MovieChat Forums > The Lords of Discipline (1983) Discussion > Military School

Military School

posted 18 years ago by hellspawn0218
10 replies | jump to latest

This movie to me was amazing. I believe it has to do with the fact im a senior at military college, just recieved my ring, and about to become a retention officer. I dont know much about the "10" at other military colleges but at Norwich the secret society was Skull and Swords. They were banned in 1997 along with all other secret societies such as LOS and Night Riders(which were watchdogs of Skull and Swords, to make sure it didnt get outa control). The only difference was that 8 were openly members and freely marched in parades together with only 2 secret members. The only thing i cant relate to with, is the racism because my school is in North. But I have dealt with the "hazing", corruption,and had friends kicked out from honor trials. Anyways it is definetly a must see for anyone who has ever been to a military college especially Norwich, VMI and the Citadel or anyone who wants a look into cadet life.

[–] endlessquest 18 years ago

If you may, could you maybe list the various 'ranks' at military school through your own experiences? I am currently doing some research on this topic and wondered if there are any good websites out there that may help me in this way. Thanks in advance. :)

[–] goldenhands87 17 years ago

At The Citadel (CMA)
Knob=recruit/private
Sophmore rank holders are Cpl's
Junior rank holders vary from SGT to SGM (sergant to Sergant Major depending on their jobs)
Senior Rank holders vary from platoon leaders (2nd LTs to the regimental commander Colonel)

I wear THE ring!!!
EL CID 07

[–] thematrix20012003-1 17 years ago

Yeah, I'm a Junior Private! I can't wait till next year. Senior Private all the way and our rugby team is gonna win the National Championship!

[–] gvkeitz 17 years ago

I went to the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets starting in Fall 1985 and this film was pretty much required viewing for the new cadets. Mainly the upper classmen would reminesce on how hard they had it when freshmen and we had it easy. Funny how we did the same thing only a year or two later...

[–] daggers-1 16 years ago

Yup, everyone's plebe year/OCS/basic is always the toughest, and everyone else always has it easy.

It's almost funny.

http://www.MichaelZWilliamson.com

[–] hqfedlegion-1 16 years ago

For Kemper Military School & College the ranks were this:

Phase I: Everyone starts out here. No privledges except breathing. You Brace and Sit Up.
Phase II: No more bracing or sitting up. Thats it.
at one time there was Phase III: this usually was an Old Boy who got busted. He had some privledges, but was basically starting over.

then the regular Army ranks-from Private through CSM. 2Lt to Colonel.

numquam non paratus

[–] Leopard10 16 years ago

At West Point:

Plebes (freshmen) - Cadet Private
Yearlings (sophomores) - Cadet Corporal
Cows (juniors) - Cadet Sergeant
Firsties (seniors) - Cadet Lieutenants & Captains

West Point '92 The Brave and the Few!

[–] hqfedlegion-1 16 years ago

North, south... it doesn't matter where you are. Coming from a military school in Missouri... we had kids from all over the world. So the color of someone's skin didn't matter. If you were good, you were good, if you were an ass, you were an ass, whatever color you were. We only knew "New Boy"; those who had been there less than a year. And "Old Boy"; those who had been there more than one year and had signed our Standard of Honor. My school was jr. high, high school and jr. college. So we prepped alot of cadets for other military schools: West Point, VMI, Citadle, NMI, Norwich, etc. It was the best 6 years of my life. We had no secret society-we just took care of our own. I will say this: I don't know how it was for others-but in my time, the locals were not the friendliest to us cadets. This was 70s and 80s.

numquam non paratus
1844

[–] pninson 15 years ago

The viewer should remember that this story is set around 1965 (note the reference to Nikita Kruschev and the vintage cars). This is a time when the school had never had a single black student. Why they would send just one guy, instead of ten or twenty so they could stick together, is an interesting question. Presumably they figured there would be a bigger backlash if a whole group of people arrived at the same time.

Also, the war in Vietnam was heating up at this time. In the novel, it's talked about at length, and several of the characters wind up dying in Vietnam.

The movie is essentially taken from one chapter of the book, which is one of the best I've ever read. If you want a more realistic and thorough depiction of military school life, this is a good book to read. If they'd filmed the whole book, they would have had to make a six-hour miniseries.

We report, you decide; but we decide what to report.

[–] Sonlee 15 years ago

Also, the war in Vietnam was heating up at this time. In the novel, it's talked about at length, and several of the characters wind up dying in Vietnam.

A bit of a cliché and one of the things that put me off just a little when I read the book. We've gotten Vietnam into our heads as this horrible bloody war and it was likely both those things, but not anywhere near the scale it's sometimes portrayed. It seems like just about everyone in LoD who doesn't die during the course of the book is revealed to have died in Vietnam, which is a ridiculous plot device. It's a cheap trick to generate a whole lot of feeling in a reader without much effort and it gets old. For comparison with reality, only 4 members of the VMI class of 1969 died in Vietnam.

The one thing that really bothered me with the book, though, was the entirely unnecessary "love" story on the side. Conroy tried to tie it in to the main events of the novel at the very end, but that also gets old: taking the most mundane thing and tying it into the main storyline at the end. It's that whole singular effect thing that Poe wrote about and it's been plaguing American novels for over a century and a half now. Guess what, it doesn't all have to be related. It doesn't all have to be part of one single storyline. It doesn't all have to come together or even make sense to be a good story. Anne Kate almost ruined the novel. It's not like he needed filler either, the novel would have been plenty long without her. Say what you want about the movie, but at least they had the good sense to cut her completely from the story. Now, if only someone would make a (good) movie about VMI. It's been 70 years since Ronald Reagan starred in Brother Rat...