Hangout: USNA Induction Day / I-Day Class of 2028: Thursday 27 June 2024

ParachutePanda said:
@Capt MJ is spot on per usual. Another suggestion, there are parking garages within a walking distance away from gate 1. Might help your DS/DD to get a few steps in and take a little breather before heading on the yard. There will be a line at the visitor center, I think I waited like 20ish minutes to even get onto the yard, so just be aware of that.
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We enjoyed walking through Gate 1 and across the Yard before reporting. It was a calming start to the day. The parking decks in downtown Annapolis are easy to use with an app to pay. It is a quick walk to Gate 1 (make sure everyone over 16 has Real ID DL, passport, or CAC). Shuttle buses from the stadium are a great option, too!

And when you walk by the Stribling Walk area in front of the Chapel/Bancroft, you can drop off your blanket, cooler, chair, etc for that evening after the oath in your designated meetup spot. It is fine to leave it there unattended all day.

The atmosphere in front of Alumni Hall is joyful- families, music, coffee, lots of leadership. Appointees and families enjoy connecting in those moments before entering. Often people with the same reporting time are from the same state.
 
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MidCakePa said:
If you can pull it off, I suggest staying within walking distance of the Yard. (My version of "walking distance" is within about 20 minutes.)

We did this, making that walk to Alumni Hall as a family. DD had an early report time and it provided an opportunity to expend some energy, get the blood flowing, release some adrenaline. Not a lot was said, but it seemed to be a de-stressing experience for all.

The nice thing is that, because it was I-Day, entry was expedited. We headed to Gate 3, bypassing Gate 1, with a shorter walk to Alumni Hall. DD showed her papers, said we were with her, and the family was waved through.
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With the coffee place right there at Gate 3.


For planning purposes, Gate 3 comes into the Yard between the Chapel and The Club. It is not a 24-hour gate. Often it is just a walk gate, no vehicles. On days like I-Day, it will likely be a walk gate, possibly vehicle but might be somewhat restricted to certain traffic. It is certainly a more direct shot than Gate 1 (Main Gate with visitor control) and shorter than Gate 8 (24-hour gate), for walking in.

Many of the further hotels have shuttles that can run you down to Gate 1, worth asking. If the report time is oh-dark-thirty, they may not be running yet.
 
Danke sehr, merci beacoup, e grazie mille for the great 401 level info on parking. Time to look up a nearby parking ramp. Or maybe a tucked away free parking corner on the yard and walking up. Or the long-shot shuttle possibility. Having us walk some sounds great. I can readily see, @USMCfam, the value in avoiding cattle-car style bussing and having a gradual approach. And avoiding what I would expect to be a traffic nightmare getting out of stadium that evening.

So here's another question. The Gouge @Aksel2028 posted and other material suggests the Plebes will have some amount of mandatory 'write home' taskings. And perhaps will want too anyway, just as a destressing activity. Those materials also suggest the Detailers will read anything not in an envelope. So the wife and I wondered if, perhaps, the first care package also ought include a box of small envelopes, stamps, a few pens, and associated stationary. Nothing big. For example, her graduation party note cards came 50 to a box (paper and envelopes) and that box measures about 4x3x2 inches. That would be excessive amount of supplies that she/DD could then share with others in the company.

And, yes, I've read the other posts about 'less is more' :)

But if the wife (ok, parents!) are going to send something, that struck me as something useful and complimentary to the PS experience.

Thoughts?
 
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We sent the dude a pre-stamped/addressed envelope with a "survey" type letter where he could just fill in the blanks after the questions. It was a suggestion I saw here (or somewhere) to make things fun and easier for him to respond.

Got like, one or two sentences for each question. :P

And, even though we are literally a 40 minute drive away from Annapolis, it took nearly 5 days from when the mail left the Yard to get to our house. 🤦‍♂️

The summer goes so fast. And, with the inter-spaced mandatory phone calls and PPW, it was almost not worth it to send letters all the time. Not too mention, they get their phones back at the end of PS and will be able to text/call again on the regular. Your mileage may vary.
 
