Spring is upon us— Changes around campus follow

Volume I , Issue 4

March

04

2016

Micah Giszack

We’ve all got Spring Fever. This week

started off breezy and warm, both

telltale signs of a quickly-approaching

spring. Any former cadet can attest to

the fact that this final leg of the year

passes more quickly than any other

segment. Just a day after we get back

from leave, cadets will have their

Term 4 midterm exams, and a short

few weeks after that, they will be in

their final class for the year. Spring

sports seasons have begun, and the

excitement is tangible among the ca-

dets and faculty alike, because shortly

after spring comes summer, and with

that a new chapter in some of our

cadets’ lives. It would be too easy to

smell the flowers or warm breeze and

then forget that we still have a few

weeks left. When cadets return, they’ll

be making the transition from neck-

ties and long sleeves to summer at-

tire: blue collared shirts and cropped

BDU polos.

However, more than cadets’ uniforms

will be changing come their return.

Monday, March 14th will be the final

club slot pitted for a Monday after-

noon. Starting on March 21st, that

time will be occupied by a drill period.

This is in preparation for parade sea-

son, which cadets will be practicing

for. It’s true that this last leg is always

the most exciting, but that brings

changes with it. Especially for seniors

who will be venturing off to college in

the fall, keeping the blinders on until

graduation is crucial. History will

show us that teenagers tend to think

in the short-term, which time and

time again has proven detrimental to

lifelong success. We know that the

young men at Fork Union are entirely

capable of self-discipline, respect,

integrity, faith and character. After all,

it’s who we are and what we do as a

school, and that will never change.

The up-and-coming sport at Fork Union Captain Jon Greenspon

A new season is starting at Fork Union. That which was win-

ter is now becoming spring and with this seasonal sports

change there is an excitement in the air. A new spring season

brings with it new hopes and an optimism that always seems

to be welcomed after the short dark days of winter. As prac-

tice gets underway, time seems to pick up pace. Spring Break

is just around the corner. When rains stop long enough for

the athletic fields to dry out, the smell of fresh-cut grass will

fill the air. These fields will be lined for practice and for play.

Clocks will be adjusted to reflect the change in time. Birds

will continue to return to the area as the daylight hours con-

tinue to gain momentum. Lacrosse season is here at last!

Players and coaches alike are excited about the prospects for

this year’s lacrosse teams. Lacrosse continues to be the up

and coming sport at Fork Union with an emerging group

of talented young players. The Lacrosse Program is led by

Varsity Head Coach Nate Thiel. Coach Thiel is assisted by

Head JV Coach Jonathan Greenspon as well as Assistant

Coaches Aaron Butt and Bennett Radinovic. Ms. Jenni Payne

will also be assisting this spring, working with the goalies.

This year, 2016 marks the return to Fork Union of a Junior

Varsity Lacrosse team. For years we operated with only

a Middle School team and a Varsity. Oftentimes in the past,

players in the 9th or 10th grade would not have an avenue to

improve their skills or prepare them for game opportunities.

The addition of the JV should help to develop those players,

as well as the 7th and 8th graders who make the team. One of

Coach Greenspon’s goals for the JV Lacrosse team is to help

build a foundation for the Varsity team. There are several

former middle school players on this year’s Varsity team

who are contributing talent to the Varsity, refining skills they

first learned when they played in the middle school.

Continues on Page 3

Don’t forget to move your clocks ahead an hour on Sunday, March 13. This is the day cadets return.

Volume I , Issue 4 Page 2

Myth or Maxim? Smartphone battery tips and tricks Cadets Zachary Miller and Micah Giszack

Nearly everyone has a smartphone. No matter which brand you

choose to have, battery life is an issue that all owners have gripes

over. Plenty of different sources have varying suggestions for how

to make the charge last longer, but some of the tips are misleading,

and can even cost you. First, I’ll discuss ways to elongate battery

life, then the things you do that might cost you. Androids and

iPhones both share one major battery-drainer: the screen. On aver-

age, your phone’s screen uses close to 45% of the entire battery.

Turning down the brightness can save you a lot, and even earn you

up to a full hour of usage if you are smart with it. However, using

the auto-brightness feature, though it might help, can actually be

less efficient than manually adjusting it, because the phone’s sen-

sors that measure ambient light use power, too (but using this

feature is better than nothing at all). Though you may have a bit of

trouble finding one, using an ad-blocking app can save you up to

20%, because there won’t be as much data traffic going in and out.

In addition to battery, using one of those apps can also decrease

load times for web pages, and also they will make browsing use

less data from your plan over LTE. If you have a weak Wi-Fi con-

nection, though, using LTE or 4G may be easier on your battery,

because your phone uses a lot of power when it tries to maintain a

weak connection to your router. If you don’t use your phone as a

GPS often, turning off location services can help save some juice,

too. The same applies with push notifications. Disabling vibration,

especially can save lots of power.

