Physical Fitness

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brewmeist

5-Year Member
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I've been seeing many FB posts from parents this past week saying how their kids are struggling with PEP and their PRT. I am truly surprised with how many negative posts I have seen. (I don't think it's a good idea at all to post anything negative about the PS experience on social media, but that's a whole different subject...)

The one thing that is stressed on this forum is to do everything within your control to be prepared. That includes the physical aspect. You KNOW you are going run. A lot. And pushups, sit-ups... And yet I've seen many posts where candidates took a 'break' before I-Day.

If you do poorly with the workouts, you get yelled at. You get more tired. You get more frustrated. You sleep less. And then it becomes part of a seemingly never-ending cycle.

Do you have to have everything maxed out? Of course not. But why not be as prepared as you can?
 
Being prepared physically helps vastly with the mentally-prepared aspect.
If you are well-prepared, the physical aspect of PS should not be a problem. If not, it will be an ordeal.

By August, everyone will be there. One way or another.
 
And even the best prepared plebe will still be pushed and challenged. Doing all that PEP/PRT on less than ideal sleep for days on end, in the heat and humidity that is Annapolis, mentally exhausted, on feet that are blistered/sore from hours in those new shoes will find the physical aspect ‘challenging’.

IMO, not expecting that is a problem. No one should be surprised, there is a reason they include a suggested training program once you receive an appointment!
 
They are being buffeted from all sides by physical and mental challenges, making an uncomfortable-by-design transition between smartest/most athletic kid in their home pond to actually struggling and realizing their pond just got bigger and way more competitive. Focusing on the physical as a source of discomfort is often a stand-in for any number of unsettling factors.

It will soon enough be done, they will rightfully be proud of having gotten through it, and in eventual hindsight, it will be seen as a time when they got way more sleep, once the ac year grind begins.
 
They adjust. For many it is a literal shock to the system and it impacts them. New food, new sleeping location with room mates, it’s hot, they are being yelled at... their body literally goes into a ‘what did you do to me’? Yes being in shape definitely helps. It’s countless hours on their feet, marching, chopping, PT, swimming... it adds up to a lot of miles daily. Some appointees do coast into I Day and lose some fitness or they just didn’t prepare to the level should have. Around week 3 they sort of all find a groove. There will be a handful who still struggle at that point. Always a small percentage that will just plain struggle. I agree parents need to stay off posting on social media. I am glad we didn’t have any of that when I was going through this. Sometimes I wonder if all this access is a good or bad thing. I think it has both.
 
If the first phone calls are taking place later today, how are parents already well versed on PEP/PRT issues?
IMO, this is the time to back away and let the kids do some "adulting". The people they need to bond with and
get help from are their classmates, not their parents. I guarantee that when they have a difficult issue aboard
a sub or flying a mission that Mom and Dad are not the people who are going to help them.
 
OldRetSWO said:
IMO, this is the time to back away and let the kids do some "adulting".
Click to expand...

Amen to this. It's dismaying to see parents wringing their hands over "struggling with PEP," especially on social media. (Just this morning on Facebook, a parent posted a message asking for help because her youngster was suffering from a rather benign ailment that the mid should be able to easily figure out.)

I know it's hard to be away from your kid as they undergo an experience like plebe summer (or even youngster summer), but they're in good hands. If struggling with PEP is the hardest thing they endure over the next nine years, consider it a major victory.
 
.
Shouldn’t all parents have too many unfinished projects? ..... I got out buildings full of them.

You should be happy to see them gone .... And you should be working on your unfinished projects ... not worrying about your kid.

NAPS is 2 weeks away. No more kids in the house .... Hallelujah.
.
 
Last edited:
OldRetSWO said:
If the first phone calls are taking place later today, how are parents already well versed on PEP/PRT issues?
IMO, this is the time to back away and let the kids do some "adulting". The people they need to bond with and
get help from are their classmates, not their parents. I guarantee that when they have a difficult issue aboard
a sub or flying a mission that Mom and Dad are not the people who are going to help them.
Click to expand...

Hallelujah to this! I don't comment often in the USNA section but this is the biggest lesson parents need to takeaway from this experience. I saw a few posts on FB from USCGA parents talking about how tired the "kids" looked and asking if they ever got a break. These comments were before the the physical aspects of Swab Summer had even started. I didn't adequately prepare for Swab Summer so I struggled, that was my decision to make but I suffered through it and survived. The kids who chose to do that will also survive and be stronger for it.

