Must see photo: Rick Perry all dressed up to look like he was ready to join Nazi storm troopers.

[Better Believe It]

Sure Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin are batshit crazy. But Rick Perry as a brown-shirted cadet at Texas A&M University... whoa!

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/08/13



Rick Perry as a student and a military cadet at Texas A&M University in 1972

[geckosfeet]

1. The boots, belts and pants are brown - the shirt is olive drab. But what uniform is that?

Is that some cadet wannabe dress up stuff or what?

Nice touch with the saber and the tassels though.

[HereSince1628]

6. It's the TAMU Corps of Cadets (boots and spurs for seniors)

Perry was a real Aggie. So go ahead and 'Gig him'

[Better Believe It]

9. What is the TAMU Corps of Cadets?

And what is meant by "boots and spurs for seniors"?

[MineralMan]

14. Texas A&M University (TAMU) is one of five

senior military colleges in the US. As such, it's mission has been to train future military officers. While it's changed somewhat over the years, it still plays that role. So, there's a lot of military stuff going on there. Kind of like ROTC magnified. You don't like it. But there it is. You could find out all this stuff with a simple Google search. TAMU is what it is.

Here. Go educate yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_A%26M_University_Corps_of_Cadets

[Tejas]

92. Google, it'll blow your mind.

It's the latest thing, you'r going to love it.

[Obamanaut]

95. This is interesting! The OP made sport (poked fun at) the uniform, and

this post explains that you know absolutely nothing about it.

[coalition_unwilling]

35. The nose is also brown :) - n/t

[MadHound]

2. Not Nazi, typical US military dress for cadets.

Don't try to make it out to be anything else. After all, military men like Pershing, Eisenhower and others wore the same thing.

[Better Believe It]

4. Really? With the sword and all? Well, that needs to be changed!

Where's the horse?

Just one more reason to hate all of this super-nationalistic right-wing military crapola.

You think Perry might have developed some of his right-wing wings idea in that military outfit?

[MineralMan]

24. The more you write about this from ignorance, the more foolish

you look. Go learn something about the non-academy military colleges. Perry is a moron, and should never be elected to anything. His attendance at Texas A&M isn't relevant to the issue. It's a military college. One step down from one of the official academies. Many prominent people attended one of the five such military colleges. It's another path people take. All have uniforms. All are a path into the officer corps of our service branches. Attempting to ridicule someone for attending just makes you look like a fool, I'm afraid.

There are real issues surrounding Perry. This is not one of them.

[midnight]

85. I think some people are tired of folks like Bush wearing an uniform

when it was made clear he had trouble staying sober for his military training. Perry is most likely as smart as Bush.....and probably just as prominent...

[SidDithers]

106. "the more foolish you look"...

not possible.

Sid

[nadinbrzezinski]

59. Yes, that is a dress cavalry saber

[bluestate10]

72. Perry's dress is not abnormal for a cadet at a military school.

The boots and sword are ceremonial appendages.

[Ilsa]

105. Different battalions have different affects. There is a mounted cavalry unit

at TAMU, but not everyone is in it. Not all cadets are horsemen.

He's wearing his senior dress uniform. Seniors wear boots to reflect their status. The underclassmen wear a certain belt color to reflect their status as juniors vs sophomores vs freshmen.

Look, one thing is very constant at a place like TAMU: tradition. It's reflected in their dress, too, and behaviors on campus. There are very strict "rules" at the university. For example, students don't casually cut across grass, they stay on the sidewalk. It's the cleanest campus I've ever seen. Hats off when you walk into the Memorial Student Center.

TAMU graduates more officers into the military than any other university except the military academies.

[snooper2]

109. You should get right on that BBI

But I doubt you do..

Shit, you never put that next record out you promised and we've been waiting YEARS!

[Ineeda]

3. Good grief.

I can't stand this asshole, and I believe he dangerous, but not because he wore his school's official cadet uniform nearly 40 years ago. Let's focus on our real concerns.

