See you later!

Tomorrow, starting at 6am, I'm headed off to Korea to start "sea year". Actually, it will be a continuation, since I had some experience on a reserve fleet ship in Baltimore-- experience in things like what clothes to bing to work, and why dinner is served at 4pm when the ship is in port (so the cook works a normal 7am to 4pm shift). My relation with a prepositioned ship in Korea-- South Korea-- started as a suggestion about 1 week ago, and the plans were finalized on Friday. Flight to Detroit from JFK, then JFK to Seoul. Found that there is a direct rail link between the two airports in Seoul I will be shuffling between-- Incheon and Gimpo. From Gimpo, I'm headed to Yeosu. It's a 45 minute flight, and the town is 2 hours by bus from the larger port city of Busan (where many a Kings Pointers made memories). I'm sure I entertained and inspired some of the new plebes with the news of where I'm going-- 365 days from now, you can be going to Asia, too! Just don't fail out, don't quit, either. And dear CTO or his petty officer of company (x), could you muster the plebes somewhere other than main deck-- where I want to roll my rolling chair loaded with suitcases and bags from my room to the elevator to the locker room on zero-deck? Put all my belongings in bags-- those which I will be picking up in November when I get back to the Academy are placed in a locker room on zero-deck; and the items I need for sea, into two suitcases or a backpack. A little foresight is needed, since it's going to be October or November when I return. Some items go to my brother. Registered for the November 6 election, changed my computer password, and called the cab. I will be travelling and working with a classmate, whom I will get to know better. And, if things go as expected, we'll have sea stories and you'll have blog posts to read (pending on the availability of internet on the ship-- there's got to be!)

How much does it cost to be a Midshipman?

My Dad would say that life in the Navy for a young single man was this: you could get your paycheck, blow it in town, and come back broke to a roof over your head, and four meals per day. (Taco Bell did not invent the fourth , nighttime, meal-- the Navy did). I never agreed that this blog was purely polite dinner conversation, so I decided to discover if this held true for midshipmen at the USMMA. Mids and Cadets at the other four service academies start receiving a stipend on day 0. In fact, all Midshipmen at the USNA are paid the same rate- it's just that the seniors have a lot fewer deductions than the fourth class. At the USMMA, a real neat and motivational promotional video ( ) notes that you receive pay while at sea. In fact, it's quoted by the first class that the stipend received from sea year minus midshipmen fees paid each trimester add to a positive sum for you. (I'm waiting for my check to arrive from my week on a ship in Baltimore, but I trust it will). That figure assumes that you won't spend all of your cash in Bangkok. So what must you do to live off your stipend? Limit snacking-- comissary food (free meals) is to be consumed only at designated mealtimes, in the dining hall, or a box meal if on a team trip, on watch, or while in the infirmary. Having commissary food or utensils in your room will make you eligible for Extra Duty hours. 6 hours of work is a lot to pay for that banana. Have a restricted social life-- I'd say that there are likeminded midshipmen who would enjoy on-campus, free, activities while their classmates splurge in the city-- but I fear that you're one of few! That was also a pun. Midshipmen on restriction go weeks without going out on the town-- but I'd recommend you not put yourself on restriction to make for fiscal discipline. Videogames are a good investment. $60 will buy you weekends worth of entertainment, and, if it's the right game, you'll have plenty of friends to play with. World of Warcraft, Modern Warfare, and Halo are popular. You could also take a knack for reading or aimless cruising of the internet, but be ready for nicknames. Use the "free" laundry service-- no, it's not free, but you paid for it in your midshipmen fees. Drop off one day, pick up the next, except for Sundays. Just be sure you have a pair of PT clothes for the day your laundry's gone. Resist the temptation to buy things you don't need- you'll be tossing a lot of it before going to sea, anyway. Your entire room just won't fit into two suitcases. Yes, I've bought things I regret paying for, but my case is very mild: I've heard of a classmate buying an "unneeded" I-phone. Be athletic- or rather, "sportif", a word borrowed from the French. Sticking to a workout routine, taking extended jogs on weekends, or having an affinity for shooting hoops will take up some idle time that you might otherwise be spending cash during. Also, you might feel enough self-esteem that you have no need to prove yourself as a party-hardy. No one insisted that my next door neighbor stay out past midnight-- after all, he was the star swimmer. Eat meals on campus-- resist the urge to order out. $10 saved by having a meal at the commissary rather than ordering, once per week, adds up to some change. It's okay to "be full" when your pals order over the phone. Got to go to dinner at the chow hall before it closes.

