<p>Then, I assume that you will welcome a well-informed response in reply to a knee jerk reaction. That way, the h. s. student and his parent will have the information to decide on their own.</p>
<p>Actually my prior comment was addressed to both. You happened to reply first.</p>
<p>I don't need to be a doctor to have an opinion about the state of the health care system in the U.S.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But hopefully before you start telling our Surgeon General how screwed up things are, you will go beyond the parochial opinions of the patient who first entered the system six weeks ago, and read some or all of the many news releases concerning the subject, and become somewhat knowledgeable.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Knee jerk fire feeding reactions, I will question.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Am I to assume that by asking hard questions I am having a knee jerk reaction?</p>
<p>When was the last time you were in the fleet?</p>
<p>My son did one block this summer on a fleet cruise - Sub to be exact. He really enjoyed the company of the Enlisted. The Enlisted were all treated with the most respect and like Adults. They did their job and then had a lot of fun, it was a very laid back boat. Actually my son spent most of the cruise playing video games with the enlisted! The officers on the sub just let the 8 Mids wonder around with no direction. The Ensign he was assigned to pretty much left him to his own devises. And you tell me this is how you learn leadership - a grey hull cruise where you play video games for hours at a time! </p>
<p>The sailing Cruise was actually way more beneficial - everyone had a job and all had to do that job or the boat was not going to make it from one point to another. He got was more leadership skills being on that sail boat for 10 days. He was rated to be an XO for next summer - to bad the program will not be there for him to develop leadership as an XO. He will just go off to some big "boat" and play more video games. Maybe the Administration ought to really look at what goes on for the Mids while on their cruises. I can tell you many storyies of partying, lead by the Ensigns. Take a look at YouTube as see what goes on on our ships Enlisted and Officers alike - The Midshipman quoted in the paper has it right!</p>
<p>I really do not think that the only people who should be permitted to have an opinion are those in the Military. As a matter of fact I will question my doctor if I think there is a reason to - will even go get a second opinion. What about school teachers - seems like everyone can tell them how to do their job, citizens are always telling the Police how they can do their jobs but you insist that the Military is off limits. The Military ultimately works for the Taxpayer - you and me - I will question decisions and have an opinion because that is my right as a citizen. I will write my members of congress with my concerns because my constitution allows me to do so. </p>
<p>I fear we will be sending newly commissioned officers out to the fleet who are Military/Technically Smart and quite frankly illiterate in everything else. (Why do you think that ABET is requiring more liberal arts to be taught in the Engineering curriculum? Or is the Academy just willing to go it alone and not be ABET accredited? </p>
<p>Again no one wants to answer any of these questions. Please tell me how having a halloween Concert or playing an instrument in the orchestra for all of 3 hours a week or working on a Habitat for Humanity House is harming their military training? Yet going out on a YP "boating for the evening" with the YP Squadron is some how more beneficial. </p>
<p>These are not knee jerk reactions. They are serious questions that need answers and I will continue to ask them.</p>
<p>It seems the pendulum has swung from one end to the other...and hopefully USNA69 is correct (if I am reading his post correctly) that this immediate course correction will, over time, incur further corrections in order to find some balance.</p>
<p>IMO- all work and no play is disasterous. Down time is essential - recharging one's batteries- developing both sides of the brain- and in it all, there needs to be some form of release.... </p>
<p>Doing away with ECA's, IMO, is a mistake- having said that, however, I can see streamlining them a bit- it is my hope enough of them will remain to offer some diversity in "what to do" besides the rigors of academics 6+ days a week. </p>
<p>And while I can appreciate that "too many" ECA's can "soften" the experience as viewed by others (not to mention the drain on budget), so can "too little" backfire..... can't help but wonder if some will try and "squeeze" a weeks worth of pent up anxiety into one night of liberty....that could backfire just as easily.</p>
<p>On the flip side, more study time has, no doubt, pleased many a parent!</p>
<p>My hope is that the pendulum will find some balance - and I do hope the morale of the midshipmen, while it does so, does not suffer too much as a consequence. </p>
<p>War is war- and preparing for it is not fun-
but even the troops get some R&R....</p>
<p>
[quote]
These are not knee jerk reactions. They are serious questions that need answers and I will continue to ask them.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>have a few more...
-and I will state up front that these issues might/might not be of any "real importance".....
yet can't help but wonder what some of the "opportunity costs" of recent changes will have in the short/long term:</p>
<p>-admissions (or shifting to NROTC programs in liu of academy)...with "less restrictions" attached?
-effect on "drags".....think now might not be a good time to visit?
