Maggie's Farm

I was at USAFA in the middle 60s. We got tons of training, formal and informal, on just about every social nicety you can imagine. Meals? 4th class [freshman] year, you sat at attention on the front six inches of your chair -- no slouching. You never put anything bigger than your thumbnail into your mouth and you chewed only 3 times then swallowed -- never have your mouth full, you may need to make conversation.

Lots of other stuff, and each table had 3-4 4th classmen seated with 6-7 upper-classmen who hectored you until you got it right consistently. This lasted until you had passed through Hell Week and got your upper class wings.

We also had formal and semi-formal dances [mandatory attendance] where we learned that type of etiquette and behaviors. For instance, women were brought in from nearby colleges, by bus, and no young lady was allowed to be a "wallflower". Any young lady who had not danced for two consecutive dances had to be asked to dance the next time by someone/ [I met several very nice ones that way.]

The first year we were not allowed to have anything in our trouser pockets because it made bulges. Yet we had to have with us at all times a ballpoint pen and some money. Those then went into your socks. We had sock garters to hold up our socks and hold down our shirts.

I'm shocked this training has to be re-introduced.