DD called home from USNA last night, her block #2 assignment has her living in Bancroft at the moment. It's a little lonely there in summer if you are not doing PS stuff, so she tends to stay on the phone longer. Just talking, I asked about 'Plebe-Smell'. DD offered an observation from her own 2016 PS and her current accommodations, very close to PS, but not "in it"). She said:
"Yup they smell pretty bad". She thought for a moment. "But the thing that makes Plebe-Smell unique is that every year I've been here, right before the start of PS they redo the floors of Bancroft Hall.
Its that mix of dirty stinking human smell from 400 plebes and a generous and lingering floor wax/floor sealer that makes Plebe-Smell so special and unique in the world. They are right Dad, I will never forget it."
NOTE TO PLEBE PARENTS----
Per my DD:
1) SEND dry shampoo if you have a female Mid!! Clean hair (kinda) with no drying time!!!
2) In one of your letters to DD/DS tell them to remember that the people reading his/her 'Thoughts of the Day' are 2cs and 1cs who may be in their chain of command next year. "None of PS is personal, tell-em (your plebe) not to personalize their negative observations--and try not to be exclusively negative in 'Thoughts of the Day'
"Tell them to look for a positive"
Note: Odds are 95% that your DD/DS doesn't really need this admonition but maybe your plebe passes it on to a fellow Plebe who is disgruntled and struggling through PS. DD tells a story re: a talented plebe who left the USNA. DD felt that this plebe started the year with a hangover in his Company Chain of Command from some of the stuff this plebe said in 'Thoughts of the Day' during PS. You could draw the conclusion that the plebe in question didn't belong at USNA in the first place. That said, there are some 17-18yr old kids in each class who struggle through PS, and aren't that jazzed about the place by PPW. Most of them learn to like/love the place and ultimately take their place in the fleet. Just passing on advice that I know DD has offered to a few plebes in Care-packages she sent to some Plebes from our State, and her regret that she screwed up the address on one package in particular.
3)In 2016 I copied and sent the attached article to my DD, for some perspective. https://jorules.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/some-words-for-the-cadre/ . Sorry for the redundancy but if it makes a parent feel better or gets passed along to a plebe who could use some perspective; s-ok.
Ramblings about PS:
A couple of years back 247sports network, did a series following a couple of USNA athletes/detailers thru Plebe Summer. It was a 4 installment piece, (pretty long for a sports article).
One thread in the story begins in the
first installment with the reporter asking why a Plebe had two detailers shouting at him? Answ: " The guy is having trouble marching" so the detailers are giving him some extra help"
Second installment, Question (reference to a platoon holding an unending push-up) "what are they doing?"" Answ: "Oh, they are at Leaning-Rest.--- They are lending moral support to that guy who can't march" --the reporter then notices four detailers shouting at a plebe as they "march" with him (same Plebe as installment #1)
Next Installment #4 (I've been unable to find installment 3 on the net) Question: (referencing a large group of detailers in a circle around something/someone who can't be seen for all the shouting detailers around him/her) Answ: "Oh we've given up on teaching trying to get the plebe to march, they are teaching him to walk"----struck me as funny.
My own kid could never hold bearing, (something I like about her BTW). Second letter home reads: "I just can't keep from laughing; so now I am on "Double Sirs whenever I speak to a Detailer and I am kind-of a target". Next letter home: "Crap, I can't hold bearing! They have me on Quadruple Sirs now". Plebe parent weekend I asked how the "holding Bearing" thing was going. DD said " Oh, I've been on Octuple Sirs for two weeks now---- its great! When you chop past detailers they can stop you, but I am way past them before I finish the last Sir; and nobody really wants to talk with you when you begin and end each sentence with 8sirs. ----------Made me chuckle.