Mongo, this is
so not like you?
Are you being critical of the United States Naval Academy?
That's not the Mongo I know.
Didn't mean it to be. Simply implying that I would go along with the Administration's apparent present plans to scrap it.
If you are referring to the comments on Plebe Year, show me one single individual other than possibly a grad/dad who did not have the last 'real' plebe year.
My entire post was meant to be tongue in cheek.
USNA'02 said:
If this wasn't "necessary" why did it occur so many time BEFORE your time...are you saying that it wasn't until your class (i believe '95) that there was a "real plebe year".
Thanks for the "fountain of youth" remarks. By 1995, I had retired from a wonderful career in the Navy and perhaps my son could have been greasing the pole. I didn't ask him which class actually did it.
MIDNDAD said:
Mongo, could you expand more on why you think plebe year has largely become symbolic? How is what you experienced not symbolic of your time and era at the Academy?
Read either James Webb's or David Poyer's book describing Plebe Year in the '60s. It was much more physical. I could also write a novel because anything summrized here would not do it justice. Just a few examples. "come arounds" anytime day or night. Come arounds involving "hanging around listening to music" (hanging on an upper classman's shower bar in the pull up position throughout the entire evening study period), not eating at meals for extended periods, spending the entire meal 'shoved out' (sitting in a braced up position at the table but with no chair-done properly the passing OOD would no be able to notice that there was no chair) or evening meal when no officers were around, 'clamped on' (elbows on table and knees clamped firmly to bottom to table,lifting oneself from their chair), or, my favorite, reporting to the upper classmans room at the start of study hall wearing rain gear over sweat gear over blue dress uniform with rifle. Shoved out (again, sitting with no chair) in a hot running shower with the the M-1 rifle 'rigged' (held horizonally at arms lenght with both hands and arms fully extended). Can you imagine what this does to the uniform which of course must be squared away by the next evening meal. Passing the water pitcher to the upperclassman across the table, passing two water pitchers to the upperclassman across the table (full water pitchers extended at arm's length), The above, among many others, were for minor infractions. For those whom the upper class did not think belonged in the Brigade, it was continuous until they flunked out.
So, my point was that having those who had done this to us, finally accept us as an equal part of the Brigade (back then, it was more of a two class than four class system) , meant a lot more than climbing some phallic symbol. We didn't need no symbolic stinking phallic symbols to know we had succeeded.
