<p>Ok so one of my best friends is going to the Naval Academy (and i could not be more proud of her) and i was just wondering, what is the best way i can support her during plebe summer and her first year? I'm assuming she wont have much access to a phone, and was planning on writing letters to her and stuff for the beginning part. And care packages - can i send them? and if so, what should i put in them? I'd appreciate any advice, i really want to support her!! Thanks</p>
<p>Pictures, pictures, pictures…</p>
<p>quotes, words or encouragement - ask her what she wants sent. She should already have an address and everything.</p>
<p>IF, and that’s a big IF, she gets time to write you a letter you might read a lot of things you don’t understand like detailer, lights out, bulkhead, head, deck, etc (these are all news vocab words to her - things that will most likely never be forgotten).</p>
<p>IF you by chance are available for one of her 3 phone calls she’ll get during her 6wks of plebe summer remember she will most likely cry and most likely want to talk and there will not be enough time for a conversation either so let her do the talking. She’s being yelled at daily and has to request permission to speak so most likely she’ll want to be able to get some words in w/o being interrupted. </p>
<p>you’re not going to understand what is going on and it will be hard on you, just hang in there and know she is being taken care of and it’s all part of being a plebe. As all of us grads and upperclass can attest to it’s all a mind game and getting words of encouragement from family and friends is always helpful.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you and your friend</p>
<p>USNA '02</p>
<p>yeah ive been trying to pick up some of the vocab by stalking this sub forum :). i’m betting the 3 phone calls will all be going to her parents, but im hoping to still keep talking to her. I owe it to her after all, she kept me awake in calculus most of the time, so i want to keep her going as much as possible. if she cant write to me, i can still write to her right?</p>
<p>She will SO appreciate you writing to her–ESPECIALLY when she can’t write to you!</p>
<p>And don’t be reminding her about how much she is missing …or even being missed. Keep it positive, upbeat, no reason for 2nd guessing during these early weeks of transition. Emphasize your pride and joy in her decision, her commitment to service, her leading the way where so many others would like to go but cannot. Even if it’s a modest stretch.</p>
<p>you can most certainly write to her! I remember “mail call” was the best part of the day, especially if you got multiple letters and it was a bonus if you got a carepackage! Losing sleep to be able to go to the “head” (aka bathroom) at night to read the letters (since day time provided me no time at all to do that) was well worth it - I would re-read many of the letters I received over plebe summer.</p>
<p>Mesquite_girl24 ~
Here’s a list of some of the words that you might hear your friend say and a translation:
Detailer = upperclass (either a junior or senior who’s part of the training for plebe summer)
Deck = floor
Bulkhead = wall
Head = bathroom
P-Way = hallway
Overhead = ceiling
T-Court = Tecumseh Court where many of the formations take place during plebe summer, and the area located in front of Bancroft Hall
Bancroft Hall = Dorm room for the Brigade of Midshipmen; aka Mother B, Hall; broken down into 8 wings (all one building - shaped like an H)
Red Beach = red brick areas located outside of some of the “wings” of Mother B
Chopping = running; what plebes are required to do while in the Hall
Reef Points = the book that will be friends most read “pocket book” by the end plebe summer. This little book contains useless information known that is required knowledge by all plebes. most of which will be never be forgotten. Your friend will be amazed at the amount of information her brain can hold and she can memorize.
