Induction Day for the Class of 2014

NewNavyMom

5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2009
Messages
93
Just waking up from I-Day. We arrived back home at 1:00AM. What a great day. I imagine it was the best weather ever for I-Day. The sky was crystal blue, a soft breeze and a high of 82 degrees. Beautiful Annapolis. Our son was smiling after the ceremony and pleased to be heading for dinner and his room. His JROTC instructor came and conducted the private oath ceremony and presented him with a "Challenge Coin". We had 12 family members there. They took tours, ate at the picnic and took in Annapolis. We watched lots of Plebes get off buses and be hurried around by the Detailers, who are an extremely impressive bunch!

I spotted several forum members in red, white and blue ribbons and was really happy to place faces with screen names.

It's been an incredible 17 months from preliminary application to I-Day!
 
Congratulations to your son and all of the new plebes. It may seem far off, but PPW will be here before you know it. Have fun looking for your Waldo.
 
Unfortunately I didn't spot anyone with the red, white and blue ribbons. We decided not to go to the picnic, which I suppose might have helped in order to spot the ribbon wearers. Maybe we can try the ribbon thing for PPW also.

It was a gorgeous day. Our plebes definitely lucked out with the weather! The weather has been so hot and humid in this area for the last couple of weeks, that we were all worried what I-day was going to be like.

DS said that check in was a little nerve racking for him. He was telling us how when he went through the immunization line that he couldn't find the copy of his immunization record that he was supposed to have in his folder. They told him that they were going to have to re-do all of his vaccines (which wouldn't have been a good idea as he has a major aversion to needles!) Fortunately, they found their copy. When he was being fitted for his uniform, they gave him size 36 pants (he usually wears 28-30). They told him that what they gave him were fine, so he just cinched them up as tight as he possibly could. Only problem is that there is a pocket on the inside that you're supposed to put your Reef Point book into, and with his pants cinched up he wasn't able to get his book in and out. Oh well. Guess he's going to have to figure it out.

This forum was so helpful in giving suggestions on how to handle the day. As soon as they put the chairs up in Tecumseh Court, we noticed that everyone was putting down blankets to reserve chairs, so we went ahead and did that too. We made sure to bring him dinner after the Oath of Office Ceremony. (They had been given lunch but he didn't eat much so he was starving.) Drydock had a line going out the door before the ceremony so we ran over to Moe's and got him his favorite meal. We did bring a blanket to sit down in the shade, and fortunately he didn't spill anything!

The Mids that were on the yard on I-day were so helpful. A couple of them gave suggestions for plebe summer care packages (we did mail his first one on Wednesday before we headed to Annapolis). The Mids said they love receiving pictures, letters, food (even junk food during plebe summer:wink:), and extra underwear!

It will be so interesting to see how much they've change in 6 weeks!
 
Detailers were helpful? Wow! I am sure to parents but not to Plebes. Just kidding.
 
There are mids on the Yard during the summer who aren't detailers. Mids attending summer school, transiting to/from summer cruises, and probably some other reasons. The parents probably ran into some of those.
 
Are you kidding? There is no way we were going to approach the "Detailers" :eek:

USNA1985 is correct. There were a lot of mids on the yard, most of the ones we were talking to were there for summer school, some had recently graduated (so I guess technically not mids anymore) and were staying there until they left for flight school.
 
Back from I-day. I can't tell you how helpful this forum has been to us both getting to I-day and about I-day itself. Can't wait for someone to post on you tube the ceremony. Hope they got the kid who didn't realize it was time to form up again at the end and was running like crazy to catch his group. Felt really bad for him. Hope he survived. ha ha
Future Class of 2015 - Don't let that happen to you. If they say form at 7:15 be there by 7:00.
 
Yeah. And they are all friendly and helpful to PLEBES. Respectful to parents OK but PLEBES get real.:biggrin:
 
What a fabulous I-Day! I'll never forget it. Weather was spectacular and very much appreciated so we could all focus on the more important stuff. I was impressed with how USNA organized and structured the day. I loved being an observer and watching the Plebes get off the buses as they scuffled to follow orders. We had family and friends with us which helped me with my emotions. When we finally got to see Jeff after the Oath I couldn't stop staring at him. His life flashed before my eyes as he walked away from me and back to his company. I sobbed then I stopped. A very symbolic moment. I know he's going to do great and this challenge will be so good for him. I'm just going to miss him. Thanks to this forum for all the tidbits and ideas. I felt like such an expert on I Day because I knew what to expect.
 
