The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families. Through the perspective of a community of former graduates and Naval Academy insiders, this podcast will help you learn about life at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Through our shared experiences, Academy Insider guides families through the anxiety and frustration caused by lack of understanding, misinformation, and confusion. This platform is designed to better relationships between midshipmen and their loved ones. This podcast is not affiliated with the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy or Department of Defense. The thoughts and opinions are exclusively those of your host and his guests.
The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
#044 Inside the Naval Academy's Drum and Bugle Corps with Andrea Howard
In this episode, Andrea Howard, former commander of the Naval Academy's Drum and Bugle Corps, joins us to recount her musical journey and leadership at this prestigious institution. Listen as we peel back the curtain on D&B.
Andrea takes us through the high notes of her tenure—performing at international spectacles and rousing sporting events, where the D&B's presence amplifies the spirit of competition. Her stories of Mardi Gras parades and the Navy-Notre Dame game in Ireland shine a light on the dedication and pride woven into every melody played by these academically minded musicians.
Leadership, often a symphony of challenges and triumphs, is a central theme as we chat with Andrea about her role as Corps Commander. From orchestrating logistics for performances to nurturing both the academic and physical aspirations of her fellow midshipmen, her insights give us a masterclass in leadership—Naval Academy style. Join us for a conversation that's as much about the beats of the drums as it is about beating the odds and leading with heart and harmony.
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.
Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast and the USNA Property Network Podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.
He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a boutique residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community PCSing to California & Texas.
We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.
Connect with Grant on Linkedin
Academy Insider Website
Academy Insider Facebook Page
If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, have an idea, question or topic you would like to see covered, reach out: podcast@academyinsider.com.
Welcome to Season 2 of the Academy Insider Podcast. Academy Insider is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that serves midshipmen, future midshipmen and their families. At its core, this podcast is designed to bring together a community of Naval Academy graduates and those affiliated with the United States Naval Academy in order to tell stories and provide a little bit of insight into what life at the Naval Academy is really like. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for listening and reach out if you ever have any questions. The Academy Insider Podcast is sponsored by the Vermeer Group, a residential real estate company that serves the United States Naval Academy community and other select clientele in both California and Texas. If I can ever answer a real estate related question for you or connect you with a trusted Academy affiliated agent in the market which you're in, please reach out to me directly at grantatthevermeergroupcom. You can also reach out to me on my LinkedIn page, grant Vermeer, and I'd be happy to respond to you there. Thank you so much, and now let's get back to the episode. Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast.
Speaker 1:In this episode, I'm joined by a really good friend of mine and a member of the Academy Insider Advisory Board, andrea Howard. In the episode we talk about all things D&B, which stands for the Drum and Bugle Corps, and the reason it relates to this Plebe Summer series that we're in is that the midshipmen opportunity to join D&B first happens during Plebe Summer, and for those midshipmen who aren't a part of a varsity athletics team or any type of club and are looking for a sense of community especially if you're musically inclined but you don't have to be, as you'll find out in the episode DMB can be a great option for them. Andrea decided to join DMB in her plebe year and ended up going all four years progressing through the ranks and ended up becoming the commander of the Drum and Bugle Corps during her first year. So if you're interested in learning about what DMB is, what they do at the Academy, the time commitment associated and then the family atmosphere that it gives a lot of midshipmen, then make sure to tune into this episode.
Speaker 1:If you like it, please feel free to like, subscribe and share. We would really appreciate it and get the word out to all those incoming midshipmen and their families, and so I really appreciate it. If you ever have any questions about what's in this episode or anything about the Naval Academy experience, please shoot me a message. I'd love to help. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the episode and have a great day. Hey, andrea, thank you so much for coming back and being a part of the Academy Insider Podcast again.
Speaker 2:It's so good to be back. Like I said, I'm a huge fan, so to do a victory lap is truly my honor.
Speaker 1:I love it, if you don't mind, just reminding the audience a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, how you got to the Academy, and then a little bit of background about you as a midshipman.
