I-Day Report Time Change

[Memphis9489]

Thank you for sharing, really enjoyed reading your post! I feel a bit better For DS, USNA is his #1 choice prob cuz he has no clue what is coming. To be honest, he is very lazy ....he is not a morning person, plays too much computer games, loves eating, & not too athletic, guess one positive side is he is very smart. I think his lazy butt will be in complete shock on I-day!

When I saw my two sons for the first time during Plebe Parents Weekend they were both wearing an "E" ribbon on their uniform. (The "E" stands for "Expert" - the highest rating). They earned an "E" for both pistol and rifle. We are not much of a gun family. They have never been hunting. I'm not sure they've ever fired a weapon in their life. I asked them, "How in the hell did you guys manage that?" They gave me a perplexed look, shrugged their shoulders and said, "Video games." They weren't kidding, either! They have shot a lot of zombies on their X-Box over the years. To them, aiming and pulling a trigger with a real gun is all the same. It's just a matter of coordination.

Many of those who excel in the physical aspects of Plebe Summer will later find that the bigger challenge is academics. It's better to be smart than to be able to max out on pull-ups, believe me.

 

[Capt MJ]

The smell before AC. Yep. I arrived for duty the first week of Plebe Summer and was invited to shadow the two BattO's in charge. As a non-USNA grad, I was amazed by the odd smell of old sweat, fear sweat, dried sweat, fermented sweat, fresh sweat combined with whatever sizing/starch that was in new not-yet-washed white works, and too-fast-showered sweaty bodies. The stink just rolled off them, all 1100-1200. They would march or run by, leaving an invisible wake. You couldn't unsmell it once you inhaled. Kinda like skunk. Their rooms smelled like that + mildewy towels + ripe shoes of all kinds.

Eau de Plebe sans le climitisation...

 

[Memphis9489]

I have this faintly morbid mental picture of legions of past grads, currently resident in the columbarium or on the hill above it on Hospital Point, looking over at I-Day and saying "hmmmm....well....this is the way it was done when I was a mid." I always enjoy the great sense of solidarity that I observe from the ever-increasing gallery of living alumni, though their opinions may differ, sharing that abiding interest in how things are done never wanes.

Dang! That was poetry! [Like]

 

[Memphis9489]

Thank you for sharing, really enjoyed reading your post! I feel a bit better For DS, USNA is his #1 choice prob cuz he has no clue what is coming. To be honest, he is very lazy ....he is not a morning person, plays too much computer games, loves eating, & not too athletic, guess one positive side is he is very smart. I think his lazy butt will be in complete shock on I-day!

I gave a speech to the new 202o inductees recently. It is the custom to have a "Welcome Aboard" gathering in their honor with our local Naval Academy Parents Club here in Tennessee (near Memphis). I said, "I know I'm talking to somebody in this room. You'll know if I'm talking to you. No need to raise your hand or nod your head. If it doesn't apply to you - fine. You don't really care too much about serving in the Navy or Marine Corps. You know that the Naval Academy is going to give you a tremendous education and it's FREE. People are impressed - and you like that. You will have guaranteed employment when you graduate with zero debt. You know that you'll be doing better than the vast majority of your peers in this regard. Serving in the Navy a few years? How bad could that be? It'll be worth it, you're thinking. You convinced the Blue & Gold Officer that you are patriotic and can't wait to serve your country. You said all the right things. That's why you're here today. But, deep down, you have this nagging fear that your less-that-honest approach and your lack of enthusiasm for serving your country might make getting through the Naval Academy a bigger challenge. Don't worry about it. You're not alone. The Naval Academy is fully aware that their appointment system is not infallible. They know there are Plebes like you. You are going to be indoctrinated and educated. You will be surprised how you might enter for all the wrong reasons yet graduate for all the right reasons. Just stay with it ... keep an open-mind ... find something for which you have passion ... and you'll be fine. Because, over 40 years ago, when I was entering the Naval Academy - I was just like you. And, if I had to do it all over again - I would - a thousand times over."

 

[LongAgoPlebe]

The smell before AC. Yep. I arrived for duty the first week of Plebe Summer and was invited to shadow the two BattO's in charge. As a non-USNA grad, I was amazed by the odd smell of old sweat, fear sweat, dried sweat, fermented sweat, fresh sweat combined with whatever sizing/starch that was in new not-yet-washed white works, and too-fast-showered sweaty bodies. The stink just rolled off them, all 1100-1200. They would march or run by, leaving an invisible wake. You couldn't unsmell it once you inhaled. Kinda like skunk. Their rooms smelled like that + mildewy towels + ripe shoes of all kinds.

Eau de Plebe sans le climitisation...

I can't remember much of I-day or PS but I'll never forget it. I'll never forget how hot and humid it was (I was pre-A/C too, and I was an Iowa farm kid), how prickly my skin felt in those white works, and the smells. Oh, the smells. Boy-man sweat, girl-woman sweat, the kind of faint sickly-sweet but not entirely unpleasant smell of white works, the dead shoe/dead feet smell, and deodorant (Memphis9489 I'm positive the men were issued Mennen in summer 1989, too). I had two roommates for all but the last week of PS (one Tangoed, right at the end) and nothing ever dried in our room, including bodies - it always smelled like moldy stale sweat in there. I used to have dreams during PS that I was 7 again and really sick and feverish, and I'd wake up and be sweating, even sleeping.