Parents, let your children grow. They are not kids, they are adults. It's not college, it's a four year training program for military officers, the college degree is just a side benefit (although academics is extremely important). Support them, but don't try to solve their problems for them. The fact that consistently gets to me is that every week around the United States, 17-18 year old "kids" show up at boot camps without mom and dad, no chances for phone calls or care packages, etc. These same "kids" could be deployed around the world in dangerous areas just months after they graduate boot camp. If they can do that, SA cadets/midshipmen can survive their individual summer trainings.

Sometimes, I think the increase in social media, the increase in photos or videos posted by the SAs, etc. make it worse because some parents get borderline obsessive and it makes it harder to let go. I'm not saying parents shouldn't embrace their child's experience or enjoy this phase of their lives, but trust the system because it works.
 
From the photos I’ve seen, I’ve been pretty surprised at how many Plebes look quite out of shape. Granted, photos can be deceiving and not tell the whole fitness/strength story. DS was worried about not being a drag on his mates and absolutely busted his butt to be in the best shape of his life going in.

Just got off the phone with him and he got put in the top running group (and he is not a track guy). He says the physical stuff is “really easy” and Plebe Summer is very fun, except he is the champion sweater in his platoon- pools of sweat under him. He also puked all over his white works and one of his platoon mates bled all over another when that guy cut his nose with a bayonet (no idea how that happened). Keeping bearing while being yelled at is hard for him - he gets dropped all the time for breaking bearing and has gotten really good at front leaning rest. He’s gained 4 pounds. He discovered he likes boxing and is going to try to represent his company in the smoker.

FWIW, he says others are having a tougher time, especially with home sickness, so I feel for them. He said the best thing he ever did was run, run, and run in preparation- makes everything “fun” but he wished he had spent some time in the pool.
 
OldRetSWO said:
If the first phone calls are taking place later today, how are parents already well versed on PEP/PRT issues?
IMO, this is the time to back away and let the kids do some "adulting". The people they need to bond with and
get help from are their classmates, not their parents. I guarantee that when they have a difficult issue aboard
a sub or flying a mission that Mom and Dad are not the people who are going to help them.
Click to expand...

I wondered this too but then realized many have received several letters already.

I think also sometimes parents are in a constant “fix-it” mode. Instead we need to be the safe place for them to vent. Not everything needs “fixing”.

My recollections from posts on FB during this stage last year, is parents will get an adequate “talking to” from senior parents more than willing to provide their opinion regarding letting go of little Johnny/Suzy. It’s a process for the parents, too. They will learn!
 
OldRetSWO said:
If the first phone calls are taking place later today, how are parents already well versed on PEP/PRT issues?
IMO, this is the time to back away and let the kids do some "adulting". The people they need to bond with and
get help from are their classmates, not their parents. I guarantee that when they have a difficult issue aboard
a sub or flying a mission that Mom and Dad are not the people who are going to help them.
Click to expand...

Where’s that post about the mom that DID call the ships Captain about her DS’s situation?? Was that here on the forums? Oh boy, that was a good read!
 
trackandfield08 said:
Hallelujah to this! I don't comment often in the USNA section but this is the biggest lesson parents need to takeaway from this experience. I saw a few posts on FB from USCGA parents talking about how tired the "kids" looked and asking if they ever got a break. These comments were before the the physical aspects of Swab Summer had even started. I didn't adequately prepare for Swab Summer so I struggled, that was my decision to make but I suffered through it and survived. The kids who chose to do that will also survive and be stronger for it.

Parents, let your children grow. They are not kids, they are adults. It's not college, it's a four year training program for military officers, the college degree is just a side benefit (although academics is extremely important). Support them, but don't try to solve their problems for them. The fact that consistently gets to me is that every week around the United States, 17-18 year old "kids" show up at boot camps without mom and dad, no chances for phone calls or care packages, etc. These same "kids" could be deployed around the world in dangerous areas just months after they graduate boot camp. If they can do that, SA cadets/midshipmen can survive their individual summer trainings.

Sometimes, I think the increase in social media, the increase in photos or videos posted by the SAs, etc. make it worse because some parents get borderline obsessive and it makes it harder to let go. I'm not saying parents shouldn't embrace their child's experience or enjoy this phase of their lives, but trust the system because it works.
Click to expand...