Speaker 2:Great. So I'm Andrea Howard. I'm from Norcross, Georgia, originally right outside Atlanta, and immediately after high school I joined the great class of 2015 in 19th Company. About the Academy I double majored in of 2015 and 19th Company. While at the Academy, I double majored in Arabic and political science. And for today's podcast I'll mention that I was the Corps Commander for the Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps, or DMB as the mid say. In the fall of my first year, the best equivalent to that in the brigade structure is a company commander, but we'll talk today about the uniqueness of the Corps in just a bit. And then, after commissioning, I had the opportunity to attend graduate school for two years in the United Kingdom before starting the nuclear trading pipeline for submariners.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. So thank you for that. And again, like you mentioned, today's topic is going to be the Drum and Bugle Corps, dmb. So first off, first and foremost, can you just tell everyone a little bit about what DMB is, how it's comprised, like what instruments are played, what personnel that you have and just everything about DMB from a high level.
Speaker 2:DMB stands for Drum and Bugle Corps and it is comprised of approximately 100 midshipmen.
Speaker 2:Of course, that varies year to year and every year it reformulates and restructures to accommodate anybody who wants to join, and the midshipmen play either percussion instruments, to include snare drums and bass drums, tenors and pit instruments like the xylophone, or brass instruments, specifically trumpets, mellophones, euphoniums and tubas. The most fantastic part of DMV for me was the variety of midshipmen that it attracted and recruited. So while we all get assigned a company during Cleve's summer, dmv for me because we had a core commander which was the equivalent of a company commander in the brigade. We had an executive officer and an incredibly active operations officer who planned out all of our trips and meals and lodging. And while I was core commander, we really expanded the roles of academics and physical mission officers to have internal mechanisms to improve D&D members' grades and physical fitness. We had, for instance, friday night tutoring sessions and core-wide workouts to start some of our outdoor practices, and so we began to function as this internal family that acted as a supplement and very much so a second company for many of the Machinimans.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, I had no idea that you guys had collateral billets like that or did anything in regards to academics or PMO or anything like that. So that's way cool, absolutely. And was that something? So I apologize if I missaid a little bit. That was something that you had kind of developed through your time in D&B, or is that always the case when you showed up, those were already things. Or was that something that kind of developed over your four years at the Academy and kind of made their way into existing no, that always existed.
Speaker 2:So there's always a core staff of five people, that some of these various missions and, like I said, it's academics and physical missions, but then also the more traditional kind of company commander, executive officer and operations officer billets of company commander, executive officer and operations officer billets and it has to do with the sheer responsibility that is placed upon the students who actually run D&D. We do have outside civilian support and an officer representative and I was very fortunate we had an O6, a captain who was our officer representative while I was the corps commander, which made it a little bit easy to liaise directly with the commandant for planning our operations. Planning and execution of the movement, orders and trips and events for D&B largely falls on the midshipmen, which to me was an unprecedented and incomparable level of autonomy given to the midshipmen.
Speaker 2:Because you really don't see that for any other club that handles so much equipment and strictly monetary funding too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and those are definitely things that I want to dive into a little bit more a little later in the episode, but kind of before we get there. If someone were to kind of just Google music at the Naval Academy, they might stumble across the Naval Academy band. Do you mind just explaining a little bit about what the difference is between DMB and what the difference is between the Naval Academy band and if there's any overlap between the two?
Speaker 2:Of course. So DMV is different than the Naval Academy Band because it is comprised entirely of midshipmen for midshipmen, whereas the band has professional enlisted musicians whose Navy-wide job is to provide the Naval Academy with a full ensemble of musical instruments. So while we both play in brigade-wide parades you'll see the naval academy band kind of stashed in front of the brigade and they march back and forth in front of the brigade. The dmb is stashed all the way down by first. Their niche is to also support professional music events like superintendent parties and forestall lectures and banquets. Dmb, on the other hand, like I said, is comprised by midshipmen for midshipmen. So we do the parades and we do new mill formation all year long. But we have two different functions in the fall and spring, based off the events that are happening in the sporting schedule for the academy. So in the fall we travel extensively in support of Navy football games and we attend all the home Navy football games and that's our real niche. We perform. At halftime we provide pet music in the stands.
Speaker 2:In the spring we shift focus to guest appearances and parades around the nation and to heavily supporting the Navy men and women's basketball teams. Like you know, oftentimes there'll be kind of weird games stashed on long weekends or in the middle of the camp periods.
