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!