MUSTER
The Battalion I 4.21.15
3
Honoring the fightin ‘
Texas Aggie Class of 1965
FILE
The top image shows Albert Clay,
Class of 1965, now. The image
beneath it shows Clay as a senior
at A&M.
FILE
The top image shows Edward
Kainer, Class of 1965, now. The
image beneath it shows Kainer as
a senior at A&M.
50-year reunion remembers
changes to campus
By Sam King
leven members of the Class of 1965
went to Vietnam and never came
back. Their ultimate sacrifice will be
honored with 11 empty seats at the
2015 Campus Muster ceremony Tuesday.
The Vietnam War was just one of the tu
multuous events that the Class of 1965 lived
through while at Texas A&M. Cold War ten
sions almost resulted in nuclear war with the
Cuban Missile Crisis, construction began on
the Berlin Wall and women enrolled at the Ag
ricultural and Mechanical College ofTexas for
the first time.
Fifty years after living through a time of lo
cal and international change, the Class of 1965
will again walk campus as the 2015 Muster
reunion class. Texas A&M has changed sig
nificantly since their brief tenure as students
— Corps membership is no longer mandatory
and over 25,000 women now study on cam
pus. But their visit is a reminder of the remem
brance and camaraderie that Muster ultimately
stands for.
Their time on campus
There were 1,894 male students enrolled in
what was at the time called the Agricultural
and Mechanical College ofTexas, all of whom
were a part of the Corps of Cadets, which was
mandatory for all students until 1965.
Enrollment of the A&M College was just
under 8,000, and tuition cost less than $50 per
semester. Women would not enroll until 1963,
and 1964 saw the enrollment of five black
freshman students — the first to call AMC
home.
One of the members of the Class of 1965 is
Albert Clay, who studied accounting and was a
member of the Ross Volunteers. He said while
life was difficult in a predominantly Corps life
style, there were also some lighthearted mo
ments. He said one of the ways freshmen got
back at the upperclassmen who hazed them
was through something called a BABO bomb,
which consisted of a cherry bomb put inside
a can of BABO, which is a kind of powdered
cleanser. Unfortunately, the revenge was short
lived for the fish.
“You live with these guys, so once you did
that, you usually did it at night,” Clay said.
“You’d run back and you’d jump back in your
hole and you’d get back in your rack and all
they had to do was come around and put their
hand on your chest and if your heart was beat
ing a hundred miles an hour they knew you
were the guilty party, and then you’d have to
pay the price.”
Clay said that while a lot has changed since
his time at A&M, specifically with the Corps
presence, change isn’t necessarily bad.
“The Corps has changed dramatically, but
you know, the people that are here now are
just as good as the corps folks, and that’s pretty
hard for us to believe, but I think it’s true,”
Clay said. “Old Army hasn’t gone to hell, there
are still good folks here and everybody is doing
their best to represent Texas A&M and they’re
doing a real good job of it.”
V
"Back then, we could walk
the entire campus pretty
quickly and not have to
cross any major highways. It
would blow your mind away
if you haven't been back to
campus in 50 years, so it's
quite a transition."
Edward Kainer, Class of 1965
The importance of Muster
Helping organize this year’s Muster is the
Muster committee’s liaison to the reunion class
Marikit Tomlinson, kinesiology junior. Tom
linson said working with the class has been a
surprising experience.
“It's very cool because they have such a pas
sion for each other since their class isn’t as big
as ours,” Tomlinson said. “And so they seem to
know their fellow classmates on a very person
al, individual level and they are full of stories
of mischief, which is hilarious to me but also
very honorable in terms of what they carry on
post-graduation.”
Clay said he looks forward to meeting up
with his fellow classmates.
“We’re getting here already,” Clay said. “Just
me and the guys that we graduated with 50
years ago, and [finding out] what they’re doing
and their families and just the camaraderie of
meeting up with old classmates — that’s what
it’s really all about for us.”
Clay said Muster is a great tradition that
reminds him of the persistence of the Aggie
spirit.
“It’s once a year to remember where you
came from and why you’re doing what you’re
doing and what the spirit of Aggieland’s about,”
Clay said. “It’s just a tradition that you do not
want to ever let die. It’s just that simple.”
Change on every front
Another former student returning to Ag-
gieland is Edward Kainer, who studied sociol
ogy and is the Class of 1965 historian. Kainer
said the size of the campus will surprise some
people who haven’t been back to campus since
their graduation.
“One of the major changes is campus is
just so huge with new buildings,” Kainer said.
“Back then, we could walk the entire campus
pretty quickly and not have to cross any major
highways. It would blow your mind away if
you haven’t been back to campus in 50 years,
so it’s quite a transition.”
World events kept pace with the transition
the Class of 1965 experienced on campus. A
nuclear war narrowly avoided after the Cuban
Missile Crisis, the Cold War split Germany
and much of Europe into opposing sides and
American advisors were sent to Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was hugely prevalent to
the Class of 1965, Kainer said. Many of their
class enrolled in the military after graduation,
including 11 who never returned home. The
11 classmates who died in the Vietnam War
will be remembered during what would have
been their 50 year class reunion with 11 seats
that will remain symbolically empty, Kainer
said.
