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.