Speaker 1:Sorry.
Speaker 2:And so and so no, and I loved it. We developed a really strong relationship, especially with the team captains. My senior year, which was so nice, but oftentimes we'll be kind of the sole. You know cheer squad that's there for the basketball teams and you guys have incredibly demanding schedules too. There's a lot of time that's sucked up by D&D for those who commit to the organization, but ultimately all the events, hopefully for the members, have a bit of fun intertwined and I loved being able to go to all these sports events and to really get to know some of my fellow midshipmen who are on these teams. And I loved being able to go to all these these sports events and to really get to know some of my fellow midshipmen who are on these teams, and that's kind of how we do it in the fall and spring.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I appreciate you bringing that up and I appreciate D&B in general because absolutely, like you said, out of times you are the sole like midshipman support at those games and we absolutely do appreciate it. So thank you for that. But I also want to talk a little bit about you mentioning parades. So parades are a pretty unique thing about service academies and about the Naval Academy specifically.
Speaker 1:If you go to a civilian school you're not going to be marching in a military parade and it's not normal for musicians to kind of do a military parade. So I guess not normal for like musicians to kind of like do a military parade. So I guess my question for you is what is the role of DMV in parades? And then, specifically in your time as a first day as the DMV commander, what was your role specifically in the parades in that role? So if you can kind of just make your way through kind of being a plebe to a second class your role in parades and the role of DMV in general and then how that shifted when you became a first day and took command.
Speaker 2:Okay, so DMV in parades has been a long time institution, firstly. So I'll mention our little tidbit that we get in the parades which every time that in 1914, this gaggle of midshipmen assembled a musical support team for a baseball game at St John's and since then D&B formed into a formal institution and it is the oldest active drum corps in the nation. As you mentioned, I was the corps commander and specifically I was a corps commander for the 100th year of operation for D&B. So we got a pretty big shout out in the parades during my first year, which was fun. It was a nice little bit of recognition for a really longstanding and traditional organization.
Speaker 2:In terms of the role of D&B members in parades you're expected to march with Drum and Bugle Corps and not with your company. That's because we need people to provide that musical support to the brigades. They can't actually physically be there with your instrument From your plebe year to your second class year. So for the first three years you'll be marking actually playing your instrument in the parade, which I think is a pretty nice alternative to a rifle. Personally, and for the people who are lucky enough to get those leadership billets of core commander and exo during their first year. Then they form a traditional wedge that you see for each of the other companies. Like I said, dmv is stashed at the end of the parade, deck um, right by first company during cleave summer. We're stashed right by alpha company and uh, the core commander does all of the the you know whamadine gizmo sword, uh sword routines that the other company commanders do. And when all the company commanders are called out by the brigade commander during the parade, the dnb company commander reports with the others absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 1:all right, uh, thank you. Uh, so much for that explanation as well, and now I kind of want to jump just a little bit into how you first got involved in DMV. So when you showed up as a plebe, was DMV something you knew that you wanted to do, or is that something that someone had mentioned, like during plebe summer? You're like, oh, that sounds cool, I want to do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I joined DMV during my plebe summer and stuck with it for all four years of my time at the academy, hence why I was able to work up to that billet of core commander. I personally heard about the organization before plebe summer, and I talked with our civilian director, jeff weir, before I reported to the academy, so I was on the lookout for him during you know, gaggles of of, uh, sports team recruitment and such, I had the opportunity to play club golf at the academy. I was really gung ho, so I, you know, contacted people before reporting, but I could have played club golf. I thought about trying to walk onto the club softball team. Ultimately for me though, um, you know, the Academy talks about these moral, mental and physical missions, but I still wanted a part of my, my brain and my time to be devoted to music and to art and culture, and so for me to exercise a different side of my brain at the academy became a real relaxation tool and sanity method to just step away from from the academics and to have this really wonderful support network of friends. So, like I said, I joined during cleve summer.
