Here are some random threads from over a year ago. I hope this forum gets back to this. There used to be lots of people posting "How do I get involved?" You don't see that much anymore.

http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=311913&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=362546&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=66043&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=366137&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=362622&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=387244&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=385620&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=387320&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=386709&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=410749&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=497992&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=474423&forum_id=14
http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=516164&forum_id=14

Being involved is important Nick, you're right. But people want to know what they're getting involved with. People want to know that if they spend their entire first semester at A&M building friendships that will last them a lifetime that they'll be able to see Bonfire burn, both from a legal standpoint and an ability standpoint. By ability I mean will they actually be able to go? I for one have a 10 page History paper due on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Also, people want to be informed in things they are involved in, not to be told to shut up and when you need to know you'll know.

Times have changed, Bonfire's a business.

I think it's cool you've done your homework though, I hope it can get back around to that too. But you and everyone else will surely agree that there some stuff that has to be sifted through before participating is the only concern.

So, you already know about it now. Thats at least 4 weeks that you've been given, maybe more.

In the words of a pretty smart guy, "All I hear is excuses."

I agree Armadillo Jackal...

Thanks.

Oh no, two usernames. Get the police...

I wonder how many recruits have been scared off by these recent threads.

If they have been "scared off" it would only be due to the fact that there have been questions and concerns posted with largely smartass answers coming from leadership. I don't have the ability to scare off anybody.

And about the "4 weeks I've been given," tell me Nick, have you begun to study for your finals yet? Do you have any other classes going on? I sure do. I'm sure you're excellent as far as your time management goes and you would have begun writing that 10 page paper back in September, right?

I've been here 3.5 years now, and I'm very aware that the few days prior are going to be critical in getting that paper done, what about the freshman? Do you think they know the sort of time that needs to go into something like that in order to get a good grade? Is it right that they be forced to make that decision between Bonfire and grades? If it's true that this is by and for the class of '10 ('010?), then I really wonder why what they're working so hard for is going to strain them so greatly come burn night.

[This message has been edited by SquareOne07 (edited 10/25/2006 10:29a).]

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Is it right that they be forced to make that decision between Bonfire and grades?

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Yes, its part of becoming an adult.

Thank you for helping me and everybody else see where priorities lie for freshman. I'm sure their parents and their futures will forever be in debt to you and your attitude. Bonfire first, school second, right Mr. Kaechler?

Thumbs down, poor answer, reevaluate your response and try coming back with something that was at least thought out. And people complain about Bonfire getting bad PR...

Wow. I didn't say Bonfire first, school second. Where did you get that?

If they build Bonfire/go to parties/get a job/join some other organization/etc.. and their grades suffer, it should teach them to rebalance their priorities. Should every student organization here cease to exist because fish can't decide to participate or study? No.

[This message has been edited by nkaechler (edited 10/25/2006 10:42a).]

No, you said it's totally fair to make 18 year old kids, 4 months removed from home, decide between Bonfire and grades. "It's part of growing up" you say, well I think it's pretty unfair to put more on top of them than they already have. Too many kids don't make it through their first year as it is for many reasons, why do you insist on there being another? My point...and we ALL remember this I'm sure, is that if burn wasn't on Tuesday night, no decision would have to be made.

It would appear you still have a good deal of growing up to do yourself Nick. It's good you're still in school past your time.

Getting a job, joining an organization, going to school...those are things that are growing up. Bonfire and many other organizations are recreational alone regardless of what you think. It is irresponsible to think otherwise. Bonfire may do a great deal for people, which it does, no doubt, but it should not purposely interfere with school.

Weekend cuts do not interfere with school. Bonfire culminating and in many ways starting prep for the next year on a Tuesday night in which many people may be unable to make it due to family reasons or academic reasons does interefere with school. Can you not see this?

Why are you still trying to convince me of something I don't believe? I can't move the date of burn for you, sorry.

[This message has been edited by nkaechler (edited 10/25/2006 10:52a).]

******
I'm through with the pissing contest, it was fun. You can continue to bash me, thats fine. Maybe this forum can be of some use now. TexAgs is not the voice of Bonfire.
I hope you come out and build the hell or watch it burn. You'll graduate soon, move away and miss these couple of years of Bonfire.
******

weekend cuts do somewhat interfere with school. i know that if i didn't go to cut quite a few times i could have gotten alot mroe studying done and not have had to pull allnighters on sunday night.

and you talk about cut, but what about stack? working 6-12, or 12-6, on school nights none the less... i feel like that may interfere with school

Sorry to see you go Nick, I wish you were more intelligent so we could have had some semblance of a real conversation. And yes, I will graduate soon, will you? Let's hope so. I'm not asking you or anybody else to do anything for me, I'm asking for you not to be a closed minded jerk and consider that maybe things could be better. You don't seem to be too big on thinking for yourself though, so talking to you is a waste of time.

