Well, Geek, I don't think that any "exaggerated claims" were made. Uncle Hairy simply started this thread by saying that he was disappointed in the corps program. It just didn't live up to his expectations. I don't see any "exaggerated claim" in that. It's how he feels about the whole thing, and others agree with him. I don't thing you are being fair or honest by dissing the way some feel about the program.
Maybe you and I feel differently, but honestly, knowing what I know now about TWI and its leadership, there is no way I would have gone into the corps. But of course, I didn't know, and neither did you I'm assuming, so we did the best we could in the circumstances. Others were not so fortunate in their experiences as we were. :(--> Their view is just as valid as anybody elses. Sigh.....We all need to sort out our past for ourselves, and we don't have to all feel the same way about everything, or else we're right back in the cult.
Well now Dot Matrix, I don't doubt you at all, and it pains me deeply to know that you were subjected to that which you just described. Yuck! I mentioned a good while back on another thread how I was nearly seduced by a shapely Reverend woman, and how it threw me for a loop for awhile, but since she was relatively low level in leadership (the sewing dept gal at HQ), I just chalked it up to human weakness/horniness and moved on. I mean after all, we're just people, and she was single and so was I. But if it had been Donna Martindale, I would have really been thrown for a major loop as you must have been by VP. And so, I don't doubt what you say, and I am sure that the impact of it was nothing short of really bad...
But you asked what did I really learn of value in the Corps...Well, just read my initial post here. I think that to sum it up I would have to say that it was the "work ethic" that is something I learned while in rez, and that this is very important to me and to all who have come across it, wherever they found it. I just happened to find it in the Way Corps that's all. So for me, that was a good thing...
I went into the Way Corps because it was billed to be like The School of The Prophets, for people who felt they were called.
After I'd been there for several months, VP reproved us for that kind of understanding and told us we were all there to be trained as twig leaders.
Bait and switch, IMO
TWI advertised 5 Way Corps Objectives.
Let's see if they delivered:
1. Acquire an in-depth spiritual perception and awareness:
They taught us to ignore or deny wrongdoing by superiors if and when we detected it.
Nah, failed on that one.
2. Receive training in the whole Word, so as to be able to teach others.
They totally ignored the Ten Commandments, specifically where it said not to bear false witness ("a wise man never tells all he knows," they taught us), and especially that thingy about Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Hmmmm.....not good.
3. Physical training, making your physical body, the vehicle of communication of The Word as vital as possible.
VP's and other leadership's take on the purpose of certain women's "vehicles of communication" was not consistent with what others were taught. I wonder, did the Corps Director award those poor women who suffered the "MOG" extra aerobic points?
Failed there, too.
4. Practice believing to bring material abundance to you and the ministry.
Most people brought plenty of material abundance to the ministry, while failing to prosper themselves, because of what they were required to give to TWI.
Failure.
5. Go forth as leaders and workers in areas of concern, interest and need.
Nope. Our leadership and labor were conscripted in the service of what the ministry was concerned about, interested in, and greedy for.
I guess it would be like what some say that twi started out good but when lcm took over it went bad while others saw bad from the beginning. This is the same as being in the wc.
I was never in the Corps, but I did attend summer school for 3 weeks with the Corps in 1974.
I can't comment on what happened after the mid-70s but I learned much in those 3 weeks. From memory I recall the courses that I took that summer and even some of the instructors. I can't do that for any semester during university!
Somerville taught an excellent course in OT history. There was a worthwhile introduction to NT Greek by Cummins. D. Owens taught a class on etiquette, which was new to me and good if one didn't become too legalistic. I also attended good classes on new testament textual criticism and figures of speech, but I don't recall the instructors.
I was interested in the topics. The Corps were in the same classes.
In addition to the TWI classes, I attended Biblical Studies classes at a university in Texas. For time spent in class and study, I learned far more at the TWI summer school.
BUT, and it's a big "but", the Corps program struck me as extreme during that 3-week summer school session. I didn't experience sleep deprivation and I agree with Mr. Lingo that there are many organizations that are far more demanding on one's stamina. But the cuisine left much to be desired -- both in quality and quantity. I don't think I've eaten "Familia" since! The only solution was to buy the "Believer Burgers" to make up for the nutritional shortcoming.
