Future Naval Academy Plebe

Colleges and Universities A-Z Naval Academy - Annapolis
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<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I was wondering if yal could give me the low-down on Plebe year. What to expect and what not to expect. I've heard many things about it, but I want to know really really specific stuff that they don't tell you in the pamphlets. Maybe a personal experience you may have had. I also wanted to know what the restrictions on electronics were. Like, am I allowed to have an iPod or cell phone during Plebe year? I know they take them away during Plebe summer, but do you get them back once the school year starts? Thanks for all of your help. Any information concerning or not concerning this question is greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>Ipod-no
cell phone- yes</p>

<p>Cell Phones can’t have music on them, but it’s not like they are going to inspect every single phone. It’s done on the whole integrity thing. </p>

<p>For plebe year, usually the worst thing that can happen to you is that they put you “back to basics.” It’s suppose to be a punishment, but I always wondered how it was a punishment when the people who were punishing you had to do the same thing you were doing (lol). </p>

<p>What you do during “back to basics” is you wake up an hour early (they can’t wake you up before 0530 according to the SOP) and they usually just PT you. Then they have “noon training” which is a 40 minute session where they can PT you again, just you do it in your working uniform so you go to class sweaty. </p>

<p>And you do 3 chow calls a day, though you can usually end up doing 0-2 every day if you have a class or sport that interferes with it. </p>

<p>There’s only certain times of the day were you really are a “plebe.” During class hours and sports hours (pretty much the majority of the day), you’re a regular midshipmen and the upperclass don’t care. Especially during sports period, a lot of the upperclass would prefer you didn’t call them sir/ma’am (at least in my sport) </p>

<p>During study hour the upperclass can’t bother you at all. </p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

3

<p>Oh ok, wow. I expected the opposite (phone-yes, ipod-no) because when I was up there during last summer for the program I saw many mids with their iPods. And I’m sure they all didn’t get 'em shipped up there just for the summer :smiley: What’s up with that?</p>

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<p>Those mids you saw were not plebes!</p>

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<p>My son told me last week how unfair it was that all the plebes in his company got to keep their iPhones from the beginning of AC year but other iPods were not allowed. Although, he said, there are plenty of iPods around these days too.</p>

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<p>Oh I see. I guess I’ll have to give my mp3 player away. Ok thanks guys!</p>

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<p>Keep it at your sponsons’ house, you will treasure it there if you can’t bring it to the yard later during AC year (who knows, your company might be ok with it)</p>

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<p>what’s a sponson?</p>

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<p>We used to throw our trash off Sponson 8 on the USS INDEPENDENCE!</p>

<p>A sponson is a structure on the side or rear of a ship, usually protruding (maybe always?).</p>

<p>Maybe he meant sponsor?</p>

<p>Tim</p>

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<p>Yes, he meant “sponsor’s” home. Most Mids are assigned (if they wish) a family there in and around Annapolis who become a sort of family-in-residence for Mids. Some are very engaging and active w/ their Mids. Others are less so. Some become like real family …others in name only.</p>

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<p>It all depends on your company. Some people are in hard companies (vvyh2844 they made you pt in working uniform? YUCK) others are in chill companies (like myself)</p>

<p>most plebes i know keep an mp3 player of some kind in the hall. maybe in a team locker room or in a “special” spot in the room. when it comes to stupid regulations like this, the key phrase is ‘it’s not breaking the rules if you don’t get caught!’ </p>

<p>chow calls really arent that bad after the first few weeks, even though you should continue to know your rates. everything becomes 2nd nature after plebe summer.</p>

<p>however, there are times when you will get shafted as a class, and what happens is something called group punishment. maybe you guys arent squaring corners or sounding off loud enough, but that could make you go back to basics.</p>

<p>no matter how motivated you are, there will always be someone in your company who is a slob and you cant do anything about it
at the moment, we are going to get punished as an entire class because some companies got the answers for a proquiz (you will learn to hate these) a few weeks back
“the punishment for this widespread failure to observe and respect the basic standards of the Naval Service will far exceed the honorable effort that you could have put forth last week.”</p>

<p>loss of liberty? I hope not :(</p>

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<p>2013usna2013 wrote: </p>

<p>"when it comes to stupid regulations like this, the key phrase is ‘it’s not breaking the rules if you don’t get caught!’ </p>

<p>That may be your key phrase. I guarantee you, it is not an sop that will serve you or your shipmates well in the long run.</p>

<p>Think about it…you have a ship on GQ and everyone is running around deciding which rule/regulation is stupid, and which should be followed. Great way to turn a war ship into a reef.</p>

