If you are like me, then you didn’t do JROTC and you are not prior service. I didn’t really have a good idea of what to expect. My first week was pretty much a crash course in how to act and look like a soldier. Yours will likely be too. You will soon learn that the Army loves acronyms, you will hear phrases like: LDAC, ACE, PIRs, ORP, ERP, AAR…etc these you will learn in time, (this is an excellent site for finding any army acronym and it really saved me a few times: http://www.acronymslist.com/cat/us-army-acronyms-%28official%29.html) but you must, within the first week learn and understand the code of huah.
David Lipsky remarks in Absolutely American,(a book that chronicled the life of cadets at West Point) “Huah is an all-purpose expression. Want to describe a cadet who’s very gung-ho, you call them huah. Understand instructions, say huah. Agree with what another cadet just said, murmur huah.”(11) This is the best definition of the word huah out there. You will also want to learn your battalion motto as soon as possible. You also must keep your hair in regulation.
Other commands you should learn immediately are “ATTENTION” and “AT EASE”. Attention is simple: you stand straight, eyes front, feet together, arms at your side, and your hands in a fist with your thumb placed on your index finger. “AT EASE” is just as easy: you spread a your legs a shoulder length apart, place your hands behind your back, have your elbows at about a 45 degree angle, open your palms, place your right hand over your left hand, with your palms facing away from your body, and the eyes should follow the person in command. This position is called” parade rest”.
![Position of Attention](http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQloKT9OWrPxqsU490QR951LVIJV-SaJdFuJ9dAgotYJ14b94KmPw)
![Position of Parade Rest](http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS9AILKUNSohSYas6BpLKzHL9FnnyhCTa4Kgl36Huv7C2PlF32Dvg)
You will be around cadre, so it would be best to know how to address and act around them. You should address the NCOs as “Sergeant”, and only during a few situations will you have to salute them, (the transfer of command and such). When they enter the room you should assume the position of parade rest until told otherwise. Officers you should address as “Sir” or “Ma’am” depending on gender, or their rank “Lieutenant”, “Colonel”, “Major”…etc. Then depending on the circumstances you will salute the officer. This is an excellent article that will tell you all you need to know about saluting.
To salute, you take your right hand, open your palm, keep your fingers together, and place your right hand above your right eyebrow.
![Proper Salute](https://i0.wp.com/images.inmagine.com/img/imagesource/is098qb9u/is098r12o.jpg)
This post should get you through your first week in any ROTC program, however, I will be going into more advance procedures from here on out.