Speaker 2:During cleve summer, d&d members train on their instruments during sports period and then, then, during a drill period, they practice marching and start learning the fundamentals of doing drill with an instrument which honestly affords some downtime away from intense company training too. I would say that I was, you know, decently musically inclined. Beforehand I had played piano so I could read music, and then in middle school and high school I played the saxophone but not everybody needs to be musically inclined and specifically, I switched over from a woodwind instrument to a brass instrument so I learned to play the euphonium, which is like a baby tuba.
Speaker 2:That's the only way I can really describe it. Don it don't be misled by the word baby. It was quite heavy, so I got some strong arms at the academy from it, and the reason I ended up playing that instrument was because it was a a kind of personnel gap that required additional, additional people that year, and so that's where they put a lot of the new members who were switching over from woodwind instruments and then to get involved in d&b. Most members join during cleave summer.
Speaker 2:That's the traditional route yeah because it provides the dedicated time to get familiar with those new instruments which are provided to midshipmen. D&b owns these instruments and um every year you're assigned an instrument at the beginning of the year and you take care of. It becomes your personal piece of brass or drums that you are required to take care of. And while there are tryouts, anybody can effectively join. For me, I was simply required to make a sound any sound on the euphonium, which is not taxing. So you too can do it if you are interested. And while there is an opportunity to join an academic year for anyone who's willing to hustle and learn the role in the organization, I would say that most people traditionally join during plebe summer and then some people also leave after plebe summer and some people leave during their course of time at the academy just based off of their you know other academic or personal interests, and that's OK too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And do you mind just talking a little bit about the time commitment, because it sounds like you mentioned a little bit. During pleb summer already, you're practicing instrument during sports period and then again during the drill period you're with DMB, which is a significant period of the day. What's the time commitment like when you shift into the academic year and what should people kind of know what they're getting themselves into and time commitment, wise and obligations when joining something like DMB?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is extensive and, like you alluded to, I mean over Plebe Summer, a lot of your time is devoted to DMV members into becoming part of the organization and to forming a small contingent of of uh, of the brigade or of the regiment, to then perform in parades and um and at new mill formation. So it even kicks off in the summertime as being an extensive time commitment. If you're one of kind of the leading members of the organization, if you want to uh ascend to higher leadership billets, it's kind of expected that you'll do some summer training opportunities with DMV.
Speaker 2:So then, you go to the academic year, like you said, and sports period is still taken up by DMV. You are still doing parade practices with DMV, um, oftentimes performing at new nail formation, which requires you know shaves time before and after lunch, um, or before and after recording the lunch. And then, when we swing into football season, you're performing nearly every weekend of football season.
Speaker 2:At least while I was midshipman, we had the funding to travel to all the away games, so my cleaver, I, went to every single because they had the grades to support it and they needed to go, and I loved it, though I mean, it was a great opportunity to travel the country and needed people to go, and I loved it though I mean, it was a great opportunity to travel the country and escape a little bit and then, as we shift to basketball season, then so many evenings are taken up as well, as we have to provide that support, and what we would usually do is split into kind of a blue and gold crew for basketball games but, you still end up attending half the basketball games and then for the big games with army navy.
Speaker 2:Everybody was expecting to be there as well. So, yeah, extensive time commitment, because it's the typical time that's allotted for sports period and parades and new mill formations. But then it's also these additional requirements of supporting these sporting events, and so you know, a lot of midshipmen have one sport, sports team that they're devoting their time to and um and still having to deal with the intricacies of of working that into their, into their schedule. But for us too, it's traveling for these myriad events, whether parades, um in the springtime, to across the country, or these basketball games or these football games, and so getting the permissions from instructors to miss class and getting the per diem and operations lined up so that we can execute these events and performances is incredibly demanding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Incredibly demanding and incredibly public. So I kind of want to shift back to the fact of like, hey, yeah, you can try out and like, basically, you just have to make a noise. How do you guys train and develop people that are still learning their instrument or switching instruments? Is that all on the midshipmen, uh, to learn, or is there outside civilian staff help to help with that development kind of what? What's the training process and who all's involved in? Um, the practice aspect to guys make you as, or to make you guys as good as you guys are when you perform in these public venues.
