Howdy,

This year has been great, everything that I could have asked for.  As I write this, we have one more formation and one more review until we are officially done.  It has been a great ride, and I for one wouldn't change anything.  It seems strange as I write this last blog post that my time in the Corps has come to a close.  No more uniforms, no more boots, no more brass, no more formations, no more halftimes, no more Corps.  It is certainly a bittersweet time for me and the rest of my buddies.  Life as we have known it for the past four years is over.  

We have done and accomplished many things this year in A-Co, but I am most proud about the attitude that has been shown and grown during this year.  We have changed the outfit culture from being ok with mediocrity to accepting nothing short of greatness.  We are no longer satisfied with being a middle of the pack outfit.  Cadets looked at me like I was crazy when I challenged them after the first semester to continue doing exceptional because I liked the view from up top.  I think that at this point, the outfit knows what I was talking about and will continue to strive to make that a permanent view.

Everyone, fish through zips have grown this year.  The Corps is funny about that, as it is happening you don't even notice, but looking back it is obvious.

I do not think there is a secret about what I believe; I have been very open with y'all about what I believe and stand for since the beginning of the year.  I said from the start that it was about more than the Corps for me and I think that has shown.  I know the Lord has blessed me personally, and I hope everyone can say the same after this year.  Your child was placed in A-Co for a reason and I hope that reason is obvious based on your cadet's experiences, growth and development. 

My time is commander has been amazing.  I have had a large time getting to lead this outfit this year.  It is a blast to lead a group of people like A-Co.  There are a few things I will never forget about my time in the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band: first time marching on Kyle Field, last time marching on Kyle Field, meeting my fish on Kyle Field, leading Bloody Cross, reaching over 200 miles for the year, and shaking the general's hand after winning the Hochmuth award.  And the majority of these that I just mentioned are all form Zip year.  I could fill up about 13 blogs with the total amount of memories I have.  I know that my buddies are the same way, we have a ton of great memories.  The awesome thing is that your cadet is making his/her own memories right now as we speak.  They might not be the same as my memories, but we will each have enough to last a lifetime.

Again, this has been a great year, and a lot of fun.  I think everyone involved will agree that we experienced a lot of success and have established a change that has set A-Co up to be successful for many years to come. Thank you for entrusting your child to my care.  We have completely changed the culture in A-Co and that would not have been possible without your 100% support of your child and of me.  I am truly appreciative.

My last challenge would be to remain in Relentless Pursuit of Life, to not just stand by and let it happen, but to go attack it.

God Bless,

GW

P.S.

This would be a proper blog post without a schedule so here is the order for Saturday

0910 Form on Quad

0930 Step off 

1000 1st Pass

1030 Conclude review

1110 Form up/Step off

1120 Form on Kyle / yell practice

1130 2nd Pass

1200 Conclusion

Enjoy the rest of the weekend

Parent's Weekend Schedule

Here is the schedule that the Corps has given us.

·         Friday April 12 

o    Formation on the Quad: 5:30 p.m. 

o    Corps Step off: 5:40 p.m. 

o    Form on Kyle Field: 6 p.m. 

o    Presentation of Major Unit Awards: 6:15 p.m. 

o    Pass in Review: 6:45 p.m. 

o    Return to the Quad: 7 p.m. 

·         Saturday 13 April 

o    Awarding of Leadership Certificates (Rudder Theater): 8 a.m.

o    Combined Aggie Band Awards Ceremony (Rudder Auditorium): 9:30 a.m. 

o    Outfit events: Notification of activities to be sent by Outfit Commanders

·         Sunday 14 April 

o    University Awards (Rudder Auditorium): 9:30 a.m. 

o    Corps Awards (Rudder Auditorium): Noon 

There are still a few timing issue that we are currently working out due to the band having to be at the Spring Game for the football team.  Just FYI, there will be no seniors attending and the band will NOT be marching.  We will just be in the stands playing.  Our banquet will be held at the A&M Methodist Church on Northgate.  I would like to give you a time right now as to when that starts but I'm hesitant to give you a hard time due to our attendance at the game. I will let you know soon what the final plan is.  I believe we will still do the flower pinning after the band awards ceremony at the arches at the end of the Quad.  Depending on when we get done with that and when the spring game starts, A-Co might provide sandwiches for lunch because traffic and restaurants will be crazy.  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I look forward to seeing everyone next weekend.

In Relentless Pursuit,

GW  

Half Marathon Reminder

Hey everybody,

Just a reminder that we would love for you to join us on March the 24th for our half marathon and hang out. We will be starting in front of dorm 9 at 7 am sharp.  Even if you are not a runner please feel free to come out and support your child.  There can never be enough people cheering and encouraging.

Again, March 24th at 7 am... it's going down.  Hope you can be a part of it.

GW  

9 miles? Sure, we'll even make it back for formation.

This morning was super motivational for everyone.  We went on a nuke run (9 miles) and totally smoked it.  We had the option of skipping formation and just going to eat, but when I polled everyone mid run - the only cheer was to go to formation and show the rest of the band outfits that 9 miles was nothing for A-Co.  In fact we would run 9 miles and still make it to formation.  I think that the impressiveness of this feat might be lost on some because we had a nuke run last semester.  My First Sergeant put it well today after the run.  He told everyone that we had done something that most people will never do in their life and had done it in about an hour and a half.  Think about that.  He was right, not very many people go on 9 mile runs.  And even fewer make it back to formation.  I am incredibly  proud of the people that went on the run this morning.

