The Bet Factor

[brewmeist]

If any of you saw the pictures on the USNA Flickr page, many people placed flags along Stribling to honor the victims of 9/11. Honoring those people always makes my heart happy. The majority of current Midshipmen were born after that horrible day. What?? That is hard for me to comprehend. Time never stops moving along...

I couldn't help but notice that one of the Mids was wearing what appeared to be Plebe Summer white works. I was really confused. Prior enlisted? Current enlisted? International student? None of the answers made sense to me.

My son called tonight, and I had to ask him why this person was wearing that uniform. It was driving me nuts.

"He was a Plebe that lost a bet."

Of course...

I ALWAYS forget about the bet factor.

 

[Huursoldaat]

Apparently DS had to disrupt noon meal formation by yelling out "MIDN 4/c xxxx, all present and accounted for" After the Regiment officers did their "All present and accounted for". I told him he better make sure that doesn't get him in actual official trouble. I assume these bets are given some leeway and it's all good in the end.

 

[USNA_STEM_Prof]

When I was in enlisted nuke school my friends and I had "the code" which was just rock / paper / scissors for...whatever. A soda, some push-ups, etc. It slow escalated and once I lost and for a day had to stand at attention whenever my friend came in the class and say, "Ding ding, Petty Officer _____ arriving." Later, he lost to me and was my personal road guard for a day. Good times, never got in trouble, and nuke school is very up tight.

 

[IronmanDaremo]

Yeah, mentioned in the 2026 thread about my son's bet. If Navy football won, he would have gotten to do the "All present/Accounted for" call at noon formation for a week as a sword bearer. They lost, so he has to do his chow calls this week from one of the Bancroft breezeways yelling out to the Yard.

My understanding is that bets are a standard and sometimes legendary aspect of being a mid! I didn't stay long enough to experience that, which is probably good because when I was young, I was a sucker for a good bet!