Yard Card

I

inzane99

10-Year Member
5-Year Member
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Jun 28, 2008
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Question: Should I obtain a yard card for my son before I-day or is this something that is done after he gets in ?
 
It's not mandatory that your son have a "Yard card" at all. It's simply a convenient way for you or other family/friends to provide extra $$ that your new Plebe will eventually be able to use at the Mid store and other places around the Yard. For instance, the card can be used at the coffee shop in Nimitz library, and at the Drydock restaurant.

If you do decide to get your son a Yard card, he won't need it until after Plebe Summer. During Plebe Summer, the new Plebes will make several trips to the Mid store under the watchful eyes of the cadre to pick up even more things (i.e., more uniform pieces as they "rate" them) than they get in their huge white laundry bags on I-day. All of those "government issue" items are paid for out of the ACE loan they sign up for on I-day. They really won't have time to shop for "optional" things for which they would need real $ until after Plebe Summer.
 
Yard Card Gouge

After he raises his hand on I-Day, everything he needs for his new life will unfold, be briefed, be issued, be explained, be given... except for the unique support you provide as a loving parent. Focus on that and enjoy the time between now and when he goes through the glass doors into Alumni Hall on the morning of 1 July!

https://www.usna.com/SSLPage.aspx?pid=3213

I think the midshipman is the one who has to apply for the card, which he can do online once they get their computers. Or, they may have a station in the I-Day reporting aboard sequence. Perhaps a current mid can explain. Yard cards are relatively new.

The link above provides info, as well as a phone number. I'm sure if you called, you could get their insight into when the typical plebe gets the card.

P.S. If you don't have a Navy background, "gouge" might be strange to you, but will soon become part of your plebe's vocabulary. The inside skinny, the info, the poop, the insider scoop.
 
I think "Yard Card" Information comes in the current permit to report package??? I think parents can apply and purchase one for their Mid (I think we gave one to our Mid). I am sure it can not be used during Plebe Summer but during Plebe year it comes in handy since they don't get a lot of DTA Liberty and a little extra at any venue that sells extra food is always a plus. A slice and a coke is always nice on a long weekend. Above link from MJ explains it all.
 
Another great convenience is the ability to add funds to a Mid's Yardcard online by parents. . A parent can also request to be notified via email when the Yardcard account balance falls below $50. The card itself actually displays the current account balance for the Mid.:thumb:

More info will be available to parents on I-Day .
 
Thanks Greeneagle....thats what I kinda what I wanted to know....if I could add funds via credit card or my bank account to my son's Yardcard or if the Yardcard was just tied to my son's accounts. I guess we can cross that bridge after plebe summer.

One more question: Do the plebes bring their passports with them on I-day?

Just trying to clear up a few things beforehand.
 
Typically, no on the Passport. I did not and neither did most of my friends. I did have it sent to me just prior to Spring Break, so would have for summer training - which I ended up not needing.

Yard Card - personally I do not like it and do not have my parents put money on it. It limits you to the yard. I prefer them to get gift cards from local restaurants or put money on my debit card. I can use my debit card on the yard.
 
Our plebe feels much the same as CurrentMid. He doesn't have a Yard Card and doesnt really want one. He has a debit card with a checking account from our local bank. (This is NOT where his USNA pay goes--that goes to his NFCU account.) The debit card is really for personal spending, if and when he has a chance to do that. We can add money to the debit card from home, he can take CASH from it, spend it in the Mid Store, spend it at the mall, spent it in DTA, spend it at home.

Much more flexible.
 
Thanks Current and Husky for the input....I think I like the idea of a local bank at home with a debit card that I can easily put money in and that can be used anywhere. Now another dumb question: Did the plebe take his debit card with him on I-day or was it sent to him after summer camp?
 
My son arrived on I Day for Plebe Summer with wallet in hand. All normal things one would find in the wallet were there: Drivers License, Debit Card, a little bit of cash, gf picture....

Wallet was not taken away.

My Mid took his Passport back after Christmas.
Youngster year again the same as wanted it for Spring Break, and then needed it for summer.