Though I found the classes worthwhile, three weeks was enough. Curiously, many of the in-res Corps seemed aloof and haughty, as well as one-dimensional in their personality. I learned more than the coursework of the classes I attended, enough to resist future invitations to join the Corps.
Was the Way Corps a complete scam? I don't think so ... it just turned out to be much different than what was pictured in the recruits' minds. After all, weren't you agreeing to become a "bond slave" and didn't you believe that VPW was the MOG?
In my opinion, the MOG concept led to all sorts of evil.
After reading thru the previous 3 pages, I am TRUELY glad I went for U of L instead of corps.
Bo Rheard wanted to know why I could not enter the corps "at this time", and I said, "cuz I don't want to". That was enough to get me into U of L and all of the "excellence" of the WC teaching in the privacy of my home.
The "excellence" is debatable, but I never had to go thru what you all did.
It's interesting to see how many folks responded to this thread and the strong opinions that have been expressed. It tells me that evoking the "waycorps experience" still hits a nerve for a lot of people.
Catcup made some good points on how they failed to deliver on the corps objectives and also on the "bait and switch" tactics that twi frequently used. I recall signing up for a 4 year training program only to be told later that it was a lifetime comittment! Quite a difference I would say...and you were made to feel "unspiritual" if you questioned it.
Twi made a big deal out of this "natural leadership" quality in people when looking for corps recruits. I often wonder how many folks with incredible faith, love, patience, etc. and a willing heart to serve were discouraged from entering the corps because they didn't meet some leader's criteria for "natural leadership ability"...which often times was nothing more than being popular because of an extroverted personality and a penchant for kissing the right a$$es?
Let's face it, the majority of the people in the corps LOVED that green nametag and all the prestige that went with it. Whether by design or by accident, the corps produced a lotta big-mouthed, arrogant, bullies that enjoyed their special status in "gawds household".
When considering the corps training in the context of understanding twi as a cult, It's easy for me to conclude that the whole experience was worse than a waste of my time. I believe the bad far outweighed the good. Can an evil tree bear good fruit?
Actually, as I consider various "affiliations" that I have had over the years, I can honestly say that my time in a college fraternity (Tau Omicron Pi) was of more value to me than my corps experience. At least with the frat they had plenty of cold beer.
You sound so bitter. I'm very sorry that you were so disappointed. I was too, but somehow I've managed to salvage some good out of the whole thing. Maybe that's just not possible for some.
I was in a sorority in college. I feel like that was a total waste of my time. -->
I hear you, Hairy, about the bait and switch tactic being used. I went in for a TWO-year commitment (Recognized). Then after graduation, when a LC tried to do an evaluation on me, without even knowing me, and I told him I was not going to submit to an evaluation, he said,"Doctor never wanted there to be a Recognized Corps." Tough, fella, maybe he didn't want it, but I WAS one!
And I have to admit, there were times when I looked at some of the elder Corps I was working with, and thought, "what 'natural leadership ability' do YOU have?" In hindsight, they were probably more worried about which people would become a liability (witness the disbanding of the Senior Corps), and could reject such people by talking about "leadership ability."
Ex, I don't think it is bitterness, just telling it like it was, as I saw/see it. Yes, I met some great people. Learned a little Bible. Got my college degree finished. Learned a couple of life skills. But where it was headed -- to a lifetime of giving up your will to an organization -- was not where I was interested in going.