A bit technical, a bit nostalgic: 4th Class No More.

Now where did I leave off? Just a quick summary-- I felt that this most recent trimester was the most rigorous of the three. No easy B+'s- the grade needed to score an Academic Star . My GPA this trimester was weighed around B. As a mentor suggested last trimester, I had built up enough of a lead earlier in the year that I could still maintain a Star status for the year overall. I knew of In a brief personal journal entry, I noted this past exam week as "The Crucible", since it would determine if I had a choice of engineering majors (The cutoff for two programs is near 2.8, a B- average). So no big blog post that week. 24 hours after completing my last exam, I was on a Reserve Fleet ship, the SS Wright, in Baltimore MD. Aboard the ship, us USMMA students entertained the staff and leaders of the Maritime Administration from just an hour south in DC; represented the future of American maritime potential aboard the museum ship NS Savannah (and became one of few midshipmen to work aboard a (formerly) nuclear vessel); represented the Academy during Fleet Week in the city (Navy mids and Coast Guard cadets were present as well); and finally, worked on modular refrigerator units that were being placed onto the ship. And we spent some time after work in the evenings cruising the city in plainclothes. On that note, it was to benefit that one upperclassman had brought his car to the ship. My older Academymates enjoyed $1 specials on National Bohemian (Natty Boh)-- but not the driver, mind us; we enjoyed baseball on the big screen at Candie Maries (at Fleet and Milton), and I enjoyed playing some ping-pong. We didn't know how much fun and enjoyable-- and economical-- an American port could be. We expressed some shipboard courtesy- Catch the crew after the meal if you have a question about work. And some courtesy among our own: Do not discuss the Regiment outside of campus-- that includes casual remarks about our promotion on June 19 (after 2012's graduation) to midshipmen-one-class-higher. Indeed, talking about "class rate" is viewed taboo like talking about social class in America. (It seems to me, though, that Band Company is just slightly different. Class rate is paid attention to with detail over there- The Regiment, which includes Class rate, seems to be a big pride in that Company than in the other companies). While at sea, we have the same title- Cadet. We often work side by side. So class rate just is a tad less relevant while at sea--- although, I must note, sea experience does count. Onboard the SS Wright, there were us newbies-- landlubbers, perhaps, with single digit count of days at sea. Our driver was a year higher than us, and had over 200 days at sea- on ships that left port! The rising senior on board had somewhere near 300 days. And that term "Rising firstie/ second/ third class" was a new creation by us, since we had to recognize that the incoming fourth class (Class of 2016) haven't been to sea yet; and that our shoulder boards needed to be restriped. The person in charge, the port engineer, is a 1975 Academy grad, and never heard that term used before. Always room for something new. The taboo of "class rate" is drawn to the spotlight: As a practical matter, I left campus dressed down slightly. I had dry cleaned my official liberty attire- summer whites- and put it away in my suitcase so that it would be fresh for when I needed to entertain official visitors from the Maritime Administration onboard my ship. Others left in civilian clothes for personal reasons, such as to mark the end of fourth class year. Apparently, according to the new commandant, this is a second class privilege that had slid to the third class over time. It's true. I checked the thick book of midshipmen regulations (over 200 pages). But why did second and third class priveleges merged over time? The oldest regulations were written when midshipmen spent nearly all of third class year at sea. This has changed since the 1960's, where two "splits" in each of 2nd and 3rd class year alternate semesters (now trimesters) at sea. But what happened is that A split spends 2 trimesters as third class, B split spends 2 trimesters ans second class. (Part of the reason for this was to better Kings Point winter athletics- B split students spend all 4 winters at the Academy-- the other component was to keep students from the "drudgery" of 6 straight trimesters). So is it really fair for half the class to have better culmulative priveleges than the other half? The other large change is a revamping of liberty policy. The new first class had already gotten creative with 4th class liberty. Noting that most disciplinary problems on liberty occured after dark on Saturday nights, liberty was granted all weekend, as typical for upperclassmen, with the exception of 9pm to 9am on Saturday night. The most adventurous 4th class would have to hang tight until after midnight bed check before heading back out to the City. Previously, we had rotated between weeks of liberty from 2pm until midnight and weeks of no liberty because someone "messed up" the previous weekend. The new strategy (which I had actually suggested months before as a way to raise plebe morale for those who had no intention to participate in nightlife) worked. It worked so well that it came into use for the third class, to combat their own occassional rowdiness on the 3:19am train. (But we were not the most rowdy, though, as the New York Post never mentioned us in why the Long Island Railroad increased police presence on that train. This was a culture change for the third class, who were accustomed to overnight liberty evey weekend. But the 3:19am train would also literally become a thing of memory only. Effective the weekend before Memorial Day, the 3:19am, train was now the 3:04am train. It had been the 3:19am train long enough that recent graduates talk about the memories from that train. Perhaps the change in departure time, it is rumored, was to break us up into two groups- those who came back to Penn Station early, and those who tried to cut it close. Perhaps it was to drive some nightlifers back into town for another hour of cash spending. The Commandant reports that liberty policy will indeed change. Overnight liberty will be granted on a pass system (a system which had existed before the familiar system, which he calls a "free-for-all"). Fourth class will have the fewest (That would be, according to the old rule book, 3 for the second and third trimester, including holiday weekends). Currently, first class are entitled to seven- about one for every other weekend. Policy regarding extra liberty passes for high GPA's will be formalized. While our first go-to guy to take these weekends was the Class of 2012's valedictorian, who certainly enjoyed the privelege as a plebe, his successor doubted that the program actually existed-- doubting that talk on the parent's page reflected reality. For my roommate one recent weekend, this doubt was overruled by the Commissioned Officer on the basis that mothers are right!