[sammytko]

17. I know, its thinking like this that is going to get him elected

focus on the issues. Even Henry Cisneros, the first Hispanic mayor of San Antonio and part of Clinton's cabinet was in the Aggie corps. Lots of Hispanics from way back in the day are Aggies.

http://siempre.tamu.edu/index.php?pg=56&nav=7

[whistler162]

93. No must ignore real issues must keep voters loking at

puff stuff that way we can return to the status queue.:sarcasm:

[formernaderite]

57. thank you well said

I really wonder at the type of stuff people focus on sometimes...
If he's as formidable of a candidate as everyone says...then it's time to rally our troops.

[roomfullofmirrors]

5. the cadets are highly respected in Texas.

[Better Believe It]

8. Why and by whom?

This is all news to me.

I have never known anyone nor worked with anyone who thought highly of military brainwashed cadets outside of right-winger.

Really.

I haven't.

Never.

Do many military cadets join progressive organizations after they finish with their cadet training stuff?

[MineralMan]

11. You know, you're on the wrong track with this. It's not going to

work as a negative deal for Perry. It's just a cadet uniform. No matter what you do, you won't make it anything more than that, and you'll look foolish trying.

[Odin2005]

69. These are probably the same people that spat on folks coming back from "Nam.

[MedicalAdmin]

103. By and large Nam vets weren't spit on.

It's an old RW meme used to smear liberals as disrespectful and soft. Please don't repeat it in polite company.

[sammytko]

19. Henry Cisneros - Clinton's HUD secretary

http://siempre.tamu.edu/index.php?pg=56&nav=7

[Ilsa]

107. Thank you! nt

[Kolesar]

20. I was a midshipman, I ran a grassroots enviro group and organized two antibush protests

I doubt that you even finished college.

[Better Believe It]

26. Does it really matter if I even attended college much less obtained a degree?

[JHB]

33. It does when you're tossing up pointless stuff like this.

There's plenty of significant reasons to bash Perry.

Who cares about insignificant ones? There are plenty of non-Perry people who have something similar.

[MineralMan]

36. No, it wouldn't matter. Nobody cares. You're not running for

anything. Hell, we don't even know who you are, or anything about you.

For Presidential candidates, though, those two issues matter. They're all part of the package.

[JHB]

28. What year?

USNA, would have been class of '86, but bilged out.

[Kolesar]

79. I was NROTC at Purdue

...and "would have been class of 1983", but my father talked me out of the Navy.
I learned a lot in ROTC.

[nadinbrzezinski]

61. Jaysus YES,

stop the damn fracking stereotype.

The military is not automatically right wing... or did I miss that memo and so did my husband?

Jaysus I wore a BROWN uniform that was of military cut for eight years (before the change) the uniform was of WW II vintage by the way.

[cwydro]

65. Hell I was a Brownie lol!

As soon as I could join! Then moved to the green uni after that...

lmao.

[roxiejules]

77. Perry was a Democrat until 1989

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20101011-50-things-you-need-to-know-about-texas-gov.-rick-perry.ece

[MineralMan]

7. That's one of the standard cadet uniforms at A&M.

The cadets love to play dress-up soldier, and this uniform represents horse cavalry attire. It's a ceremonial uniform, and not one worn on a daily basis. The sword, too, is a ceremonial deal. Military schools all play this game, and it's a point of pride for the students and alums. I wouldn't make anything more of it than that, really.

[Viking12]

10. Where have I seen that guy before?

[NoodleyAppendage]

12. Extremely creepy photo. n/t

J

[bluestate10]

74. Not really. The uniform is ceremonial. The picture likely had

something to do with student activities. Move on away from this photo, dwelling on it will end up making you look foolish and out of touch.

[JHB]

13. So what? It's a cadet dress uniform pic. He looks like much more of a dick in this one:

It's just before he kicked ol'Lassie there for shedding all over his whites.

[yardwork]

58. I have to say...he posed for these photos in 1972. That was rare at the time.

Only Complete Assholes posed for photos like that in 1972. I'm just saying.

