Meaning: <class year> mid of the semester?

Though Navy Fleet culture tends to recognize more junior sailors in this way and not paygrades E7 and up or junior officers, I think this is an okay way to recognize a “regular mid” during the normal course of the year. There are oceans of awards heaped on those getting ready to graduate - academic awards, athletic awards, leadership awards, all-around awards, based on numerical standing.
 
Sorry, CAPT MJ, got to disagree. A VERY, VERY rare occurrence. :)

There are (or were) plenty of other individual and unit "awards" for various things (Dant's List, Supe's List, best uniform during inspection, best company at P-rade, etc). I don't see that this serves any real purpose other than "everyone gets a trophy" -- and all mids, including plebes, now seem to get PLENTY of WEs (as compared to my day).

But, it's not a huge deal and certainly doesn't affect my life.
 
usna1985 said:
Sorry, CAPT MJ, got to disagree. A VERY, VERY rare occurrence. :)

There are (or were) plenty of other individual and unit "awards" for various things (Dant's List, Supe's List, best uniform during inspection, best company at P-rade, etc). I don't see that this serves any real purpose other than "everyone gets a trophy" -- and all mids, including plebes, now seem to get PLENTY of WEs (as compared to my day).

But, it's not a huge deal and certainly doesn't affect my life.
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Notice I said I’m “okay” with it. In mjspeak, this is similar to your “not a huge deal.” Personally, not a fan, but that is no doubt rooted in my own bias and experience, professionally, “well, okay.”

My perspective on this comes from working for two firms which regularly sponsored awards. The cultural differences were fascinating among the Services. Not wrong, just different.

Navy would do Blue Jacket or Junior Sailor of the Quarter/Year, and a more senior SOQ/SOY, nothing higher than E-6. For CG, similar. Army would focus on Soldier of the Quarter/Year, a junior one. For AF, we would have to triple the budget - Junior Airman, Airman, NCO, Senior NCO, Junior Officer, Honor Guard, Civilian. Not wrong, just different.
 
NavyHoops said:
Not necessarily. The guy who graduated first in my class was the biggest tool bag on the planet who everyone despised.
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General Wesley Clark. . . USMA grad
Talk to folks who know his service reputation all the way from USMA through 4 stars.
 
NavyHoops said:
Not necessarily. The guy who graduated first in my class was the biggest tool bag on the planet who everyone despised. In the end its a nice bullet point on their fitrep and if they are lucky an extra weekend. Beyond that... I doubt it does anything.
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I am confused by this. I thought my mid had told me that OOM was partly dependent on military aptitude (?) ratings given by other mids and/or officers in their Company -? Or maybe the military aptitude thing was something different, but the ratings by the mids play into OOM somehow? (I don't remember exactly.) My confusion is then, how does "the biggest tool bag" end up number one in that kind of system? Or am I just completely confused here? (Sorry, I would ask my mid, but he has limited time to explain random BS to his retired, unlimited pondering time parent.) (Could I also ask definition of tool bag? Like a suck up? Worse?)
 
Grades and PRT are really up to the Mid. The performance grade is one of where this could impact things. He did great as a Plebe because he was smart and could balance it all, did well on pro knowledge. Youngster year it’s not hard to do well. The problem is, and I saw it so many times, is guys and gals like them are on track for post grad stuff... where they probably should be graded lower in performance, but everyone tends to cater to them to keep them in running for VGEP and other items. It might not be that way now, but ‘back in the day’ it certainly happened.
 
NavyHoops said:
The guy who graduated first in my class was the biggest tool bag on the planet who everyone despised.
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The sad truth is, we all knew someone like this, especially in high school. The person who got great grades, was leader of this and captain of that, was going to the big-name college — the one whom all the teachers and administrators gushed over.

And yet all their classmates despised the person because all the glitz couldn’t ultimately hide their shady character. Think Eddie Haskell as a star student (apologies to those from the post-“Leave it to Beaver” era.) And sadly again, there are these types in many workplaces and professional settings. C’est la vie.
 
NavyHoops said:
Grades and PRT are really up to the Mid. The performance grade is one of where this could impact things. He did great as a Plebe because he was smart and could balance it all, did well on pro knowledge. Youngster year it’s not hard to do well. The problem is, and I saw it so many times, is guys and gals like them are on track for post grad stuff... where they probably should be graded lower in performance, but everyone tends to cater to them to keep them in running for VGEP and other items. It might not be that way now, but ‘back in the day’ it certainly happened.
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As I said previously - Gen Wes Clark who was a Rhodes Scholar.
I was on his staff for an exercise after having heard quite a bit from Army folks that I knew and sadly, it was spot on. Over the years, I served on a couple of flag staffs and interacted with many more but never ever saw anything like the impression that his folks had of him. We've had some real doozys in the Navy but I haven't seen or heard of any that came close.
 
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