Museum of Augusta Military Academy
Augusta Military Academy School Clock
This is the original clock that was located in the “Officer of the Day” room, located just inside and to the left of the Main Barracks front entrance. This room was manned 24 hours a day throughout the school year by a cadet officer (O.D.), a cadet NCO and a cadet private. This was considered an “additional duty” and would rotate through the Corps of cadets during the school year.
Their duties included many things to ensure that all functions of the school happened on a precise schedule. Additionally, they would welcome and register visitors to the school, answer the school phone and document any cadets leaving or returning to post.
Using this clock as the master time piece, the O.D. would play sound recordings of the appropriate bugle calls for various school functions such as:
First Call (Wake up) 6:55 AM
Reveille (Get up/dressed) 7:00 AM
Assembly (Formation) 7:05 AM
Recall (Throughout the day to denote changes in activity)
Meal Call 7:30 AM / 6:10 PM
Tattoo (Quiet time) 9:25 PM
Taps (Lights out / sleep) 9:50
The O.D. played the bugle calls from an old record player in the guard house using decades old steel 78 rpm records which, as one can imagine, suffered much abuse over time. Although lost when the school closed, below is a studio recreation of a recording more closely resembling (including scratches and an approximate volume) what cadets actually heard in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Although certainly not condoned, many cadets over the years added their personal “mark” to the clock’s face and interior during the long boring hours of guard duty. Today this graffiti acts as a silent testament to the young men that passed through the doors of this institution over the many years.
