Good Luck w/ Finals!!!

XBulldog

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I just wanted to wish every mid and plebe good luck next week with your finals. I don't know how to put into words how amazed I am when I hear how much each and every student accomplishes during a single day while attending the Academy. I am proud my son has had the chance to meet, work and serve along side such top notch young people. Good luck with your finals everyone!
 
Beachbum

I was wondering if anyone knows of a bakery that would deliver to the Academy. I would like to send my son and his "study buddies" something sweet!
If so, can the delivery be made directly to the Hall or should it be delivered somewhere else? My son is a Plebe and the rules may be different for them.:rolleyes:
 
beachbum

I sent you a PM with a bunch of links, etc...

DS is currently at sea so I don't know where he'd be getting takeout, etc from this coming week if he were on campus but we did similar things to what you suggest last year at the end of every trimester.

The food at Delano is really one of the low points of midshipmen life and has been so for a very long time - As an '82 grad, I personnaly feel it's good to see the traditions and standards of midshipmen life are upheld!
 
Good question. I sent my son homemade cookies after classes were under way and they were confiscated. :frown: Learned my lesson the hard way. Only energy bars and drinks allowed in Band Co. At least that's been the general rule..
 
I had this same question last year. Our Parents' Association send boodle boxes to all of our mids for exams. I was sending them all chocolates. (We live in Belgium, home of some of the world's best chocolate.:biggrin:) And I didn't want to get any of the plebes in trouble. More experience parents told me that during exam time, no one would get into any trouble. Everyone is too busy prepping for and worrying about exams to hassle the plebes. The boodle box our daughter received had candy and sweets in it in addition to trail mix and beef jerky. She had no trouble from anyone in Band Co. last year.

So the short answer is, unless there is a real jerk out there on a power trip, there's a truce called for exams.
 
confiscated cookies

jaspardog,
Our son had 5 dozen homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made by his best male and female friend kept by his CTO fter acceptance day, never to be seen again...and other treats were going through... I'm hoping the boodle boxes our State Parents Association put together went thru. I think I would've heard about it from the co Prez if they hadn't.
 
This is truly disappointing to me...

jaspardog,
Our son had 5 dozen homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies made by his best male and female friend kept by his CTO after acceptance day, never to be seen again...and other treats were going through... I'm hoping the boodle boxes our State Parents Association put together went thru. I think I would've heard about it from the co Prez if they hadn't.

KP2013dramamama:

I'm putting on my over proud alumni hat as I write this as when I put my parent hat on I'll rant about it even more. I have no doubt things like this occur in today's regiment at Kings Point. IMO, it's symptomatic of two issues: 1) the fact that too much emphasis is put "on the regiment" by some members of the current upper-class; and 2) the reorganization of the regiment to REDUCE the number of Midshipman Officer billets so that more mature, moderate, and truly worthy individuals are the only ones who should and will get those assignments is long overdue.

Why do I say these two things. I base my opinion/conclusion relative to #1 on a couple of things - a) the number of folks going "active duty" has steadily increased over the past few years for a variety of reasons and this has led some folks, including that group of Midshipmen in the current regiment, to feel that KP is more a "military academy" then a maritime or service academy. As such they feel obtaining boards their first class year is going to be a help to their future military careers, etc. As such. they IMO therefore seek them for the wrong reasons and use them improperly. b) Over the prior ten years the number of Midshipmen Officer Billets was increased as was the involvement of the third and second class (post-indoctrination) in the administration and conduct of the regimental training program, one of just three key aspects of Midshipmen Life at the Academy. This has resulted in increased opportunities for those some usually improperly motivated and often immature subgroup of First Classmen to be placed in those positions of authority. My prime example of this occurred last year - I obtained a forwarded copy of an email from a CTO to their Company's Plebes that was basically supposed to be a directive, an order, it was laced with four letter words, it demeaned and deprecated their efforts through that point (this was during the Second Trimester) and it threatened them. Basically, it read like it came from an illiterate gang member. To be sure Capt. Arnold my Plebe English professor and a West Pointer himself wouldn't have been the least bit amused or any less displeased than I, that someone could have gotten through 3+ years as what i) looked like a functional illiterate, and even more disturbingly ii) was a belief that leading through both demotivation and intimidation, as well as trying to "mail in" that leadership electronically. What happened to this first rotation CTO? Were they counseled or coached as it's my understanding they regularly sent such directives, etc and everyone including the CO knew it? Not at all, the next rotation they became the CC of a different company. Truly a sad comment on the way the regiment was being run and how big a job Capt Fell and RADM Worley have to turn things around and ensure they are running a program that trains leaders and not caricatures of USMC Drill Instructors ala Hollywood.