Table Salt = something found in Reef Points
Sound Off = being very loud, shouting, using your “outside voice” or “man voice”
Chow Call = what a plebe is required to give for all formations. chow call is given twice usually 10 and 5 min before formation. Chow call consists of how many minutes until formation, which formation it is (morning, noon, evening meal), what the uniform for the formation is, what the meal is (the entire menu), major events planned for the yard that day (i.e. parade practice, maybe a guest speaker, etc.) and what the professional knowledge of the week (topic) is (i.e. USMC), then you end with how many minutes until formation. You eventually can get this down to about 15sec once you get the hang of it</p>
<p>Mesquite_girl…Somethings to prepare yourself for as your friendship with your best friend grows even as she starts her new life as a midshipman…</p>
<p>Remember she is now active-duty military - which means the needs of Uncle Sam will have to take precedence over anything else. She is not simply a college friend going away to school. She is 100% active duty military AND 100% a college student - a huge load for these young adults to shoulder.</p>
<p>She is also going to, from literally day one - be having experiences that you may never have. Laying in body bags, crawling under barbed wire, memorizing facts to prepare for a 5am inspection, speaking a whole new vocabularly ( great job USNA 02 for the above posted list )…flying in helos…etc.</p>
<p>My young lady is now a Firstie and a Detailer for these new Plebes coming next week. Who knows? Maybe your friend will be in her eyesight…But the one thing I have observed as she continues to keep in touch with her high school friends is that it gets harder and harder to feel connected to them when the experiences she has …there is NO WAY of her ‘back home friends’ relating to.</p>
<p>So as you write to your friend and as you see her again in the coming months and summers and years, be prepared to see major changes in her. Not negative ones, but the kinds of changes that a 24/7 leadership institute geared to serve our country as a future military officer is determined to place within your friend. And this is how it should be. She is not at a civilian college preparing for a finance job, etc. She is preparing to LEAD as a Military Officer in a time of war. Huge shoes to prepare to fill. As you see your friend growing and changing, don’t feel bad, or upset if there are times you feel ‘things just aren’t the same anymore’ and then pull back from your friendship. My young lady was out of the country for 5 months and just got back for 2 weeks to see us before jumping right back into USNA training. She was so eager to connect with her local high school friends and kept texting and calling them. So many were still not home from school, or busy with jobs, or boyfriends… 3 years post-high school lives move on. </p>
<p>As far as your ongoing support of your friend - expect that this will be an adventure for you both. She and you will be growing, changing, adapting to your life situations. Be interested in her experiences. Don’t be surprised by the long delays in correspondance as from the Navy’s point of view ESPECIALLY during Plebe Summer - communicating with friends is at the rock-bottom of any list of priorities! Your friend may not pop a note to you for weeks, even a month. Don’t take offense at the draught of info from her - just respond when she does and as others have said, of course your shipping news via snail mail letters to her would be welcome. Keep things upbeat, funny - even girly-cute in letter writing. </p>
<p>Your friend is lucky to have someone as caring as you!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies everyone! and the vocab list USNA’02:) ill work on that. I truly am proud of her, considering how much training she has been putting into this, running 5 miles a day and such. I’m very excited that she has chosen this path, she is a leader through and through. She means a lot to me and im sure this whole experience will be an adventure for us. Any advice on what to include in particular in care packages? I believe she mentioned something similar to power bars and such, but im not sure what else. I get to see her for one last time before she has to report!</p>
<p>A couple more things, Mesquite_girl24: </p>
<p>Write a tiny date on the back of envelopes, since mail isn’t always delivered promptly. </p>
<p>Don’t feel as if you have to write “War & Peace” in every letter. Short is fine. Maybe better. Cartoons are good, too. A couple years ago a very funny father posted a message re: the hours he put into absolute essays he sent his daughter daily during plebe summer. Later in the year, he asked her which of his long treatises resonated w/ her, and she said, “I didn’t have time to read any of them, Dad. I just liked opening an envelope you sent and knowing you were thinking of me.” </p>
<p>Re: packages: healthy stuff that won’t melt, and think “sharing,” since sometimes the cadre voluntell plebes to pass around their packages among platoon-mates. (That’s packages only – letters are private.)</p>
<p>You are a fabulous friend. Every plebe should have one like you!</p>
<p>haha i didnt think of cartoons. thats a great idea! She finally gave me her address and all of us senior girls promised to write her at least every 3 weeks or more often. Short and sweet, and sharing in the car packages, i think i’ve got it. I cant believe that she is leaving us tomorrow! we had our last bible study sunday, so it was the last time we get to see her till thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Jokes, news of friends and family, photos, and trivia questions (and answers) are all things we’ve sent to our Mid.</p>
<p>yeah, i asked my dad to send me the sunday comics every week and he did.</p>
<p>you might want to write more often than every 3 weeks - plebe summer is 6wks long. let me tell you, it’s a LONG 6wks. no internet, no computer, no phone, no contact with the outside world. If you could possibly even write a quick funny note or even random postcard once a wk that would be good. mail call is the best part of a plebes day, and of course the days they get to make the phone call home</p>
<p>yeah i was planning on writing more often than 3 weeks, except when im stuck in the middle of nowhere for a week (aka kansas and nebraska). She left today!</p>
<p>Kansas and Nebraska have post offices. A funny post card could be fun.</p>
<p>oh and by coincidence (and im going to tell her this) i signed up for a history of the US navy course at my college:) now i might know a SLIGHT TINY bit of what she has to learn and recite</p>
<p>Good on you for trying to understand the Navy history but, chances are you and her will not be learning the same things. Granted she’ll have to take Naval Heritage as a class, but the type of stuff she’ll have to learn and recite is Naval Academy Yard gouge (about certain monuments on the Yard and buildings), also will be stuff like “laws of the navy” that are memorized to the tune of Gilligan’s Island (not sure if you know what that TV show that even is), “how’s the cow?” a question asked by an upper-class and answered by a plebe (basically a way to ask how much milk is left in the milk carton on the table, but the answer to the question is a long winded response, one I’m not about to try and type), ranks of ALL the services (Navy, USMC, Army, USCG, Air Force), all her classmates full names and hometowns, of course all the names of the detailers in their company, and the regimental staff detailers and officers…</p>
<p>letters, cards, news from home- all good.
