Roommates ?

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Luke Gs Dad

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Anyone know or have experience how roommates are selected?
DS and his good friend are more than likley heading to the USNA this June.
What are the chances they are roomies?

Thanks.
 
They are assigned a company for the summer, which usually is two actual companies for the academic year.

For example, Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 are both in the same company during the summer, but come academic year, they will be in 1st Co. and 2nd Co. respectively. Their main detailers will be from their academic company (squad leader, company platoon commander, etc.), And the company commanders may come from one or the other, depending on the needs of the Brigade.

Odds of them being in the same company? Probably incredibly slim. Roommates? That would be a lottery ticket win.
 
Sometimes weird things do happen. At USMA this summer, DS's friend ended up in the same squad as his high school girlfriend who obviously was also a Plebe. They decided not to inform their chain of command for obvious reasons.
 
It’s extremely rare for two people from the same town to be in the same company. Can’t imagine being in the same room.

Part of being at USNA - and in the military- is to meet people from different places and backgrounds.
 
Just curious - Is it a random generator that decides roomates/company or do they assess people's location (NAPS/Prior?Direct.. etc) to ensure everyone is met with a different perspective?
 
strictlyws said:
Just curious - Is it a random generator that decides roomates/company or do they assess people's location (NAPS/Prior?Direct.. etc) to ensure everyone is met with a different perspective?
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Nothing in the military is random (except maybe the weather!) Platoons, squads, and companies are an intentional mix of many categories. Unless your buddy is from another state/region/country, it’s doubtful you’d be together.
 
I'll let CAPT MJ weigh in as she probably is most informed on this issue.

My sense is that there is some method to the madness. For example, they don't want the entire crew team to be in one company. They don't want half the company to be from the same state. They want the prior enlisted spread out among the brigade

The above said, I'm not sure they get down to the individual plebe. For example, let's say there are 35 prior enlisted. That would be about 1 per company. I'm assuming they just assign those randomly as opposed to saying, former Petty Officer 3/C Jones will go to X company and former Seaman Smith will go to Y company.

And I don't think there is any effort to make PS roommates "compatible." As noted, they are almost never from the same state.

After PS -- and especially after plebe year -- mids have much more choice in terms of roommates. The one fixture is that (with certain exceptions), your roommate must be from you company and class.
 
usna1985 said:
I'll let CAPT MJ weigh in as she probably is most informed on this issue.

My sense is that there is some method to the madness. For example, they don't want the entire crew team to be in one company. They don't want half the company to be from the same state. They want the prior enlisted spread out among the brigade

The above said, I'm not sure they get down to the individual plebe. For example, let's say there are 35 prior enlisted. That would be about 1 per company. I'm assuming they just assign those randomly as opposed to saying, former Petty Officer 3/C Jones will go to X company and former Seaman Smith will go to Y company.

And I don't think there is any effort to make PS roommates "compatible." As noted, they are almost never from the same state.

After PS -- and especially after plebe year -- mids have much more choice in terms of roommates. The one fixture is that (with certain exceptions), your roommate must be from you company and class.
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@USNA 1985 has it right - spreading out prior enlisted, varsity athletes, siblings, international cadets, NAPSters, etc., over 30 companies. If 2 mids from the same state are in a room of 3 or 4, I suspect someone will take a look if they seem to be from the same city.

Compatibility - that’s the plebes’ job to solve!
 
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Capt MJ said:
Compatibility - that’s the plebes’ job to solve!
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^^^ THIS ^^^

A huge part of SA life (for all colleges, actually) is learning to be compatible with those you must be compatible with. On AD, you’ll need to get the job done with people not of your own choosing. Therefore, SAs provide the opportunity to figure that out. Be ready to have many roommates over all four years. Some you may love, some you may not, but you’ll need each other to succeed. For example, preparing for alpha inspections, where you’ll rise or fall together.

