It’s Tuesday night, and someone we know is preparing for a trip to Florida. She’s working right now, but she and Karen are going over last minute packing issues and travel details.
Thursday is the Big Day! Who is it? Anyone recognize this girl?
I’m pretty sure she looks a little different now.
Yeah baby! Kristin arrives!
Yesterday was the day! Phone call!
We monitor a ton of parents’ groups, so we were thrilled yesterday when reports started flying that plebes were being allowed up to 30 minutes for their calls (instead of the normally strict five). We were also thrilled that some of the calls were coming in early — up to two hours early. It was almost as if the detailers lost their minds.
For Mark’s company, some folks lost their minds for sure. Unfortunately, those folks weren’t detailers.
Mark’s call ended up coming in almost an hour late. He told me at the start that he’d have about ten minutes (a bonus, but not the 30 we were hearing about). When I mentioned longer phone calls to him, he confirmed that some companies were enjoying longer calls. His company would not because six plebes did the unthinkable — they left their lockers unlocked.
Some of you think I’m being sarcastic. I wish. Midshipmen have one area (and only one) that must be kept locked at all times — their personal locker. Nothing else gets locked, but the locker must be locked. It’s a mid’s only personal space. It’s also where they keep their rifles.
Six plebes left their rifles in an unsecured space. You can imagine how well this went over.
So the longer phone call was still long, but not as long as it could have been. I also got the feeling that the evening was going to be a long one for Mark’s company.
Despite all of this, he sounded fantastic! It was great to hear his voice! He reiterated that plebe summer “is not hard at all, it’s just really, really annoying.”
“The second set (of detailers) are much worse than the first,” he says. Second set uses all of their “gray space” (unscheduled time) to rate (quiz) the plebes on the bulkhead (in the hall). This new language rolls off his tongue, and he’s obviously not aware that the rest of us need a moment to translate.
Some testing results came in — he validated out of Calculus 1 and 2. He’ll start the year taking Calculus 3. He and I have disagreed on this point, but he knows better than I; this is the one area in life in which I would have encouraged him to take the easier path. He claims he needs to start in Calc 3 so he doesn’t lose his sanity to boredom. I wish I had those problems.
He’s looking forward to Parents’ weekend. He wants to “disappear”…he “feels like an animal in a zoo.” I imagine it’s tough being watched by detailers all of the time, being told what to do (or not do), and then being the subject of interested gazes and gawks as thousands of tourists visit the Academy each day. Those parents that we love that take pictures for the rest of us are just a few of the thousands that must descend upon the walkways and fields to get a glimpse of the plebes “in action”. In a perverse kind of way, the average visitor probably enjoys watching the detailers hound the plebes.
Mark did have a highlight in this past week. He ran in an intra-company track meet that he loved. One of those picture taking parents mentioned above posted over 1,400 pictures taken at the event, so I was ready for him when he brought it up. He had a blast (a good thing), but when I asked him why he ran so poorly he laughed and said “What?”
“You were in fourth in the first pictures I saw,” I said. “Then you were pulling up the rear. It was so bad I had to call Karen over to make sure it was you, Mark. WTF?”
Now he’s cracking up…so I continue. “Bad day, Mark? Forget how to run that race? I thought you were running with the Track team…”
Apparently the Naval Academy really does choose it’s students carefully. They want the best of the best academically and athletically. Mark was running in the “slow” heat (there were two heats) of the 800 meter run (half mile). The guys in front of him ran the race — an intra-company run for ha ha’s mind you — three seconds faster than he has ever run it in his life. In the middle of plebe summer. With no real race training.
“Dad, I went out fast knowing it was a mistake and just tried to hang on. It didn’t work.”
The evidence –
Having trouble finding him? That’s because he’s not in his usual position up front. He’s the inside guy (far right). That left arm flying about is a hint that things aren’t going to go well…
I have a picture of the finish. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find Mark in it because of the dust and dirt in the air that was kicked up by all the guys in front of him. I won’t share it with you…
(Mark will get the joke when he sees this on Parents’ weekend…)
But here’s our boy all tired and wasted –
Those of you that have seen Mark run know that this is not how he normally looks when he’s run hard and run well. No biggie…he was laughing on the phone when we talked about it, and I know he’ll laugh when he sees all of this. He had a good time, it was a welcome break, and that’s all that matters!
