It Really Has Been a While, Hasn't It?

Again, I apologize for not keeping this updated. School and other commitments have kept me fairly busy. The last time I updated, I had just returned from a trip to West Point, and Thanksgiving Break was only a few days away. This time, I am a week removed from going into the City to see the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, and a week away from going home. A good amount has happened since the last post and this one, and I hope to detail most of it.

Thanksgiving Break was a much needed time to get away from this place and relax and sleep for five days. Since I was unable to go home, I was able to stay at with my friend and his family who live in Hicksville, NY, which is about 30-40 minutes away from the Academy with traffic. The first night was spent relaxing; soaking in the wonderful feeling of civilian clothes and being away from campus. Wednesday was also spent relaxing until we went into the City to try to catch a Broadway show. Unfortunately, all of the cheap tickets were sold out, so we decided to go to the Olive Garden in Times Square. It was a long wait, but it was well worth it.

Thanksgiving Day brought a new experience for me. It marked the first time I had ever been away from my family on that holiday, or really any holiday for that matter. Luckily, my friend's relatives were more than welcoming, and I had a great time eating, conversing, and watching football with them. Nothing too exciting happened for the rest of the break, as we spent the time relaxing some more and catching up on sleep.

Much to my surprise, we managed to pass PKT 6 the night we returned, which put us on a nice little streak, 3 passed PKTs in 4 weeks. The week following wasn't all that exciting for the first half of the week, but people were very happy once the long weekend for the Christmas Ball commenced Friday afternoon. That night, many people went out and partied in the City because there weren't any regimental obligations until 1400 for Plebes. I, however, did not go out because I had to work on the T/V Kings Pointer Saturday morning from 0800 until noon, though we were released a little before 1000. Attendance at the basketball games was mandatory for Plebes, but that wasn't too big of a deal. I'm glad I stayed as long as I did, because I was needed to run the shot clock for the men's game.

I was hoping that the Ball would be a new experience for me, but it really was nothing more than an over glorified high school dance held in the former summer home of Walter P. Chrysler. That was a little bit of a letdown, but what can I really expect being around sailors? After cleaning up the dance from 0100-0145, Sunday was what I was really looking forward to.

We were supposed to depart the Academy around 1230, but in reality it was right around 1300. Though the buses were late, all of us headed to Radio City Music Hall to see the Christmas Spectacular were more than happy to leave campus. Once we got to the area right around Rockefeller Center at 1405, we had about two hours to walk around and eat before making our way over to Radio City. Some good friends and I headed to Chipotle because I mentioned it and they thought it sounded good as well. After a wonderfully filling lunch, we wandered over to Barnes and Noble because one of the guys wanted to check it out. While there a few of us got some Starbucks before trekking over to Radio City.

Entering Radio City Music Hall for the first time is quite an experience. The renovation in the 90s really made it into an extravagant venue. On our way to our seats, my friends and I ran into a Navy SEAL from SEAL Team 3, which is based near San Diego and has a primary territory coverage of Southwest Asia. It was a really cool experience meeting someone like that who has done more militarily than most of us will ever know or do.

The program itself was spectacular, as the name suggests. The choreography of the Rockettes was flawless, and the production itself was very well done. If anyone has the chance to visit New York City in November or December, a trip to see the Christmas Spectacular is well worth it. After the show finished, we walked around until the buses picked us up at 1930. Getting back wasn't all that fun, but at least we had missed the PKT for the night.

Monday wasn't too crazy, but Tuesday is where my week, and possibly my time here at school changed. Tuesday was going pretty normally until the evening when I met my recruit to whom I would be showing the school. We met at Delano when the baseball coach had come in with him after picking him up at the airport. The rest of the night was pretty nondescript until we all went to bed in my room. I had done a leg workout earlier that day, thrown for a while, and also gone on the recumbent bike for about 10 minutes. With all of that exercise, my legs were exhausted.

Sometimes when I, and many people, fall asleep, I begin to doze off and awake with a sudden jerk. This happened once and I thought I had kicked the wall even though I hadn't. I went back to sleep, awakening after another jerk. Only this time, I was mid-air. I proceeded to hit my right arm on my desk before hitting the ground less than a foot from my recruit. Once I realized that I was on the ground, I then noticed that my left shoulder was no longer in the socket. It had popped out. After moving my arm for a couple minutes, I had put it back in place and was ready for bed, only this time, one of my roommates could not stop laughing. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world, and proceeded to laugh for the next hour.

The next day when dropping my recruit off with the baseball coach, I told him about my little incident. He was a little vexed about how I fell out of bed, but he told me to go to the trainers to get it checked out. When I was finally able to see them Thursday afternoon and evening, I was advised to go to the clinic to get it examined further, and so a visit with an orthopedic doctor could be scheduled. Hopefully I'll get in to see him this week. I'll try to keep this updated over the Christmas Break, but I'm not promising anything. Stand by for further posts.

A Long Time Coming

Again I apologize for the long time in between posts. I've been getting adjusted to my new classes and schedule. Not much new has really been happening. I really like my new room and roommates. People who consistently clean makes inspections a lot easier. The whole Plebe class has finally been coming together, as noticed by our passing of the last two Plebe Knowledge Tests in consecutive weeks. Tonight's could make it three as there's a good chance we passed it after listening to the RTOA afterward in his meeting with the Plebe Representatives.

Right now everyone is looking forward to Thanksgiving Break in two days. Although I won't be able to go home, I am able to go home with a friend of mine from Long Island, so I'll at least be getting away from this place. So far, I know that we will be going to the Broadway show Next to Normal on Wednesday night, which should be a cool experience, since I've never really been to many musicals.

Since I don't really have much else to report, I'll end it here. Hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to detail from Thanksgiving Break. Stand by for further posts.

Finals, Home, and the City

I realize it's been a while since my last post, however, I lost some motivation during finals week and while at home. Before I begin, I must thank all of our veterans, reservists, and active duty military members for their selfless service to our nation. Though it seems like it sometimes, we will never forget you.

Finals week started off on Saturday the 24th with approximately 7 hours of mandatory study time thanks to our CTO. However, it was nice that he allowed us to listen to music if we felt that it would help us study. The rest of finals week was pretty nice as we were allowed to keep our door closed and sleep whenever we had free time during the day. We were even allowed to sleep in until 715 every morning if we didn't feel like going to breakfast! I did alright in my classes overall, but I certainly could've done better.

Friday morning of finals week was really sweet because I finished my English final pretty quickly which allowed me to leave campus once I changed into my Service Dress Blues and grabbed my luggage. A few friends and I shared a cab to LaGuardia around 1015 or 1030 even though my flight wasn't until 1800. It ended up working out pretty well as I was able to get on a 1230 flight back to Minneapolis. However, due to delays in Minneapolis and some mechanical issues, we didn't leave New York until 1400.

The flight itself wasn't all that exciting until we were approaching the runway at Minneapolis/St. Paul International. We were coming in on final approach when all of a sudden, the captain pushed the throttle forward and zoomed away from the runway. From what I understand, he was coming in too high for the runway which caused us to abort the landing and fly around for a while longer before giving it another go. After landing and picking up my bag, my parents and I headed over to my favorite Chinese restaurant by the new TCF Bank Football Stadium for a nice dinner. It felt so good to eat some good food for once. On the way home, we drove past Target Field while they were testing the field lights, which made my flight delays worth it, as the 1800 flight would likely have not allowed me to see them. Getting home was such a great feeling as I could finally fully relax and do what I want to do.

My eight days at home were spent relaxing, playing Xbox, hanging out with friends, eating, and doing other stuff that I liked doing before I came here. Trips to the Mall of America, the Albertville Outlets, Cabelas, Bethel University, and Northwestern College were definite highlights just as much as times I spent at home with my family watching TV or playing cribbage. The time at home was definitely necessary as I was able to recharge and refresh before coming back here to the daily grind. Had I not been able to go home, I likely would have gone crazy by now. One thing I do know for sure is that I am really looking forward to going home again for Christmas.

When I came back this past Sunday I wasn't exactly looking forward to resuming the Kings Point Life, but I wasn't severely dreading it either. When I got back to my room, I finished packing up all my belongings getting ready for my move to Flight Deck (3rd floor). After Plebe Accountability Muster and the PKT, moving was a little shy of chaos with everybody moving rooms. Once I got all my stuff moved in, it was on to the task of putting it all away. That took a while as I was trying to organize everything neatly. I actually finished Monday morning with that task.

