Random Iday Thoughts/opinions and nonsense ramblings
I would say overall Iday was harder for the entire family then we expected.
A general description of the day:
We dropped son off at his late report time. We took him to the Alumni Hall hugged him goodbye and he went into the Hall. We tried to catch glimpses of him on the United States Naval Academy Yard throughout the day. But we couldn't find him (luckily friends found him and took some photos). We searched for him, went to the parents picnic, watched other kids having to scream their rates from the roof of the midstore, took a tour, got him food for after the oath.
At 6:00pm we watched him take the oath and then we met for our allotted 45 minutes to say our goodbyes.
The good…Preparation as parents
When you get closer to report time parents get information about a class specific (in our case 2017) parents only facebook page. We joined. It was RIDICULOUSLY HELPFUL. As a parent you get all of the information you need to make the entire process easier. From knowing what to have them pack to what you should bring. The moderator has four current/past mids and is full of great information and patiently reanswers every question asked multiple times. The number one thing that I had for me was a big floppy hat. The sun was very hot. They tell you that you will do a lot of walking. Everyone’s idea of a lot is different. I would say we walked 15 miles on Iday alone. We partnered up with good friends for the wkend who also had a 2017 and that mom guessed the same mileage. This was not a day for the younger aged siblings or the grandparents who would have trouble with the heat and walking. It is 18 hours straight in the sun and walking uphills, over bridges, up/downstairs. This was ok for us through as it was just my son, husband and myself. My son LITERALY brought only had his paperwork, wallet, 100.00$ a TI-34 calculator, his retainer and his contacts/glasses.
The annoying…
Contacts: My son had trouble deciding whether or not to bring contacts. He needs them for his sport and last year they got to wear them to a baseball game during plebe summer so he decided to bring them. This year he asked to keep his contacts in his case and they made him throw them in the garbage. (he was aware that this was a possibility) Some of this seemed different for different plebes. One boy we met got to keep his toiletries, one had to throw them in the trash. I would suggest considering contacts disposable or not bringing them.
The Parent Briefing: (sorry if this offends anyone) we went to the parent briefing. I have to say this annoyed me. vice admiral Miller spoke and he was excellent. The academic dean spoke and he was very good, the master chief petty officer spoke and that was also great and informative (this was news to me). A big chunk of the time was spent, however on the football program. This briefing was to the entire group of parents and the seats in the basketball stadium were filled and time was spent showing a slide of the home games and slide of the away games but no mention was made of branches. I would have loved to see information on what mids may do later, branches, cool jobs, etc but a huge amount of time was on football tickets. This is not a football factory, we are not Penn State. No real mention of other sports. It made it seem that the football players were more important. However, this was a small part of a very well run day.
The bad…
At 6:00pm we watched him take the oath and then we met for our allotted 45 minutes to say our goodbyes. He met us at our spot completely bald. We sat down and had the small picnic dinner we had brought him (thank goodness we were told this because he wasn’t able to eat too much before hand and then couldn’t eat until 6:30 pm). That's when he told us how hard it was. He was stoic. There were other plebes crying so it could have been worse but is still seemed really bad to me (His mama). We were told that some kids left (I don’t know if that is true). My son was not really prepared. Honestly I read this forum all the time so I new and I warned him over and over and even showed him some posts from this forum, but he didn’t comprehend or process or get it. He thought it would be like NASS (he reported that to be the best wk of his life). It was nothing like NASS. He thought it would be hard but didn’t think it would be hard for him. Surprise. He had a very late report time which made things much harder (no food the entire day, always one step behind where he needed to be etc). When he met us he said they gave him a boxed lunch right before the oath but said they were putting it in his room. He didn’t get his room yet, didn't meet his roommates, didn’t know where his wallet or big white bag was, He wasn't overwhelmed by the yelling, he gets yelled at by Russian coaches all day long (and I am a yeller) He didn't like the feeling of failing at everything he did all day. I know this was hard for all of the kids. And I know the purpose of it. But it is a bit hard to watch.
I couldn't believe how much they already learned. And there were already some differences. He kept asking what time it was. (in the past he considered 15 minutes late to actually be early).
But overall it was harder than he expected which made it harder than I expected. Honestly that night my husband had nightmares and I had to keep waking him up. So I guess we weren't prepared either. Hopefully we will get a letter home that will be better or maybe when he gets to call home…