I think it was wonderful. Now I was at Indiana Campus in the family Corps. And those that say that the family Corps wasn't corps which we got a lot from the "regular" Corps are full of bull. Cause you had to laugh we had 5 minutes before a meeting we had to be in our seats and Emporia had 10minutes. Do you know the people who were always late? The regular corps, not the ones putting their kids to bed, or helping them with homework, or getting them off to evening fellowship, but the ones with no responsiblities saying we had it soooo easy. I do not regret one day of my life with the ministry or the Way Corps. It has given me the life and the husband and the children I have today. And I have met some wonderful people more wonderful than I could have imagine. And I have met some dispicable people even those who write on this website and act as if they are so righteous. Those were some of the dispicable people who didn't care about you or your heart but their own self gain. So I do not think it resides just with leadership I think we all had a part in it. Even me I know there were times I was egomaniac. But regret it NEVER!!! For life is to short to have regrets or be bitter or be resentful for it will just eat you up. But the Indiana campus was one of the sweetest places on earth that I have ever been. And the people I happened to be with at the time were the greatest people in the world! Even Bob Moynihan I loved him and Dottie thier honesty at the time was wonderful and true to family. Now as far as Emporia, I don't know because I can't say but my husband was there and he had his good times and hard times but they are his and he also doesn't regret a day of it. :D-->
Talk about bringing back alot of memories, I was in the 17th way corps at Emporia, to me it was total waste of time, the leadership didn't know from day to day what to do with us, they just winged it and loaded us up with countless work days, I remember working the teacher's room, ( a room that was for leadership to get ready in, just before they went up and taught)you were basically at there beck and call, whatever they wanted you got for them, or did for them, everything had to be perfect in that room, the lighting in the room, the seating arrangement, the carpet vaccumed a certain way, even the breath mints had to be cut in 1/4 sizes, you even had to go out and rescue some poor soul from the audience (way corps person waiting for the leadership to teach) and bring them back to the teacher's room, so they could get raked over the coals by the leadersip, with you standing there hearing it all !! I could go on and on about that experience, but in the end, it just showed me how anal retentive, the leadership really were!!!
Lack of sleep, tell me about it !!! When i had to do "bless patrol", instead of patroling the grounds like i was supposed to do, I would go
to sleep in this little standup box out in the back of the campus!!
I even remember having to sweep the road that went around the front of the campus every Sunday, there'd be about 15 of us out front with brooms, sweeping away for about 3hrs, it had to be swept to perfection. I remember the saying they used to pawn over on us, "if you were detail minded in the physical, it would spill over into to the spiritual!! HA !
I remember another time I got reamed for not wearing nylons when I went to do part of a mock teaching in front of the way corps, it was so retarded, who the heck was going to see my legs standing behind the podium, but the leadership obviously checked me out on the way up, otherwise they would have never known........
The ONE thing that I honestly did enjoy, was working on grounds and in the greenhouse, that was a great experience in itself!!!
Looking back, the thing that irked me the most was the legalism, and always having somebody tell you what to do, I felt like i was being suffocated and didn't feel free to just be myself, they wanted everyone to conform to what they thought the ideal way corps person should be and there was no room at all for individuality. It sucked !!!
Yeah Excathedra, I'm not really real at all. Just because I actually took some things from the Corps and believe that they were good things, I am not really real at all. I think I would be more "real" if I too were bitter and pi$$ed off all of the time as you seem to be.
But I shouldn't expect much in the way of agreement from you, for you have rarely failed to be insulting to me...
I always thought that the proper way to eat a banana was the pinnacle of my learning at TWI..
I thought seriously about entering the Corpse until I attended LCM's new and improved AC at Rome City where I watched this poor Corpse guy with a little hand made tool making sure every dinner plate, on all the tables in the Dining hall, was exactly 2" from the edge of the table.
Yeah, I saw it, I confess. But the sarcasm was used to minimize the things that were "learnable" in the Corps, so I didn't think it had much validity...
Maybe if the powers that be hadn`t treated many so badly JL....ex and others wouldn`t have a valid REASON for not appreciating the *party* that you enjoyed.
Maybe the price paid by some, far exceeded any posssible usefullness from the minimal training that they recieved.
Also, things changed radically through the years in the corpes...different administrations brought better food less stringent rules....sometimes more stringent....your experience probably depended a good deal on what year you went in.
I have thought over many times why I feel/felt the way I do about the Way Corps training. I think for me the worse thing was the torment.
Yes, I learnt about public speaking, about social graces, about dressing for success, keeping in shape physically, about communication skills, about counselling people, about marriage, about working hard, about the bible etc. Yes, I did learn a bit of all these things. BUT AT WHAT COST?
At what cost was it to me to learn these little lessons?
I was stripped of all self-esteem. I was belittle so much that when I finally did leave, I was a shell of a person. I was ashamed. I was made to feel spiritually inferior and crippled. I no longer knew if God loved me and felt that I should hide from God's presence. I was left to pick up the pieces of my life with no help or support. And, after all that... the only contact the Way Corps Office ever had with me was to tell me that I still owed them tuition and remind me that I was to owe no man.