In what seems like a million years ago, Mark attended Summer Seminar at the Academy. Admission to Summer Seminar is just as difficult as admission to the Academy. According to the Academy, Summer Seminar is “a fast-paced, six-day experience for high achievers who have completed their junior year in high school. The Summer Seminar teaches you about life at the Naval Academy, where academics, athletics, and professional training play equally important roles in developing our nation’s leaders.”
On the day he came home from Summer Seminar, an obviously excited Dad asked Mark “So how was it?”
His response was telling and humble: “Dad, there are an awful lot of very talented young people in this country.”
Wow. All of these young people — the best of the best — are starting over again at zero. A few short weeks ago they were all on top of the world. Today they’re “nothing” (according to their detailers). They “rate” nothing. What you and I consider to be our “rights” they have to earn.
For us, hearing Mark laugh about all of this makes us proud! He’s got a fantastic attitude and outlook. We’d be proud of him if he called home begging to be rescued…”now Marky-Mark, it’ll be okay…you’ll see…”
Instead, he laughs, relates to zoo animals, and calls the whole experience “annoying”.
His phone call was fantastic! It made my day, it started our week off with a bang, and it has me looking forward to PPW!
Sorry folks…no photos again today. We might get lean on Marky-Mark shots for a bit (unless a parent comes through on the Yard). But! Kristin will be here on Thursday! We’ll get pictures for sure…
And then it’s Parents’ Weekend in Annapolis! Lots of pictures then!
And then Cameron will be here! More pictures! In between, we’ve got Paris always thinking of her siblings and asking to send them photos. Maybe we’ll get one in this post…
News Flash!
Yesterday we received our second letter from Midshipman Mark! Yeah baby! He started writing on July 13th and wrote whenever he had time each day until July 18th. A lot has happened in that period (and since), and some of it has been posted here in photo form already. I’ll go through his letter for you, but it’s going to feel “choppy”. That’s because it was…
Mark loves Kashi Cherry Dark Chocolate granola bars. He starts the letter by letting me know that he’s eating his second to last one while writing. We’ve sent him a couple of dozen since he started the letter, but if anyone wants to add to the mix, please feel free. I imagine there is no possible way for him to have too many. (Well…storage space is limited so maybe we need to keep it sane…no case purchases, okay?)
He tells us that Plebe Summer continues to be “frustrating and annoying”. I’m thinking that if that’s all they can throw at him, the rest of us can breathe easier. Days are long, but the weeks “fly by”. He never really remembers the day before…sounds to me like the program is going exactly as planned. He’s incredibly busy.
“Real” training is “cool” (weapons, fires, floods, drowning). It’s made better by the fact that the trainers are not detailers. Trainers are “nice and they’re funny (by Plebe Summer standards)”. The detailers can be tough.
They worked damage control (a simulated flood on board ship). Two stories of “deck” with leaks on both levels…by the time they finished, the water was six feet deep in the first level (“which was really cool, actually”).
He’s worked on a Yard Patrol boat (a 105 foot boat used extensively for Academy training). Here’s what one looks like:
They even did fire fighting training on board.
They’ve also drilled with their rifles (a lot). But we know that already, right? The beauty of pictures…
He says that “you’ll be impressed by our parade — it’s going to look so good. As we were coming back tonight a thunderstorm came in and it started pouring. Everyone on the Yard went running for cover, but our company kept marching because we’re ’stoic’. We’re silent professionals…which is cool.”
New uniforms have been issued — he especially likes the dress blues. He’s excited about wearing the summer whites on Parents’ Weekend, but bummed because they won’t be allowed whites for the parade. “We have to wear the stupid things with a neckerchief and officer cover…we’re going to look dumb.” Code word interpretation — “cover” means hat. Apparently the Color Parade on the weekend is still considered a “drill”. Dress uniforms aren’t worn for drills.
Quick background: Reef Points is a small book issued to plebes that contains everything they need to know to be good little sailors. Some of the info is historic; some is instructional. The book fits in a pocket, it’s about three quarters of an inch thick, it’s got tiny print, and the plebes memorize it whenever they have a moment of downtime. It’s not fun. Okay…
Mark tells us that if someone loses their copy of Reef Points (“or if you’re just stupid”), the detailers make you carry a “Super” Reef Points. It’s a huge, huge book entitled Ships and Aircraft and it basically covers everything that ever has been or currently is in the Navy in terms of boats and planes. If you’re extra-stupid, or if you lose your copy of “Super” Reef Points, you’re forced to carry “Atomic” Reef Points. The Atomic version is actually your mattress duct taped into the shape of a book. You get to carry that around all day…Mark thought this was incredibly funny. I wonder who the poor soul is that suffered that penalty?
