A question for the Brain Trust

Just Dad

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DD is 2c. Block 3 has her in San Diego at what sounds like a 'Defense Systems DisneyLand'

I know she is being exposed to SWO, SUBs, NavAir, and Marines elements of the Navy. DD says its supposed to be "a lot of fun-learning". She hasn't said much beyond that, (not sure she really knows).

Can anyone give me a little more info on what she will be doing? I am already jealous; I just want to know how jealous.

Thanks:
 
I'm guessing, but it sounds a lot like CORTRAMID which NROTC rising 2C midshipmen also do. It's common for academy midshipmen and NROTC midshipmen to do cruises together. If I'm correct, she'll be spending a week with each of the Naval Warfare communities you mention to get a feel for the entire breadth of the Navy and begin to get some sense of what community she would like to go into. You can probably find more info by searching for CORTRAMID using your favorite search engine.
 
PROTRAMID is similar to CORTRAMID, but it is a completely different program. PROTRAMID is planned and executed by the Academy training department and includes only Academy mids. CORTRAMID is planned and executed by NROTC staff is only for NROTC mids.
 
^^^^ Thanks for the info. I knew DS was on some cruises with academy mids, so I assumed that was done jointly as well.
 
DS (NROTC MO) did CORTRAMID and DD (USNA) did PROTRAMID recently. From what I heard from them the programs seem very similar. USNA mids had a few opportunities not offered to NROTC, but the differences did not seem great to me. Both described parts of the training as being cool/fun and other parts boring when there was down time in a strange place with not much to do. Both appreciated the opportunity to see and experience some of each of the warfare communities.
 
The Marines always make their session "fun" with PT, O-Course, field time and weapons firing. I consistently hear this is a highlight for most.
 
Informally, PROTRAMID is often referred to as PROTRAPARTY...

> One of the best times at USNA ! We spent a week at each of Pensacola, Quantico, New London , and then a week or so driving YP's down to Norfolk., visiting ships, etc. The goal was to expose MIDN to each of the warfare communities before Service Selection. I suspect that times and activities have changed a bit - I recall that each of the host sites has a budget for entertaining (and recruiting MIDN to their community). For my Class, that budget meant a picnic and keg of beer in Quantico and New London. I don't recall the official entertainment in Pcola, but they did have stashed Ensigns assigned to drive us into town and show us the town--some of those stories are pretty epic. (Hint - you don't want to stay out until 2-3 AM when you have to run the Pcola O'course at 5 am )
 
> One of the best times at USNA ! We spent a week at each of Pensacola, Quantico, New London , and then a week or so driving YP's down to Norfolk., visiting ships, etc. The goal was to expose MIDN to each of the warfare communities before Service Selection. I suspect that times and activities have changed a bit - I recall that each of the host sites has a budget for entertaining (and recruiting MIDN to their community). For my Class, that budget meant a picnic and keg of beer in Quantico and New London. I don't recall the official entertainment in Pcola, but they did have stashed Ensigns assigned to drive us into town and show us the town--some of those stories are pretty epic. (Hint - you don't want to stay out until 2-3 AM when you have to run the Pcola O'course at 5 am )
If you can't hang out in Maguire's until 0230 and still run the O'course at 0500 then you might want to consider another branch beside Navy. [emoji23][emoji23] That used to be considered another day at the office in the fleet.
 
My DS just got back from CORTRAMID West a few weeks ago and, to answer your question, it sounds like you should be very jealous. I know I was as he was describing some of his experiences. During Marine week they got to go through a urban combat simulation (forgot the name of the venue) that is a simulated middle eastern village where they are clearing buildings using simunition (think paintball fired through real weapons). The Marines brought in set designers from Disney to help create it and pipe in authentic sounds and smells. DS thought it was very cool. Got to shoot lots of different weapons during Marine week too, as well as getting a beach landing demo (and BBQ). DS said the consensus among the group was that surface week was the least informative and interesting and seemed the least organized, but was still a good experience. During aviation week they got to go up in a T-38 and actually control the plane. They also rode in a helicopter. Sub week was his favorite. They got to go out for about 30 hrs on a SSBN during that week. Each week had lots of information about that community and demos and hands on learning. Weekends were free and he had fun exploring the area with other Mids. I hope your DD's experience is the similar.
 
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Ah, Senior, sadly I find the ability to hoot with the owls at night AND scream with the eagles in the morning declines somewhat with the accumulation of birthdays. I can do one, or the other, these days. But back in the day...
 
Ah, Senior, sadly I find the ability to hoot with the owls at night AND scream with the eagles in the morning declines somewhat with the accumulation of birthdays. I can do one, or the other, these days. But back in the day...
I hear that! Got a few of those birthdays under the bridge myself. [emoji23] Senior used to be a positional title. Now it's literal.
 
If you can't hang out in Maguire's until 0230 and still run the O'course at 0500 then you might want to consider another branch beside Navy.
emoji23.png
emoji23.png
That used to be considered another day at the office in the fleet.

Ding ding... a winner. Don't recall if was McGuires or Seville Quarter, probably both. Someone had the bright idea of having us run the O'course at 0'dark thirty to avoid the heat of the day. It was the last day in Pcola, so no flights -- I think we flew back to DC/Quantico later that morning.

And yes, it takes a whole lot more time to recover from such antics now.
 
I have logged my time at McGuire’s, in fact, yearly, as I usually travel with DH to NAMI at NAS Pensacola for his annual physical that’s part of a long-running clinical study. We take any of our USNA sponsor alumni family who are in the pipeline or have IP duty to McGuire’s.

Though this has veered off-thread from the original query, it does show how tradition and custom and culture link generations of Navy and Marine folk.
 
I haven't been back to McGuire's since it burned to the ground. Did they get another Moose (for drunk gals to kiss) and do they still have people staple dollar bills to the ceiling?
 
I haven't been back to McGuire's since it burned to the ground. Did they get another Moose (for drunk gals to kiss) and do they still have people staple dollar bills to the ceiling?

I know the Destin location had a fire about 15 years ago but didn’t know the Pensacola one had burned at some point. Still has the dollar bills - several hundred thousand of them.
 
Now I have to check with my wife. We go to Pensacola Beach twice a year, and I swear McGuire's burned in 2011 or 2012. The only thing that was left was the double-decker bus. Just checked the Internet (which is always right) and I couldn't find an article about it.
Scratching my head, here.
It's the Matrix.
 
Trouble is, I have never been to Destin.
It's still The Matrix.
 
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