memorable opening day of school.


Happiness and joy after taking an oath of service

Standing Stony Still















Parade Review after week one


First formation on day one
















Marching on day one




















First day of classes

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