Goodbye, Rev ma'am

By: Kenny Ryan

Posted: 2/14/08

Reveille, mascot of Texas A&M and highest-ranking member of the Corps of Cadets, had her retirement formally announced Wednesday in the Corps Center at 5 p.m. Dean Bresciani, vice president for student affairs, was on hand to celebrate Reveille's service to the University, and explain the process for finding a suitable replacement.

"I'm going to create a new committee that will be involved [in choosing Reveille VIII,]" Bresciani said. "[It will include] cadets from E-2 and student leaders, including the student body president, as well as faculty from the vet school. We have some of the best vets in the nation, and want to take advantage of that. Our intent would be to use the end of the academic year as their timeline. I would like them to come to a recommendation to me while the students are still here, so [the students] can be involved in the process. That's important because the summer would be used to get the mascot and train it to be ready for the football season.

"It's a process we started back in fall semester. We are very attentive and want to do what's right for Reveille. We don't want to come to a fast decision."

Though the process of retiring Reveille VII began in the fall, Bresciani said that the biting incidents had nothing to do with the decision to retire Reveille.

"Rev is hitting the period where we would typically retire a mascot," Bresciani said. "The biting is certainly something we have to take into consideration, but it's more of a reminder that she's getting older, and we have her involved in an inordinate amount of activities. She is involved in more activities than any mascot before."

"Usually we retire Reveilles between 8 and 9 years," said Grant Rollo, a senior English major and platoon officer of E-2. "The average lifespan of a collie is 10 to 12 years, [we retire Reveilles when we do] to relieve the stress on their lives to let them enjoy just being a dog."

E-2 is the Corps outfit responsible for training and caring for Reveille. Rollo has spent his entire career at A&M with Reveille living just down the hall, if not in his closet.

"Reveille VII prefers to sleep in closets more than anything," Rollo said. "Sophomore year, my roommate was the mascot corporal, so Reveille loved to sleep in our closets. [The problem is] we have our shoes in the closet, nice polished shoes, and she would always lie on my shoes and mess them up. So I got some dog treats and put them in my roommate's shoes. So Rev would smell them and go start sleeping on his shoes."

Rollo said that it is memories like these and others that are why Reveille VII will be missed by the cadets of E-2.

"A lot of the time, people look at her as special and a mascot and everything," Rollo said. "But to us she's our pet, our dog we always wanted back home. She is the heart of our outfit, she is the reason we do what we do and she is why we love it."

Reveille will not disappear instantly after her retirement. Bresciani said that the entire student body will have opportunities to celebrate Reveille VII's tenure as the semester draws to a close. She will continue to live with E-2 until the summer.

"[Reveille] will continue her duties. Her final activity will be the Corps of Cadets final review on May 10," Bresciani said. "In the interim, there will be a set of campus events in celebration for everything she has done. I predict a lot of campus outpouring of affection. We want to make sure that anybody who wants to participate in celebrating her retirement can do so, students at large or Corps of Cadets members. We want everybody to have a chance, even the community, to come around and say goodbye."

A&M students voiced their opinions on what kind of dog Reveille VIII should be. Rollo said that E-2 voted and concluded that they want another collie, and though he said he feels the outfit will play a role in the choosing of Reveille VIII, he acknowledges that the process will include the entire University.

"[E-2] should have a pretty large role," Rollo said. "Rev is A&M's mascot, not just ours, but we are responsible for her food, her training, her everyday life. No matter the outcome, we will be responsible for her. In the grand scheme of things, we will play a very large part."

"People will voice their opinions in any electronic form they can, and it will be taking into consideration," Bresciani said. "I have been surfing Internet blogs tonight to see what people are thinking, because it matters to me. In the past, there has been an assumption that we will get one just like the other one. This time we are going to step back; this is going to be an input-heavy process. Why we start it now is so students have a chance to voice their opinions. It won't be a vote, but the voice of the students matters in how we approach things."

Regardless of the type of dog chosen, Rollo said A&M will hire a professional dog trainer to be responsible for the training of Reveille VIII. He said that typically, the professional will be joined by members of E-2 to help acclimate the puppy Reveille to the outfit.

Reveille VIII might grow to find her job easier than her predecessors. Reveille VII was the busiest mascot in A&M history, and although Rollo said she was the healthiest, Bresciani said that there is a chance she may attend less events and maintain more free time in her calendar.

"That's one of the things to consider, [Reveille's involvement in events,]" Bresciani said. "We are going to take a different approach to [event participation in the future]. We have to look at the mascot and the level of activities that we have asked of Rev VII, and need to look at that as a bigger picture than ever before. Do we have reasonable expectation and do we have a match for those expectations? You can't look at one without the other, it really takes looking at both of them."

Reveille VII didn't do all of her work for naught. People are coming out of the woodworks to volunteer to take care of A&M's first lady in her retirement years.

"We have already started receiving offers of adoption," Bresciani said. "We have been very fortunate in the history of the Reveilles. Aggies from all over the world will step forward and make very kind offers. It's really neat to see people offer their help. She is an incredible dog and people who meet her in person walk away saying, 'What an incredible dog.'

"Another committee will look at [what is the] best way to care for the rest of her life. Fortunately, we have months before we have to answer that question. We will make sure Miss Rev has an incredibly good future."

Until those golden glory days of retirement arrive when Reveille finishes her service at the Corps of Cadets final review May 10, she will continue to roam her usual stomping grounds of the past seven years. Aggies will have their final chance to enjoy Reveille VII as these months wear on.

As for Rollo, the senior Corps member whose career at A&M will reach its twilight parallel to the mascot's he has taken care of all these years, his feelings were as simple as they were pure. "I'll miss her for sure."