<p>Credentials:
class of 04
marine transportation
over 400 sailing days as a cadet
sailed upon graduation
now work shoreside.</p>
<p>As you can tell by the username, I'm not the happiest camper ut know this, I will give an honest and fair representation of the school and life after. I will do my best not to name name's and badmouth peopel due to my personal experiences. I know when you hate a tough person and later in life thank them for being tough. </p>
<p>Honest answers here regarding my time there.</p>
<p>Please PM and I will post and answer as I find time.</p>
<p>Let me further say...I am not the person that was highly intoxicated throught their college days. I put in my fair share of studying and followed the rules. i broke a few rules and was punished and hold no grudges for my mistakes.</p>
<p>you missed it...the staff is not professional. That goes for most the staff in the academics department and commandants department.</p>
<p>Anyone remember that kid, Gabe Whitney who had his picture all over the news papers and was even on the today show i think For the big hug he gave president Bush? Yeh, i think he graduated in 06 yet sat behind me plebe year in physics (he spent six years there) and slept. It's quite sad that he gets all that credit when he was probably one of the most disgraceful people to ever graduate the academy.</p>
<p>again that does not mean the staff is unprofessional that is a reporter who took the shot. Also there are many people who can sleep and still A's the test the next day.</p>
<p>he never got A's...he failed two years worth of classes. He tried to cheat off me in physics...wasn't had since he's like 6 foot 4 and looking over my shoulder was quite easy.</p>
<p>toodles folks, leave a PM and maybe someday I'll come back. </p>
<p>Parent's with kids to go to Kp...please think twice, it is NOt what it used to be. I have worked with many great people that have gone there before me, it used to be a GREAT place. It just isn't any longer. Marad is going to screw your kids over in the end, you wait and see.</p>
<p>Whoa....DA!!! That's why there is chocolate and vanilla ice cream....we all have different tastes. KP might be the best thing that happened to my plebe and.... there is no perfect place, believe me. I'm sorry it didn't work for you.</p>
<p>"hi DisgruntledAlumn, I am a kid who applied to USMMA for class of 2012. I have lots questions regarding USMMA. can you tell me the experinces of first day? ( im little scared to tell you the truth). I know its tough, but i want to hear more besides its tough. i came to u.s 6 years ago and i was wondering if accent is an issue there. i mean I do understand and talk fine but the thing is when i get nervous i just go like u know. i mean do you really have to be fast talker? and fluent in english in order to survive?
thank you"</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry too much. As I was also a drill instructor, I know what Indoc is about on both sides of the fence. The goal is to make you flustered, disoriented and basically break you down in the first couple days. This is so they can mold you into a midshipman in a short time peroid. Basically, no matter how short you you think your hair is, you'll get a haircut on day one. In the gym, when you first process, everyone is nice and everything goes smooth. Once you step outside, you will be bombarded by drill instructors whos main job is to yell at you. You can do nothing wrong all day and you will be doing push-ups and getting yelled at. Day one is where they come at you the fastest and hardest. They will expect you be loud in your answers, and no matter how loud you are, they will ask you to be louder if you get my drift. A good movie to watch is "full metal jacket" Just watch the first hour and you will see that a lot of the the lines the drill instructors will use will come from this movie. There are different routes you can take during indoc to mold your time at at KP because some people do pay close attention to this time. You can step out on the limb and try to answer all the questions and be the hero all the time but your classmates will probably not think highly of you. Or you can try to slip under the radar by doing exactly as you are told and nothing more. Or you can try and challenge the drill instructors where you will get known but it will be painful as they will not being doing every push-up with you. </p>
<p>The accent issue..a drill instrictors goal is to break you down, they will try to make you stutter, they will try to make you unsure of your answers, they will try to make you cry. on the first Sunday when everyone gets to cal home for the first time with a five minute time limit, I never saw one plebe get off the phone and not be crying. And let me forewarn you and you parents, five minutes is five minutes, the drill instructors have no problem hanging up the phone for the plebe, so you might want to sit around the house all day waiting for the call as you child may only have one chance and it really means a lot to the plebe.</p>
<p>"I can appreciate your posts and have found them interesting. My son very possibly will attend USMMA and while it most likely can be like a dungeon and a whole lot of B.S. I'd like to make sure makes the best of a bad situation. So here are some of my questions that I feel you can help me with. Because you're not trying to make the whole experience rosey and in fact know what kind of a situation he's getting into.