No one called me and said, "How are you?" No one wrote. No one cared.
And, when I did meet people who were in the way corps with me, they often gave me the cold shoulder.
At what cost was any of this information to me you ask?
Until I came to GS, I don't think I had really ever recovered from the abuse I endured in the way corps.
I could cite incident after incident of what I either witnessed or was party to ... but why bother. It's been told over and over and over and over again.
When I would hear of the 'wonderful' stories of the way corps, I used to feel sometimes 'What was wrong with me?' Why didn't I have fun like the others? Why didn't I fit it in? Why is it everyone (seemed) to be enjoying themselves and I wasn't?
It was only when I arrived at GS that I was able to begin to answer those questions. I started to read about the leadership of this cult and realized that their intent was never to help the individual but to advance themselves in leadership positions for the most part. They were only pawns in the bigger scheme of things.
When I was in residence I saw hypocrisy and blamed myself for thinking evil. I could never get passed it.
Sure, there was good people in the corps, but for them to stick around and be 'successful' way corps, they had to change. And over the years, wonderful people went in to the way corps only to come out completely morphed into monsters. Monsters, who would rat on their own mothers to become the 'leaders' they wanted to be so badly.
My in-resident time was a very dark time in my life. One I try to not to dwell on too much. It was a mistake and I would never wish such an experience on anyone.
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ex10
Well, Geek, I don't think that any "exaggerated claims" were made. Uncle Hairy simply started this thread by saying that he was disappointed in the corps program. It just didn't live up to his expectations. I don't see any "exaggerated claim" in that. It's how he feels about the whole thing, and others agree with him. I don't thing you are being fair or honest by dissing the way some feel about the program.
Maybe you and I feel differently, but honestly, knowing what I know now about TWI and its leadership, there is no way I would have gone into the corps. But of course, I didn't know, and neither did you I'm assuming, so we did the best we could in the circumstances. Others were not so fortunate in their experiences as we were.
:(--> Their view is just as valid as anybody elses. Sigh.....We all need to sort out our past for ourselves, and we don't have to all feel the same way about everything, or else we're right back in the cult.
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J0nny Ling0
Well now Dot Matrix, I don't doubt you at all, and it pains me deeply to know that you were subjected to that which you just described. Yuck! I mentioned a good while back on another thread how I was nearly seduced by a shapely Reverend woman, and how it threw me for a loop for awhile, but since she was relatively low level in leadership (the sewing dept gal at HQ), I just chalked it up to human weakness/horniness and moved on. I mean after all, we're just people, and she was single and so was I. But if it had been Donna Martindale, I would have really been thrown for a major loop as you must have been by VP. And so, I don't doubt what you say, and I am sure that the impact of it was nothing short of really bad...
But you asked what did I really learn of value in the Corps...Well, just read my initial post here. I think that to sum it up I would have to say that it was the "work ethic" that is something I learned while in rez, and that this is very important to me and to all who have come across it, wherever they found it. I just happened to find it in the Way Corps that's all. So for me, that was a good thing...
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Catcup
I went into the Way Corps because it was billed to be like The School of The Prophets, for people who felt they were called.
After I'd been there for several months, VP reproved us for that kind of understanding and told us we were all there to be trained as twig leaders.
Bait and switch, IMO
TWI advertised 5 Way Corps Objectives.
Let's see if they delivered:
1. Acquire an in-depth spiritual perception and awareness:
They taught us to ignore or deny wrongdoing by superiors if and when we detected it.
Nah, failed on that one.
2. Receive training in the whole Word, so as to be able to teach others.
They totally ignored the Ten Commandments, specifically where it said not to bear false witness ("a wise man never tells all he knows," they taught us), and especially that thingy about Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Hmmmm.....not good.
3. Physical training, making your physical body, the vehicle of communication of The Word as vital as possible.
VP's and other leadership's take on the purpose of certain women's "vehicles of communication" was not consistent with what others were taught. I wonder, did the Corps Director award those poor women who suffered the "MOG" extra aerobic points?
Failed there, too.
4. Practice believing to bring material abundance to you and the ministry.
Most people brought plenty of material abundance to the ministry, while failing to prosper themselves, because of what they were required to give to TWI.