We have 2 youngsters snoozing in at the moment here at the house, picked 'em up from the Yard last night, one in summer school, one just back from sailing training block. Both were grinning as we drove off the Yard and watched the plebes march into Alumni Hall for a brief; nothing makes a youngster happier than those first few days of seeing other people being plebes. The summer schooler said she had been stopped a number of times around the Yard the past few days to help with directions, advice, etc.

Detailers wear red name tags and are usually on their way to somewhere with some speed. Mids in summer school, in transition between training blocks or on the Yard for other training have black name tags. There are also a number of just-graduated ensigns and second lieutenants with butter bars still on the Yard doing stash jobs until it's time to report to their ship or training pipeline.
 
I-day was amazing! I have never been this tired...can't imagine how tired our plebes are!!

Okay, so I teared up a bit, but didn't cry. I just new what son was doing was right.

My advice to him was to remember that every day was brand new with a clean slate. The mistakes from yesterday do not carry over. There is no tally. But at the end of the day write down at least one success. Pretty soon you will have a list of success stories to hang on your cork board.

We are not taking off our USNA wristband until we see him again at the end of Plebe Summer!
 
What an amazing few days its been! I-Day couldn't have been more perfect. I was so impressed at how smoothly everything went. Also, getting around Annapolis and even parking was much easier than I expected. Seeing my Plebe after the swearing in was such an amazing experience. He was tired and overwhelmed and shellshocked, but in good spirits and making jokes. I managed not to cry around him at all during our too short 45 minutes before he marched off to Plebe summer. PPW can't come soon enough!

I didn't see anyone with Red white and blue either, but I didn't do the picnic, and spent most of Iday in DTA. We went the day prior with our son to the mid store, and I LOVE the 2014 shirts! Did I say PPW cant come soon enough?
 
My youngster son was on the yard I-Day...just returned from Hawaii and begins sailing tomorrow, July 4. He and some buddies talked to many families. Lots of nervous parents.

Glad I-Day went so well for everyone. I thought of you all often July 1. Doesn't seem like a year ago:eek: .......time flies.
 
I Day + 2 and already one Plebe is on crutches! Way to go 2014:rolleyes:
 
I Day + 2 and already one Plebe is on crutches! Way to go 2014:rolleyes:

I ended up on crutches plebe summer when I severely sprained my foot on the O-Course. It's a physically-demanding time and, as with any sport, people do get hurt, even if they're in great shape. And, trust me, you don't want to be on crutches during the summer but it happens.
 
I-Day Photos

We miss our plebe and continuously search on the internet for pictures. Any suggestions as to which sites are best? One site charges $20 for a 3x5. I thought that was to expensive. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
The site that charges $20 for a 3x5 is the most focused on your kiddo, their platoon, company, etc. Easiest to find them. The others, facebook, dropshots, etc are great photos, but you are searching through all the plebes for yours.

I would recommend doing THornton's thing, as well as the others. You can sign up, spend the minimum, and you will have some great photos. I think I ordered maybe 6 from them. But the daily search for your plebe is so much easier, in general, on Thornton, cuz they have the photos tagged by company, platoon, last name. I think it is worth the minimum expenditure.
 
We miss our plebe and continuously search on the internet for pictures. Any suggestions as to which sites are best? One site charges $20 for a 3x5. I thought that was to expensive. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Are you participating on the USNA parents list-serv? There are some local parents who wander around the Yard snapping photos all the time - especially during Plebe Summer. They upload them to dropshots.com for all to see.

You have to get good at reading guidon flags to find your Plebe's company. :smile:
 
One way to help find your Plebe in all those dropshots pictures (unless he/she is easily identifiable) is to find another Plebe in the same company who IS easily identifiable (extra tall/short, skinny/heavy, or a female with recognizable hair). From then on, if you find that Plebe, yours will be close by. (Redheads AND guidon flags are great!)

It also helps to look at the Thornton's schedule for your Plebe's company to see what activities they'll be doing on a given day before going through all the hundreds of pictures that can be posted on a given day.

Happy Waldo hunting!
 
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