Greatest Challenge at Academy

[peskemom]

HUGS to you Zaphod!!

I love you and miss you!!

My baby is a Firstie and Plebe Company XO right now!
We keep getting older and greyer!!!


hugs to your new bride too!!

 

[Soylent]

That the universe no longer revolves around you.

I personally found it just the opposite. With the constant idea of "training" it seems like at least during plebe year that the entire Academy is focused on plebes. My greatest challenge was overcoming the fact that I'm being micromanaged and babied, and that at times it seems like the institution doesn't trust me to be responsible for myself.

 

[usna1985]

^^^^^

I meant at a more macro level. The needs of shipmates/classmates, your unit, your country are more important than your personal needs and desires.

If you aren't learning that, USNA is definitely doing something wrong.

 

[Zaphod]

HUGS to you Zaphod!!

I love you and miss you!!

My baby is a Firstie and Plebe Company XO right now!
We keep getting older and greyer!!!


hugs to your new bride too!!

Thanks!

Good to hear the not-so-little-one-anymore is doing well!

 

[Zaphod]

I personally found it just the opposite. With the constant idea of "training" it seems like at least during plebe year that the entire Academy is focused on plebes. My greatest challenge was overcoming the fact that I'm being micromanaged and babied, and that at times it seems like the institution doesn't trust me to be responsible for myself.

^^^^^

I meant at a more macro level. The needs of shipmates/classmates, your unit, your country are more important than your personal needs and desires.

If you aren't learning that, USNA is definitely doing something wrong.

Preach it, 85!

However, we all remember feeling the same way while we were there. Sometimes the hand-holding was just rediculous.

 

[Capt MJ]

The hand-holding thing is dictated by the lowest common denominator folks, the ones who truly do need it, whether in leadership, maturity, responsibilities, whatever, while frustrating most of the other mids who are more advanced. Something you grads all share -- I enjoy the cross-class commiseration.

I've heard a lot over the years from can-you-believe-this incidents from company officers about mids in their company, and from the sponsor family.

Sea story... I had picked up some plebes at the Mid Store on a fall Saturday, enroute home, and had offered a stop at the CVS, Safeway, NEX, etc., for any errands. Sponsor son and roomie friend asked for Safeway, and bought about 20 Air Wick things and other room deodorant devices. I mulled it over a bit and finally asked, thinking there was a weird bet going on, or a prank in the works. Apparently roomie #3 tended to go days without showering (and this was before Bancroft had AC!); they had counted up to 16 one time. He didn't shower over at any of the gyms and wasn't a swimmer. He also did not send his laundry out, but sniffed his laundry bag for the least offensive set of skivvies and re-wore them. Several times. Ditto for bed linen and room towels. They had talked to him numerous times, but he said he'd rather sleep in the morning than shower. His mom had always taken care of the laundry and reminded him to shower, and he was just too busy to deal with it. We told them this was something they didn't have to live with, to go to their squad leader and get some help to resolve the situation. The roomie got put on a shower and laundry schedule that he had to get signed off. I envisioned a "sniff test!" I always wondered what happened to him. Not subs, I hope.

A small tendril away from the thread, an excellent one with many good posts about the core subject of the greatest challenges.

 

[Zaphod]

I envisioned a "sniff test!" I always wondered what happened to him. Not subs, I hope.

He would have learned his lesson quickly after a shower with a wire brush and a bottle of iodine.

That said, I agree that some Mids (and non-Mids) just don't get it, but some of the stuff I can remember after a few beers borders on they nanny-ish.

 

[marvin7794]

Not washing sheets is a pretty common thing. This is especially true since you basically go through four years of college without sheets as a part of your sleeping experience. I knew of no one who broke the blue magnet open every night. The personal hygiene thing is pretty disgusting though. Days without showering ranks right up there with the waffle stompers and the gatorade urine bottles.

 

[SteveHolt243]

The four years without sheets can mess you up - I used the issue wool blanket for four years and became so adapted to wool that "comfortable" sheets took getting used to, and I still sleep better under itchy wool.

