Hello, I am a Student here at USMMA. There is a facebook group (USMMA class of 2020) for prospective plebes to join and ask questions. https://www.facebook.com/groups/939442702795076/
I feel like I post something to this effect every year. Usually it'd be longer, but I'm posting from a third world internet connection on my phone (...and guys like @KPEngineer and @tankercaptain relied on their radio operator! Ha!)
The class specific Facebook groups are great, great for collective hand wringing, and general misinformation? Why you ask. It's very much the blind leading the blind. 2019'rs who are still figuring out which side of their uniforms the name tag goes on teaching 2020 folks about their vast knowledge of what lies beyond Vickery Gate. The parents pages are the same way, generally negative worry about things they can't control. For some things like trends in admissions 2019 has the most up date information, but everything else their is a huge lack of perspective. The groups have their place, if you keep in mind their limits.
Some things never change.. When I started in 1975 I was sailing with guys that during coffee time would recount being torpedoed or making the Murmansk run in convoy while reminding us young bucks how good we have it..The next youngest mate on my ship now is still old enough to be my father; so I'm constantly hearing about the "the good ole' days, when the ships were made of wood and the men made of steel." It serves as a reminder of how much I'll never see out here.... Sigh.
Some things never change.. When I started in 1975 I was sailing with guys that during coffee time would recount being torpedoed or making the Murmansk run in convoy while reminding us young bucks how good we have it..The next youngest mate on my ship now is still old enough to be my father; so I'm constantly hearing about the "the good ole' days, when the ships were made of wood and the men made of steel." It serves as a reminder of how much I'll never see out here.... Sigh.
cmakin and I don't go back to the dark days of WW2, but we do remember sailing on 'stick ships' that hung around port for more than just a few hours and when the SL-7's were running commercially AND making money doing it..