[JHB]

67. Yeah, but we already knew that.

It's not like he grew out of assholedom.

[roxiejules]

75. He was a Aggie Yell Leader

...as was stated in the article.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggie_Yell_Leaders


The Aggie Yell Leaders are a group of Texas A&M University students that leads Aggie fans in a series of "yells" during athletic events or other school events. The Yell Leaders are composed of five students (three seniors and two juniors) who are elected annually by popular vote of the student body.

The Yell Leaders use a variety of hand signals, called "pass-backs," to direct and intensify the crowds. The Yell Leader tradition dates to 1907.

[Taverner]

15. Looks a bit like...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

16. Well, ain't he just the cutest thang?

He could do swell job playing the part of Lt. Sheisskopf from Catch-22. (For non German speakers - Scheisskopf translates to "Shithead" in English.

[coalition_unwilling]

40. I see Perry more as a Colonel Cathcart (who always said 'enhance'

when he meant 'improve' :)

[mysuzuki2]

18. are you sure that's Perry and not Doug Niedermeyer?

[hootinholler]

21. Was he in the same outfit with this guy?

I wonder if Ricky had the chrome dome?

-Hoot

[GreenStormCloud]

49. That's an Army uniform. Perry was Air Force. N/T

[MilesColtrane]

22. Would you call this man a Nazi, or a brown-shirt to his face?

He wore the same uniform.

I'm guessing you wouldn't.




Believe me, you don't have to reach for shit like this with Perry. He brings plenty of low hanging fruit to be had.

[Better Believe It]

31. I think I'd call Perry something much worse than that. How about yourself?

So who's the goofy looking guy in the picture?

[WinkyDink]

38. No. I'd call him a criminal.

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2010/12/15/rip_torn_avoids_prison_sentence_for_ba

[blm]

23. And then he served in Vietnam, right?

.

[MineralMan]

29. No, he didn't. From Wikipedia:

"Upon graduation, he was commissioned in the United States Air Force, completed pilot training and flew C-130 tactical airlift in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe until 1977. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain, returned to Texas and went into business farming cotton with his father."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Perry

You know, all of this information is readily available. Not to seek it out is to look foolish with the things you write. That diminishes the effort to keep him from being elected and subjects you to valid criticism by his supporters.

[blm]

34. Relax, MM...it was just a jab at privileged kids who wore military garb, but, never went to Vietnam.

.

[MineralMan]

37. OK. He did serve in the USAF. So did I.

It's all part of a person's history. We all take different paths. None of this is going to play in keeping Perry out of office, you know. It's all completely irrelevant. It's also non-productive.

[GreenStormCloud]

50. Perry wasn't a privledged kid. He grew up in poverty.

His parents were tenant farmers.

[hobbit709]

104. That's BS. That's the story Goodhair spins.

His father was a rancher and county commissioner.
He wasn't quite as privileged as Shrub, but he he didn't grow up in tin-roofed shack either.

[roomfullofmirrors]

39. His service record looks pretty tight actually.

[MineralMan]

He just did what TAMU trains people to do.

He got his commission on graduation, served his four years, and got out. In exchange, much of the expense for his education was covered by the government. Many people have done the same, including many who took that path as the only way they could attend college. TAMU has lots of graduates who fit that category. Some of them have been quite prominent, and they're far from all Republicans.

I know it's fashionable among some to ridicule military service. It remains a function of government, however.

[roomfullofmirrors]

47. yup

did you notice my avatar pic btw?

[MrScorpio]

25. Jodhpurs and jackboots… Yep. It fits nt

[riderinthestorm]

27. He rides horses or he did at the time of this pic judging by the boots. I'd bet my life on it.

Those are/were a standard pair of riding boots, used daily by yours truly and virtually anyone else who gets on a (english tack) horse. The ankle creases and scuffed toes lend credibility to the fact that he wore them regularly.

I have less of a problem with this because these kinds of ceremonial outfits are really common in the military and while the boots look odd to non horse persons, for cavalry officers they are extremely common.

