5

Ambiguity is certainly the worst feeling to have as a New Cadet. The cadre’s “motivation” presses up against the fence. It is up to us to us to figure out that we need to climb this fence, rather than move from side to side, as the cadre are everywhere and the pressure is never far behind. Would it not be easier to show us how to climb this fence? That is my question. There is supposed to be a benefit to our active minds by putting us in these situations. Little room for creativity in a New Cadet’s schedule, they want us to use our minds to derive their way, the way of the Cadet. However, this path is shrouded by our ideas: is it the stone path, the dirt path, the asphalt, the stream, or the open door? Looking back, this may be a lesson in decisiveness, the kind that is necessary to stay alive in volatile situations like combat: there are multiple apparent routes to take but you don’t know which is fastest or where they lead. Producing some result is better than nothing, and hopefully, commonsense will prevail. If not, in these mini games of jeopardy they put us in, we ask our buds. Buds, however, become less useful as our paths separate in the course of the school year. I think if the cadre showed us ideal methods, not just that the C/SSG could change from BDUs to White Shirt back to BDUs in 3 minutes, but how, we would know what to do when we needed to get things done fast. Implementing it would be up to us, and I think that is a fair expectation when the goal is much greater than putting on clothes, or else things like clothes will take importance over greater goals in our minds.