<p>You guys get too much attention (the fishbowl effect and we insane parents) and not enough (academy? Huh?) at the same time. Ironic.</p>
<p>I don't want attention, nor do I get much, and I'm happy for that. I've explained to my parents to not introduce me as "My son, going to USAFA". However, on the off chance I do get it, usually it's, "Oh, my brother/son/cousin is in the Air Force", or "Where is your training", or "The person I know didn't go to C Springs"... bah! imbeciles.</p>
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You guys get too much attention (the fishbowl effect and we insane parents) and not enough (academy? Huh?) at the same time. Ironic.
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<p>Two extreme ends of the spectrum. One says we walk on water and don't get our feet wet, others are that we're beneath contempt for wanting to serve.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, we'd like recognition and respect for what we've accomplished, but not to be smothered with it. Not too much to ask, IMO.</p>
<p>Z pretty much summed it up right there.</p>
<p>There are two kinds of people: those who don't know what we're doing, and those who don't know why we're doing it.</p>
<p>Its like when some someone asks: You're going to Annapolis, where is that?</p>
<p>One of my friends thought I was enlisting. Somehow he just didn't connect Naval Academy with Annapolis, oh well.</p>
<p>The people in my school did not know the difference between enlisting and the academy and enlisted/officer. I live not too far from Great Lakes so that's why they did not understand why I wasn't going to "boot camp" over there.</p>
<p>ohh check this out...a girl in my world civ class told me earlier this year "If the Naval Academy is such a Great school, how come I never heard about it?"...and then she shrugged off and rolled her eyes (she was my friend but now she doesn't talk to me anymore because she says I'm going into the Navy and signing my life away or actually to USNA, oh well)...but now people are like ohhhh didn't they make a movie about that school? and I'm like hmmm...maybe I don't really know....heehee.."where is it?" answer:annapolis..."oh is it in minnesota?" It's pretty funny how many people never knew that the Naval Academy exist....but then again I do live on an Army base...they growl at the name "Navy"....hmmmmm</p>
<p>Same. Most of my friends thought I was enlisting when I told them about the Naval Academy. Barely anyone recognize that USNA is an excellent school in par with Top 10 schools and most don't have a clue about the institution. Few more people get it if I explain that it's "Navy version of West Point" though. <em>sigh</em></p>
<p>Well I shouldn't be saying anything because at one point I thought sailors were part of the Army and I just happened to find out what usna was by seeing it in an encylcopedia sophomore year :x</p>
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...but I don't recall anyone who would meet Wheelah's definition.
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Thank you.
It is sad to know that things have twisted beyond the control of your day there Z. The whole code of the academy is suppose to support those who WORK with and as a team, so in theory, "Joe's" as current mids seem to define them, could not survive the system back in your day.</p>
<p>....because things were perfect back in Z's day? i'm confused about what you mean by "the control of your day there Z", as if Zaphod's days had some sort of magical control over the academy. dad2b you seem to have a real problem with the idea that there are some mids who don't "work with and as a team", and others who resent them for it. zaphod's term "sweat" seems to be where "joe" came from, so i'm pretty darn sure they were there in his day.</p>
<p>A "sweat" was a person who went to extremes to comply with regulations. "He Brassos his glasses. His room smells like Pledge." was part of the definition. The definition did NOT include frying your own classmates over violations of MIDREGS. We had no definition for someone like that other than just a bilgepump or other unpublishable titles.</p>
<p>I never ran across anyone like that (well, maybe once). I'm under no illusion that such people didn't exist in my day, but there certainly weren't many, and if there were any, they were quickly ostracized by EVERYONE. To be that way as a Plebe would have brought the entire upperclass in your company down on your head.</p>
<p>I just don't see how someone like that could survive. Getting through USNA on your own is just a micron this side of impossible. </p>
<p>What really worries me is that apparently (and the current Mids are free to correct me on this) this has become sufficiently common to have generated a slang word for it. Has it?</p>
<p>I really hope I'm wrong. As if the place isn't tough enough without now having to worry about a bunch of little tyrant-wanna-bes running around in your own ranks. :mad:</p>
<p>" As if the place isn't tough enough without now having to worry about a bunch of little tyrant-wanna-bes running around in your own ranks."
