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A few people have posted comments about the food situation at the academy on College Confidential, an Internet site frequented by parents and students.</p>
<p>One mid complained, "Most of us go hungry. I'm not exaggerating: There is not enough food on the tables for everyone to eat."</p>
<p>He also complained of the starchy diet, combined with longer study hours, and wrote: "Midshipmen are sitting around ..., their bottoms growing flabbier by the minute."
<p>Ah, yes, I was waiting for the first so-called "journalist" to lift a quote from this board and use it to make a larger point.</p>
<p>There's nothing quite like quoting unnamed, anonymous Internet posters to lend your craft that added filip of respectability, is there?</p>
<p>I am certain that the Baltimore Sun - especially their reporter Bradley Olson, who has a nifty habit of using these unnamed, anonymous message board posts in his stories - won't be too far behind. See his so-called 'expose' on USNA midshipmen from April 2007, where he used screen names and anonymous posters to back up claims of mids' Spring Break behavior. Later retracted, of course....</p>
<p>Ah... So he did that, did he? I shoulda' known. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I am now doubly happy that I chose to ignore his request to speak to me concerning this topic. Besides, what I had to say wouldn't have fit in with his agenda, so it would have been ignored anyway.</p>
<p>This might be "good" for the folks at College Confidential but probably not so good for the United State Naval Academy.
Airing dirty laundry in public can come back to haunt you. USNA midshipmen, parents and alumni cannot complain about the bad press USNA receives when they are a part of it.</p>
<p>Regardless, now instead of parents sitting back and allowing the Brigadge time to work this out through the Chain of Command - parents can take the credit for any changes and be proud of themselves for taking care of their mids and fixing their problems.</p>
<p>The midshipmen will never know if and what ability they had to affect change.</p>
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While I recognize that the site is neither the Washington Post nor the Baltimore Sun, I'd like to think that we are becoming a respected media outlet in our own right, especially throughout the Naval Academy community.</p>
<p>As a Naval Academy graduate, I bring only my passion for Navy sports to what I write - that is really my only 'agenda' per say.
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<p>I believe that's per se. </p>
<p>Back to the drawing board in the search for respectability ... </p>
<p>Oh brother. In your dreams will this little piggy be contacting you or any other "respectable" member of the media.</p>
<p>When I read the numerous recent posts from mids currently at the USNA who consistently report there are serious issues with the food service, I don't consider that 'bad press' if it helps gets the problem resolved faster. Sometimes it takes a bit of public airing to get the attention of the right people who can actually resolve the problem.</p>
<p>Certainly you would have to agree that the recent food situation was totally unacceptable.</p>
<p>I dont see how one could possibly compare the plight of our wounded servicemen and women who are trying to work within the system to that of "capable, intelligent, cream of the crop" young, healthy adults who were not afforded the opportunity to work within the chain of command.</p>
<p>You comments are insulting to the Brigade of 4400 midshipmen - do you really think they are so powerless?
Sorry, Mom's and Dad's - you made them powerless when you interferred in Academy business.
This is not about agreeing with the Supe and the Dant here - this is all about allowing the Brigade the opportunity to work within the Chain of Command.</p>
<p>Now - consider this - if YOU were the Supe and the Dant and you read these articles and went to this forum and saw all the whining and carrying on - what would your reaction be? Would a light bulb go off in your head and would you immediately start to reverse all the changes recently made at the academy? I think now. Wouldn't suprise me a bit if all this "interferring" caused a bit of a backlash.</p>
<p>Time2:
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Sometimes it takes a bit of public airing to get the attention of the right people who can actually resolve the problem.
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This comment is naive and ridiculous. Who can resolve the problem? The Supe? The Dant? Do you really think they care for one minute that the media and parents think it is not "fair" the midshipmen have mandatory meals or study hours? Uh - Nope.
Problems can only be resolved within the Brigade leadership.</p>
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[quote]
Now - consider this - if YOU were the Supe and the Dant and you read these articles and went to this forum and saw all the whining and carrying on - what would your reaction be? Would a light bulb go off in your head and would you immediately start to reverse all the changes recently made at the academy? I think not.
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<p>I think he and she might be prone to worry that if their Mid "nuts" fell from these trees, "Our job's bigger than we thought." :eek:</p>
<p>And re: the "naive and ridiculous" comment ... dittoes to your observation JAMof4.</p>
<p>Sorry, I don't agree. The point of this thread was going in the direction of "I don't trust the media and they are all bad", which I think is a rather narrow view of the media. You are entitled to read and accept or not accept what they write, certainly some members of the media do a much better job than others. I would certainly rather have them write articles based on current/accurate information than rumor or speculation.</p>
<p>Consider this.....if you were the BOSS/SUPERIOR OFFICER of those running the Academy, wouldn't you read those articles about the food service issues and ask a few pointed questions of them? I know I would. We call that accountability.</p>
<p>I'd be more inclined to think that the BOSS, especially in military matters, will be well informed in advance of any media blurb specifically intended to sell their product, even if they had to manufacture much of it ... or even get fodder from a blog of rambling ranting parents. That's accountability? Sadly a free press always means a press with a point of view. And with rare exception, mostly in the guest editorializing, the mass media, of which the BS is mainstream, is well recognized as being anything but Academy friendly.</p>
<p>Yea, we all know about Walter Reed. I just don't buy the notion of how grateful we should be to the media for keeping us so informed. And I'm not at all inclined to go down the path that because the media is onto something that they're clearly not certain about but believe they are, only then would the 'Dant and Supe done something. </p>
<p>While we might agree that they've not handled this as they might the 2nd time around, we must remember this is their 1st time around. While both are professional sailors, neither has any real experience in higher education until now. And like all of their predecessors, it's on the job training. </p>
<p>So, yes, if I'm issuing any "passes," mine would go to those in charge vs. the media or others who'd like to be or at least think they could do it a whole lot better.</p>