Good day!

For those of you who support Nick in his tireless efforts to make sense, I apologize for posting so much and making him respond. For those of you who disagree with me and have valid points, I like you. For those of you who agree with any or all of what I say, I like you just the same. I don't like puerile idiots who don't think for themselves and who like to think themselves clever.

Golfer

Gotta give it up to Nick too...alter ego with an Ag Tag...

sorry I haven't been out this year...seems every weekend something comes up...

too much whining; didn't read

Here's the information you need. Aggie Bonfire is thriving. If you have any inclination to be involved just get the **** out there. If you have any inclination but you don't go you will regret it. You have to make the decision to go and to balance it with your classroom education. I did it for three years and now I am a doctoral student. Other people who did it are doctors, and other succesful people.

What I learned at Bonfire was more important than any facts I learned in class. It gave me the determination and knowledge that I can do anything and that knowledge has paid off tremendously in many tough situations I have faced. Once you have lifted a log on your shoulder, fallin a tree and seen your efforts along with hundreds of your fellow man do something that many more said couldn't be done you will have benefited more than you can imagine now. Get out there and get to work.

I think if you don't take the time to educate yourself you don't get to...well...nevermind.

Get out there and participate, for christ's sake, I never told anybody not to! Give the information to those who ask for it/need it and make decisions that are in everybody's best interests so they can participate! Go do the thing, build it, cut some trees down, bond, make connections, do all that. As sure you're a doctoral student, there are others who failed out of school. It runs both ways. I have very very few "problems" with SB the organization, I take issue with some decisions and some people, but that always happens. However one of the problems I have, and you all will beat this like the dead horse it is, is that it is not an organization that puts a great deal of importance in taking care of its members. People in Fish Camp, AOLP, Pre-Law, Aggie Afficianados, FLIP, ALOT, the list goes on...and on...and on, don't fail out as a result of their involvement.

You all will argue, as it's been argued a million times before, that Bonfire is a decision you make and you need to manage your time. Well when you're 18 and trying pretty hard to find some friends, make a niche for yourself and impress a few people along the way, sometimes that "guiding light" gets a little skewed.

Tell me that this isn't an issue, and I will think you to be naive. Tell me it's an issue and the organization strives to improve it and I'll be impressed.

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...with largely smartass answers coming from leadership...

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Can you point out some of the smartass answers from leadership? I thought the big issue was that leadership wasn't saying anything.

Don't confuse the statements by crew chiefs or Yellowpots as being the voice of SB. Those at that level may be perceived as being upper leadership (and I say this as a former YP) but they have no say and very little insight into the decisions of the organization. Heck, even as important as they are, really even the Browns and Greens have little influence on the final decisions. Ultimately, the decisions of the organization rest on the Sr Redpots. The BOD may provide advice if consulted but the decision making power is with the SRPs.

This does serve as an example of something I have trying to get across to some people, however. That is, if you have a pot of color on your head and it has a line associated with it, the perception from most of the world is that you are in the know and what you say means something. Just something to think about.

Scott Coker '92

Leadership comes in varying forms. My boss at work has 4 other guys above him, that's not to say that what he says is BS either.

An organization's leadership on any level is a representation of the organization. While the decisions are made at the top and less important ones are made throughout, the behavior of any leader along the way can have adverse affects on the organization.

time o start distancing myself from this argument period....


I was serious btw, enough with the squabling. Yall are like chickens with a grass hopper!

____________________________________________________________
Proudest member of the Fightin Texas Aggie class of 08 Beat the h*** outa tu A-A-A Whoop!!!. May bonfire forever burn in our hearts.....and may the Twelfth Man ever burn it in memory and in hope for the future.

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Bonfire and many other organizations are recreational alone regardless of what you think.

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Name a few organizations that are soley recreational, and then try to compare Bonfire to them. It will not work.

This is the same as claiming that the team building the SAE car, the Aggie Pullers, and the Solar car team, the concrete canoe team, the man powered submarine team, and the group that builds the towere are all organizations that are purely just for fun.

While student organizations provide activities away from the classroom, if a participant does not carry over what they have learned from a book and put it into a practical use, then their entire education has been a waste. Similarly, if they do not carry the lessons they learn while participating in a student organization over to their daily lives, then they are a lost cause.

