Actually, knowing some Reef Point rates ahead of time is fine, just don't 'show off' that you know them. Besides, if you know your rates, your detailers will just find something else that you're doing wrong. PS is supposed to be hard, so embrace the challenge and do your best. As others have said, it is the effort that counts - that and humility will serve you well at PS and beyond.
Things I wish I had know before I-Day/PS
- Thread starter RELEVANTobserver
- Start date
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- May 31, 2009
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Stop loading the newbies up with info. Let them sink or swim on their own. And really, unless you're a complete moron you will figure this stuff out on your own. If you're sitting at home reading Reef Points right now, you're wasting valuable free time you could be spending with the lovely lady who is going to break up with you over the summer. Enjoy it while it lasts and good luck!
WouldBePlebe
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2010
- Messages
- 39
I'm sorry but I'm not going to wait until I get there to see reef points for the first time. I have plenty of time right now to learn them AND do plenty of other things. My time will be a much scarcer commodity during PS, so I might as well at least give them a look now.
If your advice is just not to completely obsess over things like that before getting there, then thank you, point taken.
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
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- 2,412
Exactly!!! That is one of the points of plebe summer....to teach you how to learn or do things when there isn't much time and how to deal with failure when you can't accomplish what you been tasked with doing. If you try and start memorizing (notice my word choice) what is in reef points, then you are defeating one of the purposes of plebe summer; though, eventually they will ask you something not in reef points and then....if you haven't understood the time pressure piece, you might shoot yourself in the foot. No one here is telling you what to do....it's advice....you have been accepted to USNA and from I-Day forward you are responsible for all of the decisions you make!
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Just be aware that however much you prepare, there will still be things you will fail at. If you know your indoc, but nobody else in your platoon does, than the detailers will be coming down on you for not helping your shipmates.
I'm not saying don't look at Reef Points ahead of time; that's a really smart idea. Just don't show up with the attitude that "I'm better than my shipmates." Be prepared to be knocked down, but to rise again victorious.
I completely agree with these two posts. Before I-Day 2010, I read these forums so thoroughly - I was a wealth of information. I would print off responses filled with information that I thought would benefit my son in preparation for Plebe summer. However, he wanted nothing to do with this information. He said that he wanted to enter the Academy on his own with only his perceptions - He wasn't interested in what other people had to say about Plebe summer. He wanted it to be his adventure - He didn't want to "taint" it with other people's experiences. He wanted to go in with a "blank slate". (Now I understand that others will have different opinions but I just wanted to share what my son's attitiude was regarding Plebe summer and that it apparently worked for him). He did just this and he was ranked as the #1 Plebe in his platoon the two times that the Plebes were ranked during the summer.
My recommendation:
Get used to the idea that a plebe never does anything right the first time.
You need to develop thick skin.
You also need to develop a sense of humor, but don't laugh at the upperclassmen when they expose their foibles.
Learn to subordinate yourself to your squad-, platoon-, company-, and classmates, teamwork is a very important commodity.
Listen up when you are being told how to do a task, then do it as instructed.
Keep working on your physical fitness... it will make PS lots more bearable.
Keep in mind that the sooner you square away, the sooner the upperclass will direct their attention to some plebe who still is trying to change USNA to his/her way.
Congratulations to those of you who have gotten your appointments, and best wishes to those who still are looking for THE LETTER.
Get used to the idea that a plebe never does anything right the first time.
You need to develop thick skin.
You also need to develop a sense of humor, but don't laugh at the upperclassmen when they expose their foibles.
Learn to subordinate yourself to your squad-, platoon-, company-, and classmates, teamwork is a very important commodity.
Listen up when you are being told how to do a task, then do it as instructed.
Keep working on your physical fitness... it will make PS lots more bearable.
Keep in mind that the sooner you square away, the sooner the upperclass will direct their attention to some plebe who still is trying to change USNA to his/her way.
Congratulations to those of you who have gotten your appointments, and best wishes to those who still are looking for THE LETTER.
CiaoRoma518
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2010
- Messages
- 4
I am a plebe right now, and I have some advice of my own to offer:
Honestly, the most important things you can think about prior to I-day/PS all relate to your attitude. You can waste what precious little free time you have now getting ahead on rates, but trust me, even though you may be stellar when it comes to rates, but not all of your classmates will. We had one plebe in my platoon who just flat-out refused to learn his rates, and as a result got assigned thousands of lines of writing assignments. His squadmates would help him complete them, doing tons of writing assignments themselves, even though they knew all of their assigned rates. So even though you’re squared away, you’ll still be helping to make up for your classmates’ shortcomings. Enjoy the little time you have now – spend time enjoying the little things (wearing civilian clothes, enjoying media, walking down to breakfast whenever you want in your pajamas), being with family and friends, because come summer, you won’t have that anymore.
That being said, my platoon was incredibly lucky. Our first set detailers were an amazing bunch, just truly great leaders, and managed to keep everyone motivated, even when morale went down. Our platoon commander sat us down one day, just a week or so into PS, and said that all of us must have had a reason to come to the Naval Academy. Whether it was to be an aviator, or a Marine, or a SEAL, or even it’s as nonspecific as just to serve, that’s what would drive us for four years. You have to always keep that in mind, and never let that reason go, even when times are tough. Don’t lose sight of that, even throughout the rest of Plebe Year.
