Post PPW week

Skegs

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I heard that this week is a tough week and the detailers are coming down hard on the plebes due to some members which did not follow the rules during PPW. I have not heard from anyone in the yard. Does anyone know what this week will be like compared to previous weeks regarding activities and if it is tougher or easier ?
 
I heard that this week is a tough week and the detailers are coming down hard on the plebes due to some members which did not follow the rules during PPW. I have not heard from anyone in the yard. Does anyone know what this week will be like compared to previous weeks regarding activities and if it is tougher or easier ?

It sounded like it might be easier, but DS was not looking forward to it at all. He said "I know it's going to suck, I just don't know the form the suck will come in".
 
It will be new and substantially more suck: more stuff getting issued, physically moving rooms to company area, possibly getting new roommates, finalizing class schedule, getting school stuff, more mando briefs, seeing more and more unknown upperclass stream into Bancroft Hall, access to email and the thunderclap of a lot of official email with unknown acronyms and college-level course syllabi and due dates. As I mentioned in another post, "boards" will soon become a new and fun part of their lives. Release the Ac Year!
 
After I-day (which I can't remember much of, but will never forget), the week between PPW and Reform was my least favorite. Once HELL-O night is over, life settles back into a routine - an impossibly busy, tiring, exciting, exhausting routine, but a routine.

More recent people: isn't there also a fall Sea Trials for plebes?
 
After I-day (which I can't remember much of, but will never forget), the week between PPW and Reform was my least favorite. Once HELL-O night is over, life settles back into a routine - an impossibly busy, tiring, exciting, exhausting routine, but a routine.

More recent people: isn't there also a fall Sea Trials for plebes?
What is HELL-O night?
 
What is HELL-O night?

I think DS said it's when the upperclass midshipmen return and the plebes have to meet them all and get their signatures. In order to be willing to sign, though, the upperclassmen make the plebes do crazy stuff first. I'm sure someone will correct me if that's wrong.
 
It is a week of anxiety, both good and bad. They know they made it through Plebe Summer and got a little break, but now the unknown is ahead. The good anxiety is moving to a new room for the academic year (and for some even room mates they picked), getting ready for classes, cell phones, computers, putting away white works and wearing normal uniforms (which they will soon learn white works are so much more comfortable), football season is underway, freedom to roam the yard on their own, freedom to sodas and junk again, and the recognition they are now members of the Brigade. The bad anxiety... who are all these new Mids, how do I learn 120 names, balance all this stuff with the academic year, rumors of all the "scary" 2/C that are really hard, new squads, mostly its alot of the unknown with the balance of plebe year.

Reform week is alot of briefs, moving, issue of items, computer set up, etc. There is more down time than normal which is good. The detailers also need it as they are also trying to get ready for the ac year.

HELL-O night is the night that the Plebes are officially turned over to the Brigade. Remove the O and its what the Plebes call it. In the new PC era of things it has been renamed. It is a long and miserable night for most plebes, but it ends and they all survive. Its one of the rights of passage we all made it through. Things are a little different than some of us older guys. We could be PT'd in the hall and had no A/C, so it was miserably hot and brutal. Since Plebe Summer is over they will no longer be dropped in the hall and its much cooler. Plebes are required to know every person in their company by name, their new chain of command, new professional knowledge. So yes, they run around and get yelled at alot, but that is about all it is. Its more anxiety than anything. Its the first time they realize they are now out numbered compared to Plebe Summer where they out numbered detailers.
 
HELL-O night, back in the day, was just like Hoops described: hot and frantic. However, I remember that night because it was the first time I thought to myself, "I can handle anything this place dishes out." It was really when I started understanding that anxiety about the Thing was always, always worse than the Thing itself. I have yet to encounter an exception to this.

Also, once the Scary Seconds had finished with us, someone wheeled a couple of 5-gallon tubs of ice cream and a boom box down the p-way and we were all put at ease for some ice cream and introductions (Mr. and Ms. for uppers, of course).
 
It is a week of anxiety, both good and bad. They know they made it through Plebe Summer and got a little break, but now the unknown is ahead. The good anxiety is moving to a new room for the academic year (and for some even room mates they picked), getting ready for classes, cell phones, computers, putting away white works and wearing normal uniforms (which they will soon learn white works are so much more comfortable), football season is underway, freedom to roam the yard on their own, freedom to sodas and junk again, and the recognition they are now members of the Brigade. The bad anxiety... who are all these new Mids, how do I learn 120 names, balance all this stuff with the academic year, rumors of all the "scary" 2/C that are really hard, new squads, mostly its alot of the unknown with the balance of plebe year.

Reform week is alot of briefs, moving, issue of items, computer set up, etc. There is more down time than normal which is good. The detailers also need it as they are also trying to get ready for the ac year.