USMMA 2016: Packing List

Some members of the Class of 2016 may well have come across this blog. Most of you are graduating from high school, and partying responsibly to help ease the fear of the unknown that you will be entering to on July 5th. Before we take away your hair, your civilan clothes, and your identity (for a few weeks only, though), I'd like to say a few things: Your Drill Instructors are my classmates. No need to be afraid of them. You're going to be insufficient/be a failure, and you may live for two weeks wondering if your DI can get you kicked out of the Academy for not marching right. Hydration is the key. Drink lots of water. No need to be "that guy" who passes out from the heat. July 4th is not a "party night", unfortunately. Not for your Indoc team, either. You, and us, need to appear looking sharp and alert at 8am. I will be your EMT. You'll see me at morning PT, at sick call, and at health and wellness before you fly to your racks. You'll like us, since we don't yell and scream. Use the medical service as much as you need, but remember, you'll have a nickname if you're a frequent flyer. Your DI's will come up with a name for you, too. You might have heard that some injuries/ ailments cause you to be set back into the class of 2017. An injury that will keep you on the sidelines for less than week (sprains, etc) are no cause of concern. And here are a few items that they did not tell you to pack, but you should: Stamps+ Envelope (bring extras for your platoon mates) Paper Journal, with a "boring" cover. Lighter Flashlight + Batteries Mouthwash Alarm Clock- you will need one on the last few days of Indoc Cash for the NEX Shirt stays, if you can find them Welcome Aboard! From everyone who's not a Drill Instructor, we're very happy to see you! (Because when you see a Plebe, you ain't a plebe anymore).

You can call me Midshipman Sawatzki now.