Speaker 2:It is a joint effort. That's the best way to put it. So the main musical responsibility ultimately falls to our civilian director, mr Jeff Weir, who's been there for ages and he's developed a great program. So he works in a stash underneath the musical department of the Naval Academy, which also has organizations like the Glee Clubs and Gospel Choir and Pipes and Drums. So there is a specific entity devoted to music and musical opportunities for midshipmen at the Naval Academy and that's run by Dr Aaron Smith and Mr Weir works beneath Mr Smith. And then there's another civilian who's Mr Weir's assistant. Then we have, for each of our instruments, these external volunteers who will come in and out of the goodness of their heart try to teach midshipmen who can barely make a noise on the horn how to actually create music.
Speaker 2:And their commitment varies, obviously, by their personal schedules. It's not like they are tied to the organization or forced to be there for work. So the people who end up filling the gaps then are the midshipmen themselves, and we very much so, as you send through the organization are expected to kind of learn the fundamentals of conducting and of training these instruments. So little old me, who had never touched a euphonium, you know, at the start of my freshman year by the time I was a first seat was in many ways trying to coach up the new people and lead these practice sessions and run through music um, and that just comes with time too for people who are a little bit less familiar, like myself. So, like I said, joint effort um, involving the civilian instructors and the students themselves. But sometimes too you'll get the the rogue element of an officer representative or a senior enlisted leader who becomes involved with the organization and also just has these incredibly impressive musical skills and will hop on a couple of internet practices too and help us out.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, absolutely, and so, as we continue to discuss DMV, it's truly apparent one how much time and effort you guys put in to being great at what you do, but that requires a ton of time together, and so my next question is due to the time commitment, due to the obligations, due to the amount you guys are working and performing together, do you guys have a strong DMV alumni network? Is that someone that you still keep in touch with a lot of people that you were in DMV with and then, at large the DMV organization, does it have a pretty strong alumni network?
Speaker 2:It is growing.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say that we necessarily had a really cohesive means of keeping in touch at the point when I graduated, but I give a lot of credit to this wonderful drummer from the class of 2016, who amped up the alumni network and made a Facebook page and it's been this great facilitator for people connecting across different geographic locations, their duty stations now, and we also have a huge tailgate at the homecoming game now annually, which really is a result of this particular individual's efforts. Yeah, um, you find that a lot of people like to come out of the woodwork for these events, because dnb does hold this, this really soft and uh soft spot in people's hearts and it's a. It was such a great facilitator for meeting people across the brigade I can't stress that enough and so you do have these really unique connections for for past alumni who were able to have a wider web of influence and network of friends and connections at the, at the academy while they were in treatment and then, as a result, they've really maintained some of those special connections in the years to follow.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right. So that's awesome. The next kind of step to that, I guess, is again with how much time you guys do spend together, and especially during the sports period. Does DMV have a end of the year banquet, kind of like a lot of the sports teams do? Uh, and are you guys eligible to get any of so? For anyone who doesn't know, if you earn your like we call our varsity letter at the at the Naval Academy, you then get a N star sweater, uh, like a varsity athlete sweater. Are you guys eligible to receive any of those things or something similar? And then do you have a end of the year banquet or any things like that?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm hesitant to call it a varsity sweater because the the athletes are rightfully protected, um, but we can get a variant of that and it's okay, still a blue sweater with an n on it, but the n says so we are distinctly marked, as you know. The dnb family who, yeah, and that practice of getting the sweaters was actually reinstated during my first year. One of my my buddies, who is my operations officer, was really into the whole sweater game and so he pushed hard to bring that back and it sounds like it's stuck for the years to follow.
Speaker 2:We do have an end of year banquet to give out internal awards to our most motivated members, um, and what a lot of midshipmen don't realize is the sheer amount of time that dnd demands and so I mean we've gone over, but it's nearly every sports period and parade period and every Saturday during football season, and there's countless evenings during basketball seasons and several spring weekends, for these national parades are consumed by DMV. And so it's nice to have a moment to step back on the end of the year and reflect on some of the memories we've created, the performances that we've done, and to recognize the especially lower, lower class, lower class achievement um in their efforts and to give them an opportunity outside of their companies to be recognized to for their contribution, contributions to the brigade yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I think that's uh super special and I'm glad you guys got sweaters because I agree the sweaters are sweet and I love it um warm for army navy games uh, I love it. Um, and so again, you've mentioned all the different places and times that you guys perform. Was there ever a favorite of yours, ever a favorite performance? Uh, or any kind of event that you guys would perform at that always stuck out as one of your favorites?
