Pie Day is another one of those customs that I don’t know if they do anymore in the VTCC or not. Essentially, Pie Day is what it says it is, as illustrated in the cartoon above. Freshman cadets got to choose their “favorite” upperclassmen to pie (that is, to smack in the face with a paper plate full of shaving cream or sometimes whipped cream). Pie-ing was a fun activity on any day, but on Pie Day, it was a big deal, with the entire corps out there watching to see who got voted to be pied and who was going to do the pie-ing. Or rather, who thought the were going to do the pie-ing. Some of those upperclassmen did not go down without a fight.
In order to pie someone any other day, you had to get permission, and that permission had to come from someone higher up in the chain of command than the person you wanted to pie. My freshman year, all the females were stuck in one end of Rasche Hall on the fourth floor (I lived in room 416, for the curious). The 2nd Battalion staff also lived in that same area, including the battalion XO, a formidable woman by the name of Cadet Major Wist (I think that was her name anyway; I do recall she seemed rather intense and scary). Well, all the female rats in my company got permission from the 2nd Battalion commander to pie the XO, and we ambushed her in the stairwell one evening when she was coming up with a fresh, hot pizza she’d just had delivered. Both the pizza and the XO ended up covered in shaving cream. I recall Cadet Major Wist asking us very calmly who had given us permission to pie her, and when we told her, she headed to the Battalion CO’s room and trashed it thoroughly. So we kind of got a two-fer-one there against the upperclassmen.
Back when I worked as a government contractor at an Air Force base, I occasionally ran into some of those upper classmen. It was always a little odd to see them again, now in the military and working hard at their jobs. I went into the Army Reserves after college, and I occasionally ran into a few of my fellow classmates there as well. Since leaving the workforce and the military, I don’t run into anyone any more. If any of you guys are out there reading this, either from Hotel ’91 or just from the VTCC at any point in time, feel free to give a yell. I won’t bite, I promise, and I swear I will not hit you with a shaving cream pie…
Unless someone higher ranking than you gives me permission to do so.
One of my first experiences with something similar was my first year as an AF tech school instructor. My course would hold an annual fund raiser for AF Aid. One of my classes put my name on the list (25 cents/vote 5 for $1). A week later I had to attend advance training, which was also ran by my course. On the first day of class my instructor/co-worker informed my classmate that I was on the list and they should make sure I was #1. I ended up $40 ahead of the number 2 person. The day we graduated from the course was also the day of the event, so instead of being able to leave early, I had to stick around and receive my “pie”. The students had to bid to throw the pie. We ended up raising over $1,000 during that event.
I wish we still did this!
Vince,
Now why would anyone want to throw a pie at **you**? Oh, wait…
Mdavies,
I’m pretty sure a lot of things have changed since 1987 (my rat year). Although you’ll have to tell me sometime if the VTCC still does things like Turn-About Day, company initiation, and the **redecorating** of upper classmen rooms on Ring Dance night. What about dykes? Does the VTCC still do dykes (as in upper classmen mentors/buddies)? Those aren’t the sorts of events that show up in the VTCC newsletters, so I don’t know if they happen anymore or not!