I guess it's been long enough since I last posted that Blogger changed the format on their page. So as I get used to the new format, I'd like to mention that the USMMA Class of 2015 has been Recognized. What does that mean? It means that we're not plebes anymore--sort of. We still do the necessary plebe jobs, like cleaning stations and table-serving. But there are so many things that plebes do that are demmed "not essential to the functioning of the Regiment". Things like squaring corners, walking 6 inches from the wall or curb while outside or in the barracks. Carry bags by handle, rather than using shoulder straps. "Legally" being able to be friends with upperclassmen; and no more saluting firstclassmen (at least until Commissioning in June). Collar insignia is worn. We now have perpetual "rack in"-- being able to keep our doors closed most of the day. But we are apparently the Class to get Recognized the latest in the year, at least since the Class of 1958. By the end of plebedom, the "plebe attitude" was already wearing off. That comes with the third trimester and coming back from Spring Break, and is a sign to the Firstclassmen that the plebes need to be Recognized soon, before they start acting like they own the place. So Recognition was a satisfying ending to what has been a prolonged plebe life. We passed our last plebe knowledge test on Wednesday evening, 4/18. On Friday morning, the Battallion Commander let us continue on talking in the hallway before falling in for formation. Then--he reminded us that we were still plebes, and we did some PT for it. That evening, we had a flag hunt and rifle PT. We were then informed that we had passed our last Recognition step. We had finished plebedom! Afterwards, we were encouraged to watch movies and stay up as late as we wanted to. At 10pm, the Seniors gave us a "fake recognition"-- muster in the auditorium in Recognition gear. We got to the auditorium to find it empty. I made a point to get to bed ASAP, since I knew what was going to happen the next day. On Saturday, 4/21, we were called out on line ar 4:30am. Boiler suits, PT gear and running shoes. This was the day-- Recognition at last. We did a lot of pushups and situps on the "grassy knoll", as well as some teamwork excersizes: tandem push-ups and a tunnel crawl. Then the Seniors called us in to the auditorium to remind us to play safe. On the agenda was pulling the biggest pickup truck up the hill. It would have been easy if the driver wouldn't have tapped the brakes every so often. "Almost hazing", one of my companymates uttered. But for one day, it was okay. What would it mean to join a frat without some mild pranks? Then there was a mud pit, log PT,"running of the plebes" and finally,we got to ring the Memorial bell as a symbol of Recognition. A speech by the Regimental Commander, who reminded us of all the pains us as a class had caused him: "I gave you liberty against the advice of your training officers". We were Recognized now, but we were cold and muddy. Once we had stripped off the mud-encrusted boiler suits and disposed of the mud-ruined shoes and socks, we washed off with a nice, cold shower and proceeded to breakfast in running suits, rather than khakis, again, a Recognition privilege.

Recognition Season-- but is it for us?

Early in a plebe's career, he or she is convinced that their class is going to be the next black cloud class. There was one in 1959, and another in 1968. What that means is that the plebe class isn't recognized, that is, gain all the priveleges of a midshipman (note that we accepted all the responsibilities of a midshipman back in September), until third class year. But as the USAFA and USMA have been recognized in the past 3 weeks; and Navy plebes got a few new priveleges, we're getting a little concerned about our own recognition. Things were going well before spring break. We passed our 7th of 10 plebe knowledge test as a class right before exam week, and we finished our mural on "zero deck", a major privelege and step towards recognition, which, during Indoc, I never could have imagine being a part of. But the plebe comes to realize that recognition will come eventually. By March 1, we knew it was coming soon. Our recongition steps were being rushed, as if there was a deadline. No more than six, then five, more weeks of plebedom. Then after spring break, our plebe train seemed to have derailed.

By October, we had learned that there are reasons that plebes get recognized as surely as the flowers bloom in spring:

The first class gets anxious about licensing exams, and having finished their resume building, have no interest in chansing plebes anymore. As a matter of integrity, you recognize 'em and give them all the priveleges they the plebes had started to take when they came back from spring break (doors closed during the day, unauthorized food buying and order out, talking in the passageways, not running outdoors, etc).

The Third class gets a little fratty after getting back from sea, and by playing on the same sports teams with plebes. By that, they start skylarking--"fraternize"-- with plebes. And the 3/c realizes that the 2/c will become a different breed- "petty firstclassmen", in just six weeks. The 2/c will start becoming responsible in general, so they'll look to the hopefully recognized plebes to be friends with. And there are good and bad reasons to "frat". First off, it's a good means to pass tips to the underclass for going to sea. Next trimester, the 4/c becomes the 3/c. We take charge of marching plebes around during Indoc, and we go to sea. Once you recognize the plebes, 4/c can frat safely with 2/c and 3/c. So there won't be any more talk of a certain 3/c being too "friendly" with a plebe.

Yet, sometimes, flowers don't bloom.

Our new Commandant, an anti-excessive/underage-drinking zealot (not a bad thing?) from the Naval Academy, where that culture of no tolerance to that sort of thing has been going on for a decade now, met with KP's unofficially laxer, rather European, attitude towards having a "good time". It may have not been luck. Administrators must have been concerned with the ever-increasing count of midshipmen receiving alcohol hits.
There is no one reason for this increase. Midnight musters on Saturday nights were introduced, and that revealed some plebe revelers. Some of the upperclassmen were reliving their plebe days through stories we brought back; certainly, not more than a few wanted to stop the stories from coming in, even if it could keep a few plebes from alcohol hits from increasingly more vigilant senior classes. Plebes who had a "good time" had been spared from the maximum penalty, which was saved for the 1/c and 2/c who did the same; and it didn't seem to some to be a big deal.

