So this week, VMI (Virginia Military Institute) is out on spring break and they sent some of their honors students to Europe. The only reason I know this is because I got to meet a few! The Oxford University OTC was gracious enough to host the Americans for a bit of "show-and-tell" where Royal Army units would come and give pitches about their services to the Officer Cadets. Oddly enough, this is exactly what I got to see last week in Birmingham! In fact, many of the presenters were the same and surprisingly they remembered me.
Several things were different about this week: 1. I went with my classmate David who is also studying at Oxford this semester on the same program 2. We knew no one there 3. We were wearing suits, and stuck out like sore thumbs (albeit very well-dressed sore thumbs) 4. We focused mainly on learning about the British Army instead of about OTC We did, however, get to play with some Barrett 50-cal sniper rifles, some NVDs, and talk to some very cool Royal Marines who had nothing but good things to say about Americans! All-in-all a cool experience, especially getting to represent The Citadel alongside our cousins from VMI, even though we all know the "El Cid" Bulldogs are better than the VMI "Keydets" any day! | |