PlebeNoMore27
Member
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2023
- Messages
- 149
Hey all you incoming plebes! I am so excited for y’all (and so so happy to not be a plebe pretty soon!) I lurked all over these pages before I left for the Bay, where Severn meets the tide. I found some really useful advice, but it was kind of all over the place, so I thought I’d start a thread for plebe summer advice. A couple of things about the physical part first.
The first thing is, be physically prepared. There is a plebe summer suggested workout that gets you ready. I mostly followed it, did well on the IST (initial strength test, on your first or second full day of PS) and really well on the PRT at the end of PS, which is your first graded PRT.
Trainers: advice about these is always mixed, don’t get bright shoes, get bright shoes so the ‘rents can find you. The gouge: no one cares about your shoes. Wear trainers that fit your feet and allow you to avoid injury. You wear them 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week (for morning PEP), and the rest of the 168 hours in the week you wear what they tell you to wear. In fact, I have worn what the Navy tells me to wear for ten months minus ten days over winter break. Just accept it.
The biggest thing that I think is missing from all the advice is about the mental game. Plebe summer is almost entirely mental. I was more prepared for this than I thought I was. It was either the Supe or the Dant last summer who said to us during the oath ceremony, do what your detailers tell you to do, and you will succeed. He was absolutely right. We had no idea how mindless we all were individually and collectively. It is that mindlessness that our detailers noticed and corrected. When they say “you have five minutes to shave your faces and brush your teeth and get on the wall” they mean exactly that. Do not second-guess, do not try to out-maneuver, do not think you will be able to negotiate. Do not anticipate and do something more or something else. Just DO THE JOB. (And men, practice shaving NOW using a crappy manual razor in about 1 minute.) If they say “you have five minutes to make your racks and be on the wall in whiteworks delta” then that is your target. Figure out how to get it done.
Some of you will figure this out A LOT sooner than others. Then you have two choices, you can get annoyed and impatient with your teammates (the Navy calls them “shipmate”) and make it worse for everyone, or you can HELP your shipmates. Your shipmate is not failing because he’s a dumba$$, he’s failing because you know how to win, he doesn’t yet, and you’re not helping him win. Parents, when you see stuff in photos like a plebe wearing 2 or 3 nametags, it’s because they or a shipmate forgot theirs. Sir and ma’am sandwiches are so you are mindful about who you are talking to. Rates teach you to be mindful (even though they suck, let’s be real) and respond rapidly. You learn rates by chunking things together. You will figure this stuff out, but that’s what I think it’s all for.
The other mental game or trick is to practice noticing everything. You will suck at this at first and it is exhausting, but it is absolutely necessary. Notice as much as you can, don’t judge it or try to figure it out, just notice it. Also manage your internal conversation about being too frustrated or overwhelmed or tired to notice. You will rapidly get better at this, like I noticed I was seeing patterns and anticipating what the detailers would say and do by the end of the first week. Then you can use that to be more efficient with your time. Do not, do not let yourself get spun up in frustration or overwhelm or being down on yourself because those things keep you from winning. You will get better at this part too.
If you are thinking you have to go in with a LOT of humility, you are so right. As soon as you think you know something, meaning you think you know better, you and your squadmates are cooked. The people who were okay being wrong about something are the people I liked, and like, the most. They are the ones who seem to learn the fastest.
Finally: we are men and women, not guys and girls (except when going to DTA maybe!). Men, the women have to work just as hard or harder than you. If you shove some short woman away from the climbing rope, you are gonna get reamed by a detailer, plus all the short women I know are gymnasts or dancers or the like and can climb that rope faster than half the men. Women, if you try to play the “I caaaan’t” card, the detailers will kindly assist you to build that upper-body strength you claim to lack with extra front-leaning rest and pushups. Point for everyone: go until your body literally fails (don’t break anything) and respect your shipmates.
That’s enough for now, I guess!
The first thing is, be physically prepared. There is a plebe summer suggested workout that gets you ready. I mostly followed it, did well on the IST (initial strength test, on your first or second full day of PS) and really well on the PRT at the end of PS, which is your first graded PRT.
Trainers: advice about these is always mixed, don’t get bright shoes, get bright shoes so the ‘rents can find you. The gouge: no one cares about your shoes. Wear trainers that fit your feet and allow you to avoid injury. You wear them 90 minutes a day, 5 days a week (for morning PEP), and the rest of the 168 hours in the week you wear what they tell you to wear. In fact, I have worn what the Navy tells me to wear for ten months minus ten days over winter break. Just accept it.
The biggest thing that I think is missing from all the advice is about the mental game. Plebe summer is almost entirely mental. I was more prepared for this than I thought I was. It was either the Supe or the Dant last summer who said to us during the oath ceremony, do what your detailers tell you to do, and you will succeed. He was absolutely right. We had no idea how mindless we all were individually and collectively. It is that mindlessness that our detailers noticed and corrected. When they say “you have five minutes to shave your faces and brush your teeth and get on the wall” they mean exactly that. Do not second-guess, do not try to out-maneuver, do not think you will be able to negotiate. Do not anticipate and do something more or something else. Just DO THE JOB. (And men, practice shaving NOW using a crappy manual razor in about 1 minute.) If they say “you have five minutes to make your racks and be on the wall in whiteworks delta” then that is your target. Figure out how to get it done.
Some of you will figure this out A LOT sooner than others. Then you have two choices, you can get annoyed and impatient with your teammates (the Navy calls them “shipmate”) and make it worse for everyone, or you can HELP your shipmates. Your shipmate is not failing because he’s a dumba$$, he’s failing because you know how to win, he doesn’t yet, and you’re not helping him win. Parents, when you see stuff in photos like a plebe wearing 2 or 3 nametags, it’s because they or a shipmate forgot theirs. Sir and ma’am sandwiches are so you are mindful about who you are talking to. Rates teach you to be mindful (even though they suck, let’s be real) and respond rapidly. You learn rates by chunking things together. You will figure this stuff out, but that’s what I think it’s all for.
The other mental game or trick is to practice noticing everything. You will suck at this at first and it is exhausting, but it is absolutely necessary. Notice as much as you can, don’t judge it or try to figure it out, just notice it. Also manage your internal conversation about being too frustrated or overwhelmed or tired to notice. You will rapidly get better at this, like I noticed I was seeing patterns and anticipating what the detailers would say and do by the end of the first week. Then you can use that to be more efficient with your time. Do not, do not let yourself get spun up in frustration or overwhelm or being down on yourself because those things keep you from winning. You will get better at this part too.
If you are thinking you have to go in with a LOT of humility, you are so right. As soon as you think you know something, meaning you think you know better, you and your squadmates are cooked. The people who were okay being wrong about something are the people I liked, and like, the most. They are the ones who seem to learn the fastest.
Finally: we are men and women, not guys and girls (except when going to DTA maybe!). Men, the women have to work just as hard or harder than you. If you shove some short woman away from the climbing rope, you are gonna get reamed by a detailer, plus all the short women I know are gymnasts or dancers or the like and can climb that rope faster than half the men. Women, if you try to play the “I caaaan’t” card, the detailers will kindly assist you to build that upper-body strength you claim to lack with extra front-leaning rest and pushups. Point for everyone: go until your body literally fails (don’t break anything) and respect your shipmates.
That’s enough for now, I guess!