So the Commandant comes in and lays down the law. Across the board minimum of 10 weeks restriction and 100 extra duty hours for that kind of case. The subjective "Do not, Do not embarrass the Academy" has been replaced by the new Navy standard of "No underage drinking; if you're old enough, you stop after three drinks". Quite Clear. Plebes are responsible for each other, and by accepting that responsibility for your classmates, three plebe alcohol hits under the Commadant's watch, and recognition is out the window. But you can't change a culture overnight; especially if it's St. Paddie's Day. Altough the hit count remains unofficial, our class did it. We're the black cloud-- black out-- class of 2015.

Black cloud? That's another word for recognition. It means that you're class is done with the plebe system. Plebes for life. Close your door, listen to music. Yet our firstclassmen were quick to assure us that a speedy recognition is still possible. When we have completed all the steps (which could happen by the original deadline that we felt that they aiming for), the seniors would ask the Commandant to reverse his decision. In the meantime, we would have 'earned' recognition; and that is enough to get a bit of respect and a set of privileges.

I think we can get our train back on track.

Joys of Third Trimester, 4/c Year

Still a month until third trimester, but the Plebes are starting to dream about what it brings...

Military IDs are issued: A significant number of setbacks occur after 2nd trimester. Many of these setbacks into the next graduating year occur for academic reasons (typically after failing 2 classes in one Academic Year); and for plebe midshipmen who have not been cleared for sea duty, this means taking 8 months away from the Academy and repeating the trimester. As I understand, people on setback time do not drill with the Navy Reserve; 4/c/plebes and 3/c midshipmen are able to quit the Academy without occurring a military obligation. No good can happen with "valid" military IDs held by full-fledged civilians floating around. For this reason, it seems, the Academy does not issue our Naval Reservist IDs until third trimester.

Recognition: What is it like to be an upperclassmen? 4/c gets to find out when Recognition comes. This event happens after specific plebe missions are completed: spirit missions for the seniors celebrating 300, 200, and 100 nights left at the Academy; community service and high school visits to represent the Academy; passing 10 Plebe Knowledge Tests as a class (we've finished 6; it seems as if we are being fast-tracked right now: read on). After Recognition, 4/c gets most upperclasss privileges, including "rack in", or sleeping during the day; media privileges and order-in at all times, wearing backpacks, and being able to walk casually in Regimental areas. 4/c after Recognition still have to do cleaning stations and stand a hefty number of watchstations, but it's good to be recognized. There is a theory that plebes are recognized before open house in April (thus we are being rushed through Plebe Knowledge Tests), to raise morale and to show visitors that the plebes they saw back in August have moved on to a higher status.

Practical Sea Courses: For plebes who have been given a hard courseload in second trimester, ready-to-go-to-sea classes can be a relief for engineer students who have sizzled their minds with electrical engineering. There is also the excitement of preparing to ship out; like planning a vacation (but sea year is not a vacation), it's exciting to go through the administrative steps, one at a time, on the way to sea in June or October. (I'm scheduled to ship out in July).

Superplebes: Setback coming from third trimester are already recognized. I wouldn't imagine that they would room with unrecognized plebes (because of their immense privileges). One thing to note is that recognized 4/c wear collar insignia on campus, where unrecognized plebes do not. Third trimester is the first time that plebes don't formally greet everyone with collar insignia. Superplebes are your classmates.

Class Rates Liberty: Liberty policy is the same for 4/c from September to June, though third trimester 4/c are ensured three overnight liberties; whereas none are granted (they must be earned) in 1st or 2nd trimester (although we have our long weekends such as Columbus Weekend and MLK Weekend).

Return of the A splitters: 2/c and 3c who set out to sea in October will be returning later this month. People say that some are ready to "fraternize" with us, which they can't do until we're recognized. And they expect us to be recognized once they step off the boat. So that's a second reason, on top of making us cheerful for open house, why recognitition always seems to happen sooner than May.