Personally, for me its the sword that looks hokey!

Honestly, the letterman outfit is a better choice for sniggering and mockery imho.

[MineralMan]

32. Not necessarily. Those boots are standard for Seniors in the

Corps at TAMU, and are part of the uniform. No horse is required. They are riding boots, but that's not their function at that school. They're identifiers of senior cadets and are part of the tradition there. That's all they are. They're also very expensive, costing about $1000 per pair.

[riderinthestorm]

41. I'd still bet he rides (or did ride) judging by the look of them. Yup, $1000 for a custom pair

is what we pay. My husband's 6'3 and has very skinny legs so nothing will fit him off the rack - every pair are custom Dehners (we've never had durable boots from Vogel - the other custom makers in the US. Vogels are very beautiful but never last very long!)

I completely understand your comments, agree with them, and wasn't trying to be adversarial, just simply pointing out an observation.

[MineralMan]

43. He could have been part of one of the mounted units, I suppose,

but his USAF service would seem to indicate that he was in one of the Air Force parts of the TAMU Corps of Cadets, rather than the Army side. I just don't know. All seniors wear the boots and spurs, though, so it's no indication that they ride.

[WinkyDink]

30. I don't care how "standard" this is, or if Rip Torn wore it, or whatever: I can still laugh at it.

[Imajika]

42. Seriously?

It's a cadet uniform and nothing more.

Americans are pretty rah rah when it comes to the military, this picture is likely to generate far more support for him than amount to any negative. And suggesting he looks like a nazi for wearing it is just dumb and counterproductive.

Perry's words are perfectly crazy enough to attack him with all on their own.

[RamboLiberal]

44. unrec for acting like Beck & RW nuts in playing Nazi card

Stupid of commondreams imho.

[Better Believe It]

51. He looks like a fricken right-wingnut in that military outfit. Sorry. I'm just not big into the

Pentagon nor their tools to militarize and brainwash the youth.

[RamboLiberal]

52. Fine but a Aggie cadet uniform is a far cry

From Nazi's and brownshirts. I will unrec any post here that stoops to Beck levels.

[cwydro]

71. Seems a lot of that going on in DU lately...

Sad when we stoop to Beck/Fox levels.

[roxiejules]

76. Agreed

this kind of ridicule is without merit. He was a Cadet and a Yell leader....keep mocking that and the voters will be pushed right into his arms.

[ChrisBorg]

45. Your ignorance on the subject is showing.

Many on this thread have tried to educate you but you act as if ignorance is a virtue.

This has no traction and shows poorly for Commondreams. They should scrub this article before it reaches more than their core readers.

[Kingofalldems]

80. Clever post

[Bobbie Jo]

98. +1

[Blue_In_AK]

46. I dated an Aggie once,

but they do look ridiculous in those uniforms.

[MrMickeysMom]

48. Wow! A sabre

I think it's a sabre, that is..

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

53. Swords are fashion statements for wannabee aristocrats.

[csziggy]

55. Swords can be awards

My Dad has one that was an awarded for being top in his class (I think) when he graduated from Officer's Training School at Columbia University in 1944. It was awarded by the New York Yacht Club every year to the top Naval student in each class.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

56. When I graduated from boot camp they awarded me with a 4 week trip Camp Pendleton.

For the delights of running up and down hills, eating garbage, shooting off all kinds things to kill my fellow human beings with, and fascinating courses in how to dig holes to shit in.

No Yachts, though...or swords.

[csziggy]

63. By the time Dad was sent to Officer Training School

He had been through basic training, served three years as a draftsman in Washington DC (he had been an engineering student before the war started), and the Navy was running short on officers. The program at Columbia was a special war time officer school and the New York Yacht Club got involved since about half the guys in the program had never been on a boat of any size, much less a ship. It helped sort out the potential officers who would get sea sick, among other things.

[tabasco]

54. As a graduate of ROTC, I think that type of ROTC uniform looks really stupid

but that's all it is.

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. That is a standard dress uniform

the sword is a CAVALRY SABER... the spurs are normal.