The rest of Monday was spent getting books and watching the Simpsons on my computer, as I really did not have much else to do. I guess I did go lift and run for Army Ops PT. Because the leader wasn't there, some friends and I decided to run to the Great Neck train station and back which ended up being a 6.3 mile trek. I was pretty tired by the end of that as I'd never run that far.

Classes started on Tuesday and those should keep me more interested than those I had first trimester. Around lunchtime, I picked up a baseball recruit and showed him around for the rest of the day through today. Because it it Veteran's Day today, we were given overnight liberty for last night into today. So, a friend and I took my recruit into the City and saw some sights he and we had never seen before. We went to Times Square, the top of the Rockefeller Center and saw the vast expanse of the New York metro area at night, walked all the way to Ground Zero and saw the Freedom Tower being built, walked around the west side of Manhattan by the Hudson River, and to top it all off, were thanked for our military service by rap mogul Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam Records. That was a pretty cool experience. We got back to the Academy around 0215 and promptly went to sleep. I woke up about 2 and a half hours ago, so that brings the blog up to date with the current happenings of my life here at Kings Point. I'll have some pictures of last night up on Facebook pretty soon. Stand by for further posts.

Counting Down the Days

As I sit here on watch, I can only help but ask myself why. Why did I come to this place to be locked up usually 6 out of 7 days a week, with many mindless, menial tasks that have nearly no purpose? After all, it was just about one year ago when I was sitting at Buffalo Wild Wings with my friend Jake watching game 6 of the ALCS where the Red Sox came from behind to force game 7 against the Rays. I can still vividly remember sitting there, eating my boneless Honey BBQ wings along with my Parmesan Garlic bone-in wings, munching on celery in between wings, all while talking baseball, fantasy football, and whatever else came to mind. I really miss going to do things like that. Unfortunately, I cannot. I decided to attend a Federal Service Academy, and that's what I shall continue to do. On the bright side, however, in just 10 days I'll be back in Minnesota doing what I want to do, rather than what the upperclassmen tell me to do. It will be a very welcome nine day break; something necessary to keep me sane, I believe.

Saturday was an okay day. Our Class B inspection was cancelled, which kept us from cleaning very late into the night. Instead, our Company Commander took all of the available Plebes on a "team building exercise" which was actually a run with a "fun" activity at the end. Because I had been sick for the previous week, my endurance wasn't quite where it could've been, so I had a more difficult time than I should've. After we finished and showered, we marched over to Ackerman to watch a presentation about hazing and the responsibility of leaders in general. This was prompted by a little incident a few weeks back where a First Co. Plebe was persuaded to drink a shot of an extremely fiery hot sauce. It was a good, informational time that I hope people really took note of, as there was some excellent info about alcohol and college students.

The, albeit cold, afternoon was taken up by the football game against the University of Rochester. Our opening drive looked promising, though our hopes fell as our team fell apart and Rochester capitalized on our mistakes. We weren't overly thrilled with the final score of 52-21, but it did get us out of the cold. Once the game finished, the RTOA told us to muster in Ackerman Auditorium in 22 minutes, which we assumed was a liberty muster. We were correct, and we were released on liberty right around 1515. Because I had gone to D.C. the weekend before, I didn't really feel a pressing need to go out, so I stayed in my room, slept, and watched a movie before our accountability muster at 2230. Not surprisingly, there was somebody who found a way to mess it up and make us wait a lot longer than we should have. When we finally did get back, I finished my movie and did a few other things before drifting off around 1 am.

I woke up around 9am not feeling totally refreshed, but I think that was because I had gotten way more sleep than I was used to within the last 24 hours. I quickly got ready and headed over to the Chapel for our Sunday morning Bible Class. After the Bible Class and the Worship Service, Mom and Dad Guest were putting on a "Going Out to Sea" seminar, mainly for the Third Classmen who will be leaving after finals to board their assigned ships. The main draw for the few Plebes that did go was Mom Guest's chili that she brought from home, along with pies and ice cream for dessert. That was the highlight of the day, as I spent the rest of the afternoon keeping tabs on football games.

The PKT was one of the more memorable ones, as there were several people called up on stage and/or made fun of for presentations that they gave. The RTOA has such an excellent sense of humor. It's really a shame that we cannot appreciate it when we're near him.

Monday was a pretty relaxed day as those of us who participated in CC's Saturday morning fun received rack-in and media privileges. I slept during my two free periods during the morning as well as my two free periods after lunch. We had our 40 minute swim in swimming class, which is actually a lot easier than it sounds when doing the modified backstroke. It's just a long time to be in the pool. CFC was a little different Monday night as it was a Coffee House night where people could perform whatever talents they thought they had. There were some excellent performances as well as some that could have been a little better, but it was good overall, with the highlight coming from a First Class Midshipman who sang "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. Even some of his closest friends did not know that he could do that and do it so well.

Today hasn't been all that exciting. As I said before, I'm on watch right now which meant that I had watch from 08-12 this morning. Nothing exciting really happened while on watch. I got my Calc and Physics tests back today. I'm pretty satisfied with both of them, so I'm sitting pretty well going into the finals for each of those classes. I would like to sleep in tomorrow, but that is not going to happen as I have Army PT at 0500. Oh well, I can sleep as much as I want in 10 days... Stand by for further posts.

D.C. and More!

I'll admit it. I've been a slacker lately when it's come to blogging. I'm going to make it a priority to get posts up more often than every week and a half or so. Anyway, the past 10 days have been fairly interesting and fairly bland at times. Then again, every day is so routine, everything feels pretty bland.

As for my reactions to the Yankees-Twins series, I don't have many good ones. It's always disheartening to see one's favorite team have that one bad inning happen every game which leads to a loss. Game One started off well with two early runs off C.C. Sabathia, but then Duensing couldn't hold it together. Game 2 was phenomenal for the Twins until Joe Nathan came in. Game 3 was pretty tense until Pavano painfully gave up some runs in the 7th. Oh well, that's come to be pretty routine for the Twins in the past 8 years to make it to the ALDS and not advance. The worst part of it for me was getting razzed by so many people here because the Yankees are king. I was in hostile territory from the beginning. Now if only the Angels can take the ALCS against the Yankees. Then I'll be pretty happy.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty routine. Friday, however, was not. Since we were given a long weekend for the Columbus Day holiday, we could leave as soon as our last class ended. Because of that, the food provider completely misplanned numberwise for lunch. They assumed that fewer people would be there to eat. In actuality, most of the Regiment showed up. Surprise! This resulted in many, many people getting very little to no lunch, which in turn spurred an angry response from a lot of Midshipmen.

Eventually, I got through class for the day and headed out with three of my friends to Penn Station where we would catch our bus to D.C. Our bus picking us up ended up being about an hour late because of traffic coming into New York. If we had known that, we would've gotten something to eat, but we figured that we didn't have enough time to find something had it been on time. That resulted in four very hungry Plebes by the time the bus rolled into downtown D.C. Eventually we made it to Georgetown University where we were staying with a friend of Aaron Kunz, one of the Plebes I was with. We had a chance to drop our stuff off before heading out to Subway at 2am. When we got back to the dorm where we were staying around 3, we passed out for quite a while.

Saturday, after a pretty late start of 1430, we headed into the area of the National Mall to check out the National Air and Space Museum before meeting one of the Plebe's aunt and uncle at a sports bar to watch the St. Louis Cardinals game. I'd been to the Air and Space Museum, but was more than happy to go back. They have quite a collection of various air and space craft dating from way back all the way to unmanned UAVs like the Predator drone. Though the Cards ended up losing, we had a great time visiting with Aaron's aunt and uncle and eating some good food. After walking around the Capitol and the Washington Monument at night, we headed back to Georgetown to find some parties to go to, but to no avail. Sunday started out a little earlier for us, though we really gained no time as we walked over 3 miles from Georgetown to a wood fire pizza place not too far away from the Verizon Center, where the Wizards and Capitols play. On our way there we encountered many people walking to raise money to cure breast cancer, as well as what seemed like tens of thousands of LGBT people for the National Equality March. I was a little unhappy that we were so conspicuous in our Summer Whites, but we didn't really have any problems. Actually, at the National Archives, they saved us a bunch of time because one of the security guards allowed us to cut the entire line and go see the Big 3 documents right away. That was pretty cool. Once we completed our quick tour of the National Archives, we took a short stroll over to the National Museum of American History. There were some pretty cool exhibits on Abraham Lincoln, as well as the U.S. Military from the early 1700s all the way until now. They had actual uniforms from Gen. Colin Powell and Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf.