Speaking of runs, the A-Co half marathon is approaching quickly.  The run will be held on Sunday March 24th at 7.  Everyone that has a tie to A-Co is invited.  Last year when we came up with the idea of an outfit half marathon we decided to take baby steps in order to not overwhelm our abilities.  The steps were: outfit, outfit past and present (to include families), and outfit plus public.  As we are still in the process of working all the kinks out, there is no registration or t-shirt at the end, but we would love for you to come and either run or support your runner on this day.  Afterwards we will be having a BBQ hangout behind the dorm.  Please don't expect the same quality of food as the football games due to everyone running, so the menu is hot dogs with chips and water.  The outfit will provide the food, all you have to do is show up!

We have been doing extremely well in our endeavors.  Recently we ran bloody cross, a three mile race on the Quad.  Traditionally band outfits do terrible at this event, but this year we ran exceptionally well.  We finished with a raw score of 21:04; for those of you keeping score that is a 7 min mile pace.  After a few penalties (from people not signing out properly, not anybody running) our official time was 21:34, good enough for 10th place!  We totally blew away the rest of the band and the majority of the Corps.  As of now we have also retained the #1 position in GM.  We were inspected this week and had .36 cuts per cadet.  Last semester we had around a .41 ratio.  This is proof that we have not stopped improving.

It will be fun to see how the rest of the semester shakes out.  I hope to see you in two weeks at our "Run with the Wolf-Pack" half marathon.

GW            

Motivation

Howdy everyone,

Sorry that it's been so long since my last post, but I got distracted with life.  I just wanted to catch you up a little on what's going on and also share some excitement with you.

Since we last talked, we have learned at A-Co was number one in the Corps in regards to inspections and about 14th in grades.  We were number one in the band for inspections and PT, and second in grades.  The band prides itself as being the best major unit on the Quad and I feel like we have a very strong argument that we are the best outfit in the band.  During previous years we would make that argument but not have a whole lot to back it up; well this year we have the numbers.  Like I told the outfit last week, we are on the cusp of greatness.  We are right where we need to be to be competitive with every other outfit in the entire Corps.  But like I told the outfit as soon as I said that, we can not get complacent or proud or take our foot off the gas and expect a great first semester to carry us.  It doesn't matter what happens before halftime, it matters how you finish.  We have to continue pushing to the wall. Just ask Michael Phelps if it pays off to push to the wall instead of coasting.  Copy and paste this link to see what I'm talking about  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNKrQBGdYW0).  

Parents, I want to challenge you.  Make it a point to encourage your kid to finish strong.  Past success doesn't do anything for you today or tomorrow.

On another note, I am super motivated by our run this morning.  We went on a 2.5 mile Combined Band Run in C's and T's.  (That means we wore fatigue pants and combat boots)  As you can imagine it's a lot harder to run wearing this than our normal shorts and athletic shoes.  Normally we run at the front of the formation because of our name - A-Co.  The order is usually ACO, BCO, ABATT, BBATT.  Only today the order was reversed, so we were running at the back.  Word on the street was that we were at the back so we didn't "run off and leave everybody behind."  I actually heard another outfit say that!  That makes me super excited, but I'm even more thrilled that we only had a total of 3 people fall out of the run.  Every other outfit had lost over 3 people before we had even gone half a mile.  I'm not lying when I say that the other outfit easily lost over 25% of the people they started with.  And as they fell to the side, ALL of A-Co ran by.  I am always proud of the outfit and the effort they everyone, fish-Zips display on a daily basis, but I was extremely proud this morning.  Make sure you ask your child about this run and what I had to say afterwards.  I'll just tell you, I was super jacked and I think everyone knows it.  It was a great morning.  

I'm excited to see where this semester takes us.  Like I told everyone, we are right there.  We are going to attack this semester and take what is ours.  We're locked and loaded and already running.  Are you?

GW 

First Play of the 2nd Half

Howdy Everyone,

I hope that everyone had a marvelous break.  I know I did getting to spend most of it with Leigh in either Texas or Auburn.  It was awesome getting to relax after such a full semester.  As nice as the break was, it is always good to get back in the swing of things here in College Station.  As crazy as it sounds, by the end of the holidays most cadets are starting to miss the structure.  They (including myself) will never admit it, but we come to love and even need the regimented lifestyle.  Life's just kind of boring without it.

I gave the outfit a pretty big halftime speech last night at our meeting.  I challenged everyone to continue to pursue our goals and to be unsatisfied with what we have achieved.  Because we did well last semester.  Very well. One of, if not the best semester that A-Co has experienced since I have been here.  But we cannot grow complacent.  That is my greatest fear, that we would grow complacent at halftime.  Like I told the outfit, that is what happened last year in football.  Losing 7 games after winning at halftime is unacceptable, yet that is what happened.  Complacency is like a disease that weakens the body.  I refuse to allow that to happen within A-Co.

There was a quote in Sports Illustrated from a coach that says, "There is no continuum of success, history can't help us win."  This is what I tried to impart on the outfit last night.  One semester of greatness does not translate into two on its own. We have to continue to develop and work and relentlessly pursuit our goals.

Remember, what we accomplished yesterday has no bearing on what we achieve in the future.
GW