Kings Point Trip

May 2016

This was only an overnight trip, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun! We got to camp on the campus grounds itself, with a great view of the pier and the George Washington Bridge in the distance. We could see the outline of New York City. All the troops were packed together as canvas structures and tents dotted all of the premises. The students had an orientation in their auditorium and went over the itinerary. For those of you who don't know what kings point is, its a college where students study to work on vast military ships. We got to go for a ride on their research and training vessel the "Kings Pointer". We learned how a steam and diesel engine work. And we got to look around there very lavish musses. At the museum a giant ship propeller was stuck in the ground on a slant, so of course people tried to get to the top, Isaac and Jordan managed to but no one else. The building itself was full of varying sizes of ship models from a few inches to a few thousand inches. This museum held one of the 5 existing Japanese swords from the Japanese surrender of WWII. The sword was once owned by Vice Admiral Ugaki and was given to General Douglas MacArthur as a "a memento of valiant services rendered by the sons of this Academy in our struggle in the Pacific." This was a big honor to the academy to place on display. Just looking at it gives you the chills! After that we headed to the steam lab, where the students explained everything about how to operate a basic ship engine. On the Kings Pointer, we got to see what extended periods of time on a ship are like. The tour ended early so we had hours to spend on the campus. We all hung out on this gorgeous hill with a beautiful 360 degree view on the ocean and campus. Some of us laid in the soft grass listening to a radio that our friend Laik Green had brought, while the rest played football. Even though we were there for hours the sight never got old, we actually longed for more time to spend on that hill gazing into the sun setting over the horizon.When night was upon us we retired the colors and went to the summer camp style closing ceremony complete with skits. Our skit was about a lawnmower that wouldn’t start, it wasn’t that funny but it was so bad it was good. By far the best part of the trip though was just being on the campus, it was the most unique experience I have ever had camping and I hope we can get to do it again.