After we were kindly shooed out at closing time, our next stop was the Washington Monument again, followed by the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean War Memorial. We would've added the Vietnam War Memorial, but it wasn't where I thought it was and it was getting dark, so we decided to find an ice cream shop. After checking our phones for places, we figured it best to just start walking in case we came across one. When we did, we stopped and ate before continuing. Though we did not plan it this way, we happened to walk all the way back to Georgetown University. Another 3 mile walk back. Because I "was pretty tired", I opted to not hit up some parties with the other three guys and instead headed back to my room to relax for a while before finally falling asleep.

We planned to get up early Monday to meet Aaron's aunt and uncle for breakfast, but those plans were nixed when Aaron found out they were unavailable. A taxi took us to the bus station before we took a little walk to find some breakfast. The bus ride was pretty uneventful as we drove through Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey to make it back to the Big Apple. Coming back on campus was somewhat of a downer, realizing that we were back to the daily grind.

As expected, we failed that night's PKT because people chose to not study while on Liberty. I, on the other hand, used some of my bus ride to look over the study guide.

Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday were all pretty normal. Nothing stands out to me right now as I write this. Only the cold temperature during the soccer game Wednesday night, where I was a ball boy, and Cookie Cafe on Thursday have any sort of lasting memories.

Because we didn't have any classes on Monday, Friday was a Monday schedule for classes. I had no objections with that, because I only have two classes on Mondays: swimming and English 1. Once lunch finished up, I relaxed until Bible Study at 1900. After Bible Study, CTO mandated that we complete our cleaning stations from 2100-2200. Afterward we had a mandatory CTO time, where the Company Commander (CC) and CTO lectured us on working on building team unity, and not letting "stupid high school crap" get in our way. This was necessary as we've had some issues between Plebes as of late. Now, it's off to bed for me. Stand by for future posts.

A Contrasting Two Weeks

I'll put this pretty bluntly, last week was awful. I'll detail it more in a little bit, but I am so happy it is over.

Saturday the 26th was our Apple Picking TM. Ironically, it was my last really good day before this past Sunday. After our Red Cross training, we left on a school bus and drove to an apple orchard northwest of the Bronx on the mainland of New York. There was an unusual amount of traffic for a Saturday afternoon which ate up a bunch of our time at the orchard, but I still had a blast picking apples with my friends. Once we had all filled our bags with McIntoshes and Cortlands, we loaded up the bus again and headed to Mom and Dad Guest's house. Upon arrival we were met with a table filled with oatmeal raisin cookies, brownies, and cold milk for us to munch on while we divided up and made homemade waffle cones and ice cream, melted chocolate and caramel for dipping sauces, carved pumpkins, sliced up our apples for the dipping sauces, and of course, readied apple pies for baking. Our night there was filled with great food, awesome fellowship, and a wonderful time of singing and playing games. My day had another high point: seeing Old Yankee Stadium and New Yankee Stadium for the first time. No baseball fan is complete until he has visited or at least seen one of those in person.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were all a blur for me as I spent a good chunk of time working on my English paper. Sunday stood out because we were granted day liberty. My friend Ryan and I decided to take the bus out to Great Neck to grab some lunch and catch some football. Midway into my pizza and the Giants-Bucs game, I got a call from Chaplain Sias asking if Ryan was with me, because his parents wanted to speak with him. I later found out that they came to the campus without explicitly telling him, so they came down to Great Neck and took us back to the Academy. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching football and studying my PKT knowledge along with the Air Force Hymn.

I don't really remember much of Monday because most of it was spent working on my paper. Tuesday, however, I remember a little bit more. It was my birthday, even though it didn't really feel like it. I think it was probably my worst birthday ever. Even worse than my 16th birthday where I was in the middle of a two week grounding. I didn't get any mail, nothing special really happened, my friends didn't ask me to go to dinner with them, and we got IT'ed for CTO time to top it all off.

Wednesday was nondescript as well, though I just seem to remember unpleasantness at some point during the day. Though I just remembered that we had a sort of inter-squad game for baseball practice. In my first inning of pitching I did really well, got three quick outs. My second inning felt a lot worse even though I didn't allow any runs. This day of pitching will figure in with why Sunday was such a good day. Thursday was marginally better because of Cookie Cafe in the afternoon.

Friday was a lot of fun at night because it was Homecoming weekend here at the Academy and I signed up to drive alumni around in golf carts. Because not all of them wanted rides or were walking around after 7 pm, a few of us had a lot of fun screwing around with the golf carts driving all over the campus. Little did we know of the fury that would be unleashed the following morning.

Saturday started okay, with a bunch of us raising the #1 Ensign on the main flagpole (the largest US flag we have if you do not know). Upon the flag being raised, all of the Plebes (at that moment) headed over to Ackerman Auditorium to listen to VADM Albert Herberger, USN, the first USMMA grad to attain the rank of VADM in the United States Navy. After he finished, the RTOA, RTO, and RX all had their fun yelling at us for being worthless Plebes. So worthless in fact, that they decided to revoke our overnight liberty for the weekend AND demote us to Plebe Candidates again, which meant that we could no longer talk in Delano. Once we were released from that, our morale were way below the basement. I had to work the soccer game as a ballboy again to help pay for the baseball team's trip to Florida in the spring. After the game finished I got into khakis to watch the football game. It was a pretty good game until it started pouring torrential amounts of rain from the sky which flooded our FieldTurf field which delayed the game for over an hour. Thankfully, we were dismissed from the game which allowed us to stay in our rooms and work on other stuff like homework, or in my case, listen to the Twins squeak one out against the Royals. Because we had nothing better to do, we watched The Last Castle in Ackerman, which turned out to be a really good movie. I was quite happy, however, when we were released from 2300 accountability muster because then I could finally hit the rack.

Sunday was by far one of the best days I've had in a long while here at the Academy. It started off with Bible Class accented by Mom Guest's homemade cinnamon rolls. My mouth has not tasted anything so delightful for breakfast in a very, very, very, very long time. I ate too many of them, but that's definitely a forgivable offense. Because I had baseball in the afternoon, I didn't go to the Worship Service because my stained uniform needed to be replaced by a clean one before the evening's PKT. After readying a uniform, I headed off to the last baseball practice of the fall expecting to inter-squad again, though the time ended up being spent preparing the field for winter and eating lunch that was brought by the dad of one of the seniors.

After we had been eating for a while, the coaches began calling the Plebes into a makeshift office one by one. I don't know if they wanted me to be last, but it worked out that way. I want to say that I sat on the edge of my seat watching the dejected faces of those who did not make it, but I had my mind dead set on what I was going to face talking with the coaches. As I entered the coaches' makeshift office, I was offered a seat and asked how I thought the fall went. I bluntly told them that I felt that I was very inconsistent and did not play as well as I could have. The head coach contemplated what I said for a split second and replied, telling me that he had good and bad news. He gave me the choice of which he should deliver first, so I picked bad news. He told me that I would not be playing on the team as an infielder, however, for the good news, they felt that my curveball could help them out this year. I was in total shock. Even during Indoc while we had a "meet the coaches" session, I had nearly resigned myself to the fact that I had nearly no chance of making the team. Somehow, what I had to offer impressed them enough to keep me. I'm still in shock that they picked me. I was the only non-recruit to make the team. After cleaning up the locker room and field, I quickly returned to my room so I could watch the Twins-Royals game. When the Twins won to force game number 163 my day got even better. Not even the night's PKT could dampen my spirit until I headed to bed.

Yesterday was pretty nondescript also. We were finally issued our running suits which we will eventually be allowed to wear to Delano for meals. CFC was good, as we listened to a 1964 graduate who now works with Operation: Mobilization.

Today has been another great day. Even though I only got 3.5 hours of sleep and started the day off with a physics test, it has been wonderful. Class was pretty fun as our favorite asker of stupid questions, Muller, added to his collection in two classes today. His best of the day was: (paraphrased) "So did they use coal in the boilers of the Titanic to make steam?" Honestly, I'm still in disbelief after that one... After classes finished up for the day at 1500, I used the rack-in that our CTO gave us to take a short nap before doing a couple of other things.

