Summer Training Cruises

greeneagle5

10-Year Member
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Dec 5, 2007
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347
Oh the places they'll go and people they'll meet.....

My Midn is currently "at sea" paddling Prince William Sound in AK aboard a sea kayak for 24 days........quite a difference from last summer's Sub cruise below the south atlantic for 21 days..

What fantastic Summer training/travel opportunities and experiences these young men and women are given at the Academies ! :thumb:
 
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Ah yes, some training experiences are excellent. For those who haven't had a training block, though, be prepared to deal with a less than ideal situation. What are you going to do if you are assigned to a ship that's tied alongside the pier for your entire "cruise?" What are you going to do if the training officer "dumps" you onto some poor petty officer who hasn't thought of anything for you to do? These are real situations that do happen. Some people spend lots of time hanging out playing a gameboy, sleeping, or working out. My suggestion (I'd love to hear from USNA1985 or others with fleet experience) if you find yourself without "gainful employment," is to ask for something to do. Ask your petty officer for even the most mundane tasks (carrying crates, chopping vegetables, walking FOD watch, swabbing decks). Ask if it's possible to work on any ratings or qualifications.
 
Great advice from 2012mom

My sons's roommate is in Norfolk on a flattop tied to a pier... As far as the NOLS (aka sea kayak trip alluded to earlier), that may indeed count towards Summer Block training, BUT at a cost of $3-4K - not obtainable by most mids.
Be prepared for the mundane and hope for the best!
 
There is no reason to work on any qual while underway on a ship or submarine, unless it is the sleep qual. That doesn't mean that you don't make your way around the ship/sub trying to understand what is going on. NOLS Alaska mountaineering was one of the coolest things that I have ever done. As has been stated, it cost me $5k. That is attainable to most Mids, its called the second class loan.
 
Mid now doing Leatherhead, sorry Leathneck at Quantico. Will come back for detailer during second session Plebe Summer. Over the past summers sailed 44's to Newport, did Fleet Week in Boston on USS Batan, got to drive and dive a Boomer out of Kings Bay, flew a jet trainer when the command pilot said "do you like rolercoasters?" then "it is all yours, you are a natural". What a life experience. Wish I could do life over again.:yllol:
 
Mid now doing Leatherhead, sorry Leathneck at Quantico. Will come back for detailer during second session Plebe Summer. Over the past summers sailed 44's to Newport, did Fleet Week in Boston on USS Batan, got to drive and dive a Boomer out of Kings Bay, flew a jet trainer when the command pilot said "do you like rolercoasters?" then "it is all yours, you are a natural". What a life experience. Wish I could do life over again.:yllol:

I hope I get to do fleet week when my time comes. I heard from a sailor that it is one of his most fun experiences in NYC. I think he even came back the year after, without being assigned to a participating ship.
 
2012mom:

Never ask for something to do. Disappear and report when required. Never, Never, Never, Never ask enlisted personnel for a work assignment.:thumb: They don't give you a report or write you up if they can't find you.
 
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Fleet Week in NY is absolutely great. In Boston not as good but pretty close. Fleet Week anywhere is a great time.
 
What are you going to do if you are assigned to a ship that's tied alongside the pier for your entire "cruise?"

These situations are HARD to avoid because of the ship's operational schedule. However, in the event where the ship does not get underway a great deal, the MIDN Training Officer (MTO) should be organizing tours on other platforms and simulator sessions.

What are you going to do if the training officer "dumps" you onto some poor petty officer who hasn't thought of anything for you to do? These are real situations that do happen. Some people spend lots of time hanging out playing a gameboy, sleeping, or working out. My suggestion (I'd love to hear from USNA1985 or others with fleet experience) if you find yourself without "gainful employment," is to ask for something to do. Ask your petty officer for even the most mundane tasks (carrying crates, chopping vegetables, walking FOD watch, swabbing decks). Ask if it's possible to work on any ratings or qualifications.

The MTO should be picking responsible Petty Officers/JOs as MIDN sponsors and have some type of training plan.

I can tell you that VADM Hunt (Commander, THIRD Fleet) and VADM Curtis (Commander, Naval Surface Forces) have sent MULTIPLE PERSONAL FOR messages to Commanding Officers about the importance of MIDN Summer Training. Our ship is fortunate to have a mixture of inport and underway time and will be utilizing a PQS (Personal Qualification Standards) to help GUIDE the MIDN to learn something. They will also be alternating different watch stations. As for quals, they are hard to get and it won't matter in due course.
 
2012mom:

Never ask for something to do. Disappear and report when required. Never, Never, Never, Never ask enlisted personnel for a work assignment.:thumb: They don't give you a report or write you up if they can't find you.

Yeah, I know that rule :shake:. OTOH, being tied up alongside in Norfolk for a month - no wheels - not allowed to get a ride from sailors - just about drove my then 3/C crazy. She just had to break the "don't ask for something to do" rule. She and others from her ship also spent many hours working out at the rec facility.
 