1.) No engineering right? Which deck major would you recommend? I figured Logistics and Intermodal transportation.
2.) Which poison should he pick Logistics and Intermodal or the ole original marine transportation?
3.) Which did you take? and being that you are shoreside now are you employed in the maritime industry?
4.) I figure plebe year totally sucks but how was your sea year deployments.
5.) Is marine transportation and or logistics and intermodal transportation hard majors and will the staff help if you ask so you don't get kicked out for struggling with your academics.</p>
<p>Hope to hear from you."</p>
<p>Thank You.</p>
<p>I'm only trying to help.
1. I am an Marine Transportation and Intermodal Logistics Major. It's really up to your child. If he really likes engineering and enjoys the sailing/maritime fields, then this could be a great way to go. My fiance did marine systems engineering because it was the hardest major at KP. She worked her butt off and did well, graduating with honors. She now works in a shipyard doing autocad design of luxury yachts and is working on the world's largest catermeran sailboat. To you and me, this sounds like a great job. She doesn't make much money and deals with a lot of crap day in and day out and is trying to find another job but is realizing that engineering is not what she really wants and there is not many great (high paying) careers in this limited field. She might go back to school for a master's in business so she can get out of the field, even if this sets us back financially. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The only difference between marine transportation and the logistics program is a few extra classes for the logistics majors that deal with more shoreside related work. I have a buddy, he was actually a co-worker with sometime ago, and he was a marine transportation major. So, we both got the same job despite our majors. You get a few more electives (classes you actually get to pick) with the straight deck (marine transportation) but it's not like KP offers that many electives.</p></li>
<li><p>I am employed in the maritime industry. I landed a job not typical to most because I was in the right place at the right time. I sailed out of school with a union that ended up not being able to find me a job for over six months. This is when I had to take the shoreside plunge and settle for a job that paid 40k per year. This is slighly less than most sailors make who can make upwards of 90k with 6 months sailing and 6 months vacation. This is a very good condition but quite possible. I sailed with a guy that graduated with me that made close to $110k his first year cause he sailed longer than me. But, this is all if sailing conditions are favorable. How did i feel when I was living out of my car waiting for a job at the union hall and after six months went by I had to give up sailing (something i did not plan on doing) to look shoreside. I currently work as an oil tanker broker and arrange for oil to be freighted from a to b all over the world.</p></li>
<li><p>Plebe year is crappy but it's supposed to build teamwork through spirit missions and build a class unity. Unlike other colleges around the US, you will at least know by face just about everyone in your class. As for sea year...as i said before, I loved sailing. I skipped out on my vacation time to get more sailing experience. I got over 400 days at sea as a cadet. I had a blast and went all over the world, SA, Asia, Africa, Med, Caribs, etc. I sailed a lot of different ships and got the whole experience. I sailed with some great crews and some quite bitter crews. If the quite bitter crew would have been my first sea experience, i may have quit the school, it was that bad. </p></li>
<li><p>The academy will do everything it can to keep you there. They are not in the business of throwing kids out. Your allowed one setback for academic reasons. Many kids will take five years to get through KP because they pack in four years of credits in basically three years when you include your time at sea. Most the staff will try and help...some just aren't the greatest teachers. Don't get me wrong, some are the smartest in their fields and the credentials speak for themselves but they lack the ability to properly teach students. This is quite frustrating for some classes but usually someone in the class will get a grip on the subject and help the class out...this is part of that unity that they instill in you as a plebe. I had a hard time in calc and physics and was failing out near the end of the first term. I was so stressed, doing plebe duties and then trying to learn what seemed like everyone else already knew. Obviously I passed, not with great marks, but passed nontheless. As with my sailing passion, when the nautical classes came into play, I was able to slowly raise my GPA.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>DisgruntledAlumn, you have quite a negative outlook on your experience at KP. I can well understand your frustration at the inequity of a fellow taking 6-7 years to get through and getting all the glory. It leaves you and many others seeing it as unfair. You obviously have some other issues that you are looking at to prove your negative points.</p>