At 1707, the Twins-Tigers game began. I had another MN guy over to watch the first couple of innings before heading to dinner. When I left for dinner in the 4th inning, I was a little down because the Twins were down 3-1, though I knew we had the ability to come back. When I returned from dinner, Orlando Cabrera launched one into the seats to put the Twins ahead 4-3. Right after that I headed to CTO time for the next 45 minutes. Once I returned, I noticed that the score was tied at 4-4 in the 9th inning. From then on I was riveted until the thrilling finish in the bottom of the 12th. I even skipped Bible study to finish the game. I'm thankful I did because that was the best game I've ever witnessed. The phenomenal ending to clinch the AL Central Division title made my week exponentially better. Everybody kept writing the Twins off, but they came back, and now they're a force to be reckoned with as they head to the Bronx to take on the Yankees. I can't wait to flaunt my Twins spirit in the presence of all the FLID Yankee fans. What a treat. Stand by for more posts and my reactions to the Twins-Yankees series.

Tuesday Until Now, Along with Some Times We Could've Done Without

It's been so long since Tuesday, but I'll try to remember. I had watch from 800-1200, but my watch relief was a little late, so it was more like 1215, but that wasn't a real big deal. That afternoon we had swimming class where we brought some of our BDU pants (cargo pants we were issued for Indoc) and learned how to inflate them and swim with them. It was actually kind of fun.

After Swimming we headed over to Calc to get our test grades. I think most people were a lot happier with these grades than they were with the first test. The first test did not go very well for most, but many people got A's or B's on this one. Once I got back from class, I used my rack-in to sleep for about 2 hours. Boy, did that feel good. When I awoke I found that Army PT had been cancelled, so I waited a little while, then went to dinner before going back on watch. Watch was again pretty uneventful, though the morning required me to take some pretty bizarre calls. All part of the experience here, I guess.

Wednesday wasn't too exciting either. Class was okay, but the day picked up quite a bit with baseball. It was another mound day for the pitchers, although we were given a new meaning for that when we weren't pitching. Since we didn't have a real bullpen, our pitching coach told those of us pitchers to start building a mound for one. Though it took us most of practice, we got one of the two pitching rubbers set, as well as the mound finished up. It was pretty cool seeing it come together like it did. Because I was one of the last people to throw, I was able to throw to some batters. I did a lot better than Sunday for some reason, but I wasn't complaining! My highlight of the day was catching a senior looking on a curveball. That was so sick!

The rest of the night was filled with study hall and more homework after that because of a physics lab being due the next day.

Thursday too, was also not the most exciting day. Come to think of it, though, most of the days start to blend together after a while. I remember that I had physics lab in the morning, which we finished about an hour early, and we had two class periods of Maritime Studies because the teacher is going to be gone the last week of the class. After class, which was comprised of Cookie Cafe at Land Hall, as well as hanging out with some friends, we lifted in the weight room for Army PT.

When I got back to the barracks, I read an email that our CTO was going to quiz us that night on our 11 General Orders. Thankfully I saw that before leaving for dinner, and I was able to study, and do well on it when I returned. Last night was spent not doing homework, like I should've been doing, but I was able to get most of it done today.

Today was a pretty fun day, though marred slightly by CTO time at 2205. We started off in Maritime Studies Lab where we worked on pipe threading. Pipe threading is a fun activity that also does not take much time, even less when with a group that is on task and has a general idea of what it's doing. Because of that, my group got out about an hour early, leaving me more time to study for my physics test 4th period. After lunch nothing substantial really occurred, though we had to march again for Reg. Period. Baseball was cancelled for today, so I spent the afternoon working on my English paper which is due next Wednesday. I finally made some headway on that, so I'm very thankful.

After dinner I headed out to the chapel for Friday night Men's Bible Study, where we talked about and looked at verses pertaining to God's dreams for us. It was a very entertaining and uplifting study. After getting back I worked on my paper some more before CTO time 2205. It started off alright, though there was no chair set up at the end of the hallway, so I figured we would not be having any fun. Because some people felt it was okay to disrespect some Midshipmen Officers, we all had to do 50 pushups. Only these were done at a cadence slower than I would've liked, with a nice break in the up position after 25. After that, those of us not on flight deck and who took the General Orders quiz last night were ordered to do our cleaning stations for the next 45 minutes. That wasn't all that great, but at least we got stuff clean. Once that finished up, I headed over to a friend's room where I have been sitting for the past 2 hours. I think it's about time for bed, as we have Red Cross training tomorrow morning at 0800, with our Apple Picking TM afterwards. Tomorrow should be a good afternoon/evening. Stand by for further posts.

Well That Wasn't Too Surprising

Sunday was a pretty good day. I woke up, went to church, got back around 1245 and chilled in my room until baseball. Pair church with some good food during the Bible Class, and one has a near unbeatable combination. Baseball was pretty fun because we scrimmaged ourselves. My first at-bat I had to face a 6'10" righty who throws harder any pitcher I've faced. I think he threw me an off-speed pitch, because I was able to lift it to right field for an easy pop-up. My next at-bat was against the best lefty I've ever faced. Now, at first glance, that doesn't mean a whole lot because I haven't faced many good lefties in my life, however, he had some of the sickest breaking pitches that I've seen in the box. I had two strikes on me and he threw a curveball that just nicked the outside corner to send me back to the dugout. I am 100% certain that I had no chance of hitting that pitch. I'm still in amazement of it.

After I finished my second at-bat, I started warming up so that I could go in to pitch. When I finally got to go in, my first hitter was a senior who can put a charge into the ball. I hung a changeup to him, but thankfully he hit a harmless fly ball to the right fielder. I struck out the next two batters without too much trouble. My next inning of work did not go so well. I gave up a leadoff hit before facing one of my company mates. I left a fastball out over the plate for him, and he ripped it to right-center for an easy triple. Oh well, I had fun getting on the mound and throwing to some hitters.

After practice I headed over to Land Hall to have dinner with my sponsor. She brought my fellow sponsor kids and me Subway, which was a happy change from the typical Delano fare. We spent about an hour talking and eating, which was a great way to end a fun afternoon.

Once 1900 rolled around, we were all ready for that night's PKT. We have been working on PKT #2 for a while now and it was time that we buckled down and passed it. It ended up being very easy because I think the seniors wanted us to pass as well. We found out at lunch the next day that we had passed it and had moved on to PKT 3 for next week. Unfortunately, because some kids from 4th Co. thought it was okay to watch a movie and chew tobacco while doing it, we as Plebes got our newfound music privileges revoked. Guess I was right...

Once we returned from Ackerman, where we had taken the PKT, our CTO informed us that we were going to be having a "Health and Welfare Inspection" for contraband food items. This was not unexpected, as CTO had warned us that failure to keep our rooms clean would have consequences. We had to do a set of 20 pushups for each room that got tossed on Main Deck and 2nd Deck. Once CTO had finished with 2nd Deck, we were at a total of 140 when we moved up to Flight Deck. He had just started inspecting rooms when a fellow Plebe started feeling sick and I think passed out on the floor. That put a damper on the inspection and allowed us to return to our rooms. It proved to be good timing since Sunday Night Football was about to start, so a friend and I went back to Land Hall to watch it. Watching football for the first time in a long while was an excellent experience.

Monday was nothing special. I had two classes before lunch and then was done until Dean's Hour. Because we did so well on the PKT as a company (101.8%), CTO gave us rack-in for Monday and Tuesday. I took advantage of that Monday afternoon before Dean's Hour. I also received my Army Combat Uniform (ACU) that I had ordered off eBay for use in Army Ops. I was very excited to say the least. Baseball practice, CFC, and study hall followed Dean's Hour to end the day.

I think I will cover today in my next post as my watch is just about to end. Stand by for further posts.

New Privileges + Going Off Campus = A Good Week

Thursday morning was one of the happier I've had since coming here. When I got back from my firefighting class, I found that the Plebe Regulations had changed in a few places. The main change was that we could now listen to music, so long as we use headphones. This is a huge privilege because most classes before us have not been able to listen to music on their computers or iPods until Recognition. I wouldn't be surprised though, if some "brilliant" Plebes find a way to mess this up for the rest of us.

With that news, the rest of Thursday went a whole lot better with the buzz of these changes in the regs. The rest of Thursday was really not all that exciting, though we did have a cleaning party in our barracks to clean our cleaning stations.