Capt MJ said:
With the coffee place right there at Gate 3.


For planning purposes, Gate 3 comes into the Yard between the Chapel and The Club. It is not a 24-hour gate. Often it is just a walk gate, no vehicles. On days like I-Day, it will likely be a walk gate, possibly vehicle but might be somewhat restricted to certain traffic. It is certainly a more direct shot than Gate 1 (Main Gate with visitor control) and shorter than Gate 8 (24-hour gate), for walking in.

Many of the further hotels have shuttles that can run you down to Gate 1, worth asking. If the report time is oh-dark-thirty, they may not be running yet.
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How do you do through Gate 3? Is it open to any and all visitors or do you need any specific ID or something?
 
Gannonfan said:
How do you do through Gate 3? Is it open to any and all visitors or do you need any specific ID or something?
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Normally, it is DoD ID only or other approved forms. But I-Day is not normal. Note the anecdote above where incoming appointee showed permit to report letter and pointed out family.

To be safe, always contact Security in advance. They are the primary source. There may be increased threat assessment intel that would make them less lenient at that gate. And as always, just because X happened last year, does not mean X will happen this year.
 
Spankucus said:
Danke sehr, merci beacoup, e grazie mille for the great 401 level info on parking. Time to look up a nearby parking ramp. Or maybe a tucked away free parking corner on the yard and walking up. Or the long-shot shuttle possibility. Having us walk some sounds great. I can readily see, @USMCfam, the value in avoiding cattle-car style bussing and having a gradual approach. And avoiding what I would expect to be a traffic nightmare getting out of stadium that evening.

So here's another question. The Gouge @Aksel2028 posted and other material suggests the Plebes will have some amount of mandatory 'write home' taskings. And perhaps will want too anyway, just as a destressing activity. Those materials also suggest the Detailers will read anything not in an envelope. So the wife and I wondered if, perhaps, the first care package also ought include a box of small envelopes, stamps, a few pens, and associated stationary. Nothing big. For example, her graduation party note cards came 50 to a box (paper and envelopes) and that box measures about 4x3x2 inches. That would be excessive amount of supplies that she/DD could then share with others in the company.

And, yes, I've read the other posts about 'less is more' :)

But if the wife (ok, parents!) are going to send something, that struck me as something useful and complimentary to the PS experience.

Thoughts?
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The Hillman Parking Garage in DTA is easy to use and right outside Gate 1.

They will be provided all of their correspondence supplies. We did tuck a few SASEs in care packages just to make it easier. Writing home is a part of their schedules at times so you will hear from them at least a handful of times. If they get sick and are given a rest chit you will get lots of mail. All they have is their rack (bed), water, reef points, and mail to occupy them.
 
Spankucus said:
Danke sehr, merci beacoup, e grazie mille for the great 401 level info on parking. Time to look up a nearby parking ramp. Or maybe a tucked away free parking corner on the yard and walking up. Or the long-shot shuttle possibility. Having us walk some sounds great. I can readily see, @USMCfam, the value in avoiding cattle-car style bussing and having a gradual approach. And avoiding what I would expect to be a traffic nightmare getting out of stadium that evening.

So here's another question. The Gouge @Aksel2028 posted and other material suggests the Plebes will have some amount of mandatory 'write home' taskings. And perhaps will want too anyway, just as a destressing activity. Those materials also suggest the Detailers will read anything not in an envelope. So the wife and I wondered if, perhaps, the first care package also ought include a box of small envelopes, stamps, a few pens, and associated stationary. Nothing big. For example, her graduation party note cards came 50 to a box (paper and envelopes) and that box measures about 4x3x2 inches. That would be excessive amount of supplies that she/DD could then share with others in the company.

And, yes, I've read the other posts about 'less is more' :)

But if the wife (ok, parents!) are going to send something, that struck me as something useful and complimentary to the PS experience.

