On Day 2, enough of the layout is finished so that cadets, eager to get their turn, wield chisels and power tools to cut the many mortises and tenons. The noise is excruciating, and ear plugs and goggles a must. Sawdust coats everything. Dave Dauerty contributes a 16+" saw that looks the biggest and scariest; we're assured that it's actually one of the safest, as its sheer size makes users vigilant and requires both hands on the tool. (At right, Bob Smith watches as Thai makes a cut.) The most dangerous, John Miller reminds us, are the sharp chisels and other hand tools that cadets tend to wave at each other. (All injuries so far have needed only bandaids, thankfully.) Mallets are in short supply, so the cadets employ whatever seems to work.

Watching professionals like Dave Dauerty use a chisel or an axe, the uninitiated might conclude it's not so hard. But it takes just the right combination of pressure and stroke to shave the wood to the right depth.

Culture clash: Chuck of Richmond, VA, restores Victorian homes and does period reenactments in his spare time. Below: Chuck, Joel, Roger, and Al model their hats a week too early.

At meals, we grill the cadets about their academic experience, inevitably comparing it to our own. Many of the cadets who participate are majoring in civil engineering, we discover, as those cadets who will enter one of the service branches are pursuing field exercises during this weekend. Jason, a history major, got involved because his roommate is J.P. Morris, who directs the cadets and is apparently very persuasive. Jason wants to pursue a law degree though we did our best to persuade him otherwise.

Demetri notes that academically, the first year is the easiest, but the coursework is harder each subsequent year. How do the cadets meet young women? we ask. "With great difficulty," they admit. We recognize the cadets who are alums from last year — Andy, Thai, Jethro (middle, above) — and they help the less experienced cadets. New this year is Stretch (Paul Staton, far right above), who earned that nickname as the brother of "Fathead," a treb alum.