my classmates' sentiments EXACTLY with fellow plebes in my company running around getting each other fried.</p>
<p>ridiculous stuff that i didn't expect of middleschoolers, much less midshipman at the us naval academy. although they do say plebe year is 13th grade for a reason.</p>
<p>Good grief, Wheelah! You mean there's more than one of them?</p>
<p>WT*?</p>
<p>What do the upperclassmen have to say about this? If I were present when this started happening, I'd be FURIOUS!</p>
<p>Another reason why I believe completely scrambling after Plebe Year is best. Can you imagine what that company is going to be like when these people come back?</p>
<p>Wow. </p>
<p>I doubt I need to say this Wheelah; you sound way too down-to-earth and smart to have missed it; STAY AWAY FROM THEM. </p>
<p>I'm simply stunned. COMPLETELY.... :eek:</p>
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although they do say plebe year is 13th grade for a reason.
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<p>You see, that really worries me. There was no such belief in my day, and my day wasn't the Golden Age of USNA or anything. We were simply taught you didn't bilge your classmates. At NAPS, our mantra (drilled into us by a certain upperclass Mid whose name I don't remember) was, "WE ARE A TEAM. WE THINK AND ACT AS ONE!" We repeated that so many times and so loud we went hoarse doing it, and I believe it's one of the reasons my NAPS class was so tight.</p>
<p>I'm really sorry, Wheelah. It's not supposed to be like that, and the fact that it's being allowed to happen is just as shameful as what your classmates are doing.</p>
<p>Damn. :(</p>
<p>There are Joes in the fleet as well, especially those stationed at training commands (shades of Sobel, eh dmeix?) That sad fact was my first dose of reality that the Navy wasn't this perfect organization. </p>
<p>How'd your last exam go Wheelah? I'm sure you aced it.</p>
<p>I wish I had my "Reef Points" (I was the editor of the 75th edition) to give the official definition of "sweat" but it did not include frying classmates. A "sweat" was an individual who was obsessive about studying and preparing for any military event. One of the basic concepts instilled in plebe summer was loyalty to one's class and fellow classmates. If a classmate was asked a rate and did not know the answer, no one was permitted to give the correct response as that would be "bilging" a classmate.</p>
<p>Like Zaphod, I am suprised that the midshipmen would permit a "Joe" of one class to fry (give demerits to) one his of classmates. Not only would retribution come from the class in which the frying occurred, but all upper-classmen would ensure the "Joe" would be put in place. Demerits, like excrement, only flowed downhill. "Firsties" rarely fried each other, and on the rare occassion when it did occur, the frying "Firstie" had to be in official capacity as the watch officer and the offense had to be something serious (not for a disorderly room, poor haircut, etc.). Since the watch officers rotated between companies, frying for trivial offenses would invite retribution.</p>
<p>The honor code was another matter entirely. Although I can not remember any specific instance, I don't think their would have been any retribution if a lower class reported an upper class for an honor offense. No one would come to the defense of someone found guilty of an honor offense.</p>
<p>I'm sure things have changed at the Naval Academy since I graduated 25 years ago-- and most are probably for the better. However, I would be sad to learn that the concept of class cohesiveness has fallen by the wayside. After all, that is what the climb of Herndon monument is all about.</p>
<p>Mike</p>
<p>Woo-hoo! Finally, some Alumni support! This brings us up to what, three of us? ;)</p>
<p>Welcome, USNA81! It's good to have you here! :D</p>
<p>I may be able to dig up my Reef Points tonight. If I do, I'll post the definition of "sweat" to ensure all is clear.</p>
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If a classmate was asked a rate and did not know the answer, no one was permitted to give the correct response as that would be "bilging" a classmate.
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</p>
<p>Yepper. If a classmate did not know the answer, and then you were asked the same rate, the first words out of your mouth had better have been, "Sir, request permission to help my classmate!". If you spewed the answer, you got hammered. At the dinner table, it helped develop the ability to monitor several conversations at once (a useful trait later on when you're on watch in CIC and have three or four radio nets to monitor simultaneously, as well as everything else going on around you).</p>
<p>Sounds like some alumni need to meet with the Sup and find out what the heck is going on down there....</p>
<p>I'm game! :mad:</p>
<p>So are you all saying that there are alot of dirty rats at USNA? Has anyone ever had a false accusation against them from a class mate in any of their years? Just wondering....and just what is FRYING, DEMERITS, and RESTRICTIONS?</p>