There are some tips, however, that just don’t hold up under testing.

For example, you might compulsively close all of your apps every

so often, but iOS and Android are both designed to put those pro-

grams to sleep when you aren’t using them, so closing them might

not be all that beneficial, and can actually cost you if the app-in-

question was streaming music or needs to stay open in the back-

ground. The batteries in phones are not meant to be discharged to

0% more than every so often (though this practice can help cali-

brate the percentage meter on your phone. This would be benefi-

cial if your phone goes from 20% to 0% in minutes), and doing this

can shorten their overall lifespan. Some will tell you that leaving

your phone plugged in overnight can damage the battery, but this

is not true. While leaving a LI-Ion battery at full capacity may

weaken the cells, modern programming prevents overcharging,

which used to be an issue with flip phones. Moreover, it is OK to

use your phone while it’s charging. As long as it’s just for quick

glances, using your smartphone while plugged in will not have any

adverse effects in the long run, though it will take longer to charge

because the screen is on. Finally, be careful which type of cable you

use to charge your phone. Especially with iPhones, using Lightning

cables made by anyone other than Apple or a reputable brand like

Anker could damage your charging port and battery. There have

even been reports of the charging nub breaking off inside the

phone!

Campus unscathed after bout with tornadoes

On Wednesday, February 24, 2016 a dangerous storm system

hit Fork Union, Virginia. Just miles from campus, tornadoes

touched down and severely damaged some of the surrounding

area. There were widespread reports of trees being uprooted

and flung or snapped. Structural damage was mainly related to

downed trees, though some homes suffered wind damage.

Power was out for over a day around, but not on, the FUMA

campus. We are considerably blessed to have made it out with

zero injuries, especially compared to what many others across

the East Coast endured. The system struck Southeastern states

on Tuesday. These included Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida.

Though reports of tornadic activity remained isolated to the

East, snowstorms and heavy winds cancelled flights at Chicago

O’Hare, and schools closed across many states due to severe

weather. The reported fatality count is 5, with three of those

targeted at a single neighborhood. Fork Union cadets were

fortunate enough to deal only with the boredom of waiting in

buildings across campus as the campus was put into a Code

Yellow, a drill cadets practice every school year to prepare for

such events as these. In other places along the Midwest, build-

ings were torn from the ground and debris flew all over the

place. In all regions affected by this particular system, over a

hundred individuals were injured. Damages are estimated to

run into the hundreds of millions of dollars in certain locales.

Cadet John Graves-Marchand

Volume I , Issue 4 Page 3

Up and coming— Continued Captain Jon Greenspon

The 2016 Varsity Lacrosse Schedule includes 15 games during

the regular season. The Junior Varsity is slated for 9 games

this spring. Both schedules are available through the athletics

tab on the Fork Union website. Several games are being

played at home this season. Come cheer on our teams as we

take the field this spring.

Lacrosse hopes to add to

the reputation of success-

es found in the banners

from other programs

which adorn the Estes

Athletic Center. Fork Un-

ion has fielded highly

successful programs in

Football, Basketball,

Track/Cross Country, and

Swimming. If you are in-

terested in supporting the Lacrosse Program, or playing a part

in the success of this up and coming sport at Fork Union,

please contact Coach Thiel or Coach Greenspon to find out

how you can help.

As the Fork Union Military Academy community honors the

accomplishments and

proud traditions of our

athletes and the legendary

coaches who have men-

tored them through the

ages, the lacrosse coaches

believe it is imperative

that we continue to build

upon the foundation. As

we prepare for a renais-

sance in our programs,

never should we lose those intangibles which make us Fork

Union. Our athletes are all cadets and must develop their tal-

ents and abilities within the culture, not outside of it. Aca-

demics must continue to come first. Respect, Integrity,

Faith, Character, and Discipline will continue to be honed in

the classroom, the barracks, and the arena. Fork Union’s big-

gest goal remains to produce honorable men of fortitude –the

kind of men which our world needs now more than ever.

Cadet Luke Antesberger

Norovirus outbreak at Ohio college

A Western Ohio college has been dealing with a small epidemic

scare recently. In a sudden outbreak, a strain of norovirus has

been sweeping through the school. An estimate of 200 students

are sick with the virus in just a few days. Norovirus, according to

the CDC, “...is a very contagious virus that can infect anyone. You

can get it from an infected person, contaminated food and water,

or by touching contaminated surfaces.” Several symptoms of this

virus include stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. No-

rovirus is known to be one of the most frequent causes of food-

borne disease in the United States. It affects 19 million to 21 mil-

lion people each year in the U.S. and also causes 570 to 800

deaths annually, according to the CDC. Locations this virus are

known to thrive include hospitals, cruise ships, universities, and

most other places where people eat or interact in close quarters.