Second Class year - I took it to him a few weeks before Spring Break, as needed it for Break and will need it this summer.

Yard Card - my mid has one but does not use it. Prefers to just use debit card for same reasons as CM. He wishes that like civilian schools it could be used for doing his laundry in Bancroft. (by youngster year they hate the laundry service and many use the pay facilities in Bancroft or do laundry at sponsors house)
 
grey socks, grey t shirts, grey undies - everything washed in one great big mesh bag, dried in same bag and returned in one big knot, wrinkled and in a mess.
 
Our plebe had his debit card in his wallet when he checked in on I Day. There was VERY little in his wallet that day: driver's license, a little bit o cash, debit card, a few pictures.

"summer camp" LOL!
 
Laundry service = not sure they rate the coin machines Plebe year. - In reality it is more a time thing and your plebe will not want or have time to have to do his own laundry. When we went to visit both plebe year and youngster year - as they cannot leave the yard Friday night - I would do his laundry for him Friday evening. The hotel we stay at has laundry facilities.
 
Our plebe often brings ALOT of laundry home when leave rolls around. Nice to feel and smell like home. He does it at his sponsor's house sometimes too.

The rest of the time, he's just glad to have something to wear, and not really worried about the shade of it.
 
From what my Plebe has said, the "laundry service" used by Plebes simply boils whatever is in the laundry bag, without detergent, to avoid skin rash problems from detergent allergies. Thus, the gray laundry that doesn't smell clean, even after it has been "laundered."

Profmom, you are correct. Plebes do not rate the use of the laundry facilities in Bancroft. My Plebe does laundry at my hotel every time I go to visit, and sometimes at her sponsor parents' house (she supplies her own laundry supplies, of course). Otherwise, she lives with the laundry service.

My Plebe agrees with CurrentMid and others who do not care for the Yard card. We tried it, and it is very easy from the parents' perspective to add money, but it's just not as useful as a plain debit carc.
 
Yard Card and Laundry and A note to Parents

Though most of our sponsor mid family has the Yard Card, they prefer to use a debit card with a rewards/cashback function to minimize what they carry in their wallet.

Typical Saturday -- 5-6 bags of plebe laundry cycling at our house. If they don't know how to do it, but look at me expectantly, I teach the women and my husband teaches the men. Time to grow up! USNA Laundry Horror Stories abound. The upper class come by on Sunday afternoon with a bag or two of laundry, their Starbucks and Panera Bread take-out, some homework to do, and settle in for the afternoon. Plebe parents: when thinking of things to give to the sponsor family, Sam's Club size laundry detergent is welcome!

Note to parents: ensuring your plebe can sew on a button, mend a small tear, put an emergency pant hem up with tape or a safety pin, do basic laundry, understand the difference between a Clorox bleach stick and a Shout stain stick, iron, unstick a zipper, etc., will save him or her time and headaches.

P.S. One of our better midshipman sponsor family sea stories: Mid threw cammies in wash after summer Leatherneck training. Clink clink clink -- a handful of spent rounds fell out of the pockets. Took paint chips off the white laundry drum interior. Couldn't figure out why we had orange stains on white laundry loads, finally figured out it was running rust. Had to replace washer, now have stainless steel drum. We now drill the mids on removing exploding ballpoint pens (dyed the interior of the dryer with baked-on blue splatters), ammo, plebe notes wadded in pockets, etc. We keep all coins...
 
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Capt MJ said:
P.S. One of our better midshipman sponsor family sea stories: Mid threw cammies in wash after summer Leatherneck training. Clink clink clink -- a handful of spent rounds fell out of the pockets. Took paint chips off the white laundry drum interior. Couldn't figure out why we had orange stains on white laundry loads, finally figured out it was running rust. Had to replace washer, now have stainless steel drum. We now drill the mids on removing exploding ballpoint pens (dyed the interior of the dryer with baked-on blue splatters), ammo, plebe notes wadded in pockets, etc. We keep all coins...
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That's funny !!!!
 
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