Friday during school hours was not too exciting either, though I got to meet my sponsor, and I got to go to the restaurant on campus where Plebes are not allowed. Sponsor families usually provide Plebes and actually Midshipmen of all classes a place to relax during Liberty or leave, as well as leave campus a couple times a trimester for dinner liberties. So far my sponsor seems to be pretty cool, so I'm pretty fortunate. We had marching practice at the end of school for some sort of parade that is coming up, but I'm not sure what exactly. We had another cleaning party that night that took about two hours to get all of the cleaning stations up to inspection standards. After we were done, our Platoon Commander (floor leader) asked us what kind of food we would like to get. Since we wanted a change from the normal choice of pizza, most of us decided on ice cream. Our Platoon Commander then went out to CVS to get us our pints of ice cream. Unfortunately, they were out of many flavors, so many didn't get their first or second choices, but real ice cream was a definite treat.

Today started about 0630 for me because I wanted to catch some breakfast before finishing up the cleaning for our inspection. There ended up being a lot more than I expected since a few things in my room didn't get done, as well as the mopping of the hallways. I did end up getting everything done, though I needed a few more minutes than everybody else. Thankfully, inspection went pretty well even though I was not satisfied with how our room turned out.

After we were secured from inspection, the rest of the Plebe class was required to attend the soccer game, but I and some of my friends did not have to go because of our BBQ off-campus with InterVarsity Fellowship at Eisenhower Park. When we got there around 1130, there were about 60 total, including the Kings Pointers. We had a great time playing touch football, Frisbee, volleyball, and an egg toss with civilian college students. It was really weird seeing people our own age who don't go to a military academy because their lives are so different from ours. I would still say that it was a great time to fellowship with people like that as well as eat some good food.

Once we got back, we were pretty much free to do whatever we want, since the football game was over. There was another overtime game this week, only this time we did not have the same result as last week. Our other arch rival, SUNY Maritime, ended up pulling off the win after we were unable to score in our overtime chance. That may have been part of the reason that we were not granted liberty, but I'm guessing there were other causes as well. Tonight was mainly spent relaxing, which felt really good after a hectic few days preparing for inspection. Tomorrow holds a scrimmage for baseball, as well as a reception for Plebes and their sponsors at Land Hall, which both should be a lot of fun. Stand by for further posts.

Life, Liberty, but Not Necessarily the Pursuit of Happiness

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted here. The past week has been pretty crazy. Wednesday and Thursday were spent getting ready for the weekend's many festivities. I was more fortunate than many Plebes since I was able to see my parents on Wednesday. They flew in that afternoon and made the trek out to the Academy to drop off some baseball stuff. Though the time was short, it was really good to see them. Looking back, I really don't remember what Thursday was like because it's all just a blur now. I do remember that sleep did not come in abundance that night. Because I wanted to take part in a spirit mission to commemorate September 11, I was outside writing names on cups, filling them with sand and candles, and organizing them until about 0045 or 0100. In addition to that, I had to finish a physics lab as well as a calculus assignment, which allowed me to finally sleep at 0330 and get up at 0530. Because of the lack of sleep, I was amazed at how awake I was Friday, but then again I was assisted by a ZipFizz and a 24 oz Monster and a good amount of Coke.

That morning my parents arrived at the Academy near 0900, which worked out well because I did not have class until 0955. Since it was Parents Weekend at the Academy, parents were able to accompany their children to classes when the teachers permitted it. I did not take mine to firefighting, but they were able to experience Dr. Lowell A. Cummings, the eccentric physics professor. They were able to walk around on their own Friday afternoon as I had to finish up some physics homework that was due that night. After a relaxing dinner in Delano, we walked around campus a little more until I had to change into my Whites for the Star-Spangled Banner Brigade part of Beat Retreat. SSBB was where Plebes marched all 50 state flags and I think 52 U.S. Flags onto the gym floor where the Regimental Band was performing for Beat Retreat. Once that wrapped up, I was able to say goodnight to my parents before heading back to the barracks for CTO time. The night ended with final preparations for the next day; our biggest day here so far.

The beginning of the day was not what I would have liked it to be. Somehow I managed to sleep through both of my alarms and my roommate slept through his also. This resulted in being woken up at 0729 by our CTO who was very perturbed. We all did make it down to muster for morning colors, but CTO had some stern words for all of us. After a very short amount of time given to us to clean our rooms before our parents were allowed to tour, we had to be back outside so that we could be ready for the Parade. Right on schedule we marched onto Tomb Field so that we could take our oaths to swear us into the U.S. Naval Reserve and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. I still managed to make a fool of myself by messing up my about face and almost falling over, but I didn't, so I can be thankful of that.

After our Parade, I had to be a ballboy for the soccer game against the Coast Guard Academy, so I quickly changed into PT gear, talked with my parents for a few minutes, and headed back to Tomb Field. It was a pretty long, slow game, but we ended up winning 2-0. Because the whole Coast Guard Academy came with their sports teams, our whole regiment marched onto the field with Coast Guard before the long-awaited football game. The game was epic; one for the ages. It went into two overtimes before Kings Point finally overcame and drove the ball for a touchdown to win, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The best part of the win was the fact that liberty was extended to 2100 the next day for all classes instead of 1800 for us Plebes. That was very much appreciated, as was Sunday's baseball practice being cancelled.

After a short briefing by the RTOA and RX in Ackerman Auditorium, we were granted our first liberty. I was so ready to leave this place I quickly packed my things and met my parents outside Wiley Hall so that we could call the taxi company to pick us up and take us to our hotel. The dynamic of leaving was a lot different this time than it was leaving on the Plebe Retreat. This time I knew that I could do nearly anything I wanted without fearing that someone might tell on me. After we dropped my stuff off, we walked down the street to a nearby restaurant to have an early celebration of my birthday. The food was good, but spending time with my parents was better. I finally had the stresses of the weekend off my back and I was able to relax and not focus on the Regiment. After we finished our, albeit long, dinner, we headed back to our hotel to chill for the rest of the night. I turned in just before 2300, which was the earliest in a while for me.

I woke up the next morning at 0745 more refreshed than I had been in longer than I could remember at the time. After a refreshing shower, I traveled downstairs to eat some breakfast before finalizing our plans for the day. We took a taxi to the train station in Bayside so that we could catch the 0956 train into Penn Station. From there we hopped onto the subway system to Chinatown on Canal Street so that we could find some good Dim Sum. Thankfully, it did not take us long to find a place that vividly reminded my dad of restaurants in Hong Kong. When the food started coming around, we were amazed at the excellent taste of each of the dishes. By the time we were ready to leave, my dad had no problem saying that Jing Fong was the best Dim Sum restaurant he'd found outside of Hong Kong.

In Chinatown we hopped back on the subway and rode it to Times Square. What a ridiculous sight! People see it numerous times every year on TV, but nothing compares to actually being there, looking up at the enormous billboards promoting a wide variety of products. I did not cry, as I've heard others do, but it was one of those awesome moments to say the least. From Times Square we walked past some of the off-Broadway theaters as well as Rockefeller Plaza, and the Radio City Music Hall where the MTV VMAs were being held later that night. No, I did not see Kanye and tell him to totally disrespect Taylor Swift. After passing by Radio City, we hopped back on the subway to take us back to Penn Station so that we could return to our hotel, giving us more time to hang out as a family before sending me back to the Academy.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazily watching tv and resting. That dreaded time of having to leave the hotel came way too quickly, with the last few moments spent taking pictures in my Whites by myself and with my family. Upon arriving back at the Academy after an, um, interesting taxi ride, I caught up with my friends about their weekends. Plebe Accountability Muster in Ackerman Auditorium at 2100 did not go as well as it could've. However, that reasoning may or may not be shared at a later time.

Monday started out almost as poorly as Saturday did. I managed to sleep through two alarms yet again. Thankfully it was not CTO banging on my door, but one of my classmates who informed us that all of the Plebes in First Company were waiting for us to get down to Zero Deck so that they could be dismissed. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly, culminating with CFC and sports study hall.

Tuesday was quite similar in that regard, though that evening I was caught by my Company Commander talking in one of the stairways, which is one thing that we are definitely not supposed to do. I stayed up late finishing the essay that CTO assigned to me based on that incident, but not as late as some other nights.

Today, Wednesday, was pretty ordinary also, though Dr. Cummings started class 38 minutes late because he arrived to the Academy 30 minutes late. Baseball went well as did being ballboy for the soccer game. I'm looking forward to showering now and then heading to bed to get some, hopefully, decent sleep. Stand by for further posts.