As already mentioned, send all of the above in plain envelopes- other than her address and your return address, keep all messages INSIDE the envelope. Detailers can be a nosy bunch, and no use giving them any unnecessary ammunition.</p>
<p>Care packages-
might want to coordinate that with her parents. They have limited room in their lockers, and it doesn’t take much to have “too much.” Bake some cookies, brownies- the home made ones usually get past the detailers, although she may be asked (and expected) to “share” with the rest of her squad/company. No matter- it is the “thought” that counts, and the thought will be well appreciated. Stay away from anything that can “melt” in the heat, and put batches of cookies in zip-lock bags to stay fresh. Pack with a little bubble wrap in a flat-rate box from the post office and you will be good to go.</p>
<p>Hang in.
While peskemom makes some valid points, your friendship can transcend all of it. Our Mid is also a firstie, with a whole host of close friends at home- about 20 of them. Each and everytime he comes “home,” those that can get together- and just about all of them do. Will it always stay this way? No- infact, the majority of them graduated from their own HS’s this past year and one is headed to Texas, another to China. But once plebe summer is over and the academic year starts, IM’s and facebook are amazing mechanisms to keep friends together, even as the years pass, and they all know that Texas and CHina are but a quick IM away! It is amazing! </p>
<p>Having said that, just remember, once there is computer access, the whole IM and texting thing can get quickly out of hand- just remember to be respectfully of her limited time. Text messages 24/7 get annoying pretty quickly when there are many things they have to attend to- as will you. But what can work is to allow her to contact you when she has time, and work your schedule around that as your’s no doubt will be more flexible.</p>
<p>The only other thing you may want to consider is visiting- AFTER plebe summer - perhaps on a weekend when you are the only one going so that you won’t have to “share” with parents, bf’s, etc. Believe it or not, Labor Day is a perfect weekend to do that as they usually get an extra day off, and “town” liberty on the Sunday in addition to the Saturday- which is a huge bonus! Granted, not competer freedom-but you should be able to see her from 12 to 12 on saturday, and if things stay the same as the past few years, 12 to 12 on Sunday as well- and then noon to 6pm on the yard on Monday- but all in all, plenty of time to visit and have some fun together exploring Annapolis, and there is always the Mall! But remember- visiting is an activity for AFTER plebe summer. What I would suggest is touching base with her parents to see if they have any plans for visiting that weekend, and work around that. While some parents will welcome friends along, some won’t- and more importantly, some friends who go to visit will want to have their friend all to themselves without the “rents” around. So give that some thought as you plan. As for “surprise” visits, keep in mind the one usually getting the “surprise” is YOU- especially if you go only to find she has duty or other obligations- so when you can contact her after plebe summer, plan a visit out with her- you will have a better time doing that.</p>
<p>as an aside-
the detailers have gotten a clear message to once again lighten up on the plebes. Many traditional “lessons” of plebe summer are no longer allowed- the plebe summer experienced by the current detailer class of 2010 will NOT be the same experienced by the class of 2013- the message that “100% retention” is the goal has been communicated loud and clear. </p>
<p>Your friend will be fine. Despite all you read and hear, she has not entered the lion’s den never to be seen again- hardly. Will she work hard? Sure. Will she learn lots? Absolutely. Will she like it? Some days yes, some days no. Will she get through it? With a little motivation, absolutely. Unless SHE does not want to. Again, this is NOT the plebe summers of old, and they want the plebes to be successful over the next 6 weeks.</p>
<p>What YOU can do to pass YOUR time is to get a copy of “Brief Points” and read through that- plenty of NAVY lingo to aquaint yourself with! It is intended for parents, but makes good reading for anyone with a Mid at USNA!</p>
<p>thanks for all the advice navy 2010!</p>