These actions you describe which IMO are the current First Class or at least those in regimental leadership positions taking themselves way too seriously and taking Class Rates way too far and for too long, are truly symptoms of the above problems in this year's incarnations. I can say it's truly disappointing for me to see, when I know the First Classmen in the Class of 1979, especially those like RADM Mark Buzby USN - current CO of MSC, never acted nor considered acting this way to my Class - 1982, let alone the Class of 1981 or 1980 or any of their peers, when we were Plebes. I think one of the biggest problems/missing parts of the whole thing is that since this problem has grown over time, no one from the Class of 2007 was probably the person whose name the current Class of 2010 can and does insert in the blank when they ask themselves "What would ___________ do in this situation?" and even worse from what I see there are few if any of the current of the staff of Commissioned Officers they feel thinking that way about.

I continue to hope and believe that the path Capt. Fell is driving down will rectify this over time, but frankly don't see it having a real affect until at least another year or two have passed. From what I've seen and heard so far I believe that Capt. Fell was and is a great choice as permanent Commandant of Midshipmen and is really properly motivated, almost surprisingly so for an Annapolis grad :biggrin:
 
Jasperdog....our DS is home on the Tri Break.....saw some of the same type of emails you are talking about.....they are still happening............not what I expected.......but, exactly when they boy was telling me was happening. Trust me, his plebe experience is nothing like the plebe experience from the 60's 70's 80's (don't know any grads from the 90's)

Not my idea of the wonderful rich tradition, which has worked for decades, that has been brought up recently.

I too am a Fell Fan.
 
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I think the problem is that the upperclass regimental officers cannot IT the plebes in the "old fashion" way. From my understanding in the past the officer could correct a plebe immediately by making them drop and do 20 pushups -- now they are not allowed to do this any longer, so the officers have to "stick" them, or, withhold goodies.

Just my 2 cents :cool:

I agree that Capt. Fell was the absolute correct choice for Commandant. He has the best interest of our kids in mind and is very responsive to parent's concerns.
 
I would like to believe the future leaders of our country have enough sophistication and creativity that they would, as a matter of pride, avoid having to resort to any bully tactics... especially something as unprofessional as emailing "threats" which some might interpret as denigrating or showing hostility or aversion toward an individual or group because of race, sex, creed, religion, national origin, age, color.

Isn't stealing mail a federal offensive?

Are they denied medical care too?

Please tell me-- this is a professional organization; run by professionals who are committed to nothing less than developing professionals.
 
My 2 cents as a parent. (I will qualify this by saying my information comes from our DD, an admittedly biased source, and my observations of her.)

Part of the problem is that those who really care about the regiment and doing things "right" are frustrated with the politics. That leaves those who want the positions for the power in charge. I see mids with real leadership potential who just don't want to "play the game" to become an officer. Yes I am biased, but I include our DD in that category. She has been taking PO positions after having fulfilled her leadership requirements as a team leader because she wants to support friends whom she believes will do a good job. But she insists she wants nothing to do with being an officer herself because she doesn't want to deal with the politics involved.

I can't begin to suggest what changes might be effective. But it seems to me that there is clearly something wrong with a system that discourages the real leaders while rewarding the power-hungry with ever more responsibility.

Now those with real KP experience can proceed to tell me how mistaken I am. I expect they are probably right.
 
I would like to believe the future leaders of our country have enough sophistication and creativity that they would, as a matter of pride, avoid having to resort to any bully tactics... especially something as unprofessional as emailing "threats" which some might interpret as denigrating or showing hostility or aversion toward an individual or group because of race, sex, creed, religion, national origin, age, color.

Isn't stealing mail a federal offensive?

Are they denied medical care too?

Please tell me-- this is a professional organization; run by professionals who are committed to nothing less than developing professionals.

First to be clear - what I wrote about relative to derogatory remarks and bullying, etc. the intimidation tactics and profanity had NOTHING to do with race, sex, creed, religion, national origin or color; and the only thing it had to do with age was that all those being objects of this enlightened leadership were "plebes" and therefore of an age that enabled them to be entering members of that class year.

That said I never felt that writing an email today is any different then posting an all hands notice "back in the day" and back in the day none of the midshipmen officers I ever saw would ever write something and issue it that was i) not at least proofread for basic spelling and grammar; ii) containing any profanity, let alone multiple "F'Bombs"; and iii) ended with threats, at worst there would be something that said "...and we will continue to do this daily until you all get it correct." Finally, I sincerely believe that if any of the midshipmen officers "back in the day" did such a thing they probably would have been relieved immediately, at the very least they would have been counseled, given demerits and restriction, and one last chance to finish their rotation on their best behavior.:cool:
 
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