Winter conjures up many feelings – holidays, celebrations, decorations, etc. It also can be rather bleak in reality. We had a phrase for the winter months in military school – the “Dark Ages”. Days were short and cold. Nights were long and bitterly frigid outside. These were tough days.
Meanwhile, our rooms were swelteringly hot inside. (Our rooms opened up to stoops and a outdoor courtyard we called the Quadrangle. We had central heating of sorts, in the form of a boiler room and a radiator system. However, we could not control the temperatures in most rooms.) Needless to say, during the so-called Dark Ages, tensions were high and tempers would flare up. Run of the mill grievances had a nasty tendency to take on the tenacity of total war (and hyperbole ran amok in our memories). Seasonal depression afflicted the corps of cadets. Even our sports during this time (mainly basketball and wrestling) were indoors. We felt cooped up and pent up. If you did venture out, if you weren’t careful, you could find yourself on the wrong side of an argument that quickly went sideways. If you stayed in, you could drive yourself crazy.
My junior year, I had a great roommate. We both played on the football team in the fall, I was on defense (defensive tackle) while he was on offense (tight end). I didn’t play winter sports, but he played basketball. I usually didn’t care for basketball, but that team convinced us to go root for them during home games. After all, what else did we have going for us during the Dark Ages? So I did that. I went to our school gym with some buddies, and we got LOUD. We were raucous, and while there weren’t many of us, those of us there were doing our damnedest to support the team. It was one way to blow off some steam.
My freshman year, I found another way. Back then, the color guard had special rooms that were nestled in a back corner of the barracks, out of visual range from the quad. One of the color guard members had smuggled in some boxing gloves, and had a fight club of sorts. Some kids were picking on me as the new, weird guy, so I eventually found myself to that room one winter night, at the height of the Dark Ages. I had no idea what I was doing, I don’t remember who I faced. Everything was a blur. After the fact, what I remember was just jumping in place and getting hit in the head. A lot. Suffice to say, I did not win. But I was no worse for the wear, and slept like a baby that night. I never did join that again, though.
Mostly, though, I read. While its not exciting, what I did more often than any other activity during the Dark Ages was to study and read books. Once I got through my coursework, I opened up a book and tried to escape. I read a lot of Tom Clancy and Stephen King novels during the Dark Ages.
Overall, winter was a challenging time during military school. Cadets generally had to find their own ways to overcome the cold and bleak season. What worked for me was focusing on being productive and then lose focus and escape into books, along with exercise and sporting events.