Fast forward to the 15th: Mark says his Company has been in a lot of trouble of late, and they’re paying a heavy price. No time to write…fast forward to the 17th. More trouble…no time to write. He doesn’t elaborate.
Fast forward to the 18th: “by the time you get this I plan on having a ‘Double E’ — Expert Rifle and Expert Pistol (the highest you can get).” I don’t know if he pulled it off…
Notice how the emphasis changes? Two days of not so good news followed by a very positive statement to open the third. Other parents have noticed the roller coaster ride of emotions too.
He’s running with the Track team and loving it. “I’m putting all my trust in the Coaches because they really know what they’re talking about”. Wow. Coach D and Coach Joecks are phenomonal guys with an eye on the big picture, but obviously the focus changes at the college level.
More trouble for his Company, though. His squad was penalized for not knowing rates (i.e. somebit of information) and as a result, they had to learn and compile every menu for every meal for the next two months. “Since that would have been impossible to write, I took a hit and traded my USNA issued running shoes with a graduate of the Track team in exchange for 18 menus of the month. My squad was pretty happy with me…”
Footnote: nobody runs in the USNA issued running shoes, so I gotta give Mark credit — he used his head!
Those E-Course photos we have? He says the course is “awesome. I’ve had a lot of fun with it.” See? I thought he was smiling!
“Rack races are annoying because we never make the time and uniform races just plain suck”. Wow again. Rack races are timed efforts at making the bed to Navy standards. Uniform races are similar. It’s a group thing — individual success means nothing! Apparently the rack races get bad enough during the academic year that the plebes simply duct tape the sheets to the bed and sleep on top of a blanket.
And that, folks, is about it. If it seemed disjointed or disorganized, it’s because it was…he’s one busy puppy. He did manage five pages on regular ol’ paper this time, so I’m feeling pretty damn good!
Okay! Paris can’t take it anymore! She wants to send a ‘hello’ to Mark, Kristin and Cameron. She learned all about Mark’s drown proofing and swimming exploits, so she decided to share hers. “Mark! This is drown proofing!”
“I’m drown proofed! Dad took down the kiddie fence!”
(Dad here…Paris just passed Stage 3 swimming at the local YMCA. She’s got the basics down, and as you can probably gather, it’s a small pool. We still keep a close eye on her though!)
“Mark! Total Immersion techniques! Swim downhill! Turn the hips! It works for me too!”
(Dad here again…Total Immersion is the swim seminar Mark and I attended last winter. If you remember from his first letter, the techniques we learned kept him fairly fresh during his drown proofing and swim drills).
More soon!
No photos today (sorry). The weekend is almost upon us. Hopefully a parent or two will be on the Yard snapping some pix.
There were several new pictures on the Tornton’s site this morning. Squad photos have been posted. There were shots of Mark and another plebe or two laughing it up. And there were shots from their weapons training day…none with Mark in action, but the three shots posted all showed him with a huge smile. He must like guns.
In fact, all of the Thornton photos posted today are shots of Mark and his “Big Smile”. When it comes to family events. the Big Smile usually means he’s trying to look good enough to get the picture taking session over with. I wonder if that was the case in these shots?
Maybe a Detailer told him to “look happy” or be miserable. Who knows? All I know is that he’s either trying really, really hard to look “happy” or he’s actually thrilled to be doing what he’s doing. I’m talking silly-thrilled.
It’s probably the latter…
Mary Kate sent me a nice note this morning that reminded me how lucky we are to have an incredible circle of family and friends in our lives. Because of her note, I got all worked up and excited and decided to hang this post a day early (it was scheduled for tomorrow — 7/23 — detailer changeover day!).
Also, Mary Kate asked for Mark’s address. If anyone needs his address, please email me and I’ll get it to you. I don’t want to post it here for obvious reasons.
On to the fun!
We’ve already covered the O-Course briefly, and frankly, I don’t have a whole lot more to add. In a nutshell, the Obstacle Course is everything you might expect it to be with an emphasis on “fear of heights”. From what I’ve learned, it is designed to help midshipmen overcome this common phobia.
This next shot is the one I’ve referred to before as “pensive”. As you can see, something obviously has our boy’s attention:
That picture is Karen’s favorite picture of Mark to date. How could I not include it?