Speaker 2:yeah, I have a long answer for you for this one.
Speaker 2:I like it I have to pepper with just the array of events that we've had, because it's hard to really describe some of the cool things that we've done in a specific way. So, um, I'll just throw some of my favorite dmv performances at you. So, uh, regarding navy football, I attended the navy notre dame game in ireland on dmv time to pick off my sophomore year at the naval academy. That was my first time leaving the country ever and I will always cherish that. We'll call it uh, working vacation. And I turned.
Speaker 2:I had my 20th birthday while I was over there too, and we actually flew back. So I thought it was super cool that my birthday was like 27 hours long, because my freshman year too. I was just astounded to be standing on the field at Notre Dame's football stadium because I have such a historical and vivacious crowd. So that blew my mind. I always love supporting the basketball programs of the Army to kick off second semester for the January Army-Navy game because, as I've alluded to, we are sometimes the sole midshipmen there at West Point in enemy territory, which meant that we seriously accepted the burden of making our presence known.
Speaker 2:For one of the women's games, we chanted ball hog. The entire time that their point guard had the ball, which for anybody who understands basketball understands it's a significant portion of the game. And then the women's basketball team made it into the NCAA tournament while I was a midshipman, and it was phenomenal to take a little chunk of spring break away to go support and play for them. Parade wise, I got to play in Gasparilla in Tampa Bay, which is like a Mardi Gras, but with adult pirates. Sounds interesting, I can promise you we actually got to play in Mardi Gras itself in New Orleans. Oh wow, every year we played in the Patriots Day Parade in Boston, which is the same weekend as the Boston Marathon, and so I got to travel a ton.
Speaker 1:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 2:I went to California for the first time and had my traditional rite of passage with In-N-Out, and I went to Colorado for the first time and got to spend extensive time at both the Naval Air Force Academy and at West Point, which a lot of midshipmen don't actually get to do, and I had just these phenomenal opportunities to traverse the country.
Speaker 2:I've gone on, but I'll have to say that my favorite memory of all time, though, was performing in our centennial year tailgates before the football games, and we got to do a special march on as well with an N formation to kick off the entire brigade getting onto the field for march on for football games during my senior year. So those special events just allowed us to really feed off of our, our alumni community and to play at tailgates for Navy fans before kicking off the football, the football events, and it was just a really good time because we saw face-to-face appreciation of our efforts. And then I would be remiss to not mention that we've won Army Navy all four years of my time at the Academy and got to perform at all the halftimes and my senior year we played a Beyonce field time or field show, which was my personal greatest achievement for a drum, and groove award.
Speaker 1:I love those. All of those are fantastic answers and I personally want to say how awesome it is when you guys are up in enemy territory at West Point, because I was lucky enough during my time playing basketball, for whatever reason, we always played great at West Point. It was always a little more shaky at the Naval Academy, but we always played great at West Point, and there is no better feeling than running over to our section and singing Blue and Gold played by D&B, up in the top section of the stands and singing second at West Point. That is always a great feeling.
Speaker 2:So I absolutely love that. There's a little bit of extra spice to it when you get to sing at the West Point gym.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, oh yeah, it's real spicy all the time yeah yeah, you're screaming. You're screaming beat army just about as loud as you possibly can and I love that.
Speaker 2:Fans love it too. They just won't mention it.
Speaker 1:Oh man, all right. So one of the one of the last things I do want to talk about, though, is a little bit more about your role as the Corps Commander for DMB. So you mentioned that it really is like a whole other company structure within the brigade. You have a company commander in XO and you have all of these collateral billets as well, Like company commander in XO, and you have all of these collateral billets as well as the commander of DMB. What was your role? What was your responsibility? Was there any additional time commitment? That came with just the ordinary time commitment I wouldn't say ordinary, but the normal time commitment of being in DMB. And I guess I'll just start there with what is your role as the commander when you're in charge of DMV.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dmv Corps Commander is a huge leadership challenge because you're another entity that is trying to cultivate academic and physical success for your members, while also being tasked with a unique level of authority for planning trips external to the Naval Academy.