Labor Day Weekend + Tuesday

It wasn't a very pleasant start for the Plebe Candidates' Labor Day weekend. It started way too early Friday morning right around 0415 so we could practice our parade for Acceptance Day. As we finished, we were notified that there was Regimental Rack-In until 0655, but I felt breakfast was more important than more sleep as I had a Physics test 4th period. The school day was a little different than normal, because we got to tour the T/V Kings Pointer for our Maritime Studies Class. Other than that it was mostly the same. Since we had our Regimental Period in the morning, our weekend officially started the beginning of 7th period, but it didn't really matter, as we still can't go anywhere.



Friday was relaxing for a little while, until we had to sign documents saying that we would live by the Academy's Honor Code of "A Midshipman will not Lie, Cheat, or Steal". We were originally supposed to go to the gym to do this, but once I was there, I found that there were only two others who were told the same. A little while later the rest of the company showed up after checking Ackerman Auditorium. After they showed up, we came to the conclusion that we needed to go to Wiley Hall, which is the old Chrysler mansion. We stood in line for a while before finally completing our task.



Once we finished with that, we had free time for the rest of the night. I went over to another old mansion, Land Hall, for the Asian-American Club. No, I'm not secretly Asian or anything; I was invited to join by the club president. It was just a time to hang out and order Chinese food if we wanted. The evening finished on a bittersweet note (as would Saturday and Sunday), because we had a muster in the gym at 2300 for Plebe Accountability.



Saturday started for us right around 0715, which was when we were told we needed our doors open, although we soon found out that we did not need to be up until 0745. After a quick gathering with the CTO, we were instructed to clean our rooms or our cleaning stations until the CTO told us we were done. Brunch followed cleaning, which was followed by a study hall in our rooms. Unfortunately, our study hall was abruptly ended by an announcement that we needed to practice our marching with rifles out on the football field. Nearly two hours of that caused many of us to become disgruntled because a few Plebe Candidates could not seem to remember some of the rifle movements that they were taught during Indoc.

We had free time until after dinner, when we formed up and marched over to the gym where we played dodgeball against Plebe Candidates from other companies. Even though we (First Co.) were labeled cheaters, we still had a lot of fun. Against CTO's orders, we failed to win the tournament, which mandated us to have our doors open at 0800 Sunday morning. Oh well, that worked out well for me as you'll see in a moment. Once we returned to the barracks, we had free time until bed.

It was a good thing that we had to be up at 0800, because that aided me in my decision to help Mom Guest set up for Bible Class as well as the curry dinner she was holding for the Plebe Candidates after the worship service. The curry dinner was outstanding. It was so great to have some non-Delano food that was homemade. After retiring to the barracks after about 8 hours at the chapel, we had free time until Mandatory Fun Night, aka movie night, where we saw Hoosiers. The rest of Sunday was fairly uninteresting as I and many others just sat in our rooms until we retired to our racks.

The start of Monday was not as smooth as either Saturday or Sunday, as some people decided that the 0730 doors open command was not to their liking, so they felt that sleeping past 0800 was a good idea. CTO was not fond of this idea at all, threatening that if anybody tested him for the rest of the day, all of our rooms would get tossed. Thankfully nobody did and our rooms stayed fairly good condition for the rest of the day. We had more marching practice in the afternoon, which thankfully did not take nearly as long as Saturday's. We concluded the day with a PKT, though I did not have to go since I had baseball practice. Baseball was pretty good. I doubt I'll make the team, but I'll give it a shot.

Tuesday wasn't too exciting. Classes went pretty smoothly. Evening held an information night about the EMT Class held during 2nd and 3rd trimesters, then went to practice for the Star Spangled Banner Brigade for about an hour and a half. The Star Spangled Banner Brigade consists of about 100 people holding state and U.S. flags marching into the gym with the band playing in front of all our parents on Friday night. It took longer than it should've, but hopefully it'll go smoother on Thursday.

I'm really hoping bed comes soon tonight. I have my first midterm tomorrow for my Maritime Studies class, which is actually a final for the Deck component of the class. On Thursday we switch over to learn about the Engine side. That should be pretty cool. Stand by for further posts...

Let's Not Do That Again...

It's been a few days since I last updated and figure it's high time. Tuesday was pretty uneventful until Army PT rolled around at 1815. The plan was to go for a cross training run: run for a bit, stop and do some exercises like push ups or flutter kicks, and then go run some more, stop again, and on and on. After our second stop we ran for a little bit more and then decided to rest for a minute at the Kings Point Park Sledding Hill before commencing jogging down the hill and sprinting back up. Because I'm a little slower than the others, I started near the back. I was just starting my second lap when I felt a prick on my leg. I figured I had just run too close to a thorn bush or something until I looked down and saw a bunch of yellow jackets around my body. Being fairly normal in not liking to get stung by yellow jackets, I started running faster trying to get back up the hill as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, they followed all of us. Probably because I am a little slower, I took the brunt of the attack as I received seven stings and others received between two and five. I found that getting stung in the back of a nearly bald head is an experience that I would like to do without for the rest of my life. In fact, I wouldn't complain if I didn't get stung again. We had a nice walk/jog back to the campus to let us calm down a bit. It ended up working out fairly well because I was able to eat and then go to CFC without having to rush too much.

Thankfully, Wednesday was not nearly as exciting. Those in my section had a test in our Maritime Studies class, which was probably the biggest event of the day. For Army PT, we lifted in the weight room which prevented us from being stung again. That was a definite plus. The evening finished with study hall, then CTO time at 2205.

Today wasn't all that eventful either. We started off the morning with an inspection of our khakis by Capt. Kim, Gunnery Sergeant Saulsberry, and the Commandant of Midshipmen wish assistance from the Midshipman Officers: Regimental Commander, Regimental Executive Officer, First Battalion Commander, and First Battalion Executive Officer. I didn't really do a whole lot of uniform prepping last night aside from shining my shoes, but the RC told me I looked "very good". Unfortunately, a couple others could not say the same as they failed the inspection. School was not all that bad with the exception of Physics, where the teacher kept us for all of the allotted two hours since we did not have a lab period this week. Two hours with that teacher is not a productive use of time. My physics teacher from a previous school could've covered the same amount of material in maybe 30-45 minutes. Oh well, I think I got a nice 10 minute or so nap without getting caught. At lunch our CTO told us that we were allowed rack-in (naptime) from after lunch until 1800. I took very good advantage of that as I napped for about three hours. Boy, did that feel good after I woke up. After an okay dinner we had CTO time, then I've been working on homework ever since.

Tomorrow will not have a very good start. I know this already. Because the upperclassmen do not want to have Acceptance Day parade practice after lunch, we are having it at 0500 on the football/soccer field, which will allow them to leave for their long weekend whenever their last class finishes. I'm not totally thrilled at waking up at 0415, but when I'm in their position, I'll likely feel the same way. Off to a shower and then bed. Stand by for further posts.

A Great Weekend, but Back to the Grind Again

What a weekend! A couple of days away from the rules of the Regiment, better food, and relaxation. Those are things about which no Kings Point Midshipman can ever complain. Saturday morning i got up around my normal Saturday time of quarter to 0700 so I could catch some breakfast before meeting the others who were going on the Plebe Retreat at 0730. I could've enjoyed a few more minutes of sleep had I known that we would be provided boxed breakfasts on the bus. The bus ride was pretty relaxing; consisting of talking with some other Plebe Candidates, sleeping, and absorbing the sights of my first trip up Long Island past the Academy. After maybe an hour and a half of driving (and a few wrong turns) we pulled into the driveway of Camp DeWolfe. Once we unloaded from the buses and deposited our bags in our cabins, we headed over to the meeting hall to listen to Mom and Dad Guest tell us the rules for the weekend. Once they finished, we had real free time until lunch. Not having experienced anything like this since arriving July 9th, most of us in my cabin decided to get a quick nap in before lunch. Upon waking up I realized that A) it was lunchtime and B) I had slept for about an hour and a half. Boy did that nap feel wonderful.

After lunch a few of us Plebe Candidates decided to walk the camp's beach which bordered Long Island Sound. Although it was cool, windy, and rainy, it was very enjoyable to get away from the city and stare out across the vast deep as the rain pelted our clothing. Once we made it back to our cabins after strolling up and down the beach, a few of us tried another nap, succeeding greatly this time with another two hours added to our nap totals. Unfortunately, the ropes challenge course closed right before we woke up, so we were unable to attempt that, but hopefully the next time we go we won't be so tired.

