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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1978)
Final Review An afternoon of laughter and tears In to By DOUG GRAHAM Battalion Staff Final Review was the culmination of long careers. For the seniors it was an end. To the juniors it was fulfill ment. To the sophomores it marked the chance to begin running the Corps as juniors. To the freshmen . . . well, to the “fish” it was a mile stone that marked the end of a long and arduous training period. Next year it would be their turn to train their replacements. As the seniors received the last salutes of their companies, a realiza tion dawned: all things must pass. But memories linger. For Final Review was not the mere changing of the guard or a chance for juniors to don new boots. It was more. To the girlfriends or fiancees watching, it was a rite tinged with Aggie mysticism they could not fully understand, but to the old Ags watching the cadets, maybe it was a secret feeling shared. It was a ma roon and white, brown booted al chemy. That brought the soft mist to many of their eyes. The old war horses, the seniors had run their course, and it was all over. The feeling was of having finished the course, and suddenly standing . . . alone. Obsolescence is a saddening experience. Yet there was more than maudlin sentimentality as the Corps made its last go-round. The erstwhile juniors walked proud in their new boots, wielding flashing sabers to impress girlfriends and mothers. Yet even they could fully share their exulta tion only with their comrades, for only those that go through the ex perience know what it is like to have “made it”. The sophomores donned their white belts and white braided caps while freshmen shed their bidersfor B those of the sophomores. Tliey E showed each other their new sym- E /y do! bols of rank and smiled, while die |L rei b seniors walked among their friends ■ I1 jyersi and underclassmen shaking receiving and giving congratula tions. Old Ags and recent graduates looked on with understanding and nostalgia as the seniors received the salutes of underclassmen. They knew what it felt like —the jhtra-cai lext fall IS tude a&m U System I The firsl and sorrow on many faces, with some happier and some sadder, but the year’s final review was over. loss and gain. There was happiness r wash eratio: Student Battalion photos by Paige Beasley