-effect on ticket sales....one can argue the mids are a "draw".... if they are not "there," will parents and other supporters be as willing to purchase those season tickets?
-effect on bowl invites... (no ticket sales = ????) (granted, the bowl games are not the "mission"..... but they do attract some candidates....)
-mid morale.... or does it matter?
-relationship between Annapolis (the town) and Naval Academy? (or does that matter?) ... seems like there were lots of "townies" that enjoyed some of the activites of their military neighbor (pep rallies, concerts, business, etc)...has the "wall" suddenly grown taller?
-alumni support (there are those who donate generously to support ECAs.... and athletics....and facilities...
-"brigade pride".....
-and more "changes" in leadership.....skuttlebutt has it the Dant will be leaving as early as December.....unconfirmed, but one has to wonder the effect on what seems to be an "annual" turnover has on the Brigade as a whole....</p>
<p>I suppose time will reveal all.....
semper gumby in the meantime....</p>
<p>Tex, your few questions appear rhetorical and yes, the majority of your post appears to be the knee jerk response to another knee jerk response, that of, what I assume, is a distraught youngster. I can only imagine any answer to when I was in the fleet would result in more knee jerk responses. </p>
<p>However, if you are serious about your Halloween Concert question, I will try to answer it. Which is more beneficial, a Halloween Concert or a YP Squadron underway trip? Let's get the YPs out of the way first. These are minature Naval vessels, replete with full size CICs and bridges. A group of midshipmen get several YPs underway, practice underway procedures, and perfom squadron maneuvers. I cannot see how this would not be totally in keeping with the mission of the Naval Academy. True, it might not be of any interest to someone who could get underway on the most technical and complex fighting machine in the world and only be interested in playing video games. But for the majority, it is challenging and worthwhile. Next we have a Halloween Concert. Halloween is a pagan ritual filled with satanic worship and animal sacrifices. To conduct this fiasco in the Naval Academy Chapel, simply to showcase the organ, a holy place, a place where every window honors one or more groups of our fallen heros, is sacrilege. If this is not enough, to open this program to the public, to allow not only any and every one through the gate, but in costume with masks, during a time of war, this on a military instillation, this while we are highly concerned about terrorist attacks, has got to strike fear into the heart of any base commander.</p>
<p>Hard to top that . . . </p>
<p>Have they done away with the Easter Egg hunt at the White House?</p>
<p>
[quote]
.....Halloween is a pagan ritual filled with satanic worship and animal sacrifices. .....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Funny, I thought Halloween was mainly a holiday where children go around the neighborhood collecting candy?</p>
<p>^^^^^
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween:%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween:</a>
[quote]
Halloween originated under the name of "Samhain" as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain, after which Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>On the internet, one source is as good as another.
For a different point of view [are those still allowed in America?] go to</p>
<p><a href="http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Lies.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Lies.html</a></p>
<p>Oh, and about that Easter Bunny . . .</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_bunny%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_bunny</a></p>
<p>I know that I'm just a plebe, but I see all of this stuff first hand and hear about it all from my upperclass. These mando meals suck. Especially for people in bad companies, at least my company is cool. But the upperclass are getting antsy because we're going to be here all of the time. A lot of the firsties say they have less liberty this year than they did last year. That's pretty lame. My roommate had to choose between D and B and gospel choir because mids can apparantly now only have one musical ECA. Liek I said, I['m new, but a lot of this stuff is pretty stupid.
