Tours

From USAFA Folklore

A feature of the cadet disciplinary system is marching tours. When cited with a Form 10 or Cadet Disciplinary Board, a cadet may be given tours as punishment. Each tour represented one hour (actually 50 minutes) of marching back and forth or around the Terrazzo in service dress with white gloves, under arms. This was usually done on weekends under supervision. The Cadet in Charge would begin each tour session with a uniform and rifle inspection.

If you had a real jerk as CIC, and the weather "permitted", he would often change the uniform between two tours (service dress (jacket) to blues (or back)). It was easy if you wore a full shirt under your jacket - but a common tour pad veteran trick was to wear a cutoff shirt under your service dress jacket to keep cool. Made things interesting for those who lived in Sijan, to get back and forth in the 10 minutes before the next tour started. Experienced tour marchers will tell you that 25 tours would require new soles on your shoes!

The tour pad was an area on the northwest corner of the Terrazzo where tours were marched. In inclement weather, tours were sometimes marched in Fairchild Hall. From 1984 to 1988 (at least) the tour pad was to the west of the area illustrated, between Vandenberg & the grassy area in the middle of the Terrazzo. During the summer, when the Basics were in the area, tours were marched over by Sijan, East-West, on the north side of the "open" section of Sijan.

Cadets excused from marching were those on academic probation, and at certain points in time, first class cadets. These groups were given the option of sitting confinements in their room instead of marching tours. Often, tours were also converted to confinements as Finals Week neared.

Tours, which for a while had been replaced completely by confinements, returned in the fall of 2007 for alcohol related punishments. In order to crack down on alcohol incidents, the PTB enacted a new system which for a single offense will result in 100 tours, several months of restriction, probation, and several other repercussions, most notably the requirement of handing out "responsible drinking" brochures at all of the ECP's during weekends. The tour pad has been moved in front of the Honor Wall. Rumor has it that the recently-PCS'd former Commandant used her power to assign tours for other extraordinary offenses, thus invalidating the earlier statement that tours would "only be used for alcohol related punishment."

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[edit] See also

• Centurion
• Confinements