Yeah, I know that rule :shake:. OTOH, being tied up alongside in Norfolk for a month - no wheels - not allowed to get a ride from sailors - just about drove my then 3/C crazy. She just had to break the "don't ask for something to do" rule. She and others from her ship also spent many hours working out at the rec facility.

Mine's been sitting around Bancroft Hall twiddling his thumbs since Sea Trials (since Herndon doesn't count). So bored out of his mind he even calls home now:wink:
 
These situations are HARD to avoid because of the ship's operational schedule. However, in the event where the ship does not get underway a great deal, the MIDN Training Officer (MTO) should be organizing tours on other platforms and simulator sessions.



The MTO should be picking responsible Petty Officers/JOs as MIDN sponsors and have some type of training plan.

I can tell you that VADM Hunt (Commander, THIRD Fleet) and VADM Curtis (Commander, Naval Surface Forces) have sent MULTIPLE PERSONAL FOR messages to Commanding Officers about the importance of MIDN Summer Training. Our ship is fortunate to have a mixture of inport and underway time and will be utilizing a PQS (Personal Qualification Standards) to help GUIDE the MIDN to learn something. They will also be alternating different watch stations. As for quals, they are hard to get and it won't matter in due course.

Yes, what you describe is what SHOULD happen, but my Mid had personal experience of showing up at the designated time each day, and being told there was nothing she could do or observe. After a few days, she broke the "don't ask for anything to do" rule (see above), just to keep from going nuts. The MTO on this ship made virtually no preparations for them, and they spent zero time on simulators or PQS.
 
HTML:
You say South Atlantic like you know where they were..
.

yep...got a photo of Mid in Mar Del Plata, Argentina to prove it !!...:shake:

Go NAVY
 
There is no reason to work on any qual while underway on a ship or submarine, unless it is the sleep qual. That doesn't mean that you don't make your way around the ship/sub trying to understand what is going on. NOLS Alaska mountaineering was one of the coolest things that I have ever done. As has been stated, it cost me $5k. That is attainable to most Mids, its called the second class loan.

In my day, we had "Cruise Books". They were workbooks that had questions and you had to write in the answer. You had to get them initialed by a qualified member of the ship's company. They had us going around the bowels of the ship looking at boilers, in the foc'sle, on the deck, guns, bridge, EVERYWHERE. This was a pretty thick book. You had to turn it in, completely filled out (with initials) at the end of your cruise.

One of my classmates got kicked out on an honor offense when he was turned in by an NROTC midshipman (they also had the workbooks) because he initialed some of the items himself. Understandably, the NROTC midshipman resented having to work so hard to get his HIS Cruise Book signed off while the Naval Academy midshipman just bopped around the ship doing nothing.

Of course, that was back in the day when it was "Strike one, you're out!"

There wasn't too much "remediation" going on.

* * * * *

Youngster cruise, for the most part, was pretty much a miserable experience as I remember it. And I was on the newest ship in the Navy! The enlisted personnel seemed to resent us (knowing we were officer candidates) - the living conditions were miserable ... no privacy ... not so clean ... and pretty boring. It DOES, however, cause you to appreciate what the enlisted personnel have to endure in their world. That was one of the objectives of Youngster cruise, for the most part; walk in the shoes of those you may someday lead.
 
Gosh, my mid is lucky. He is on a lhd marine ship out of San Diego participating in war games with 15 other countries. He has gotten to go on some of the amphibious landing craft. Called very briefly the other night and sounded positively giddy about it all. Like a kid at a birthday party having too much fun. Sailing back at the yard for block 2 may be dull in comparison!
 
Based on personal experience, your happiness/satisfaction factor on summer cruise is 99% dependent on your CO. My 3/c cruise (Amphib out of Little Creek), we did nothing for 3 weeks. Well, the first few days we tried to do something -- we volunteered to do welding. It was great -- until the CO found out, feared we might "get hurt" and said we weren't allowed to do it anymore. After that, the enlisted folks lost interest. After morning quarters, they simply disappeared and left us standing there. We spent a lot of time at the base movie theater.

1/c cruise was an entirely different story. We were on a DDG working up a CV for deployment. The CO (a USNA grad) made sure we got to do all sorts of stuff, such as man overboard drills, casualty drills, etc. I remember being busy all the time. And this was in the day when women weren't even assigned to combatants (there were two women among the 6 USNA and NROTC mids). To this day, I recall that 4 weeks being a ton of fun and a lot of work, in a good way. And, yes, Memphis, we had the qual books as well for 1/c cruise.

If the CO wants the experience to be a good one, it will be. If he/she doesn't care, you're on your own. Personally, I think you should try to find stuff to do -- it makes the time go by a lot faster and you really are there to learn, not work out or watch movies. However, I understand that -- at a certain point -- you just give up. It's sad, but understandable in some cases.

The
 
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