<p>Let's look at the other side for a minute. Are you having a terrible time struggling to make ends meet as you spend many years paying off $100,000 worth of school loans? You question the fellow that you felt didn't have high integrity. You graduated 3 1/2 years ago from KP and yet you are working a shoreside job. Did you fulfill your 5 year obligation to the government? Perhaps you are doing that now, but maybe not.</p>
<p>After 3 1/2 years you have set yourself up as an expert to complain about the academy for whatever bad things happened to you. That is hardly enough time to get your feet on the graduate side of the fence. I can point out to you lots of Captains of ships, career mariners, and other careers who are so happy they graduated from KP. My husband said it was the making of himself in developing a disciplined life. He has been sailing and in the maritime world since he graduated. My son graduated a couple years before you and is really happy that he went to KP. We have worked with KP students for over 30 years. While they are at KP it's tough, but almost to a person they are glad they graduated from the academy. I would say you are one of the few exceptions to the rule, and I'm sorry for that. I don't know if you've just had a bad luck situation, or whether you tend to look at the negative side of things </p>
<p>Is KP perfect? Absolutely not, and neither is any other school. Are there things that should be changed, absolutely, but that is the same as other places.</p>
<p>For a person to set themselves up as an expert, they should be farther along than you are, to see the benefits and the assets of your education. It seems to me that you have had some bad experiences and have difficulty getting beyond those to see the big picture.</p>
<p>"Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you decide to see beyond the imperfections."</p>
<p>DisgruntledAlumn, you have quite a negative outlook on your experience at KP. I can well understand your frustration at the inequity of a fellow taking 6-7 years to get through and getting all the glory. It leaves you and many others seeing it as unfair. You obviously have some other issues that you are looking at to prove your negative points.</p>
<p>Let's look at the other side for a minute. Are you having a terrible time struggling to make ends meet as you spend many years paying off $100,000 worth of school loans? You question the fellow that you felt didn't have high integrity. You graduated 3 1/2 years ago from KP and yet you are working a shoreside job. Did you fulfill your 5 year obligation to the government? Perhaps you are doing that now, but maybe not.</p>
<p>After 3 1/2 years you have set yourself up as an expert to complain about the academy for whatever bad things happened to you. That is hardly enough time to get your feet on the graduate side of the fence. I can point out to you lots of Captains of ships, career mariners, and other careers who are so happy they graduated from KP. My husband said it was the making of himself in developing a disciplined life. He has been sailing and in the maritime world since he graduated. My son graduated a couple years before you and is really happy that he went to KP. We have worked with KP students for over 30 years. While they are at KP it's tough, but almost to a person they are glad they graduated from the academy. I would say you are one of the few exceptions to the rule, and I'm sorry for that. I don't know if you've just had a bad luck situation, or whether you tend to look at the negative side of things </p>
<p>Is KP perfect? Absolutely not, and neither is any other school. Are there things that should be changed, absolutely, but that is the same as other places.</p>
<p>For a person to set themselves up as an expert, they should be farther along than you are, to see the benefits and the assets of your education. It seems to me that you have had some bad experiences and have difficulty getting beyond those to see the big picture.</p>
<p>"Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you decide to see beyond the imperfections."</p>
<p>Times are changing. KP is not what it used to be. I've spoke with many alumni and most are happy with what KP gave them. But, these are kinda biased people because I met them at Kings Point. People I've met while sailing and working in my current field of work have dislikes towards the academy. There are many people that will never go back. That is there own thing. I don't know about a five year obligation plan but we current grads owe eight years in the reserves. Also, I by no means said I was an expert but I am giving a perspective from a recent graduate. You know, whenever they couldn't get a speaker for us or someone backed out, they put in Norman Minneta who basically gave the same speech everytime. If I recall correctly, he was also our graduation speaker. </p>