“We did this at our 20 year reunion, we’re
doing it again at our 50th,” Kainer said. “Most
of us are former military, but these guys gave
it all. These guys gave it all, so that’s of par
ticular significance. They were young guys that
had their whole lives ahead of them. So we
pay tribute to that through what we’re doing.
There will be 11 places empty. There will be
photos there and they’ll be recognized by the
class.”
Clay said another major difference he’s no
ticed is the importance of academics. In 1965
people were graded on a three-point grade
scale instead of today’s four-point scale.
“All you had to do was get out, and you
needed a 1.0 to get out, and that’s really what
everybody pushed and shoved for,” Clay said.
“Nowadays the academics are extremely im
portant and we didn’t push it that hard, we just
didn’t. The idea was to get your hours get your
grade point of a 1.0-plus and go on down the
road.”
The Class of 1965 will be present at Mus
ter’s Camaraderie Barbeque, which runs Tues
day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kyle Field’s
Northern Plaza. Tickets are sold on site and at
campus dining facilities, and may be purchased
with Dining Dollars.The Class of 1965 will sit
on the floor at Reed Arena during the Roll
Call for the Absent, and all missing 1965 mem
bers will be honored.
“There’s not another Aggie group in really the four state area.
There’s one in Nebraska, in Omaha. But we really encompass
the western part of Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, so if any
Aggies want to come from there we have some~Aggicrifl-e>tti?~
club that live 300 miles away. We’re not unfamiliar with driv
ing long distances whe
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you live out in the part of the country.
People are very intent onal about wanting to honor that piece
of their history.”
Mary Helen Olsen, Class of 1979
Rapid City, South Dakota
“WeHdve in a city called Dammam but we live as pretty
much alkthe other expats do in Saudi Arabia, we hve inside
a compofijid. It’s basically a city inside some tall walls with
guards andNbarbed wire. We have a house here inside the
compound so~weTe just having people over, we have our
barbecue grill that we brought from the U.S. and we’re just
going to have t»&©ffle over and have a backyard with fajitas. I
think we-^Tprobably have about 15 people. Laid back, kind
" atmosphere. Since we moved here about six months ago
don’t know anybody else in the group except some of
our neighbors who are Aggies.”
Joy Miletic, Class of2000
Saudi Arabia, Aratnco Camp
Musters around the world
Former students gather across the US and world to share memories
“We have people come in from over 100 miles for muster. We do a fairly traditional
ceremony, we’ll do a candle lighting for roll call. We’ll have approximately 40 Aggies
who will be attending. We’re blessed with a young man who’ll be entering the Aggie
band this coming fall. Two of his classmates for the last couple years have been doing
Silver Taps for us. They’re musicians, he’ll be in the band. We have a speaker corn
ing in from Walla Walla, which is about 60 miles aw^y. Col. Lt. Tim Vail, Class of
2006, does Masters work there at A&M. We’re really extited. This will be the biggest
Muster we’ve ever had by far.” C'
“We’ve averaged about 1,300 people over the last three years, we’re ex
pecting between 1,200 and 1,400 again this year. It differs from the campus
ceremony in the fact that we don’t necessarily have the 21-gun salute, we
don’t have the color guard. We do have the candle lighting ceremony and
we’re able to make it a little bit more intimate. For example, in Houston, we
do ask our families to share a picture of their loved one who has passed and
we include that in our Roll Call. We’re able to add a little bit of a personal
touch. We’re also able to be directly in contact with the famihes of loved ones
as well. We have about 188 names that will be called on our Roll Calls this
year and between my family liaison and I, we’ve talked to probably about 100
to 120 of those between the two of us. So we’re ablejto. actually interact just
like with the university having the representative the day of| we’re actually
able to have someone as well not necessarily on
the family liaison and myself talk to the families.
their loved ones if they’ll share with us and also bje able to add that persor
touch of that final memory for their loved one.’
da
ry Hickman, Class of 1982
Kennewick, Washington
ice and to Paris. The Eiffel Tower is the most
le only place that came to mind when thinking
know. As you may know, The Eiffel Tower
lights up after dark. I thoughtfit would be a beautiful backdrop for a beautiful
occasion such as Muster.” (
Sorrell Long, Class of2003
on vacation in Paris, France
Lucille’s and so it’s kind
so it reminds us of A&M.
“We’ve picked a barbecue restaurant cq
of cool. It has a nice oudoor patio settir
It’s got everything from the iced tea and tflie pint glasses. 1 hey give us
our own private patio outside. Last year \ye had about 65*70 people
that came. And so it seems it’ll be a pretty good crowd. Anobfcourse
you get young and old alike. Some are fresh •ot^of school, somekave
been here for a while. There’s a couple that aW interns. I got sor
emails here recently saying, ‘Can we join you for^our Muster? We’re
interning at some company close by and heard about you.’ We’ve
got a couple military bases around here and so we’ln^raw from those
folks as well.”
Tony Daugherty, Class„o£t9$5
Sacramento, Calijarnii
Quotes compiled by Katie Canales, graphics by Frederica Shih — THE BATTALION