I guess the young man was training to join the US Military as a second LT, aka a butter bar?

[sarge43]

83. AF, pilot, C-130, did the standard hitch, got out in '77 as a captain

Routine, unremarkable. If he completed ROTC, that's his commission source.

[nadinbrzezinski]

88. I did not want to look too deeply into the branch

still butter bar

[sarge43]

91. Yup. Tooloo bus driver.

"And then the lieutenant shot her."

[Name removed]

62. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RamboLiberal]

68. trolls? DU'ers who find it hypocritical to play the Nazi card -1 to you!

[hyphenate]

64. Yikes

Like he was born to the role.

[sfpcjock]

66. Nice sh!t-kickers!

Back in the day :rofl:

He would make a great "Brown Shirt". Of course, they were eventually purged by Goering and Himmler. This guy--seemingly a pathetic ignoramus--could actually knock out the um... Mormon guy because he is going to be the most Protestantly, falsely pious candidate of all. He's sneaky. Anybody who can dump $27 billion in debt on his state and be referred to as a job-creator is sneaky.

[Odin2005]

70. Jesus Christ, it's a cadet uniform. Plenty better reasons to bash him.

[NightWatcher]

73. Is that a pledge pin on your lapel? Looks like Neidermeyer from Animal House

[Poll_Blind]

97. My first thought, exactly! n/t

PB

[Raine]

78. He was NOT dressed up to look like a Nazi and saying

so is just WRONG especially when right under the picture it says he was dressed as a cadet. You are making something out of nothing and making yourself look foolish. It might be a funny picture (haha) but he's NOT dressed as a Nazi!

[kentuck]

81. Get that belt buckle lined up Cadet!

And give me twenty!

[gauguin57]

82. Is that a PLEDGE PIN?! On your UNIFORM?!

Niedermyer lives.

[Earth_First]

84. Care to take a stab at my military service next?

:shrug:

[elehhhhna]

86. lol TAMU/Corps of Cadets ain't mil service.

More like prancin' in a uniform

[nadinbrzezinski]

99. Given the cadets ARE COMMISIONED into the military

yes, it is... just as any other ROTC is.

[elehhhhna]

100. nadin, they've twisted the ROTC tradition toa freakyish cultlike

thing which requires,for thie HONOR!!!1!!,that they lie and lie and lie to cover their own and each others asses. For life. Hire af few and get back here with a report. They boldly disriminate on behalf of other "Aggies". Results? Generally disastrous. They've been trained to throw every nonaggie around directly under the bus at the first opportunity.

It's a cult,not a college.

[Obamanaut]

102. Not all of them. Some have commitments with the military, and take

ROTC their entire four years of school.

Others do not have such a commitment, and only take ROTC the first two years.

[Obamanaut]

87. This is getting really desperate for something to criticize. A student cadet in

the garb suitable for photo shoot for student cadets at that school.

[Initech]

89. He looks like Neidermeyer from Animal House.

[Tejas]

94. That's funny, no matter who you are!

No disrespect meant to any of our armed forces or veterans!

[chillspike]

90. "Is that a pledge pin? ON YOUR UNIFORM?"

Looks like a total douche.

[Paladin]

96. FOR A GOOD TIME, GOOGLE: "A&M Cadet, Sword, SMU Cheerleader"

No, that's not Cadet Perry who pulled the sword on the SMU cheerleader, getting his picture on the front page of every major newspaper in the country at the time. But it does go to show just how out of control the whole A&M Corps thing was, is and always shall be.

By the way---that young man with the sword and twisted mouth immediately attained God-like status among the A&M student body, and much more importantly, the A&M alumni. I doubt that he's ever wanted for well-paying employment since then......

[GSLevel9]

101. bullshit post/thread... You just insulted tens of thousands of good Americans. nt

[SidDithers]

108. Well, this thread didn't go quite the way you hoped, eh?...

Unrec.

Sid

[NeedleCast]

110. Its a military uniform. So what?

Unrec for many things...ignorance being the primary one.