<p>today i saw a few platoons down at the waterfront sailing the small and big sailboats while i was wakeboarding, that was always the best part about indoc and im sure all the kids had a pretty good time. i also saw some platoons getting ready to take out the monamoys, which are huge real heavy row boats and four people sit on each side rowing and one person steers, takes a lot of work but there are no di's and its much more relaxed than the top of the hill</p>
<p>bvwhiteboy - thanks for being our eyes. I'm gonna send you a Broncos shirt for your help :)</p>
<p>chiefs fan here, and being that they're both in the same division, i dont think i could ever even be seen in posession of a shirt like that, but thanks for the offer :)</p>
<p>shame...I was just starting to like you too</p>
<p>Ha ha....</p>
<p>You've no idea how hard I just laughed at that....... Truly. You've no idea. LOL</p>
<p>Great new pics from Sunday and Monday, July 9 and 10!
Professional quality. Good overview of Academy facilities and activities.
Nice to see some smiles.
Hair is starting to grow back, too.
WELL DONE MIDN Lt. Peter Bizzaro 1/C, MIDN Lt. Mickey Hand 1/C,
MIDN ENS Ben Christian 1/C, MIDN Judith Jaime 3/C, and MIDN Hannah Eko 3/C! Keep up the good work!</p>
<p>Gotta hop outta here for a few days. On a mission to see if I can't find the most perfect crab cake, sunset, & yo ho ho & a bottle of rum. Might take me a while to find. You guys enjoy that sunday phone call. And no worries! From the photos, they look like they were at Club Med, all that sailing around on the Sound. Loved the smiles on some of the faces. :) atlsmith, in the next photo you see, the hair will sadly be gone again. Its time for haircuts again dang it. Those Mids are doing a fantastic job with the photos. Ya'll take care. Do something nice for yourselves this coming week-end & relax while waiting for the big call.</p>
<p>I have been reading the posts and you are all so kind, really, I am so worried about my son and just to be able to see his photo helps so much! bvwhiteboy my son is in 3rd company and has recently had his knee taped, I talked to medical and he has not been in since 9th so that's good? Thanks for posting here having eyes on the inside is wonderful, and your advise seems reasonable. I to am willing to contribute to the photographers gift they really seem to be everywhere.</p>
<p>if he hasnt been to medical since the 9th then thats probably a good sign. ive never needed to go to medical myself but i think during indoc for the kids who had sick chits, which are things saying the kids can only do limited activity, they were supposed to report to medical every morning until they were off their sick chit, now i dont know that for sure, but i think your kid is doing alright</p>
<p>bvwhiteboy thanks again for the information.</p>
<p>I received a letter today. I was so excited, I ran in the house and opened the letter only to read that he HATES it! If I'm honest with myself, I didn't expect him to say he loved it, but he had NOTHING positive to say. I felt horrible. I really didn't know what to say, so I called a friend who graduated from West Point. He told me to simply listen and continue to encourage him. He's just venting. </p>
<p>Has anyone else received a letter?</p>
<p>aww im soooo sorry to hear that!
i got my first letter today from my boyfriend. he sounded like he was doing good, just tierd. he said " sometimes i wish i was doing rotc at san diego or going to school with you but then i snap out of it and remind myself its an adventure" hehe. hes so funny. i think we just need to encourage then and tell then that hardships and struggles are only building character!!</p>
<p>kpmom- he is venting. he prob cant talk to anyone else really and he knows that your his mom and you will listen, love and encourage him. :)</p>
<p>opps i meant them not then</p>
<p>how many have left voluntarily or otherwise since the 6th? started with 271 how many now?</p>
<p>Like many of you, my family has been enjoying the pictures posted by the regimental photographers. In many of them, it seems the candidates are not paying much attention to the camera (perhaps they are focussed on other things). This gave me an idea. I've been saving selected photos from the hundreds available. Forgive me if I belabor the obvious, but to do this just right click on them and retitle as you save to a folder in My Pictures. When indoc is over I might do some simple editing in Photoshop or Picasa (a free download from Google) and combine them into a slide show, or I might send the jpegs to Shutterfly and get some prints for the "memory book." If I am really ambitious I will integrate a few of them with the digital video I shot at the noon muster when the class of 2010 reported in. Best wishes to all the candidates and their families and many thanks to the midshipmen who are posting the pictures.</p>
<p>I've been doing that with the pictures that my daughter is in too. Her grandparents aren't that computer savvy and don't have the patience to sit and look at so many pictures. I made a Snapfish album so they could see her. There are a couple of really terrific ones that I may have printed too. She likes to scrapbook, so I figure when she's home at Christmas, she can use them to make an Indoc scrapbook!</p>
<p>We got our first letter yesterday too. She sounds pretty good and upbeat (complains about no air conditioning for Company 1 barracks!). She knew what to expect since her cousin is in his third year - I think that probably helped a lot.</p>
<p>I think her grandfather (my dad) will probably pass away in the near future. I don't plan to take her out for any reason (to see him before he passes or for the memorial service after ...).....I will probably tell her though.....I've already mentioned he's pretty sick and in the hospital in my last letter....she's pretty levelheaded and not overly dramatic or emotional...has anyone had this problem while their kids were plebes?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.download.com/Mihov-Picture-Downloader/3000-2071_4-10473383.html?tag=lst-0-1%5B/url%5D">http://www.download.com/Mihov-Picture-Downloader/3000-2071_4-10473383.html?tag=lst-0-1</a> is a good piece of free software....it allows you to download all of the pictures contained on a website.</p>
<p>I've been using it for a while now and it works great - especially with indoc pics</p>
<p>KPmom we got our first letter yesterday also and I am sure it will get worse before it gets better, He did not complain but that was before we noticed his knee taped. What you are saying is exactly what they told us to look out for.. stay strong esp. Sunday refer to post #57 I believe some great advise there! Good luck to all of us and our men and women!</p>
<p>KP2010MOM, we have not received any letters from our son. He prefers email over snail mail. Therefore, he declined to take any stationery or stamps. His assumption and ours was that he would be using email once the computers were issued starting July 17, but July 26 at the latest. Unfortunately, with the computer procurement glitch, that assumption is doubtful. :-( That said, I tend to agree with your West Point friend about the venting. Although I wouldn't know what your son means by "hate," as an Annapolis grad, I recall zero affection for the hardships of the indoctrination process. However, that did not change my attitude towards the overall goals of making it through. So, let's hope for the best.</p>
<p>Also, I'm wondering if some of the candidates were encouraged by the DI's to write home. If it wasn't their idea, the candidates may not have come up with a lot of positive sentiments, especially given all the difficulties they're facing that are not their idea either. In fact, it's harder than we can imagine and your son may be trying to communicate, to a limited extent, just how much of a trial he is enduring. Hopefully, our responses can be perceived by them as understanding and encouraging, not arguing the facts. Anyway, I'm just trying to look on the bright side. :-)</p>
<p>Update to above post...computer procurement glitch fixed! Laptops are expected for delivery on or before July 21. Way to go IT Department and GSA!</p>