 

[Memphis9489]

I've read a lot good things in this thread. Just to add my 2-cents. One adjustment for many will be the discovery that, by academy standards, they are only average. Worse yet, some will discover (probably for the first time) that they are below average to those around them.

Remember, almost all the midshipman came from a background where they were King of the Hill. They were the smartest, the most athletic, etc. By definition, half of these superstars are going to graduate in the bottom half of their class.

How many parents have bragged about how smart their kid was (in high school) and followed that up with, "... and he hardly ever studies" as if that was something to be proud of? "He's just naturally smart, I guess." Those are the students who will discover that they will have to change their methods to maintain their lofty academic standing. Some will make that adjustment and some will not.

David Emerling '79

 

[Soylent]

Not washing sheets is a pretty common thing. This is especially true since you basically go through four years of college without sheets as a part of your sleeping experience. I knew of no one who broke the blue magnet open every night. The personal hygiene thing is pretty disgusting though. Days without showering ranks right up there with the waffle stompers and the gatorade urine bottles.

Waffle Stomper... legendary.

 

[Zaphod]

What I'm trying to say is that, after having 10 people standing 2 inches from your face screaming and yelling at you, that sort of thing will no longer faze you. Instead, you will be moved by those who calmly express their disappointment at times you know you haven't done your best.

Preach it.

 

[Zaphod]

I've read a lot good things in this thread. Just to add my 2-cents. One adjustment for many will be the discovery that, by academy standards, they are only average. Worse yet, some will discover (probably for the first time) that they are below average to those around them.

Remember, almost all the midshipman came from a background where they were King of the Hill. They were the smartest, the most athletic, etc. By definition, half of these superstars are going to graduate in the bottom half of their class.

How many parents have bragged about how smart their kid was (in high school) and followed that up with, "... and he hardly ever studies" as if that was something to be proud of? "He's just naturally smart, I guess." Those are the students who will discover that they will have to change their methods to maintain their lofty academic standing. Some will make that adjustment and some will not.

David Emerling '79

Oh, man..... Some here will have NO appreciation of how right you are until it's too late. One of my earlier (and now, for some reason, seamingly epic) rants had to do with this.

And I know the lesson by having ended up near the bottom end of my class.

 

[Zaphod]

Waffle Stomper... legendary.

Uh...... Refresh my memory, please?

 

[armybratkl]

Oh, man..... Some here will have NO appreciation of how right you are until it's too late. One of my earlier (and now, for some reason, seamingly epic) rants had to do with this.

And I know the lesson by having ended up near the bottom end of my class.

I dunno, I think many of the people who are applying to SA's are smart enough to realize this could happen to them -- it makes perfect sense to me, and I haven't been there yet. Of course, you could argue that most don't think they're going to be at the bottom of the class, and of course none of us know what that feels like.

I guess one of the things that helps me see this was going to the SLS. I was one of three people in a class of around 630 in my school to score a 34 on my ACT, yet at SLS, I probably met half a dozen who had 35's, and dozens who had 34's.

 

[usna1985]

One of my profs once told me that life is a perpetual pyramid. You are a standout in high school and then attend college where everyone was a standout in h.s. Yet, at college -- including SAs -- 50% of those folks will be in the bottom half of their class. No one thinks it will be him/her, but 1 out of 2 will be in the bottom half.

Then, you graduate. Being an officer is a perpetual pyramid, as promotion opportunity gets less and less as you climb the ladder. The same is generally true in civilian life. Or in sports.

It's not so much that those in the bottom half of their SA class are "average." In terms of society at large, they are at the front of the pack. It's simply that the competition continues to get tougher. If you don't work really hard along the way (and have some natural ability), you fall by the wayside and the others move past you.

Look at it this way -- if everyone at USNA gave it 100% all of the time, 50% of those would still be in the bottom half of their class. That said, sometimes folks in the bottom half of their class do really well in life (see John McKain, among many other examples).

 

[marvin7794]

Uh...... Refresh my memory, please?

The rare mid that is either too lazy, nasty or scared to chop to the bathroom. They do the deuce in the shower and stomp it down the waffle shaped drain cover. Yes, it does happen though it is rare.