ROM part deuce or 2.0 or $$$

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LT360

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So for us Plebe parents who have not experienced ROM at the Yard during AC hear what advice do you have? First concern is nutrition—DS has learned it will be drive thru pickup food in King Hall and back to room to eat. His company is in the last group so he is already fretting about getting food. His personal snack stash was depleted before end of semester and he is hearing that the PO will Be closed and no deliveries at Gate 1. I offered to pack him a bag he could check but he does not want to mess with the headaches of carrying around another bag as he traverses the airport and metro.
 
LT360 said:
So for us Plebe parents who have not experienced ROM at the Yard during AC hear what advice do you have? First concern is nutrition—DS has learned it will be drive thru pickup food in King Hall and back to room to eat. His company is in the last group so he is already fretting about getting food. His personal snack stash was depleted before end of semester and he is hearing that the PO will Be closed and no deliveries at Gate 1. I offered to pack him a bag he could check but he does not want to mess with the headaches of carrying around another bag as he traverses the airport and metro.
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Hello, plebe dad. As a 3/C mom I can say that he will be okay. It won’t be the Ritz. But mine and many others survived and excelled eating crud to go food containers for a year. They made it. When the mail was rolling we supplemented with Amazon snacks and vitamins.
When Amazon and the mail didn’t work or when sponsors could not get on the yard, the mids still made it work. They kicked butt in academics and looked out for each shipmate.
This ROM is projected to be very short. Current leadership wants in person classes to take place ASAP within safe parameters.

Mine didn’t have room for snacks in his bags and said he’d be fine.
Whatever this is it is no where near what happened in the spring, summer and fall of 2020 and spring of 2021. I feel good about them being live and in class by the 18th.

Pm me if you have any other concerns
 
So I’ll point out some of the GOOD things that haven’t been mentioned here. I don’t know all the right words, but will do my best to share 😬. NOTE: all from last experience. As with all things, could be/probably will be different pieces/parts.

Uniforms: more relaxed. PT gear? Idk but not what they usually had to wear. At least more relaxed. Shoes optional.

No chow calls/group activities like that. This is most awesome for plebes.

No mando breakfasts. Napping improves. Less ‘focus’ on plebes.

Re food: if ‘ya can, stop at sams club and stock up before reporting. Better this time of year, is that the window ledge can act as a fridge 👌

Online classes? Pants optional. Need I say more. JK. Or am I?? Seriously, though, no traversing the yard in the freezing cold.

Don’t fret. Some things may be less than ideal…but especially to a plebe…many things are MORE ideal. Especially to a plebe!! Bc plebes don’t rate weekends, etc. It’s the upper class loosing weekends, out celebrating with their buddies on weekends that really make me sad. But for a plebe? They will *probably* feel less loss. And even actually enjoy the reprieve a bit.

They will NOT starve. Last year there were some serious supply issues. And they still did fine. This go-around? It’s a ‘been there, done that’ things for usna. Seriously, they have lots of learning under their belts about how to run this. In all aspects: food, learning, etc. From the cheap seats, it seems that the trainings take the biggest hit. Hopefully this will be a shortened event.

LETS GOOOOO ROM 2022 🤪😵‍💫😳😤!!
 
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From hearing DS' few comments... Cons, workouts are more creative (in room, other than running outdoors), food a little bland or randomly sparce since he didnt like the junk food sitting there beside the main grab/go meals. Pros: wearing NWU, sleeping in, less busy time (commuting, formation, etc) so more time to study. And, I think morale boosters like media were allowed (or less policed).

His basic thought is a week to 2 in the winter nets out ok. Anything longer would suck.
 
There was no playbook for spring and fall 2020/spring 2021, so no second guessing leadership on that. My only hope is that they use their experience through that timeframe to mitigate as many negative aspects that were proven to be true. You've got 3 classes + leadership who have been to this rodeo, place is a leadership lab you say? Let's see some hard pulling by all to get through this, safe-effective-smart. Make all us parents proud of the kids and proud of the folks leading the way. It won't be ideal while they figure it out, but I'm a firm believer that a little stress/struggle, when used properly, can be beneficial. Fingers crossed, hoping for the best, optimism makes you feel more better and the hours pass more faster-like. Kids are somewhere over Kentucky right now and I'm excited for their experience and all it entails. They have to leave so they can come back, gets better every time.
 
DS was dropped off fully supplied with snacks and a weighted vest for working out in his room. Luckily we drove him back so it is much easier to get supplies back. I’m sure flying could not be easy extra supplies for ROM.
 
I shipped my DS some stuff as well which was originally slated to get there today at 1245. Nonetheless, I got a message that "due to weather, there will be a delay of up to two days".
 
Mine didn't have room in bags for snacks. He was going to try to hit the grocery before he reported on the Yard but his flight got in at 1 am so it was not an option. He called this morning, he's flying solo. One roomie not back and one in Iso so he might be a little on the lonely side, he was looking forward to seeing them. But, it is what it is. He said it won't last forever and he won't starve. :)
 
Old Enlisted Marine said:
DS was dropped off fully supplied with snacks and a weighted vest for working out in his room. Luckily we drove him back so it is much easier to get supplies back. I’m sure flying could not be easy extra supplies for ROM.
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What is a good recommendation for a vest? We have been looking for 1, but not quite sure which are good ones.
 
On line classes suck per DS and he hated them. He got by like all the others noted above, but food was the least of the complaints from my mid. Hope this isn’t a repeat of my 3/C son’s plebe year.🤞🤞. Since they’ve arrived they haven’t had much that resembled “NORMAL” USNA life. Like my job as an RN this may be the new normal and we/Mids May have to learn to continue to live life and go on with life like the normal flu. Get vaccinated and move on or choose not to and move on too!
 
My son is back in Annapolis… decided to get Chik-fil-A before he goes back.

Calls me up and tells me he just tried something new for the first time and can’t believe he loved it.

The first time he ever had it. A cherry they put on his milkshake.

A fricking cherry.

So now he likes cheesecake and cherries.
My kid is growing up. ;)
 
A1Janitor said:
My son is back in Annapolis… decided to get Chik-fil-A before he goes back.

Calls me up and tells me he just tried something new for the first time and can’t believe he loved it.

The first time he ever had it. A cherry they put on his milkshake.

A fricking cherry.

So now he likes cheesecake and cherries.
My kid is growing up. ;)
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It is the pleasure in the smallest things..like sleeping, longer showers, driving and of course "cherry on the top" ;)
 
txfwindian said:
It is the pleasure in the smallest things..like sleeping, longer showers, driving and of course "cherry on the top" ;)
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LOL

I struggled with this dope for 18 years! He basically only ate hamburgers ketchup only, chicken nuggets, chicken wings, or Kraft macaroni and cheese. Insufferable!

He did just tell me however that he will never eat sour cream. I keep telling him to try everything. He doesn’t know what he is missing.
 
justdoit19 said:
Heard that traffic into gate 8 is backed up all over the place. Over the bridge. And so reform chaos begins 😵‍💫
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Just got back from the Yard with last drop-off. Watched multiple plebes at Gate 8 not have their CAC card ready to go and have to go rooting around stacked luggage in vehicle cargo area to find it, multiplying delays. Counted 7 of those in front of me. Plebes in my car laughed. That’s one of the things I rattle off as we head out of the house: CAC, cover, laundry, phone, laptop, charger, contact lens solution, wallet, etc.
 
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