<p>Welcome knightsdad and thanks for sharing. Do you have any thoughts on the OPs question about "The Long Gray Line" ?</p>
<p>The citadel pretty much said I had guarenteed acceptance if I turned all my stuff in bu tI decided not to.</p>
<p>I am at the citadel presently so far I have completed my knob year and half of my sophmore year. I would have to agree with absolutely everything that knightsdad explained. as for the long grey line its quite simple, first of all we have grey uniforms, second when we hold the graduation parades the seniors leave the formation and form a long line and walk to the front and when we do the pass and review they are the review line. hence the long grey line. this also goes to explain why they say join the long grey line. as it is just as figuritive as it is literal. another words you are joining the long line of alumni who have alredy left. so, no it isnt exclusive to west point and no there is not one true long grey line. as all the military colleges like west point, citadel, vmi, and even at one time clemson wore the same style uniforms and they too were grey and no matter who started the uniforms they came to be traditional for military colleges. in fact you can think of the line to include all colleges of this stature.</p>
<p>"in fact you can think of the line to include all colleges of this stature." Avery do you have a reference that discusses the origins of the phrase that you can point me to?</p>
<p>Knightsdad - "One point I will make, I do not know wether this is good or bad, The Citadel puts much more effort and attention into the details of wearing the uniform. I usually keep my mouth shut as I glance at my sons brass, shoes, gig line, etc....Though he looks very presentable and is very proud, he typically would not pass muster at El Cid.....Maybe that is why West Point academics are so much better than The Citadel's...they spend more time in the books and less time polishing brass and shining shoes....."
I'm a plebe at USNA and I happened to find this and I thought this was really funny. A lot of kaydets say this about mids. Oh well. I think we look good. They can make fun of our march-ons. They're terrible in comparison to West Point's. Oh well. We can be better at 99% of things. :)</p>
<p>JackTraveler.....The comments at Army V. Navy was Army spends their time practicing the march-on and Navy spends their time practicing football....anyway.....All of these institutions are unique and special in their own way.....It is a tremendous pleasure to be so closely associated with two of them.....</p>
<p>So from what I gather, The Long Grey Line includes USMA and the Citadel, and some other colleges of that calibur. Is the Long Grey Line reserved for the Army then? I understand that it is figurative, but USAFA has the Long Blue Line, does the Citadel pump out the wrong color Airmen? I have no clue what the color is for Navy, someone let me know, but as for the Citadel Cadets, does each branch get it's respective color, I see that the Marines typically wear Black at USNA, but grey at Citadel? </p>
<p>-Color Confused</p>
<p>Yeah I finished my application to the Citadel and then I called them today and they were like pay the $40 application fee along with the $32,000 tuiton if you get accepted so I said no way; I'll keep striving till West Point and I'll get in one day.</p>
<p>Jesus Please USMA...I do not know who you talked to at The Citadel but having gone through the admissions process with my son and having worked as an alumni volunteer for admissions....that is not the way the system works as over 65% of the cadets have some kind of financial aide. I can't think of a potential student that has a need that the school does not attempt to help....Furthermore, you would not even be asked to pay for anything, except the application fee of $40.00, untill August of 2008. Anyone that thinks that there is a school that does not ask for money at some point in time is very naive. West Point will want approximately $2,900.00 before you show up in July. The last point that I will make is that if you have the stats to get into West Point, You would definately be considered for a Citadel scholars scholarship that covers 100% of all Citadel costs to include uniforms....My son earned and turned down a Citadel Scholars scholarship....My point is that The Citadel is not about taking your money, The Citadel is about training citizen soldiers and tommorrows leaders....</p>