<p>Tim</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Let me understand this correctly - the answers to a quiz were obtained and distributed to others before the quiz was taken?</p>

<p>Friday-night proquiz or not, how is this not cheating? How is this not a specific honor violation? Company-wide cheating?</p>

<p>Sounds like a slam-dunk out-the gate violation of the Honor Code.</p>

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<p>Tim</p>

<p>It is always said that life here and life out in the fleet are two completely different entities when it comes to regs because usna is known for making regs for the most trivial things. Many mids, LTs, Chiefs, and Gunnys I have talked to say the same thing. Denying media priviledges to an entire class just because they are new doesnt make sense to us. We don’t (as a majority I would hope) hop the wall, drink to the point of death, do drugs, or intentionally harm one another, same as the fleet. People in the fleet can listen to music, yet plebes cannot. Yes, we understand that as plebes we aren’t supposed to enjoy luxuries like sleeping during the day and we have to keep our doors open, but denying media privileges does not make sense. </p>

<p>Plebe year is about survival, and you can go insane. At this point, we’re all chomping at the bit for this year to be over and it’s finally the big push to Herndon!</p>

<p>I’m sorry, I should have clarified that statement…when it comes to stupid regulations (ie not having an ipod) at the naval academy, the key phrase is ‘it’s not breaking the rules if you don’t get caught!’</p>

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<p>I completely agree with you, and I never said it was not cheating. However, the cheating was so widespread throughout the Brigade that all the scores from that proquiz were thrown out and we had to retake the proquiz last night. When I say widespread, I mean I don’t think they were able to pinpoint any one company as having cheated. As a plebe, I’m not really in the know and try to keep to my own business.</p>

<p>My safest bet is some companies did exceptionally compared to others (it was a tough proquiz) and I bet it looked suspicious to the higher-ups.
the first version of this proquiz had been hard enough, but the one last night was a real doozy.</p>

<p>Hopefully, the new honor concept will bring about changes that could better deal with something like this happening again or serve as a prevention.</p>

<p>That’s a whole other can of worms though and could be posted in another thread. Anyone else have something from plebe year they want to share for Wheybolic?</p>

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<p>

whoa…</p>

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<p>Agree. That is a dangerous allegation to which there is no evidence nor any shred of evidence to lend credibility to such a gross exaggeration and erroneous statement. And suggesting or implying such, even on a forum totally void of accountability smacks of extremism and a fully unfounded, fabricated statement that is inappropriate and misleading. Most of all, it does the meanest, grossest of misservices to a vast # of some of the finest young men and women on the planet. Literally.</p>

<p>Say what you mean …but mean what you say. So one making an allegation like this should best be able to back it up. In any case, it’s wrong.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all your insights to my question! </p>

<p>I’m enjoying the continuous posts that I keep getting in this thread, but can we please keep our posts more generally informative and less directive towards one specific user.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Egad! It appears I have not been clear enough again :?</p>

<p>The ‘widespread’ cheating was only a tiny fraction of the Brigade (I used that adjective in too broad a context, my apologies) but the only reason I posted it was because as a class, 2013 is in an uproar over the whole situation, and all of us are going to be affected poorly in some way in the future. Everyone I have talked to about the incident is pretty disgusted. And the credibility is definitely very real and true.</p>

<p>Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut for a while ;)</p>

<p>Basically Wheybolic, whenever you are inside Bancroft you run everywhere you go, use the center of the hallways, square all corners and soundoff, do chowcalls, keep your doors open, no media priviledges, and you can really only go out on Saturdays.</p>

<p>Whenever you are in academic buildings or literally anywhere outside the hall, you can act like a normal person. You’re allowed to laugh and joke with friends (but not too carried away, you are in the military now), you don’t have to greet all the upperclass on Stribling (that was an interesting first day).</p>

<p>At first you will find it all tiresome, but eventually everything becomes second nature. You may not realize it, but you will grow as a person more than you ever have before. The first time I came home and saw my hs friends, I realized how much more mature this place has made me. Nothing against them, mind you, but I feel as if I have really laid down the foundation for planning out my future and will take away more from usna than I could have anywhere else. </p>

<p>Now that plebe year is almost over, it’s nice to reflect on everything. Time really does fly here, and sometimes I can’t believe Plebe Summer was almost a year ago.</p>

<p>Good luck next(?) year, and take everything with a grain of salt :)</p>

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<p>Thanks. I’m very excited about it. I’m ready to finally grow up. I’m sure it will get tiring, but I’m ready for the challenge. Thanks for your words.</p>