Failure.
5. Go forth as leaders and workers in areas of concern, interest and need.
Nope. Our leadership and labor were conscripted in the service of what the ministry was concerned about, interested in, and greedy for.
So, no, they didn't deliver what they promised.
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vickles
I guess it would be like what some say that twi started out good but when lcm took over it went bad while others saw bad from the beginning. This is the same as being in the wc.
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The Skeptical Texan
I was never in the Corps, but I did attend summer school for 3 weeks with the Corps in 1974.
I can't comment on what happened after the mid-70s but I learned much in those 3 weeks. From memory I recall the courses that I took that summer and even some of the instructors. I can't do that for any semester during university!
Somerville taught an excellent course in OT history. There was a worthwhile introduction to NT Greek by Cummins. D. Owens taught a class on etiquette, which was new to me and good if one didn't become too legalistic. I also attended good classes on new testament textual criticism and figures of speech, but I don't recall the instructors.
I was interested in the topics. The Corps were in the same classes.
In addition to the TWI classes, I attended Biblical Studies classes at a university in Texas. For time spent in class and study, I learned far more at the TWI summer school.
BUT, and it's a big "but", the Corps program struck me as extreme during that 3-week summer school session. I didn't experience sleep deprivation and I agree with Mr. Lingo that there are many organizations that are far more demanding on one's stamina. But the cuisine left much to be desired -- both in quality and quantity. I don't think I've eaten "Familia" since! The only solution was to buy the "Believer Burgers" to make up for the nutritional shortcoming.
Though I found the classes worthwhile, three weeks was enough. Curiously, many of the in-res Corps seemed aloof and haughty, as well as one-dimensional in their personality. I learned more than the coursework of the classes I attended, enough to resist future invitations to join the Corps.
Was the Way Corps a complete scam? I don't think so ... it just turned out to be much different than what was pictured in the recruits' minds. After all, weren't you agreeing to become a "bond slave" and didn't you believe that VPW was the MOG?
In my opinion, the MOG concept led to all sorts of evil.
SkepTex
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The Skeptical Texan
Wasn't Richard T****s a roving WOW in Texas?
If so, I recall him as being a really good guy back then. Disciplined, yes, but also interested in moving the Word in love.
It seems that the Corps hardened hearts, or least encouraged behaviors that simulated a hardened heart.
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WordWolf
Seems to me that whoever was speaking redefined the corpse so that whoever
was listening would want to join,
even if what they said was wildly inaccurate.
That was a sales thing.
"Never be afraid to mislabel a product." (The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.)
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dmiller
Wow !!!!!
After reading thru the previous 3 pages, I am TRUELY glad I went for U of L instead of corps.
Bo Rheard wanted to know why I could not enter the corps "at this time", and I said, "cuz I don't want to". That was enough to get me into U of L and all of the "excellence" of the WC teaching in the privacy of my home.
The "excellence" is debatable, but I never had to go thru what you all did.
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GrouchoMarxJr
It's interesting to see how many folks responded to this thread and the strong opinions that have been expressed. It tells me that evoking the "waycorps experience" still hits a nerve for a lot of people.
Catcup made some good points on how they failed to deliver on the corps objectives and also on the "bait and switch" tactics that twi frequently used. I recall signing up for a 4 year training program only to be told later that it was a lifetime comittment! Quite a difference I would say...and you were made to feel "unspiritual" if you questioned it.
Twi made a big deal out of this "natural leadership" quality in people when looking for corps recruits. I often wonder how many folks with incredible faith, love, patience, etc. and a willing heart to serve were discouraged from entering the corps because they didn't meet some leader's criteria for "natural leadership ability"...which often times was nothing more than being popular because of an extroverted personality and a penchant for kissing the right a$$es?
Let's face it, the majority of the people in the corps LOVED that green nametag and all the prestige that went with it. Whether by design or by accident, the corps produced a lotta big-mouthed, arrogant, bullies that enjoyed their special status in "gawds household".
When considering the corps training in the context of understanding twi as a cult, It's easy for me to conclude that the whole experience was worse than a waste of my time. I believe the bad far outweighed the good. Can an evil tree bear good fruit?