And no overnight over PPW... that was not nice at all. :(</p>
<p>Everyone has to, or should, eat.</p>
<p>The more food eaten in King Hall, the less the rodent problem throughout Bancroft.</p>
<p>And the more of your hard earned dollars that you will have to spend elsewhere for fun, when you are finally allowed to have it.</p>
<p>There has got to be a continual scheduled interaction between the classes in each squad. Training, good order and discipline, and all of those other reasons.</p>
<p>Why not do it at a meal instead of creating time elsewhere which detracts from study, sleep, ECs, etc?</p>
<p>Keep your head down and don't get caught up in the complaining. You, as a plebe, have never experienced anything different. You don't know any better. And next year will be better a whole lot better for you. Really not a bad position in which to be.</p>
<p>
[quote]
These mando meals suck. Especially for people in bad companies, at least my company is cool.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Bad companies, bad wardrooms. That's life. When you're on a ship or sub, there's no escape from your fellow officers.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But the upperclass are getting antsy because we're going to be here all of the time. A lot of the firsties say they have less liberty this year than they did last year. That's pretty lame.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In another year, they'll have all the liberty they want. Maybe they got too much as 2/C. In my day (granted, many years ago), 2/c got NO weekday liberty. 1/C got Wed night liberty 2nd semester. We survived.</p>
<p>
[quote]
And no overnight over PPW... that was not nice at all.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Again, we didn't have them; we survived. It's really not the end of the world. When you go on deployment, you'll be away from "home" for 6+ months. </p>
<p>I'm not saying the changes are easy or that they are going down well. But it's really no different than it was when the current Supe was a mid. All those classes survived and thrived. You all will too. Keep your eyes on the prize (graduation).</p>
<p>USNA69 Serious questions that you cannot grasp! OH and by the way he is not a distraught youngster by any means. I am asking questions for my own benefit and my own understanding. Implying that you know my youngster and that he is distraught is almost comical!</p>
<p>By the way do you really know what goes on in the YP squadron - a year ago they were so wild boating around they sent a few mids to Brigade medical - They are wild out there, totally out of control. But how would you know that, you still seem to think it is a training tool. That would be the called the class in Seamanship. Not Boating around on a friday night getting their jollies.</p>
<p>
[quote]
True, it might not be of any interest to someone who could get underway on the most technical and complex fighting machine in the world and only be interested in playing video games.
[/quote]
That was what the Ensign left them to do. He was totally uninterested in training any Mid as was the boats Commander. They got to the Base on Sunday and got told to take care of themselves until getting underway on Wednesday - great leadership there - take a bunch of 18-24 year olds and turn them loose in Hawaii for a few days, not even requiring them to check in on a daily basis. Then when the boat returned early - send them home because we don't want to bother supervising you. I suggest you learn a bit more about today's grey hull cruises before you insinuate that he did not make the best of his time. But hey he was blindly following orders when told "your on your own, here is the video room."</p>
<p>
[quote]
to open this program to the public, to allow not only any and every one through the gate, but in costume with masks...
[/quote]
Have you been to the Halloween Organ Concert lately? I certainly never saw anyone coming through the gate with masks on. We were all made to show ID just like any other visit to the yard. </p>
<p>
[quote]
And next year will be better a whole lot better for you. Really not a bad position in which to be.
[/quote]
...You really can not say that ...even you do not know what will change next year. Do Not Make Promises that may not be kept!</p>
<p>I was kind of wondering about the "mask" comment myself. But, then again, consider the source.</p>
<p>
<p>...You really can not say that ...even you do not know what will change next year. Do Not Make Promises that may not be kept!
</p>
<p>I think that I can safely go on record and promise that with probably very few exceptions over the past 163 years, youngster year has been an improvement over plebe year. Yep, next year will be a whole lot better.</p>
<p>Geez, you have to be a quick typer today or your answer is 3 pages back!!!</p>
<p>I think as it relates to Halloween, the operative word someone posted from the dictionary was ......"originated as".....I think today most would admit it has evolved into something quite different.</p>
<p>Parenting rule #1: Never make a promise that you can not keep. Ask the youngsters today if life is any better - most will tell you they fell like they are in Plebe Year Two. Remember sh** flows down hill, unhappy Firsties make for unhappy everyone else. </p>
<p>And life for our Firsties is certainly not looking any better than their 2/C year.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We're not makling personal attacks, are we?</p>
<p>Sorry, the mask was an assumption. A good friend, knowing how much I love the organ, called me last year as she was leaving the concert and stated that I had to be there this year, that she would get me a ticket, and that (her requirement) I had to wear a costume. She didn't state no masks for security purposes nor did she specify that I wear a mask.</p>
<p>And sorry, I am bowing out of this conversation and leaving it to you "experts". I have only been around the Academy pretty much continuallly for the last 40 years. What the heck should I know? (That was a rhetorical question which requires no answer) Never mind that I see most of the changes as truly refreshing.</p>
<p>"Example: One of the changes apparently is doing away with the summer sailing trip to the NE and substituting more time onboard Navy ships."</p>
<p>Doesn't sound like a bad idea on the surface----the chances of the enemy making a move on you while you are sailing your clipper ship around the Cape of Good Hope probably aren't that good. Spending as much time as possible with real combat units, whether it be the Army or the Navy seems to be time well spent. The experience reported aboveregarding mids "on the loose" in Hawaii bears little resemblance to our D's assignment this summer in Hawaii. Maybe Adm Fowler is on to something more than just "changing the rules". Perhaps the Navy is recognizing issues that are surfacing throughout the fleet and intends to start some of the fix at USNA. I wish him well---its an awesome responsibility to ensure that some of the nation's best are properly trained and prepared for circumstances that we probably yet can't imagine.</p>