Let’s talk about that fear of heights thing, shall we? Although I don’t think Mark was faced with any height issues in the previous pic, this one might have raised a few hairs:
I have absolutely no idea where the hell he is, and I can’t say that I’d like join him. Our friend John Gallen would most likely jump up right behind him, but I’ll keep the ol’ feets on terra-firma (thank you).
Side note: these O-Course photos are from early in plebe summer, folks. That doesn’t make them particularly “old”, but they’re not recent either. Hopefully some parents will be back on the Yard this weekend, and I’ll be able to score some freebies. Thornton Studios already has the knuckle draggers banging on my front door.
Drill! Drill! Drill! Why do these guys drill so much? Practice, practice, practice…they practice everything! Eventually it pays off, and today we’ve got the evidence. I managed to find a picture of Mark with his (then) newly issued rifle. Let the drills begin!
They practice…and then they practice some more. Saturday (the 19th) is when the practice paid off. First Formal Color Parade! Two local (and generous) parents were on hand to grab some shots of the first formal event. I didn’t see any blood in the several hundred pictures, so I’m going to assume that the Detailers were somewhat pleased with the performance. Try this on:
That’s M Company — where’s Mark? Click on the photo for a full size attempt, or go ahead and take a peek below:
He’s got his game face going! (That’s what’s known as “military bearing”. Apparently the plebes are always safer if they assume military bearing as opposed to any other bearing…especially during a parade.) Also note that the plebes aren’t wearing the silly Cracker Jack hats anymore. This may be a parade thing, or it may mark the beginning of the transition from embarrassing plebe wear to something a bit more appropriate. By the end of plebe summer, they’ll be wearing the same kinds of uniforms the detailers wear (but without all the decoration).
Side notes: this week marks the changeover of the Detailers. First Set out; Second Set in. This is good, and it’s bad. It might get easier; it might get harder. The plebes derive a certain amount of comfort from knowing what their current Detailers expect. The First Set will now be relaxing a bit, and the plebes are even encouraged to put together some skits to poke fun at their now-departing tormentors. The First Set had a job to do, and the plebes have come to respect that and appreciate it.
That changes this week. Second Set is fully briefed on who needs work and where. Second Set will be zeroing in on each plebe’s weak points and beating on it until it goes away. Expectations are going to change, and it’s a whole new ball game (again). The good news is that all of the plebes are better today than they were just a couple of weeks ago. From what I’ve been able to learn, the transformation is already amazing.
Tomorrow we’ll go from E-Course (last post) to O-Course. We’ve already discussed O-Course and what it means, but now I’ve got a picture or two!
We have taken the plunge…
…the plunge for crazy, silly, ridiculously priced pictures! Thornton Studios is the “official” photographer on the Yard during Plebe Summer and throughout the year. They have a ton of photographers on site, and they do amazing work. Here we are, a little over two weeks into the summer, and they have over 22,000 photos on their site. Amazing!
Obviously they need to get paid. But man…you don’t even want to know. I’ve found 23 pix of Mark so far, but I only chose five for purchase today. Thornton also does DVD’s and other collections which we’ll probably mortgage the house to buy. We’ll keep you posted as we get new stuff.
Given the circumstances, I’m going to ration these babies. But today is a bonus day! Today we’re going to go with two photos. A little background first…
The Academy has what’s known as “the Squad Endurance Run”. A squad is the smallest group in the organizational structure: squad is part of platoon is part of Company is part of Regiment is part of Brigade. Got all that? A squad typically has eight to twelve members.
The Endurance Run (also known as ‘E-Course’) is a run through the woods and up and down some fairly steep ravines. The course is split into two halves — plebes run the second half during plebe summer. The second half is 1.3 miles long.
Plebes run it twice — once for practice and once for time. The times are recorded (obviously) and included in the competition for Color Company.
Color Company is some serious stuff. For the plebes, the award comes at the end of Plebe Summer at the Formal Dress Parade on Friday morning of Parents’ Weekend. Being named Color Company means being recognized as the best. It’s a very big deal during Plebe Summer, and the competition resets and goes Brigade-wide (i.e. the whole student body) once the academic year begins. Let me repeat: this is drop-dead serious stuff.