Speaker 2:So you're balancing all the traditional demands that you see within a company, but you're also then dealing with all of the different company commanders and company officers around the yard, as well as the traditional interactions that you have to have as well with the academic staff whenever you're taking the shipment away from classes.
Speaker 2:And so my operations officer and I were scheduling I mean us, us as midshipmen, we're scheduling hotels and flights and per diem and itinerary and instrument shipping for sometimes over 100 people on our trips, because the bigger games were all hands evolution. So if you're going to Army or notre dame or you know airports, um, then we were expected to get everybody from place to place. We would meet with our civilian counterparts, um, so mr mr weir, who was the musical director, and his assistant, we'd meet with him at lunch as well, as our officer representative would say a couple times a week, and we would go over the details of what we had to accomplish that week and then how we were going to plan forward for our future trips and again there's no billet in the brigade that achieves so many trips and performances with such little oversight.
Speaker 2:Many trips and performances with such little oversight and that really came to light for me when I would travel with, like, for instance, the gospel choir or um you know any other academic interest club or the Jewish midshipmen club. For me there are so many more hands in the pot for other organizations and, I guess, based off of the relationship that dmv has developed over time and the ability of midshipmen, who were my predecessors, to step up and fill those roles, we have continued to act in such a fashion that the midshipmen are getting this incredible operational exposure to what it takes to run a massive organization and to get people from place to place across the country.
Speaker 2:So, as a result, like I said shipmen have to truly step up and take on this external responsibility that is so unique in the brigade, and our selection for those higher level billets and B&B occurs at the end of our junior year. There's a formal review process, just like company billets. I put in my name for core commander with one of my really great friends and supporters who wanted to be my executive officer, and so we, whether or not it had been allowed, we put in a joint recommendation for how we would work as a team and I mean at that point right the staff is so familiar with the personalities that are involved with A&B that they
Speaker 2:knew that we'd be a pretty good fit to be the fall main staff and then we switched that in the spring as well. So pretty much every first class in shipment who's involved in A&B will do something to give back to the organization and where there are gaps, our motivated second class will step in and fill the role and then organizationally looking down to, even at a lower level, as a third class and shipment, I was the euphonium squad leader, which meant that I did orchestrate practices for us and that I was responsible for getting people from place to place as we're doing these movement orders, and that's a again a pretty unique opportunity to step up as a youngster at the Academy and to be responsible for people, not even in the context of the the walls of the Naval Academy, but to make sure that people are behaving responsibly on these highly visible trips.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. It truly is a special opportunity and a great leadership opportunity. The fact that you it still constantly amazes me as you tell me, the fact that you were in charge of like planning travel for like hundreds of midshipmen as a midshipman is just absolutely wild to me. But you know, more power to you, you get, you get definitely, uh, learn a lot when you put in opportunities like that.
Speaker 2:Um I just have these distinct memories of, you know, my my really good company mate, anton ekman, who was also tasked like just as an example of how crazy dndD can be he and I were also tasked to be, we kind of jointly took on the role of squad leader too within our company, and so, you know, we were doing an interview with our plebs for Prono one minute and then the next minute we're sitting down and looking at hotels outside of New York City for Army Navy basketball and he's like, oh, I think this hotel looks awesome, vice this hotel. And you know, we like I just remember in that moment we both just sat back and you're like this is so cool that we get to do this, to be like, yeah, what hotel outside?
Speaker 2:of your city are we going to stay in for, like you know, this upcoming weekend. So, um, but yeah, and you throw that in an already mix of burdens that you have to take on as a midshipman, but it was definitely one of the most fulfilling things that I was able to do while at the Academy and the adventures and places that I saw I would have never reached without the organization.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And travel on these movement orders too, and to do these trips. While the sports teams are very much so, you know, restricted and have to focus on on their game, we're allowed to go have fun, and I always thought that was just such a nice release is that, you know, the the time that you put in was very much so, greeted with the ability to travel and relax and to explore these new parts of the country, which, again, is incredibly unique.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it can confirm what we would go on road trips. It'd absolutely be from the hotel to the gym, back to the hotel, back to campus all the time. So that's a way awesome opportunity. When we talk about all these awesome opportunities that DMV has provided you to travel and perform at these amazing venues and do really cool things, what other kind of opportunities would you say that DMV opened for you at the Naval Academy? What kind of doors, what kind of places did it get you that you might not have gotten? Otherwise, if you were not part of DMV, you might not have gotten otherwise if you were not part of DMV.