After a good dinner and some more free time, the Catholic Plebe Candidates met at the chapel, while the Protestant Plebe Candidates gathered at the meeting hall for a worship service led by some upperclassmen, who played worship songs, and Chaplain Sias, who spoke on some verses in Proverbs. The conclusion of the worship service commenced the bonfire on the beach where we were able to mingle with upperclassmen and other Plebe Candidates as well as roast marshmallows and sing along with the guitars that were played. That was a good experience because we were able to freely talk to the upperclassmen about nearly anything. Even with all of that fun, bed was still a welcome sight when I plopped in around 1 am.

Sunday morning experienced a rude awakening when two fellow Plebe Candidates from First Company marched into our cabin with one calling cadence for the other. Thankfully it was timely since we had less than a half hour until our morning assembly led my Mom and Dad Guest. Once that wrapped up, we didn't have all that much time before lunch, so some other guys and I had a blast practicing being Drill Instructors in case we decide to work Indoctrination next year. After lunch we had a couple of hours before we had to load up the buses again, so some friends and I wanted to walk the beach again because it was sunny this time. I think most, if not all, of us were a little disappointed to pack up our gear and load the bus because the break from the Regiment was welcome for us all. Upon our return we had to go back to our required squaring corners and running while outside.

The PKT was interesting, as normal, as members of the soccer team had the punishment of taking it on their faces because of some lies that were told in regards to there whereabouts during last Sunday's PKT. Another kid was brought up front because he had brought his PKT study guide sheet and had it on his clipboard. Our CTO later told us that we will remember him for the next four years for being labeled a cheater.

Today was another big step towards Recognition as we had to sing the Marine Corps Hymn at lunch for a USMC Gunnery Sergeant. Adding to that pressure, all of the upperclassmen make as much noise they can to throw us off and drown us out. Because we had spent some time practicing as a class we got a thumbs-up of approval from Gunny upon completing the song.

Tonight we went to Ackerman Auditorium to listen to a presentation from a Kings Point grad who was the Chief Engineer on the Maersk Alabama, the ship attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia earlier this year. It was interesting hearing his perspectives on what happened and seeing pictures of the lifeboat where Capt. Phillips was held by the Somalis. Makes one realize that piracy is not a joke and is a very serious problem when traveling, especially in various areas of the Indian Ocean.

Well, it's about 2315 right now and if I can get to bed in the next 45 minutes (hopefully 5) it will mark the first time I've been to bed before 0000 in nearly a week. That extra hour of sleep is definitely going to feel good. Stand by for more updates.

Finally, the Weekend has Arrived!

I normally both enjoy and dread the weekends because I don't have anything to do, but I don't have anything to do. That problem has finally been solved this weekend. I get to leave campus for the first time for the "Plebe Retreat". The Plebe Retreat is a getaway for kids that attend Chapel services or Chapel-related clubs. We're going to Camp DeWolfe located a little ways up the North Shore of Long Island. It will definitely be nice to get away from the Regiment and all that's associated with it.

Tonight was another excellent example of why not to waste CTO's time by taking forever to change. At CTO time CTO Clifford required us to change from gym clothes to khakis for a uniform inspection. Luckily for me I came right as he was giving the command to change and I was already in khakis so I really didn't have to do too much to get ready. It was a not so fun 30 minutes standing at the position of attention waiting to be inspected. When CTO finally got to me, he found a few loose threads, plus told me to go shine my belt buckle. I went up to my room to quickly fix what was wrong and then headed downstairs again. It was another 45 minutes of waiting for re-inspection only to culminate with him telling me that I still had some loose threads. At least he said I didn't have to come down again.

The past few days haven't been all that exciting. Yesterday for Army Ops PT we got to run about a mile and a half in the steel-toed work boots we were issued to simulate running in boots. I can easily say that I'm in pretty good shape. I ran a 10:17 on the 1.5 mile test and ran a 14:19 2 mile on the Army physical fitness assessment. It was a rude awakening running with those bricks called boots on my feet. I started sucking wind pretty quickly and dropped to the back of the back soon after. I was amazed that I was able to finish because I was struggling quite a bit at the end. Luckily I had a wonderful motivator in the form of a fellow Plebe Candidate from Minnesota. He's the reason I was able to finish it out.

I would try to detail Wednesday, but I can barely remember yesterday, so I'm not sure it's even worth trying. I can remember Army Ops. We went to the weight room and lifted for a while finishing with 82 four-count flutter kicks (i.e. 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-2, 1-2-3-3, etc) and 101 four-count bicycle crunches. My goal for the end of the year is to be able to do those without stopping.

As the balls approach (0000 aka zero hundred aka midnight), I feel it might be time to finally hit the rack as I haven't made it to bed before balls since...well, I don't remember when. I just know I haven't had 6 hours of sleep in a night for quite a while. Hopefully I will be able to get another post up Sunday afternoon or night detailing my weekend.

On a final note, we were notified Thursday at lunch that PKT #1 is complete. Only 9 more to go...

Watch...a nice way of saying "Homework time"

I'm sitting here in the MOD Shack with not a whole lot to do, because I don't really have any homework to do. The MOD Shack is where the MOD and MOD Messenger are located. MOD stands for Midshipman on Duty. It is one of the many watch positions that Midshipman here can get. Watch is to prepare Midshipmen for standing watch on ships. For MOD and MOD Mess. watch, two Midshipmen, one First Classman and one Plebe/Fourth Classman, sit in the MOD Shack and wait for the phone to ring with either questions from callers outside the Academy or questions from Midshipmen. There are three different shifts for MOD watch. 0800-1200 & 2000-2400, 1200-1600 & 0000-0400, and 1600-2000 & 0400-0800. Thank goodness I'm usually going to be scheduled for the 0800-1200 & 2000-2400 shift because I don't lose too much sleep and I don't miss any meals. Other watches that Plebes/Fourth Classmen can stand are:

Library Watch: where they sit in the Library from 2000-2300 when it closes

South Dock Watch: where as of right now, Plebes don't do anything because the building where they are to stand watch has been condemned

Supernumerary: which is actually for all classes, where the Midshipman is on call for 24 hours, ready to fill in if another watchstander falls ill or cannot stand watch for some reason.

Other watch positions that are filled by Upperclassmen are:

Kings Pointer Bridge: Midshipmen go to the bridge of the T/V Kings Pointer and stand watch there

BOOW: Battallion Officers of the Watch. One is for First Battallion which is composed of 1st and 2nd Companies (though right now it's only 1st Co) and the other is for Second Battallion which is 3rd and 4th Companies. They go around each barracks building to make sure everybody is in his room by 0100.

North Dock: To log boats in and out of the basin where USMMA keeps its watercraft as well as make sure nothing happens to the waterfront after dark.

MCDO: Midshipman Command Duty Officer. He is in charge of all the watchstanders. He stands a 24 hour watch from 0800 to 0800 the next day. In essence, he makes sure things get done that need to get done.

I'll stop boring you now with all the different types of watch. It's actually pretty boring for MOD Mess watch. we're allowed to bring our computers and do whatever we're allowed to do.

One of the most annoying things here is the lack of effective communication. On Sunday our RTOA told us that we needed to hand copy all 112 of our Plebe Candidate Regulations by the next Sunday. Because I like to think of myself as someone who gets things done quickly and efficiently, I decided to get started on that this morning during my morning shift of watch. Sure enough, I found out tonight that we no longer have to hand copy them, just save them to the desktops of our computers. That definitely would've been handy to know before spending three hours of my morning writing nearly non-stop. Oh well, I guess it's just a part of the lifestyle here that I'll have to live with.

Now that I've been sitting here for just over an hour, I realized that I should start a letter in defense of my assistant CTO. He got into some trouble last year as well as while being a Drill Instructor this year during Indoctrination. He is going to go before a review board this weekend to determine his fate. From what I've seen of him in the month I've spent out of Indoc, he is an excellent leader who wants to see the Plebe Candidates under him succeed and not make the same mistakes he did. Whenever he notices things wrong with our behavior, he pulls us aside and, usually, nicely explains what we were doing and gives us tips on how to correct it. He is a great guy and I know I would not be the same Plebe Candidate without him being assistant CTO. Hopefully the letters that we as First Co Plebe Candidates will write will influence the board's decision for the better.