"We have been very diligent in our cleaning [and sanitization],

and are using products that combat the virus in our residential

and dining halls," said Carole Johnson, a university spokeswoman.

Across the last several months, norovirus has been reported in

restaurants in Kansas, and in Chipotle locations across the U.S.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t find its way down to Fork Union.

Fork Union Military Academy

We’re on the Web!

example.com

Editor’s Note We are almost there! It’s almost the

point of the year in which cadets’

mouths begin to water at the prospect

of summer vacation. It really seems

like just two or three months, rather

than six, that we’ve been in this

academic session. The third leg of the

“marathon” begins on March 14th. This

is already the fourth edition of the

Sabre Now, and though I myself may be

partial, it seems to have been

successful thus far. Although only time

will dictate the future of Now, all signs

point toward a bright future. We have

only attained increasingly greater

support from cadets and faculty for not

just readership, but also contributions

toward this newsletter. This edition

was filled with high-quality writing

from Sabre staff members, and FUMA

faculty, with a special thanks to

Captain Greenspon for his excellent

lacrosse piece. In the box above, there

is a hyperlink to Sabre Now’s online

library, and this is a secondary link. We

encourage anyone who enjoys this

newsletter to share it with absolutely

anyone interested in keeping up with

events both on campus and the ones

that are happening elsewhere, but

intrigue our writers. The Sabre wishes

all cadets and their families a happy

spring break, and we look forward to

seeing this school year through with all

of you. Until next time.

Phone: 434-848-3212

Address: 4744 James Madison Hwy

Fork Union, VA 23055

Comments for Sabre Now: Sabre@fuma.org

All back issues can be found here

Meet one of Earth’s toughest living creatures, Tardigrade

Luke Antesberger

March and April’s Events CORRECTION: The last issue marked March 19th, rather than March 13th, as

the final day of Spring Leave. We apologize for the error

March 16th: Term 4 Midterm.

March 4th: Spring Leave begins. Cadets may leave campus directly follow-

ing class’s termination and appropriate procedures.

***Note: There will be wintry weather in our region on March 4th. Stay alert for any

notices from the Commandant’s Department regarding Leave

March 13th: Cadets will return to campus from leave at no later than 1930

March 19th: Saturday class. This is Alumni Speaker Day

April 9th: ACT administered on-campus.

April 11th: Term 4 final exams. Term 5 begins

A full 2015-2016 Academic Calendar may be found on our website. A

PDF is available for all parents to download here. The 2016-2017

Academic Calendar will be available soon.

All information hereto has been verified. Modifications to preserve accuracy were taken when necessary.

Volume I , Issue 2 Page 5

What is the world’s strongest creature? Many

would say that it’s a rhino or maybe a croco-

dile. But I do not think anybody would assume

a microorganism could be any stronger than

one of those fierce beings, but one of them is:

the tardigrade. To test its strength, a Swedish

researcher named Ingemar Jonsson from Kris-

tianstad University sent

some samples of tardi-

grade into space. They

were launched into a

Low-Earth orbit, LEO, in

2007 on the spacecraft

FOTON-M3. Despite

being exposed to outer

space and its harsh con-

ditions, most of the Tar-

digrades survived the

trip.

Now that scientists

know tardigrades can

survive space, why not

stick them in a freezer

and see what happens? Well, they did that, but

the freezer they used was far more frigid than

the one you might have at home. Several Japa-

nese researchers have effectively awakened

Tardigrades after 30 years of deep sleep in

temperatures many degrees below zero Fahr-

enheit. In November of 1983, several moss

samples were collected in a Japanese Antarctic

expedition and were stored at -4 degrees. Not

too long ago in March of 2014, researchers

unfroze the very same moss and, to their great

surprise, found two living

Tardigrades. The re-

searchers named them

Sleeping Beauty-1 and

Sleeping Beauty-2. An egg

was also extracted and

named Sleeping Beauty-3.

The second one died after

20 days, but Sleeping

Beauty-1 recovered.

Sleeping Beauty-3 eventu-

ally “hatched” from its

egg, too.

“The goal of the undertak-

ing is ‘to unravel the mech-

anism for long-term surviv-

al by looking into damage to tardigrades' DNA

and their ability to repair it," says a researcher,

per the BBC.” SB-1 laid a total of 19 eggs, but

only 14 hatched, and SB-3 laid 15 eggs, but only

7 hatched.”

Photo Cr. NASA. Scanning microscopic

imagery of Tardigrade