Mentors

One of the posts that gets the highest hits is I Became A Christian At Howe Military School. One of the two movies that made me really want to go to a military school was Damien: Omen II (the other being Taps). I’ve written about mentors both real (Kevin Beuret, Eric Colville) and fictional (Remus Lupin) but as a prospective cadet, I was really hoping I’d have a guy as cool as Damien’s mentor played by the fantastic Lance Henriksen.

A moment like the above scene never happened for me, however. Still hasn’t. In some class – military history, I think – Damien is grilled by a teacher who feels offended and threatened by Damien’s intelligence and confidence. This “teacher” throws question after question at him trying to stump him so Damien knows that he, the “teacher,” is superior. Damien, however, knows the answer to every single question – though not even he knows why. Henriksen pulls him out of the class and tells him to “stop showing off … for now.”

Sadly, when I fight authority – authority always wins and I look like a doofus.

I might not have had a satanic bodyguard, but I did have plenty of people who took a personal interest in my development and well-being. That’s really what Howe is all about. It’s not quite as dramatic as people being decapitated, attacked by crows, impaled, etc. but … I think that’s for the best.

Update: I just found this in the Memorable Quotes section at imdb.com, the greatest website ever:

Master Sergeant Daniel Neff: What were you trying to do, Damien? What were you trying to do?
Damien Thorn: I was just answering questions Sergeant.
Master Sergeant Daniel Neff: You were showing off.
Damien Thorn: No. I just knew all the answers. Somehow I knew them all.
Master Sergeant Daniel Neff: You mustn’t attract attention.
Damien Thorn: I wasn’t trying to. I just felt…
Master Sergeant Daniel Neff: The day will come when everyone will know who you are but that day is not yet.
Damien Thorn: What do you mean who I am?

Contraband

My mother tried to scare me with the threat of military school which included her taking me to see the new movie, Taps. Either she didn’t know anything about the movie or was totally clueless as to how it would affect me. I loved it. Military school sounded and looked awesome.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is toward the beginning when Timothy Hutton is walking through the dorm and here’s the sounds of a TV coming from one of the rooms. He enters, a group of very young cadets jump to attention, one of them kicking a footlocker so it slams shut hiding a TV. Hutton very coolly looks around the room, checks for dust on the bedframe with his white glove, comments about the folding of some t-shirts, says “As you were, gentlemen” and leaves.

Very cool, very classy. They knew he knew and he gave them an unspoken warning: “I won’t say anything, but I don’t want to hear it again.”

This gave me an idea. Once you’re accepted at Howe, you get a list of things to bring – just like Hogwarts. A stereo was not on that list. I don’t remember how I convinced my Mom after my first weekend home (once a month, I think, “open weekends” arrived when you could go home if you and your parents chose) that I could take a stereo.

As soon as I returned, I put the turntable in the footlocker, laid the speakers on either side on their backs, and covered it with … I don’t know … stuff … Then, at night, with the volume turned very, very low … I could listen to Alice Cooper and Kiss records. I remember also getting Ozzy Osbourne and Rod Stewart records from my big sister.

Eventually, Captain Musolff walked by while I was playing a record in broad daylight. He walked into my room and I felt exactly like those younglings in Taps. It certainly wasn’t blaring but its very existence wasn’t allowed. He bent over, looked at it, looked at me and asked how long I’d had it. I told him several weeks.

“I haven’t heard it until now. If it stays that way, you can keep it.”

Score one for Rock and Roll.

Late one night, another cadet – one of Captain Musolff’s favorites if I remember correctly – had been lent an album by the good Captain. He crept down to my room and said, “You have to hear this.” and I heard “Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie for the very first time.

Must I Go Home?

I took hundreds of pictures of Howe Military School this past Alumni Weekend. I’m still not finished. Though Alumni Weekend is over, I will be in town until Monday night so I still have some time for the summer camp and some other miscellaneous places. One of the places highest on my priority list was Alpha Company – home of the female cadets. Not because it was girls’ barracks but because it used to be Delta Company and I wanted to see my old room(s).