End of the Weekend

I can't really complain about the movie last night. It was great, as expected, to watch an amazing movie with a bunch of people who feel the same way about it. Most people, like me, felt that the U.S. Government did a poor job handling the whole situation in Somalia in 1993. If a few decisions had been altered, (i.e. AC-130 Spectre gunships providing air support and Apache helicopters), the outcome very well could have been much different. Anyway, onto a different subject.
Due to the seniors being gone for Ring Dance, we had another night of media privileges, though I didn't really take advantage of them beyond listening to some music. It was a lot quieter of a night than Friday, which kept me in a pretty good mood. Saturday nights are usually pretty bittersweet for me because we often have our rooms ripped apart during the movie due to stupid company mates who can't seem to figure out that we get inspected while we're watching the movie, but once we get all of that dealt with, Saturday nights are fairly relaxing because the CTO and CTO's assistants back off and let us chill in our rooms in relative peace. In addition to that, we are not required to get up until 0930 which allows us to catch up on some sleep we missed from the previous week.

I usually do not take full advantage of that because I arise at 0900 so I can make it to the Chapel at 0930 for Sunday School (and awesome baked goodies from Mom Guest) and the Worship Service at 1115. Both of those were good today and provided an excellent break from the daily regimental activities. The afternoon was laid back also as I had a minimal amount of homework due for tomorrow. Tonight, however, was not so relaxed.

We assembled outside our barracks at 1740 so that we could make it over to the weekly Sunday Plebe Candidate accountability muster in the oven-like gym at 1800. After everyone was accounted for, we ran over to Delano to get our evening chow before the dreaded PKT at 1900. Even before we got to Ackerman Auditorium for the PKT, we knew that either all of us or some people were going to get messed up pretty good for the previous week's missteps.

I'm not sure which night it was, but some absolutely "brilliant" football players thought it would be hilarious to make a video of themselves talking in Delano, a privilege we don't get until Acceptance Day September 12. In addition to making the video, which was very stupid, they decided to post it on YouTube. They didn't want to post it somewhere that the upperclassmen couldn't see it, they used YouTube. Because of this, they were required to take their PKTs on their faces in the "up" push up position. Alongside them were two other geniuses who thought that smoking in the sailing center would be a fantastic idea. The use of tobacco products is strictly forbidden for Plebes and Plebe Candidates. They too were in a great amount of pain near the end of the PKT.

Anyway, back to the PKT. We did not have enough time to answer some of the longer questions, so I'm nearly positive that we failed...again. I'm hoping that next week we will finally be able to pass it. After we got done with that we had to sing the Marine Corps Hymn about three times until the RTOA, a recent graduate of Marine Corps Platoon Leadership Course, was satisfied. We also got to listen to him revoke most of our privileges due to the few boneheads who tried to take the inch we were given and make it into a mile. Oh well, at least we still have our computers... After we got back to the barracks and we finished our cleaning stations, we were able to use our cell phones for two hours. That's pretty much all that's happened since my last post. In about 5 hours, the mundane week begins again...

Finally, a weekend. Wait, this isn't what I wanted!

Weekends here at USMMA are nothing short of terrible for Plebe Candidates, at least for me anyway. We actually have a good chunk of free time where we can do whatever we're allowed to do. The only problem is: we aren't really allowed to do a whole lot. Most of the seniors are gone because of Ring Dance (the dance where they receive their class rings). That's been pretty nice having almost all of the upperclassmen gone, but we aren't able to do much that we can do while they're here. Oftentimes, people spend weekends doing homework, but when they're done, they'll usually sit in their rooms at their computers with really nothing to do. I usually like to work out on weekends, but they guys I was going to work out with had a lot of homework to do. By the time they did go, it was too close to dinner for me to finish a few tasks, as well as, work out. So, I really haven't accomplished much of anything yet today.

Saturdays have "Mandatory Fun Nights" where we go into the auditorium and watch a movie. Tonight should be fun watching Black Hawk Down on a big screen with a lot of cool people. There was much objection today in First Company about watching that movie because it was a) too long and b) too violent for some girls' tastes. Unfortunately for them, fortunately for many of us guys, by the time they were given permission to buy a DVD at the store (we cannot buy or have DVDs in our rooms), the store had closed. As I sit here waiting to muster to go to the movie, I am thankful that I will finally have something to do. Saturdays are not the greatest here for me. Though I'm guessing that will change when we start getting Liberty.

Long Days, but Good Days

As I'm sitting here at my computer just after 2345, (11:45 PM Eastern Time for all you civilians out there), I'm realizing that I am doing just what I want to do, and I'm content with it.

There is nothing glamorous about the life here. The food isn't the greatest, the days are often very mundane, you're surrounded by people that have quickly forgotten why there here, the teachers aren't all that good at teaching, the rules for Plebe Candidates are near ridiculous, and the amount of sleep we get on weekdays is, on average, 5 hours a night or less. Even realizing all of those downsides, along with the ease of discouragement, it isn't all that bad here.

First of all, it's nearly free to come here, I get all the food I can eat, the opportunities upon graduation are nearly beyond compare, plus I get to travel the world for nearly a year's time, and I'm living only miles away from one of the most recognizable cities in the world.

At this point, I've been up since about 0425 because I wanted to join the Army Operations Program here and they suggested that I take a personal fitness test with them at 0500. After finishing that at 0615, I had a day packed full of classes, meals, study halls, and other regimental activities. I'm really tired right now and sleeping until my body tells me it wants to wake up sounds fantastic, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here to serve my country and that's what I'm doing.

Interestingly enough, the United States Merchant Marine Academy has been ranked as the institution of higher learning with the #1 Most Unhappy Students. Believe me, it clearly shows. However, when considering the upsides of this place, people have no reason to complain like they do. It all boils down to a matter of perspective. Luckily, I think I've figured this out early...

Abbreviations and Terms You Should Know

Here's a list of abbreviations and words that I will frequently be using in my posts.


Bearings Book: Book of knowledge for Plebes to memorize.

The City: New York City

Command Inspection: Where Commissioned Officers from the military walk around and inspect your rooms.

CTO: Company Training Officer. He enforces the RTOA's regulations.

Delano: Where we eat our not so critically acclaimed meals

Extra Duty: Extra hours of standing watch or other various duties assigned for Midshipmen on restriction.

IT: Intense or Instructive Training. A set period of time where Plebe Candidates get exercised to the max. A favorite of the CTO is having the Plebe Candidates wear rubber rain suits.

Liberty: Allowance to leave campus. Usually on weekends.

Midshipman Officers: Every senior at USMMA is a Midshipman Officer. There are 5 ranks: Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, and Commander.

Muster: An assembly for accountability purposes

PKT: Plebe Knowledge Test

Plebe: Name for fourth classmen that have not yet been "Recognized", but have been officially accepted into the Regiment of Midshipmen

PT: Physical Training

Rack: Military term for bed

Recognition: Where the plebe class has completed all the necessary steps required by the Midshipman Officers and the Midshipman Officers are sick of telling Plebes what to do, so the Midshipman Officers give the fourth classmen most of their privileges back.

Restriction: A Midshipman that does something bad gets put on restriction and can't leave campus and must perform 100 hours of Extra Duty.

RTOA: Regimental Training Officer's Assistant. He lets the Plebe Candidates know how to behave.

USMMA: United States Merchant Marine Academy

First Post

First post. Hopefully there will be many more to come.

I want to start off by saying that life at a Federal Service Academy isn't all fun and games. Granted, there are times and places for that, but it definitely couldn't be described as easy. A typical day for a Plebe Candidate here kind of goes like this:

0530: Wake up, get dressed
0555: Assemble with other Plebe Candidates in your respective companies and take attendance
0615: Breakfast
0640: Begin cleaning respective cleaning areas in the barracks
0700: Personal and room inspection
0720: Assemble with whole company and march to morning flag raising
0745: Classes start for the day
1155: Classes end for the morning
1210: Assemble for lunch with entire Regiment of Midshipmen
1300: Classes begin for the afternoon
1600: Classes end for the day. Free time or sports activities begin.
1730-1915: Dinner
1945: Nightly meeting with Company Training Officer, a senior who is in charge of training us to behave in a proper manner and do what we're supposed to
2000: Study time or free time
2200: Plebe Candidates are allowed to close doors to their rooms and sleep for night (though it rarely happens right at 2200)

And that is a typical weekday here at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Not too exciting at first glance, but we definitely find ways...