Dark Days - Plebe Training and Opportunities

MIHOSER

5-Year Member
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Dec 23, 2009
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Plebe son told us that the upperclassmen seem to be backing off on their instruction and re-emphasizing USNA opportunities - i.e. encouraging them to take part in activities that will broaden their horizons.

Anyone else get a similar report?
 
I'm wondering if this is (like everything else at USNA) company specific. DS says that his new training staff is training at full force!
 
Our plebe says their company's training staff is all over them, so I guess it does depend!
However, midshipmen seem to be able to find ways to have fun, even in the Dark Ages. Our plebe, along with a bunch of other Mids, completed the GORUCK Challenge held in Annapolis this weekend.
http://toughmudder.com/goruck-challenge/
This 8 hour long event began with a jump into the ice covered Severn River :eek:. They ran all over Annapolis, frequently carrying "twigs" (huge logs) or each other, stopping to do PT in any icy body of water they passed by, all while wearing backpacks loaded with a 20 lb. weight. He wore the same wet, muddy clothes and shoes the whole time, and the temperature that day didn't get above 25 degrees. He had a blast! :biggrin:
 
What company is your son in? Much depends on his training staff.
I'm currently a training sergeant for my company and I can say that's sort of true for us. The plebes are still definitely plebes and we're keeping them (very!) busy, but the focus is different than first semester. It's less of an indoc and more setting them up for success next year. By now, they should know their jobs and take care of them without any prodding from the upper-class, and if they don't the punishments are pretty steep.
When I was a plebe, there were a lot of opportunities that I never even knew I could take advantage of, opportunities I could have gotten a lot out of. It's a good thing when a training staff isn't focused on just harassing the plebes, but is also concerned with their development.
 
Positivethinking: my 3/C mid did goruck also! Have you seen the facebook page for goruck?
 
Positivethinking: my 3/C mid did goruck also! Have you seen the facebook page for goruck?

Yes! I'm watching it for pics to be posted soon. Crazy stuff! :thumb:
My plebe informed us that they gave them special soap to use to combat any MRSA bacteria (that's the flesh eating kind :eek:) they might have encountered during their dunk in the Severn. Lovely, huh? I feel hopeful that any MRSA hanging around had to have been frozen solid!
 
I was going to start a thread asking who else had done goruck.....my mid did the one that began at 10 pm....one was hypothermic, one with frostbite severe enough to warrant an ER visit, 4 with frostbite enough to earn a trip to Brigade Medical. My mid loved it. Sometimes I wonder where he came from!

On another note, many mids will be doing the polar bear plunge this Saturday, benefitting Special Olympics in Maryland.

Search YouTube for videos of last winter's snow wars when school was closed.
 
DS said his company was told to prepare for some serious training after the Christmas break. Haven't heard much from him in the past couple of weeks, so maybe that did come to pass.
 
DS said his company was told to prepare for some serious training after the Christmas break. Haven't heard much from him in the past couple of weeks, so maybe that did come to pass.

This is hillarious. "Serious training" at USNA usually amounts to more chow calls, morning PT and maybe some noon meal training. I wouldn't call most of the training at USNA serious.
 
He wore the same wet, muddy clothes and shoes the whole time, and the temperature that day didn't get above 25 degrees. He had a blast! :biggrin:

Sea Trials will seem like child's play to him...these conditions sound crazy!
 
All part of developing espirit de corps - and keeping plebes busy and out of trouble.
 
@mademu...maybe, but I think just the mention of it by upperclassman, and thinking about it by the Plebes, is enough to make it serious in their book! :rolleyes:
 
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