So on to the E-Course! As you all know, Marky-Mark is a runner. He’s a pretty damn good runner. Apparently, he can even have fun running in combat boots:
Is that the start of a smile? Maybe so…because here’s the group at what appears to be the end. I’m thinking they’re waiting for the folks they smoked because it looks like happiness on some faces:
Of course, they could be waiting for the rest of their squad or platoon (or even Company). In some things, this would be considered “bad” — success as a group overrides success as an individual. But I’m not seeing looks of concern on the faces of these guys, so I’m going to run with the “happy” theme.
We’re halfway there! Plebe Summer is rapidly coming to a close. If any of you have a moment and get inspired, drop Mark a line. He doesn’t have any time (really!), so if you write two lines you’re good to go. He won’t read much more!
More pictures soon!
Got our first letter from Mark today…took long enough, right? Well, there’s an explanation…
He wrote the letter on July 7th. Obviously he’s busy, and he’s got some guys and girls (detailers) who live to make his life chaotic. He does not have a lot of time, and he hurries through the time he has. So our letter never got fully addressed. To the credit of the US Post Office, not only did this half-addressed letter make it to Warwick, but it further made it to Florida! I take back all the bad things I’ve ever said about our postal employees…
Mark sounds well, and he says he’s doing well. The days aren’t “so hard” but can be “annoying”. He’s got no time to write letters, so ours was written during a class on small memo paper. I guess the subject matter didn’t interest him.
He’s been issued a rifle which he says he had not drilled with as of the 7th, but I did see pictures just today of his Company drilling. He’s hit the O-Course (enjoyed it). He’s been drown proofed and hammered in the water, but we took a weekend swim seminar last winter that he says kept him fresh as a daisy…
He’s running with the track and cross country teams over the summer. He was considering rowing crew, but the crew team practices three times a day and starts each day at 4 AM. No thank you…
He’s been taking validation tests and sitting in a few classes (the “best times” because he can sit in an AC environment). Sitting in itself is a privilege (he won’t be able to sit anywhere outdoors until June of 2009).
They’re just over two weeks in with three to go. Almost there! Can’t wait to see him in August.
We are officially Floridians now. Our stuff is still in transit, but for the most part we’re off and running. Paris starts camp and swimming lessons tomorrow.
Kristin will be here in about two weeks; Cameron arrives the week after. We’re looking forward to seeing them both! Paris especially misses “the kids”.
No new photos of Mark to share (sorry). The Academy has an “official” photography company that shoots pictures and films over the entire summer, and they’ve got some shots of Mark online. Unfortunately, I haven’t purchased any of the files yet. The pricing is crazy-silly…you don’t even want to know. It gets just plain silly if you buy 15 shots as a package. I’m thinking it’s early in the summer yet, and there are a lot of training blocks coming that will yield more photos. I don’t have 15 “great ones” lined up yet, so we’re all going to have to wait. Teaser: there are shots of Mark on the Obstacle Course (O-Course). He looks “pensive”…
There are parents in the Annapolis area that get shots of the plebes if they’re off the Yard. I saw shots of Mark’s company running (at 5:40 AM), but none of the shots included him. This Mom took over 585 shots from 5:40 to 6:10 — she’s incredible! I’m sure we’ll get something of Marky-Mark sooner or later.
But I do have a couple of shots to share! Before we left New York, Paris wanted to send Mark some encouragement:
She wears this shirt all the time!
And today, she wanted to send a “Hi” to Mark:
Let’s just say she enjoys the water…
Today was “phone home” day for the plebes. I suggested that Mark make his first phone call to Mom (because I’m a nice guy). Mom has returned the favor by not calling me to give me an update. I’m sure he’s fine, and if he followed the plan he had in mind at the start, he did very little talking because he wanted news about friends and home. It still would be nice to get an update (which I’d certainly share here), but some folks have unusual priorities.
When I know, we’ll get it posted. Until then, think positive!
Okay! This qualifies as extended family Round One!
John is a close friend of ours and a fellow Georgetown alum. We met through a mutual friend (Marc) who is sadly no longer with us and tremendously missed.
Marc and John used to hike or bike through all kinds of places together. They biked somewhere out in California up and down the coast, met crazy, seriously crazy people…John even spent a year biking through New Zealand.
This year he and a friend hiked some of the hills in Yosemite. He asked me to join them, but obviously I was a bit on the busy side. I have committed to next year…
I won’t even try to comment on these shots. I’ll just post ‘em, and let the words come on their own. Click on each image to get a larger view –
Um…that’s snow. In late June. Did I mention I’m moving to Florida?
(Gonna have to renegotiate with John on this trip stuff…)