<p>I am not here to argue. I will answer question for potential future candidates and concerned parents. I give honest and hopefully complete answers. </p>
<p>I'm just tired of all these people that boost this place as america's secret spot because it isn't. It is not what it was. The amount of kids smoking dope and every other damn thing is ridiculous. I'm tired of people sugar-coating this damn place. Tired of people with "less-than-recent experiences" talking about how great it is. I've been back for the 05 and 06 and 07 gradutions because I had friends graduating. Nothing is better other than the some of the barracks getting AC. How fair is to put plebes in air conditioned rooms while first classman across the grinder suffer in the summer heat? This school is not what it was. I have no doubt they are taking in more money than they are showing and someone is pocketing off of this. Also...another beef I have is how can a gunnery sergent with no degree and retired from the marine corp get commission as an officer and begin collect officer pay on top of his other military compensation? Yes, that's your tax paying money supporting him and his dual government income. </p>
<p>We don't even need to talk about how sub-standard the food is and how often kids get food poisoning and are sent to North Shore hospital.</p>
<p>What you proud mothers and fathers from generations long since attended the academy, things are no longer the same. Your "facts" are no longer valid.</p>
<p>You have some valid points and you are certainly free to have your opinions. I would make one correction. We are at the academy NOW, working with the students NOW, and our opinions are NOT from years ago.</p>
<p>I go back to it, that you seem to look at the negative side of life. It's too bad, I am sorry. Perhaps things will begin to improve for you and you will begin to see things in a better light. I hope so.</p>
<p>It would be nice if everything was perfect and all the problems were ironed out. I think there is much that can be done to improve KP, but it's not all bad like you present.</p>
<p>Zonker...trust me, you DO NOT want to hear what she has to say. The school calls her asking for her to fill out surveys cause she was a female that attended the school and wants nothing to do with them. When they gave our RESERVED chapel date and Melville date to away to other people, we washed our hands of that place. IMHO...few people there can truely be trusted. Politics run that school, plain and simple. </p>
<p>Trust me, you DO NOT want to hear from MrsDisgruntled...her use of English is far better than mine and intimidating when she's ****ed.</p>
<p>I apologize to KPMOM, I was unware you were currently there working with midshipman. Do you only work with plebes? I'd also like to say I am the opposite of the pesimist...I am always looking at the brighter side of life. I met the misses there. I have some great friends. But some things about KP really bug me...and some of these things happened there after my time, ie the Mr. Gabe Whitney, 6-year student who if wasn't a good basketball player would have been thrown out plebe year for lack of grades, attitude, professional appearance, etc.</p>
<p>I think you have some valid gripes. Maybe there is a proper channel to express your thoughts and experiences. I think there are things that need to be corrected, but I'm not willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are also many good things going on at KP.</p>
<p>No, I do not just come in contact with plebes. In fact I have had personal contact with close to 400 of the midshipmen, and they are wonderful. For all the complaints that you have, there are many more things to admire.</p>
<p>You mentioned that same fellow twice. Maybe that is the thing that you can't get past, the unfairness of how he got away with things, and then got recognized at the end. Life is not fair, and the longer you live the more you will find that. It's how we deal with life that makes a difference in who we become. So many people become very angry and bitter, while others take a deep breath, sigh, and don't allow themselves to become bitter. THEN if there is a chance to do something about it, or change things THEY ACT. Hopefully, that is where your energy will be expended, in acting.</p>
<p>Sorry if I sound like a Mom, I am that, but I'm just communicating my thoughts based on what you wrote. You have a right to be angry. You also have a right to do something about it through the proper channels. My suggestion would be that you not let it eat you inside. Then you will be hurt twice. Once when those things happened, and again as the bile comes up in your throat when you rehearse it again. It's as if it just happened again.</p>
<p>I am an optomist. I believe that with time, and people handling things through proper channels, corrections will be made. It may be slow but the corrections will come. I believe that there is much good going on at the academy.</p>