Reef Points

NHS22Golf

5-Year Member
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Feb 11, 2013
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Know this has probably been discussed but how much of Reef Points do I need to before I Day?
 
Dude. Don't bother. You'll be told a couple things that you're "expected" to know before I-Day. Know that stuff and you'll be fine.
 
Required Rates

Know this has probably been discussed but how much of Reef Points do I need to before I Day?
Per the Plebe Summer website, http://www.usna.edu/PlebeSummer/index.php;

When reporting for I-Day, Plebes will be expected to know verbatim the Mission of the United States Naval Academy, the administrative chain of command, and the first three General Orders of a Sentry.

The Mission of the Naval Academy
To develop Midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor, and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

Your administrative chain of command:
Commander in Chief: President Barack Obama
Secretary of Defense: The Honorable Charles Hagel
Secretary of Navy: The Honorable Ray Mabus
Chief of Naval Operations: Admiral Jonathan Greenert, USN
Superintendent of USNA: Vice Admiral Michael Miller, USN
Commandant of Midshipmen: Captain Robert Clark II, USN

First three General Orders of a Sentry:
First: To take charge of this post and all government property in view.
Second: To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always alert and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing.
Third: To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
 
Learning what USNA2016Dad posted is the bare minimum. How much you want to prepare past that is entirely up to you. Many people on this forum will say not to bother. Why? Because you might come across as an arrogant know-it-all and you'll lose respect from your peers. But if you're able to play it off like you didn't know it beforehand - that instead you're just a good learner - your plebe summer will become a whole lot easier.

So, with that being said, some rates you might consider learning beforehand...
-Qualifications of a Naval Officer
-All Orders to the Sentry
-Code of Conduct, articles 1-6
-Rifleman's creed
-Laws of the Navy, verses 1-8
-Man in the Arena (by TR)
-Enlisted USMC ranks

Knowing these rates will spare you a lot of writing assignments which, in turn, will make day-to-day life less stressful. So again, entirely up to you.
 
Seriously, do more productive things with your time.

You'll get chewed out for something or other anyway. You'll have writing assignments every night anyway. Worry about rates when you're actually a plebe.
 
You'll learn the stuff anyway over the summer. I was simply pointing out the stuff that you could learn before PS. I don't think my PS ranking was affected at all by my ability (or lack there-of) to memorize rates.

I'll agree with nuensis here. Enjoy your life right now and don't worry about memorizing worthless paragraphs. You'll forget them come AcYear anyway.
 
The question about future Plebes getting a copy of Reef Points always seems to come up. The popular answer always seems to be that it won't help.

Although I agree that it will not be a big difference maker and that one will do fine without having familiarized themselves with Reef Points; nonetheless, to be honest, it can't hurt.

If for no other reason, Reef Points has a lot of interesting historical information about the Naval Academy and Navy tradition - things you will not probably be required to memorize but are still nice-to-know. Even if you do not bother to commit it to memory - it is still interesting reading. Why not familiarize yourself with the school you are about to attend? If you were going to Notre Dame and they had such a book, would you want to read it before attending?

Am I saying that you should run out and get a copy of Reef Points? No. It won't hurt, though.

If you're not good at memorizing things - it could actually help.

It's true that there are more important things to do - like getting in good physical shape. But you could do both. You can't always be working out. :smile:
 
As I have stated before, if one wants to read about USNA through Reef Points, that is one thing. Trying to memorize what will be required by rote memorization, defeats some of the purposes of plebe summer. There are MANY Reef Point excerpts that one would normally not memorize (i.e. Laws of the Navy).

If you're not good at memorizing things - it could actually help.

There will be many things detailers can ask that are not in Reef Points. If one has problems memorizing things under stress...memorizing rates before I-Day only solves a short-term problem and does a dis-service to their own learning/adjusting.
 
A smart detailer will pick up real quick on somebody who seems to really "catch on" to learning Reef Points. You'll bring all sorts of unwanted attention to yourself as they rapidly find all sorts of stuff you need to memorize that, surprisingly enough, your shipmates don't get asked. You won't fool anybody.

The object of memorizing anything is to stick you under increasing pressure trying to think and remember until you come unglued and then the real "experiential training" begins. Everybody will be pushed to this point by aggressive detailers so it really doesn't matter what you know or don't know. Welcome to the Gates of Hell (as our Plebe summer detailer said to our sweaty platoon).
 
A smart detailer will pick up real quick on somebody who seems to really "catch on" to learning Reef Points. You'll bring all sorts of unwanted attention to yourself as they rapidly find all sorts of stuff you need to memorize that, surprisingly enough, your shipmates don't get asked. You won't fool anybody.

The object of memorizing anything is to stick you under increasing pressure trying to think and remember until you come unglued and then the real "experiential training" begins. Everybody will be pushed to this point by aggressive detailers so it really doesn't matter what you know or don't know. Welcome to the Gates of Hell (as our Plebe summer detailer said to our sweaty platoon).

If the new Plebes are seeking "increasing pressure", for that matter, they might as well not even workout in preparation for Plebe Summer. That will certainly increase pressure.

There's a way to prepare and not flaunt it. You either know your rates or you don't. You also have to be careful not to "bilge" your classmates (i.e. show them up). The fact that you know your rates well will not cause a detailer to think less of the Plebe by assuming that he got access to Reef Points prior to being issued a copy. That's a huge myth, in my opinion.

That's like saying if a student gets a 100% on a quiz, they must have cheated.

They usually even have a regiment wide rates knowledge competition.

NOTE: You don't think the NAPSters are showing up for I-Day without ever having had access to Reef Points? Pfft!
 
Do not waste your time

Thousands of freshman have gone to Plebe Summer and successfully completed it without ever wasting their precious time before life at USNA with memorizing any of the items listed above. There is no reason to worry about these things prior to getting to USNA on your official report date. Do NOT waste your time memorizing lists of things you are not expected to show up knowing. Let the process of training that has been in place for sometime now do its job.
 
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