Posted by Terry Adams on May 14, 2012:

Nick Tessino was always thinking; one never knew about what, but this gentle giant put his thinking to good use one night when he was a Firstie in B2. A birthday when we were Firsties in B2 was a frightening night because you knew that your classmates might be coming for you shortly after "lights out." Here's what usually happened to the "birthday boy", if the birthday was discovered. Just after "lights out", all the Firsties would gather in a classmate's room and then together storm the "birthday boy's" room. We would subdue our target, bind his hands and feet, usually take liquid black shoe polish and paint a large "B2" on the victim's chest. We would usually make sure the victim was dressed in nothing but his underwear. We would then stuff the hapless soul into a mattress cover and tie it shut. We'd all hoist the mattress cover with enclosed victim into the air and carry him down to central area where we would deposit him. We would then go back up into our rooms, open our windows and shout out into central area so everyone within hearing distance would know there was something going on. Windows all around central area would open up and many others would join in the hoopla once they noticed the mattress cover lying on the ground. On several occasions, the OC heard the raucous and investigated, only to discover our classmate bound and painted in the mattress cover. It was truly a beautiful and funny sight to behold. It was Nick Tessino's birthday and we had gathered to pay him a visit. We stormed his room and there was no Nick to be found. We looked under beds, in closets, and finally someone happened to slide the door open to the storage area above the closets, and to our surprise, it was stuffed full of Tessino. Now for those of you not familiar with a cadet's room, this storage area was about 6 feet off the floor and above the closet where we hung our clothes, and it was not a big storage area at that. So, to see all of Nick Tessino stuffed into that tiny area was amazing. But, that was Nick's ability to think quickly; we had almost left without checking that area because no one would think to hide there, no one except Nick. Needless to say, that did not save Nick from getting his birthday welcome. We proceeded with the normal tradition and Nick ended up in central area just like all the other birthday victims. I think either the Engineering Department or the Physics Department should pose this scenario to cadets and have them answer three questions: 1. How did Nick get himself 6 feet off the ground to get into the storage area? 2. How did Nick stuff his huge body into that storage area?, and 3. How did we ever get him out of and down from there? I think all the great minds of West Point could never solve those questions.

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