DD had nearly a dozen different roommates from I-Day to commissioning. Her roommates for the first two years were no longer her roommates to start youngster year (for various reasons, mostly good). She loved them, they loved her. When she learned she was getting new roomies, she sobbed and sobbed. Even greeted one new roomie with tears in her eyes. They laugh about it now. Those two new roomies became great friends and are a big part of her support system to this day.
 
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My kid has been happy with his so far. Even had one from Maryland who was a recruited LAX player. Different part of MD than us, but still same state.

You'll definitely see the gamut of roomies while in the military! From the guy who dropped his Reserve Capt. (0-3) commission after completing both Ranger school and Spec Ops school (Green Beret) so he could go active duty duty as an E-4 for a specific job field that you loved having as a roommate as you both pushed each other to be better, to the other end of the spectrum with the a--hole who played video games until 0300 every day because he got canned from his actual MOS billet and was now the Brigade CO's driver, so you couldn't complain about him, and had virtually nothing to do except screw around.
 
usna1985 said:
It’s extremely rare for two people from the same town to be in the same company.
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I actually had two upperclass in my Company from my same "town" -- actually the town across the River, in another state, so that nobody without local knowledge would have ever guessed they were a rival high school.
USMCfam said:
Nothing in the military is random (except maybe the weather!)
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Random happens ---at my initial BGO training (20 ish year ago), I was assigned to Room 5029 along with two classmates (one a Company-mate, another a NAPS classmate). The latter wasn't random, of course they would room classmates together, but Room 5029 was one of my Plebe Year rooms !
 
Different Dant but when ‘23 were plebes, they put A LOT of plebes from the same state and same town in the same company- like 40% of the plebes from our state. Roommates rotated at least 3 times during PS.
 
Luke Gs Dad said:
Anyone know or have experience how roommates are selected?
DS and his good friend are more than likley heading to the USNA this June.
What are the chances they are roomies?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
have to room with your class year, in your company - plebe summer you are assigned roommates - for the AC year my daughter was assigned roommates from august to December and then January through May she got new roommates - I think this is company dependent, hers decided who she was living with - youngster year she got to pick her own roommates.....lots of learning how to be compatible with others and living with 2 others in small area - they have to depend on each other for sure!!!
 
Luke Gs Dad said:
Anyone know or have experience how roommates are selected?
DS and his good friend are more than likley heading to the USNA this June.
What are the chances they are roomies?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I have a plebe and he’s switched rooms and roommates four times since I-day! None that he’s chosen, always assigned and within his company. All that he’s gotten along with and enjoyed rooming with!
 
Plebe Summer we had zero choice. I think we moved like 4 times during PS. Every company is different. Plebe Year we got to pick. But not every company allows that. We did not move at the semester either, but again, company dependent. As an upper class we always got to pick. As a female many moons ago, picking was relative. Not a lot of us. So usually 2 rooms and we figured it out.

My class was shot gunned after Plebe Year. Funny enough my best friend and I got sent to the same company. We lived next door to each other for 3 years! The only person shot gunned from my Plebe Year company to my new company was my room mate. Of all people, the one I wanted to escape. She was not fun to live with and everyone fought who had ti live with her. I tend to be a peace maker and finally said I would. We did not room together 3/C year. She was eventually separated for some mental health diagnosis.
 
My oldest had his same roommate 4 yrs. His roommates little bro was appointed, as my oldest little bro (did you follow that 🤔).

I think someone was having a little fun…bc not only did my oldests bff and roomie brother receive an appointment, as did his little bro, but the new plebes were in the same company. And roommates 😳

The mom and I are good friends. All they guys (older bros and p2b’s) had a party the night before. We knew they were in the same company, but said to each other ‘what are the odds? No way they are roomies’

We found out soon, that they were, indeed, roommates….

The whole plebe class was shotgunned after plebe year, and have stayed ‘as-is’ ever since. Good times.
 
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