Speaker 2:Dmv is still a great leadership, leadership, accession path, and so by that I mean that I still got to go to the superintendent banquets like the other company commanders and to do the shipment yacht cruise on the superintendents. You know not that he has, but more so than the kind of tangible benefits that you get is this large reaching network of midshipmen that you cultivate into your own personal support structure.
Speaker 2:I can't highlight that enough. To have a far reaching hand across every company in the brigade and to know people in every company is something that just pays dividends socially and is so fulfilling and rewarding because you meet friends of friends, of friends of friends, and get to know your classmates better and get to actually have a far reaching relationship to the classes ahead and behind you and that's that's super special, because the best part of the academy are the people there, and so getting exposure to so many people is the real gift that DMV gives back to its members.
Speaker 1:Nice. That's a very sentimental answer and I love it. I have a warm heart sitting over here listening to it. You provided, just through this conversation so far, so many awesome reasons that people should join DMV if they're interested. But what would you say for all of our audience out there that are still potentially candidates at the Academy or high school students trying to decide what they want to do at the Academy? Maybe they're musically inclined, maybe not, but maybe interested in DMV. What would you say? A DMV in large for anyone who may be on the fence about whether or not to join, and kind of what would you tell them?
Speaker 2:Music is a window to exercise another side of your brain and your whole persona development. We all understand the mission of the Naval Academy and know that there is a moral, mental and physical obligation on every midshipman and I think I mentioned it earlier. But to add in this musical and arts and culture element of your personality is a great personal development tool and something that brings you together with people both across the brigade and across the country. And, furthermore, it gives midshipmen the opportunity to develop a family across the brigade, which other organizations have a more difficult time providing. So for people who are on the fence, if you want to do something that gives you another outlet to express who you are and to develop yourself as a person, then D&B is an incredibly unique opportunity to do so.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Andrea, thank you so much Because you're a repeat offender here on Academy Insider. We're not going to hop into the lightning round of questions because you've already answered them, but I do just want to say thank you so much for taking the time again to come on and explain DMV Because, in all honesty and me being forthcoming, I, even after four years at the Academy, didn't know much about DMV and a lot of this information that you gave us today I didn't know, and so now I know and I really appreciate you taking the time to do this, because you guys are awesome and I honestly think you're underappreciated. So I really wanted to get out and let you have the opportunity to talk all about DMV for the future, present and past of DMV and just give you the opportunity to share that, and I just can't thank you enough for coming on and doing just that.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Like you said, most people don't know the mysteries of DMV and how we actually get from taking new people to a polished product that we can put in front of the brigade. And while the brigade always will like to tease DMV and anchor at halftime, the reality is that football games and parades without DMV would be missing a really strong, traditional element of Naval Academy performances and of Naval Academy games. And so, like I said, sometimes DMV can get teased. Ultimately, we do have a presence and a role that I think would be really sorely missed if, for some reason, dmv no longer existed.
Speaker 1:I couldn't agree more, absolutely All right. Well, thank you so much again and I really appreciate you. I appreciate you coming on Academy Insider. It always truly is a pleasure having you.
Speaker 2:It is a pleasure to be a repeat offender. And I hope I can be so, but keep doing what you do. Grant, you know, we all support.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. Have a great day.
Speaker 2:You too.
Speaker 1:All right, thanks to the Academy Insider audience. I hope you really enjoyed it and I look forward to talking to you guys soon. I look forward to talking to you guys soon, thanks. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Academy Insider Podcast. I really hope you liked it, enjoyed it and learned something during this time. If you did, please feel free to like and subscribe or leave a comment about the episode. We really appreciate to hear your feedback about everything and continue to make Academy Insider an amazing service that guides, serves and supports midshipmen, future midshipmen and their families.