HELL-O night is the night that the Plebes are officially turned over to the Brigade. Remove the O and its what the Plebes call it. In the new PC era of things it has been renamed. It is a long and miserable night for most plebes, but it ends and they all survive. Its one of the rights of passage we all made it through. Things are a little different than some of us older guys. We could be PT'd in the hall and had no A/C, so it was miserably hot and brutal. Since Plebe Summer is over they will no longer be dropped in the hall and its much cooler. Plebes are required to know every person in their company by name, their new chain of command, new professional knowledge. So yes, they run around and get yelled at alot, but that is about all it is. Its more anxiety than anything. Its the first time they realize they are now out numbered compared to Plebe Summer where they out numbered detailers.

Great information, thanks
 
More recent people: isn't there also a fall Sea Trials for plebes?

Winter Sea Trails was established in Winter 2012 for 2016 and discontinued immediately thereafter. It was poorly executed; different companies went to different phases, with some companies getting a pretty rough experience and other companies coming out with clean NWUs.
 
Plebe summer....plebes are told exactly what to do all the time. Once the academic year starts, there is less being told exactly what to do. Plebes are told (or know) what the requirements are and someone is expecting it to get done. As others have stated...there is more on the plate now...rates, pro-knowledge, academics, sports period, practice-parades/parades, inspections, etc. Those who have mastered time management and prioritization skills will have less difficulty than those who aren't very good at it (side note: this is why the Admissions Board wants to see candidates who can handle a LOT on their plate). Non-compliance with standards results in more negative attention and pressure (including peer pressure), which normally MIDN try to avoid. It doesn't get easier...I-day and plebe summer is only the beginning...throughout the remainder of their careers the amount of responsibility and accountability increases (maybe Youngster year is a rare exception...but that also depends on the individual) -- to borrow the Navy SEAL's quote -- "the only easy day was yesterday" is very true. Sure, there are "good" days...don't want to be a debbie-downer...but the demands only get more challenging. The goal is to keep your head above the water....stay ahead, know the requirements, and plan buffers for unexpected situations...don't leave things until the last minute. Typically, there is sympathy for being proactive vice reactive, when it comes to academics.

Similar to other alumni stories, HELL-O night started out very seriously, but quickly became a comedy...plebes are asked everything from rates to trivial matters (that practically no one knows). It is all done in good fun...no one is hurt, hazed, or anything along those lines...it is definitely one of those times to look back on and laugh -- just like many events/incidents that happened in plebe summer (triple sir/ma'am sandwiches, bearing contests with the honey bear, etc.).
 
There are company bulletin boards throughout the company area. Basically large corl boards. Plebes will be responsible for coordinating with the respective person for each board and design them. For example, the company adjutant will have one to post watch schedules and things like that. Might be one for service selection or the company officer to post info. If you are an artistic guy or gal and can draw well, they will get used a lot. Then again other classmates can pick up the slack like delivering laundry and watch while they work on boards. Although it's a giant pain in the butt, the Plebes learn to work together without a detailer telling them what to do. They have to work on time management, task management, delegate, follow and lead as needed. It will consume them for a few weeks then it's over.
 
It will consume them for a few weeks then it's over.

Brief reprieve until the spring semester :)....then it will be 2021's turn. The second time around is much easier.
Said boards will be ripped up (start from scratch) if they aren't creative!
 
AH Boards. DD had some art background and wound up doing all the boards for Company. Long nights. She drew them and other Plebes filled them in. One company officer saw his Marine Aviation board and told her that if it wasn't against regs he would hug her. We still have pictures of her boards in her Naval Academy scrapbook. If your son or daughter works on them make sure they take a picture.
 
Want to thank everyone who replied. My DS said he thought hello night would be a lot of hazing but it actually was a lot of fun. I didn't get details, but I'm relieved to hear the news and glad that his company must have held to the correct spirit of the evening.
 
Want to thank everyone who replied. My DS said he thought hello night would be a lot of hazing but it actually was a lot of fun. I didn't get details, but I'm relieved to hear the news and glad that his company must have held to the correct spirit of the evening.

You can actually worry less, Skegs. Other than civilian laws they also have to deal with UCMJ. This is N*ot College, afterall. Though I can't commend on what the men and women had to deal with years ago.
 
They have "First Night" tonight: normally it is filled with food/fun activities on Farragut Field the evening before first day of class, but unfortunately due to rain and storm earlier today they had to move it inside Dahlgren - a much smaller avenue.
 
There is a fine line between hazing and training. Being tough and running Plebes is not hazing if done within regs and has a purpose. There is no need to worry about hazing, it won't be tolerated. I had 3 of 4 Detailers relieved for hazing as a Plebe... That was many years ago. It wasn't tolerated then and won't be now.

First night started when I was a Mid. Used to be a huge King Hall dinner of steak, crabs and big desserts. The problem was many Mids had never had crab and ambulances used to be called dozens of times for Mids who learned they had a shellfish allergy! The next year we got a brief on what to watch for and Corpsman on stand bye in the hall.
 
The problem was many Mids had never had crab and ambulances used to be called dozens of times for Mids who learned they had a shellfish allergy! The next year we got a brief on what to watch for and Corpsman on stand bye in the hall.

What? DODMERB never DQ'd them if they are allergic to shellfish? How do they deal with surf and turf (lobster tail AND steak) every weekend on a sub while underway in the future? :eek:
 
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