For the Corps of Cadets, the trip to Dallas each year means more than just going to the football game.
Friday afternoon — with the exception of the band which left early Saturday morning — freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors from every Corps outfit loaded the buses to head to Arlington. A group of Corps members spend the night with the family of a cadet. Cadets say this trip initiates a unique bonding experience and creates fond memories to look back on.
Head Yell Leader and economics senior Chris Wilder said the trip gives an opportunity to spend time with friends in the Corps outside of their daily routine in College Station.
“I think it’s awesome for buddies and cadets to hang out and have fellowship outside of College Station,” Wilder said. “Even though we are doing Corps-related things, like march-in and wearing our uniform to the game, it’s fun to be in a different setting.”
Robert Goodman, biomedical science freshman, said even Corps alumni still reminisce on the trip they took with the Corps.
“We’ve heard that there is a bunch of bonding between the people you stay with and that some people’s best memories are of the Corps trip,” Goodman said. “Even my dad, who was in the Corps Class of ‘93, always talks about the game against SMU when they would all go up to Dallas.”
Harrison Coatney, computer engineering junior, said the Corps Trip is an experience unlike most for the band members.
“The difference between what the rest of the Corps will do and the band is that they will leave Friday afternoon to go home and visit family, and their buddies will go with them,” Coatney said. “While the rest of the band will stay here on Friday evening and we’ll leave on a bus to Dallas at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning and won’t get back until Sunday morning at 5 a.m.”
Industrial engineering senior Trey Griffing said it is fun to get out of town with your friends for a change in scenery.
“It’s the one big event of the year that my buddies and I have to get together and hang out at each other’s houses outside of town,” Griffing said. “My buddies will all sit around a bonfire on Friday night just talking, laughing and watching movies.”
Technology management sophomore and member of Company I-1 Tyler Grimm said the Corps Trip brings people together from each class, which is a welcomed change from the separation of outfits that occurs on the Quad.
“It builds comradery between your class,” Grimm said. “It’s probably the first time in the year where everybody gets together and spends a whole weekend with each other.”
Agricultural economics junior Jake Mallison said his favorite memories from the Corps Trip over the past couple of years include spending time with his friends in his hometown.
“We’re all spending the night at my house, there are 10 people staying there,” Mallison said. “My mom gets super excited for it, so it’s a good time for her to have face time with my buddies, and same with my dad. I would say that’s the most exciting part — just spending time with friends.”
The Corps Trip is a fun and meaningful experience for the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets that most other schools don’t get to have, said Coatney.
“You don’t see that everywhere you go in other college towns,” said Coatney, “It’s almost like they are trying to take Kyle Field somewhere else.”