He was a prior Marine, and also gave us advice from his time at boot camp. When the detailers are making you do things that seem completely pointless and are a massive waste of time, and you’re sweaty, tired, upset, pissed as hell, let yourself go of all emotions. Don’t let yourself get mad at the detailers – if you do, they’ve won, they’ve gotten to you. If you can’t bring yourself to look on the bright side (because there will be times when you just can’t) just go empty and don’t think of anything. Just get through it. No one evolution lasts forever, and they all end eventually. Better times do come, even if it’s only that short 30 minutes of personal time right before Blue & Gold.
Finally, he told us it’s all mental. Don’t let your mind limit what your body can do. You’ll be surprised how far you can push your limits, but how will you discover that without testing them? Never tell yourself that you can’t, because then you can’t. Once you get into that mindset, it’s very hard to get out of it. You can do it, and you will.
And there's no point in getting overly nervous about I-Day. Unless you went to NAPS or are a prior, it will probably be one of the most confusing, scariest, longest, most memorable days of your life (I still get flashbacks every time I walk into certain parts of Alumni Hall). There's no point in worrying about it now, just deal with it as it comes. That's the key to Plebe Summer - take things one step at a time, and suddenly you'll find yourself on the other side.
Honestly, the most important things you can think about prior to I-day/PS all relate to your attitude. You can waste what precious little free time you have now getting ahead on rates, but trust me, even though you may be stellar when it comes to rates, but not all of your classmates will. We had one plebe in my platoon who just flat-out refused to learn his rates, and as a result got assigned thousands of lines of writing assignments. His squadmates would help him complete them, doing tons of writing assignments themselves, even though they knew all of their assigned rates. So even though you’re squared away, you’ll still be helping to make up for your classmates’ shortcomings. Enjoy the little time you have now – spend time enjoying the little things (wearing civilian clothes, enjoying media, walking down to breakfast whenever you want in your pajamas), being with family and friends, because come summer, you won’t have that anymore.
That being said, my platoon was incredibly lucky. Our first set detailers were an amazing bunch, just truly great leaders, and managed to keep everyone motivated, even when morale went down. Our platoon commander sat us down one day, just a week or so into PS, and said that all of us must have had a reason to come to the Naval Academy. Whether it was to be an aviator, or a Marine, or a SEAL, or even it’s as nonspecific as just to serve, that’s what would drive us for four years. You have to always keep that in mind, and never let that reason go, even when times are tough. Don’t lose sight of that, even throughout the rest of Plebe Year.
He was a prior Marine, and also gave us advice from his time at boot camp. When the detailers are making you do things that seem completely pointless and are a massive waste of time, and you’re sweaty, tired, upset, pissed as hell, let yourself go of all emotions. Don’t let yourself get mad at the detailers – if you do, they’ve won, they’ve gotten to you. If you can’t bring yourself to look on the bright side (because there will be times when you just can’t) just go empty and don’t think of anything. Just get through it. No one evolution lasts forever, and they all end eventually. Better times do come, even if it’s only that short 30 minutes of personal time right before Blue & Gold.
Finally, he told us it’s all mental. Don’t let your mind limit what your body can do. You’ll be surprised how far you can push your limits, but how will you discover that without testing them? Never tell yourself that you can’t, because then you can’t. Once you get into that mindset, it’s very hard to get out of it. You can do it, and you will.
And there's no point in getting overly nervous about I-Day. Unless you went to NAPS or are a prior, it will probably be one of the most confusing, scariest, longest, most memorable days of your life (I still get flashbacks every time I walk into certain parts of Alumni Hall). There's no point in worrying about it now, just deal with it as it comes. That's the key to Plebe Summer - take things one step at a time, and suddenly you'll find yourself on the other side.
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2009
- Messages
- 333
Excellent post, CiaoRoma518. These are words of wisdom! 
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2007
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- 9,295
No fear CiaoRoma, I still have flashbacks given the perfect conditions (sight, smells, noises) in parts of the Old and New Quads at CGA...and that's going back to 2002.
Concur, no use getting nervous, but if you are, don't worry, it's normal. Thousands haves succeeded before you and thousands will after. You control your destiny...just do what they tell you and do it as a team!
Good luck! You'll look back and realize how insane the stuff you did was, and how the vast majority of the people around you on the outside will never understand it... when I get that feeling, I just smile. You will too.
You may have a melt-down on I-Day eve like the linebacker-sized guy in the elevator at our hotel did - epic crying, questioning his decision to go to USNA, etc. But you will get through I-Day just like the 1242 Plebes did on July 1, 2010. You will survive the rigors of Plebe Summer, just like last summer's Plebes did. You will also learn to embrace not only the 30 minutes of free time before Blue & Gold each night, but the sailing lessons under a beautiful blue sky on the Severn River, which provides some additional relax-time. You can do it, just as thousands before you have. This time next year you will doing what my Plebe is - looking forward to Spring Break and reflecting that PS and Plebe Year were not so bad after all.