Mrs. Trout, wife of Colonel Trout, is the T.O. of Alpha Company and guided a few alumni through Delta/Alpha on a bit of a tour. This guided tour, though courteous, was excrutiatingly slow – I just wanted pictures of my old room! At about the middle of the second floor, we came across a young lady introduced to us by Mrs. Trout. Currently a sophomore, she’s attended since fifth grade. One of the other alumni asked her what she thought of the school after all that time. Personally, I couldn’t care less because all I wanted was pictures of my old room.

The young lady’s answer was simple and touching, however. “It’s home,” she said. I didn’t think this was too uncommon, after all cadets lived here several months out of the year but, with some more prodding from this other alumnus, she revealed she didn’t think of her parents’ house as her home and preferred life at Howe.

She must be doing well – she’s been there for five years – and I hope she’ll finish her high school there. Of course I thought of myself not really looking forward to Open Weekends and, of course, I thought of Harry Potter dreading the thought of leaving Hogwarts for summer “vacation.”

I know why I would send my daughters to Howe, but … I wonder why other parents send theirs.

Kevin Beuret

I have been avoiding writing about Kevin Beuret. He only taught one class at Howe Military School – one summer school English class. But is one member of the holy academic trinity for me. John Pagin and Eric Colville being the other two-thirds.

There is almost too much to say. Pagin and Colville … discussing them is like discussing the walls of a house you’re trying to describe. The pillars of a building you admire.

Mr. Beuret exemplified the greatness many of Howe’s Masters had. No matter what type of child you have … they will find a mentor at Howe. Some teachers reach out to the brilliant ones, the bright stars and … well, they find the young slaves named Anakin and raise them up to be great Jedi Knights. Other teachers will see the diamonds in the rough or simply the pieces of coal and say, “I can make a diamond out of that.” Truly, no child is left behind at Howe Military School.

It’s much like Hogwarts that way. Some students will have a Professor Snape, others their Remus Lupin. I had my Kevin Beuret. Someday soon, I hope and pray, Howe will once again have a Dumbledore… but I digress.

I’ve said before that you get no coddling at Howe. You may get more than your fair share of kicks in the head or rolled eyes. Beuret did none of those. He was as close to Socrates as I think we’ve seen since, well, Socrates. He was and is closer to Qui-Gon Jinn than Yoda and, at least in my opinion, that’s a good thing.

I’m being vague and using broad strokes on purpose. If I try to paint him accurately, I will only fail and my painting will be a grotesque abomination instead of the tribute I would like it to be.

Companies/Houses/Dorms

When I attended Howe during my high school years there were three companies divided into three dorms:

• Bravo
• Delta
• Echo

Bravo and Charlie were empty. Howe still hadn’t recovered from the unpopularity of Vietnam – or so I’m told that was the reason the student body was so small.

The main reason I instantly loved the Harry Potter movies and, as a result, the books is the division of Hogwarts into houses. Each house has its own personality and tradition. Same with the companies of the battalion that is the Howe Military School student body.

You live with these guys (and now, girls), compete against other companies, and develop deep friendships. If not friendships then at least familial relationships.

And, like Hogwarts, Howe is very old. Not Oxford-old, mind you, but old. It has a rich and interesting history. There are many traditions that are filled with heroes and ghosts.

Sadly, based on my last couple visits, I don’t think the cadets eat together anymore. It used to be like in Harry Potter. You always sat with your house/company. It served to replace the family meals you had or, if you didn’t have family meals back home … it gave you the routine and comfort of meals with your Howe family.

Echo Company

I began my senior year as a private in rank. This was highly unusual for any senior, let alone someone with as good of a record as I did in conduct and academics, among other areas.

My junior year I turned in my stripes because I was, you see, a rebel – and far too cool to be a willing participant in this whole “military thing.”

I quickly realized being a private kind of sucked, so after the first grading period (and, from what I heard, a good deal of debate about whether I should be promoted or not because I might pull a Johnny Rotten at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame kind of “screw you” refusal deal) I was promoted to lieutenant and transferred out of Delta Company to lead a platoon in Echo Company.

The platoon rejoiced. I was well-known as a laid back guy. Some student leaders were real pricks in one way or another for some reason or another. I also rejoiced because as I’ve mentioned earlier, Delta was not my first pick. It’s like being Harry Potter and having the Sorting Hat tell you Slytherin is where you belong.