Burn only takes away one night out of the entire semester. If you are an Aggie that only comes to watch the field being cleared, then Bonfire has very little potential to have a negative effect on your grades. It is in the month prior to Burn night, the period known as Stack, that grades are often sacrificed, when people decide to stay for double shifts from 6pm to 6am, or catch the 6pm to 12am shift every night. Student Bonfire actively encourages people not to neglect their studies for an entire month just to build a fire, but it is, afterall, a decision that each person must make on their own.

I do my part to make sure the fish keep up their studies. Usually after that first round of tests, all fish (not just bonfire people) have that moment of catharsis of "oh crap, I actually have to work; my grades are bad/could be better" compared to their highschool classes.

While Bonfire deserves to be taken seriously, I think you're taking it too seriously. Just because something has a profound effect on you as an individual doesn't mean it can't be a recreational activity. YMCA soccer and little league shaped many of our lives...recreational activities.

Let's talk about wasted opportunities and educations. To me, anybody that comes to A&M, participates in Bonfire or anything else, and their grades suffer to the point where they fail out. That is a waste. Education first. A&M degree first.

This right here though is a senseless conversation, we can all agree on that. Some will say Bonfire has no effect on grades, some will argue otherwise. Some will say one's decision to participate is one and one's alone, some will argue otherwise.

This one just isn't worth even talking about.

Don't lose focus of why you're here. That's all I'm saying.

I don't remember being ask if I was going to participate in Bonfire. It was a given. Since the Corps participated by units, instead of by dorms it was also a unit pride thing. Seniors directed, Juniors cut the logs, and sophs and fish were the grunt labor. Three outfits cutting to one loading. Band only at the Stack. Band Juniors+ only on Stack.

The day started at five am, and after chow, to the cars and drive to the cut area. Since I was one of the few fish who had a car, and they were by tradition parked in the Navasota lot, and my dorm was on the north side of Cain, I had to skip chow to walk over and get the car. Baloney sandwich and boiled coffee for lunch, then drop my buds off at the dorm at six, and just missing Sbisa closing after the walk back. Plowing $20 of my own money into the Northgate diner, for a triple chicken fried steak dinner & fries, a triple burrito dinner, then the steak, then the burrito, then my third order of a triple steak. At that point the cook had to come out and see who this 120lb guy was who had ordered five large meals back to back. Well we did have the largest outfit log that year. It took eight people for every cross-stick, and five cross-sticks just to get it off the ground. We had two more people on the root-ball, and five more helping out with the sticks or directions.

We only had to carry that two ton monster a half mile or so to the flatbeds. It took our unit and Sdr. 3 to load it, and it was the only log on that flat bed.

But when you looked up a hundred and one feet to the top...wow. Ten stories of hand cut logs hauled by hand from the woods.

I still visit every week in person with some of the people from my outfit...forty one years later and half a country away from Texas. Was it worth it?

Only the birth of my twin daughters and my graduation from A&M and getting my Degree from Earl Rudder personally have had more of an impact on my life.

So take the time to go to cut, at least once. You will never regret it.

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...We had two more people on the root-ball...

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See? And you guys tease me about being old? At least we used axes and didn't have to dig the trees out of the ground.

Great story, 69huslinone, that's what it's all about.

Scott Coker '92

Being an old Bonfire guy who still lives in College Station, I have seen alot of stuff with bonfire. Now claiming that Bonfire causes people to fail out is pure nonsense. People who get asked to leave A&M due to grades are not able to manage their time. I know several students who flunked out because of an organization that they participated in. Bonfire is about the "other education", the friends that will last a lifetime, the wonderful and miserable memories, THAT is what bonfire is about. Bonfire is about setting goals and priorities and achieving those goals.

I find it hard digest that a younger person has such slanted view of life. I am a carpenter with two jobs and a wife and three kids, yet I make time for everything: work, school plays, parent teacher confrences, dates with my wife. I learned how to keep everyhting in balance from bonfire, and I am sure there are many who will agree.

With all due respect, 18 years don't know how to manage their time quite often. Hindsight is 20/20, but when you're 18, fresh outta highschool and outta the house for the first time, being able to balance 15 hours of school w/ homework, a student org that fish go join or two, and bonfire can be tough. Especially when your top priority isn't the most fun thing to do.

Don't tell me it's nonsense, it's very real.

By the way "the other education" doesn't mean s**t if in doing so you failed out of A&M.

[This message has been edited by SquareOne07 (edited 10/26/2006 12:27p).]

Let's take a look from a different angle; the "other education" equal networking, people getting to know people who know people who can help you. Again, you have a young man view. What good is that sheepskin if you have no one to celebrate your achievement with? Let me give you a nugget of knowledge, life get real lonesome for a man with no friends.