Actually, as I consider various "affiliations" that I have had over the years, I can honestly say that my time in a college fraternity (Tau Omicron Pi) was of more value to me than my corps experience. At least with the frat they had plenty of cold beer.
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J0nny Ling0
Cold beer...now that is really important...yawn...
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ex10
Uncle Hairy,
You sound so bitter. I'm very sorry that you were so disappointed. I was too, but somehow I've managed to salvage some good out of the whole thing. Maybe that's just not possible for some.
I was in a sorority in college. I feel like that was a total waste of my time.
-->
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shazdancer
I hear you, Hairy, about the bait and switch tactic being used. I went in for a TWO-year commitment (Recognized). Then after graduation, when a LC tried to do an evaluation on me, without even knowing me, and I told him I was not going to submit to an evaluation, he said,"Doctor never wanted there to be a Recognized Corps." Tough, fella, maybe he didn't want it, but I WAS one!
And I have to admit, there were times when I looked at some of the elder Corps I was working with, and thought, "what 'natural leadership ability' do YOU have?" In hindsight, they were probably more worried about which people would become a liability (witness the disbanding of the Senior Corps), and could reject such people by talking about "leadership ability."
Ex, I don't think it is bitterness, just telling it like it was, as I saw/see it. Yes, I met some great people. Learned a little Bible. Got my college degree finished. Learned a couple of life skills. But where it was headed -- to a lifetime of giving up your will to an organization -- was not where I was interested in going.
Regards,
Shaz
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excathedra
uncle hairy sounds real
lingo sounds like a frat brother
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maptl
I think it was wonderful. Now I was at Indiana Campus in the family Corps. And those that say that the family Corps wasn't corps which we got a lot from the "regular" Corps are full of bull. Cause you had to laugh we had 5 minutes before a meeting we had to be in our seats and Emporia had 10minutes. Do you know the people who were always late? The regular corps, not the ones putting their kids to bed, or helping them with homework, or getting them off to evening fellowship, but the ones with no responsiblities saying we had it soooo easy. I do not regret one day of my life with the ministry or the Way Corps. It has given me the life and the husband and the children I have today. And I have met some wonderful people more wonderful than I could have imagine. And I have met some dispicable people even those who write on this website and act as if they are so righteous. Those were some of the dispicable people who didn't care about you or your heart but their own self gain. So I do not think it resides just with leadership I think we all had a part in it. Even me I know there were times I was egomaniac. But regret it NEVER!!! For life is to short to have regrets or be bitter or be resentful for it will just eat you up. But the Indiana campus was one of the sweetest places on earth that I have ever been. And the people I happened to be with at the time were the greatest people in the world! Even Bob Moynihan I loved him and Dottie thier honesty at the time was wonderful and true to family. Now as far as Emporia, I don't know because I can't say but my husband was there and he had his good times and hard times but they are his and he also doesn't regret a day of it.
:D-->
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Cowgirl
Talk about bringing back alot of memories, I was in the 17th way corps at Emporia, to me it was total waste of time, the leadership didn't know from day to day what to do with us, they just winged it and loaded us up with countless work days, I remember working the teacher's room, ( a room that was for leadership to get ready in, just before they went up and taught)you were basically at there beck and call, whatever they wanted you got for them, or did for them, everything had to be perfect in that room, the lighting in the room, the seating arrangement, the carpet vaccumed a certain way, even the breath mints had to be cut in 1/4 sizes, you even had to go out and rescue some poor soul from the audience (way corps person waiting for the leadership to teach) and bring them back to the teacher's room, so they could get raked over the coals by the leadersip, with you standing there hearing it all !! I could go on and on about that experience, but in the end, it just showed me how anal retentive, the leadership really were!!!
Lack of sleep, tell me about it !!! When i had to do "bless patrol", instead of patroling the grounds like i was supposed to do, I would go
to sleep in this little standup box out in the back of the campus!!
I even remember having to sweep the road that went around the front of the campus every Sunday, there'd be about 15 of us out front with brooms, sweeping away for about 3hrs, it had to be swept to perfection. I remember the saying they used to pawn over on us, "if you were detail minded in the physical, it would spill over into to the spiritual!! HA !