Thoughts?
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We were issued USNA stationary and envelopes and stamps. In my platoon, we had mando "write home" nights the first 3 weeks. Some people wrote pretty regularly, some people didn't. The issue is, you have so much stuff to do during prep every evening that you don't really have time for writing letters unless you do it after lights out (which is a no no, but people do it anyway). What's really great is getting mail from home and from friends. Give the addressed envelopes to your DS's or DD's friends and ask them to write! Also, enclose comics (that aren't inappropriate) and jokes (also not inappropriate). We needed to have jokes ready.

Personally, I loved the news of the everyday from home about my younger sibs in their summer sport, the dead stinky thing my dog rolled in this week, the fam picking raspberries, visiting grandma, going to see a movie and suchlike. It was really reassuring that everything outside PS was churning along totally normal without me.
 
MidCakePa said:
If you can pull it off, I suggest staying within walking distance of the Yard. (My version of "walking distance" is within about 20 minutes.)

We did this, making that walk to Alumni Hall as a family. DD had an early report time and it provided an opportunity to expend some energy, get the blood flowing, release some adrenaline. Not a lot was said, but it seemed to be a de-stressing experience for all.

The nice thing is that, because it was I-Day, entry was expedited. We headed to Gate 3, bypassing Gate 1, with a shorter walk to Alumni Hall. DD showed her papers, said we were with her, and the family was waved through.
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Glad to hear that this was a solid plan for your family- this is what we are planning to do! Good tip about going to Gate 3- we had been planning Gate 1- thanks for that!
 
I'd also take your P2B's reporting time into consideration. Ours was at 0945. The stadium parking/shuttle bus recommendation worked out perfectly for us.

And be sure to take a picture before they enter Alumni Hall and a picture at when they march into T-court. The transformation is stunning.
 
Pro Tip

How To Tell Prior Enlisted

If you see the ribbons below on the chest of a detailer or officer explaining something to your plebe self up close and personal in a one-way communication, that person has prior enlisted experience. You don’t know if it was a relatively short while in the nuke school pipeline with no Fleet time, or a salty someone with Fleet or Corps cruises and deployments. Exercise extreme caution and respect, as they are that much further down the path.

It’s the Good Conduct ribbon. Most officers do not have them.

The Navy one is plain. The Marine one has the stripe.
 

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One fun thing is to send clipping of local news. In the old days, you’d clip articles from newspapers. Now, you could print out an article from the Internet. Not national news but stuff about the local community.
 
Aksel2028 said:
@Spankucus for DD you are pretty much spot on, extra compression shorts, sports bras and that is about it, rest can be shipped to them when they tell you what they need - also, about 3 weeks of feminine products of her choice. They will get to visit the mid store to buy needed toiletries after about 2 weeks I think? Give her about $100 pocket change. That is what we are doing for our DD.

Yes, park at the stadium and pay $10 is best. You can drop off DD and others then you go back to the bus - just time it so you don't miss it. Say your DDI reports at 11am I would suggest drop off at 9am (me being an Airport Dad I would drop off at 8am) - gives plenty of time for the switch. Of course, if you are early enough she can ride the bus, no need to drop off - less work and stress. Now if she reports at 7am then it will be a very early rise for you. On I-Day forget parking on the Yard or anywhere near the Yard - the stadium is your best option. BTW, my wife just downloaded this from the BLB facebook site - it has some info on care packages and sending mail. Looks interesting at first blush.
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I'm scrolling through and I recognize some of these paragraphs! It looks like stuff written here on SAF with a few more details! Nice to have it organized all in categories
 
usna1985 said:
One fun thing is to send clipping of local news. In the old days, you’d clip articles from newspapers. Now, you could print out an article from the Internet. Not national news but stuff about the local community.
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Yes, this!! My mid has several sports teams he followed closely and my dad and I would make newsletters we would send with all the recent updates, trades, hires- with pics, news, and headlines. We also sent articles on big news stories he’d be interested in. He appreciated the updates and distractions, especially when he spent a few days sick in his rack.
 
If the link is too long or takes too long to load, just google “USNA Plebe Summer Home” as posted in many prior posts here, and find the button shown in screenshot below:





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