I agree with all of this. I think one thing that’s unique about all this is that parents ARE included. Perhaps BC USNA is a tourist destination? Same with the other academies. But parents are part of it (Herndon, games, Halloween concert, etc). I have zero involvement or desire to visit my other adult children’s colleges. Nor have I really done so. But USNA is a popular destination place to visit. And has a hugeeeeee parent involvement/ownership (for lack of a better word) than I have ever seen anywhere else. Like USNA groupies. It’s weird. But it’s real. Like one big huge PTA and their meetings are daily on FB parent pages. It can be amusing that’s for sure! I tell my Mid what I read parents getting worked up about and 99 pct of the time he replies “mom that’s not even a thing”.
 
I could do a respectable-length thread on parents who contacted me about their mid when I was a BattO, and this was in the late 90’s, about issues large and gnat’s eyelash small.

One parent was upset because apparently I had punished her son by not allowing him to write or call home, and did not allow parents to receive his grades. This parent was personally abusive to me and threatened to call their MOC. He had checked the block saying “no info” on grades, etc. Said Mid was invited to visit my office, along with his company officer and a chaplain. I ask him how his parent had come to believe these things. After some discussion, I suggested he chat with the chaplain and think about calling home for a candid talk. I then hustled up to the DepDant’s office to brief him in case the parents had already gone full Cobra gunship about that mean witch of a BattO. To his credit, the mid was horrified by his parent’s actions, and he realized what he had started.

Many parents were simply wonderful people, a little baffled about the whole place but loving their mids enough to let them stumble and fall in a learning environment.
 
As a school counselor (14 years in education), I feel like parents (and students) have shifted. What it sounds like you’re seeing is a move from the hover parent to the lawnmower parent. No longer do they hover over their child to make sure everything gets done. Now they lawnmower out in front of their kid, mowing everything over for them. Leaving their kid no learning experience to do on their own. Some kids do fine when they get to college on their own, others have been known to have boxes sit out on the sidewalk for a few days at Stanford because the boxes were too heavy for them to carry alone and they weren’t sure whom to ask. (Great example from the book: How to Raise An Adult: break free of the overparenting trap). I suspect the USNA will do a great job training both the plebes and the parents and the lawnmower parents will turn down their motors due to lack of yard to mow.

Back the OP, agreed that surely as hard as it was to get into in the first place, these plebes should and were encouraged to get ahead of the physical part as much as possible. But just as high school seniors leave for boot camp and basic not as prepared as they should, I’m sure it’s the same way with plebes. In fact, makes you wonder if those looking to get in shouldn’t be forming work out groups like the recruiters in my area (and I’m sure they do in other areas) where those who are waiting to leave are working out together and practicing the basic components of the physical tests they will be taking during training.
 
Many kids today are just not used to standing on their own. I was sent away to summer camp at 7 years old for a month. There were no phones (even land lines), and ZERO contact from the parents took place. Postcards were 5 cents and all we could do is send or receive mail. Later on, Boy Scout camp, living in tents and doing our own cooking, I learned that I could survive on my own. My father passed the Eddy Test and shipped out to Great Lakes at 17 during WWII. At 19, he was already getting OUT of the Navy when the war ended. The kids today don't grow up the way we did, so they are not ready to stand on their own when they graduate high school. However, human beings are the most adaptable creatures on Earth. Our kids will adapt. They will just do it at an older age. But understandably, leaving the nest at 18 is quite a shock for many of them.
 
I think it seems to be harder on the parents than on the kids. 18 year olds are very adaptable - 50 year olds, not so much. Parents invest a lot in their children (a good thing, IMHO) but there is a down side to it. I try not to be too quick to judge because I have the benefit of two sons who have already flown the coup, so to speak, so DS is a natural progression. Also, at the risk of coming off sexist, I think (in general) it is easier for fathers to let their sons take flight than it is for mothers (or for fathers and daughters) (this is just my observation and not applicable to specific cases).
 
ders_dad said:
Also, at the risk of coming off sexist, I think (in general) it is easier for fathers to let their sons take flight than it is for mothers (or for fathers and daughters) (this is just my observation and not applicable to specific cases).
Click to expand...

I was going to say that too. Even though it may be sexist, I think it is true, in general. My 15 yr old DS went off to a NJROTC camp in Georgia this summer for a week. It was very strenous with something like 15 miles a day of running. Several kids, including my DS, ran until they were literally puking. It didn't bother me at all. I knew the Senior Chiefs would take care of the kids. But my DW was DYING. DS didn't mind it either. He loved being part of a tough group of kids. If I had a DD, I think I would have been more concerned. But hey, some young ladies are tougher than the boys. It was the first of several tough camps DS will do before he leaves for college one day. Hopefully, it will get him somewhat prepared to leave home. He is ready to leave now. Not every kid is the same.
 
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