I remember another time I got reamed for not wearing nylons when I went to do part of a mock teaching in front of the way corps, it was so retarded, who the heck was going to see my legs standing behind the podium, but the leadership obviously checked me out on the way up, otherwise they would have never known........
The ONE thing that I honestly did enjoy, was working on grounds and in the greenhouse, that was a great experience in itself!!!
Looking back, the thing that irked me the most was the legalism, and always having somebody tell you what to do, I felt like i was being suffocated and didn't feel free to just be myself, they wanted everyone to conform to what they thought the ideal way corps person should be and there was no room at all for individuality. It sucked !!!
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J0nny Ling0
Yeah Excathedra, I'm not really real at all. Just because I actually took some things from the Corps and believe that they were good things, I am not really real at all. I think I would be more "real" if I too were bitter and pi$$ed off all of the time as you seem to be.
But I shouldn't expect much in the way of agreement from you, for you have rarely failed to be insulting to me...
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Danny
Yes Yes Yes
Meet so wonderful people laughed and cried but the program sucked.
You get a whole 2 weeks to finish a reseacrh paper what a joke.
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wasway
I always thought that the proper way to eat a banana was the pinnacle of my learning at TWI..
I thought seriously about entering the Corpse until I attended LCM's new and improved AC at Rome City where I watched this poor Corpse guy with a little hand made tool making sure every dinner plate, on all the tables in the Dining hall, was exactly 2" from the edge of the table.
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Oakspear
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J0nny Ling0
Yeah, I saw it, I confess. But the sarcasm was used to minimize the things that were "learnable" in the Corps, so I didn't think it had much validity...
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rascal
Maybe if the powers that be hadn`t treated many so badly JL....ex and others wouldn`t have a valid REASON for not appreciating the *party* that you enjoyed.
Maybe the price paid by some, far exceeded any posssible usefullness from the minimal training that they recieved.
Also, things changed radically through the years in the corpes...different administrations brought better food less stringent rules....sometimes more stringent....your experience probably depended a good deal on what year you went in.
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Oakspear
JL:
Okay...gotcha
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A la prochaine
My Way Corps Experience
UUUUmmmmm.... let's see.
I have thought over many times why I feel/felt the way I do about the Way Corps training. I think for me the worse thing was the torment.
Yes, I learnt about public speaking, about social graces, about dressing for success, keeping in shape physically, about communication skills, about counselling people, about marriage, about working hard, about the bible etc. Yes, I did learn a bit of all these things. BUT AT WHAT COST?
At what cost was it to me to learn these little lessons?
I was stripped of all self-esteem. I was belittle so much that when I finally did leave, I was a shell of a person. I was ashamed. I was made to feel spiritually inferior and crippled. I no longer knew if God loved me and felt that I should hide from God's presence. I was left to pick up the pieces of my life with no help or support. And, after all that... the only contact the Way Corps Office ever had with me was to tell me that I still owed them tuition and remind me that I was to owe no man.
No one called me and said, "How are you?" No one wrote. No one cared.
And, when I did meet people who were in the way corps with me, they often gave me the cold shoulder.
At what cost was any of this information to me you ask?
Until I came to GS, I don't think I had really ever recovered from the abuse I endured in the way corps.
I could cite incident after incident of what I either witnessed or was party to ... but why bother. It's been told over and over and over and over again.
When I would hear of the 'wonderful' stories of the way corps, I used to feel sometimes 'What was wrong with me?' Why didn't I have fun like the others? Why didn't I fit it in? Why is it everyone (seemed) to be enjoying themselves and I wasn't?
It was only when I arrived at GS that I was able to begin to answer those questions. I started to read about the leadership of this cult and realized that their intent was never to help the individual but to advance themselves in leadership positions for the most part. They were only pawns in the bigger scheme of things.
When I was in residence I saw hypocrisy and blamed myself for thinking evil. I could never get passed it.
Sure, there was good people in the corps, but for them to stick around and be 'successful' way corps, they had to change. And over the years, wonderful people went in to the way corps only to come out completely morphed into monsters. Monsters, who would rat on their own mothers to become the 'leaders' they wanted to be so badly.
My in-resident time was a very dark time in my life. One I try to not to dwell on too much. It was a mistake and I would never wish such an experience on anyone.
Love to all.
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