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...