Customer Reviews

Aggies: Life in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M

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The book is a photo history of life in the corps from 1980-1982. It shows the strict and unique life in the Cadet Corps as it was up until 1984 when changes were made. It focuses on the outfit Squadron Two and the traditions that make being an Aggie special. It's tough and challenging, but worth every minute.

Aggies is a book I read a review about in an old Advocate and had searched for year after year. I finally found it and purchased it for a lot more than the 20 dollar original price. I am pleased with it as the book was in mint shape, had an inscription from the author/photographer inside, and was very hot. Lots of sexy men in great shots, all dressed but very interesting and erotic. Great book, tho very costly.

Lots of black and white pictures of different Corps functions (Crap-outs, Air-outs, chow, etc.)

Just be aware that it is a very *short* book (probably around 50 pages). I got the book as a gift for a friend and had assumed that it was going to be a bigger book based on the price and having never seen it before. Not disappointed, but just be aware that there's not much to it if you do decide to order it.

I was also a student during the making of this book and a member of Squadron Two that was extensively photographed. Yes, that is me with the tennis ball on my nose as a freshman. We all thought it ironic that a photographer from the University of Texas was making a book about the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, but it was all in good fun.

We did have the challenges of "hazing" which included lots of exercise, but I for one never felt things were out of control. Our "fish class" bonded well and we had lots of great experiences that I still value as a long time member of the military.

I concur that this photo book is a good representation of the Corps of Cadets experience in the early `80s and would recommend it to family and friends of members who attended A&M in that period.

BTW: Thanks to whomever thought we were sexy way back then. We certainly didn't think so at the time :-)

I was a student at Texas A&M when this book was published, and the photos originally appeared in the January 1981 issue of Texas Monthly Magazine. I'm actually in one of the photos (I'm one of the girls that's "Sawing Varsity's Horns Off" at the football game).

I was not a member of the Corps of Cadets, but I had friends that were, and I both saw and heard about what they experienced, and this book is a very accurate representation of cadet life at that time. Most of the hazing is now obsolete, but the other traditions remain.

In the fall of 2008 I fortunate enough to talk to many cadets when my company visited the A&M campus for several days. They all acknowledged that freshman year is/was the toughest, but being a Texas A&M cadet was the best experience of their life, and they wouldn't trade it for the world. I've always been proud to be an Aggie, but it increased tenfold after talking to these great kids. It's truly a one-of-a-kind school, and the kinship among former students (once an Aggie, always an Aggie) is amazing and unlike anything else. I would recommend this book to any former students (especially cadets), if they attended Texas A&M in the early 1980's or before.