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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
#043 Learning and Understanding the Plebe Summer Organization at the Naval Academy
Sail with us down memory lane as my dear friend Christian Blanchard, a fellow Naval Academy alumnus, and I recount the transformative experience of Plebe Summer. Our conversation charts the course of the program's evolution, the impact of more intimate company sizes, and the intimate bonds that last a lifetime. Whether you're a proud parent of a midshipman or simply fascinated by the culture of the Naval Academy, this episode offers a rare glimpse into a world where civilians morph into leaders of the sea.
Christian explains the role of each military organization & unit, and then weighs in on the mantle of a company commander and the delicate dance of fostering Navy traditions while nurturing the individual spirit of each plebe. We also shed light on the humorous escapades that provide levity to the demanding days.
Closing on a note of wisdom, we impart essential advice to future plebes through the lens of Christian's experiences and the sage words of Captain Green. It's a testament to the academy's ethos of teamwork and collective achievement, sowing the seeds for personal growth and unity. Join us for these stories and more, as we anchor in the lessons of the past to chart a course for the future.
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.
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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, welcome to the Academy Insider Podcast.
Speaker 1:This episode today is gonna be a republished episode from 2019, in which I talk about the Plebe Summer organization with a good friend of mine, christian Blanchard. Now I will forewarn you what you're about to hear in this episode was based on what happened at the Naval Academy during my time from 2013 to 2017. There have been a couple of shifts in the organization of Plebe Summer and just the brigade of midshipmen in general. Starting next year, they're going to be shifting from 30 to 36 companies, which will generally take a company of midshipmen, from about 145 midshipmen down to 120 midshipmen. So those little details may change and the numbers you hear in the episode may be different than what is actually about to happen in Plebe Summer, but I do believe this episode is still going to provide a really good framework and understanding of the roles and billets and positions of Plebe Summer.
Speaker 1:So this episode is really for all my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, loved ones out there, so that you can better resonate and understand the experience of what your midshipman is going through and hopefully better understand some of the stories they're telling. So if you have any questions about what you hear during this episode, please feel free to reach out to me. Again, I really want to be a resource for families and loved ones of midshipmen so that way they can better support and better understand the experience and journey that their midshipman is going through, so that way we can really help the next wave of midshipmen and their families really thrive and make the most of the Naval Academy experience. Feel free to reach out at any time with questions. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the episode. Thanks, all right.
Speaker 1:Hey, christian, thanks so much for coming on and being a part of the Academy Insider Podcast. Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Yeah, man. So for anyone who's a big fan of Academy Insider, you probably know Christian. He's been very involved. But for those of you who do not know Christian, if you don't mind just providing them with a little background where are you from, tell us a little bit about your family and then what brought you to the Naval Academy. Just give everyone a little bit of background about who you are.
Speaker 2:Sure, my dad was actually in the Navy. He did a 27-year career between. He was enlisted on submarines and then went surface warfare as an officer. So we moved a whole lot. That was obviously my entire childhood. I was exposed to the Navy and the military life. He didn't go to the Naval Academy, but I found out about it as a young teenager and just kind of latched onto it. I actually wanted to be an astronaut. So that was a big motivation for me, kind of getting to the academy. Then I found the Marine Corps and that that was a pretty big shift and that was my primary motivation for the rest of school.
Speaker 1:What else yeah, let's give everyone a shout out of your company that you were in. Yeah, yeah, I was in 26 company with a ride right, baby, ride rough.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, right, very proud about that. We have a really tight class for our company, as you know. Obviously and yeah, shameless plug that I'm getting married pretty soon, and mention that because those are our reunions Weddings are always, so far have been really the one opportunity for us to all kind of see each other, so it looks like we'll have well over a dozen of us in a couple months.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and so what's funny is when you bring that up, it always reminds me and, as cheesy as it is, there's a verse in the Navy, blue and Gold where it talks about after graduation, you get scattered far and wide, dude. I think about that every time we see each other again. It's just so amazing, because it's so true that when you guys do come back together, when your paths do cross again, you do tell. You tell so many stories of where you've been, what you've done, and the love that you have for each other never goes away. Like Christian and everyone from 26 company in class 17, like they will always be family, and I'm just so excited for all of us to get together and have a good time. So, yeah, it'll be fun, congratulations to Mr Blanchard here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, yeah, it'll be fun.
Speaker 1:Congratulations to Mr Blanchard here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, gotta be a married man.
Speaker 1:All right, but here we go. We'll be jumping into the content here now. So again, we're going to be covering the structure and organization of Plebe Summer, specifically including the roles and responsibilities of all the different units within Plebe Summer. So, for the class of 2020's Plebe Summer, I was actually fortunate enough to serve as the regimental commander for the class of 2020. And then Christian, during his Plebe Summer, served as a platoon commander for 26th Platoon. But for everyone listening probably like well, what the heck is a regimental commander, what the heck is a platoon commander? So we're going to go through and explain it. So we're going to start at the top. So during Plebe Summer, there is one regiment, the 4th Class Regiment, and that comprises everyone in the entire regiment. So Christian's the number guy. Christian, how many people are we talking about when we talk about a regiment?
Speaker 2:Regiment is usually about 1,200. We had exactly 1,209 on induction day for the entire 4th Class Regiment.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. The 4th Class Regiment again about 1,200 plebes that start at I-Day, plus the entirety of the detailing staff as well, and then that regiment. So it goes from regiment down to battalions. So within the one regiment, the 4th Class Regiment, there are two battalions Port Battalion and Starboard Battalion. Now that is just another organizational step in the chain of command, because now each battalion has a certain number of companies. So within Port Battalion that is going to be Alpha through Hotel Company, and then the Starboard Battalion is India through Papa Company, and then they also have administrative control over Tango Company, which we'll talk about a little later. But Tango Company is basically where all of the midshipmen who want to begin their out-processing and DOR drop-on request they will go to Tango Company. So again you have the 4th Class Regiment, which then drops down to the battalion and Christian numbers guy. What are we talking about? Roughly in a battalion.
Speaker 2:Christian numbers guy. What are we talking about? Roughly in a battalion it just cuts it in half. So about 600 plebs per battalion. And you mentioned the detail staff as well. If my memory is right, there are about 250 detailers in the entire, between the first class and the second class.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so, yeah, about 1,200 plebs, 250 detailers. So we're just shy of about 1,500 people in the regiment, which breaks down to about 700 per battalion, yeah, and then it breaks down to the companies. So, as you know, there are multiple companies now within the battalion. So we have Alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo, foxtrot, abcdef, echo. Oh gosh, there you go. Golf and Hotel, there we go. Obviously I'm not good at the alphabet, but there's the Naval Academy, education for you, I guess. But so within each company now numbers guy, christian, what are we talking about?
Speaker 2:about the size of a company 80 plebes is a standard company and then eight squad leaders, two platoon commanders and then staff. You're talking about 16 detailers or so per company.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, yeah, exactly. So we're talking roughly in the 90 range of people per company, plebs and detailers combined. Now, as we break down, each company will also have a company officer which, for those of you who are familiar with the military, the company officer is generally an 033, sometimes an O4. So a Navy lieutenant or Marine Corps captain, or potentially a major in the Marine Corps, sometimes act as company officers. Now each company will also have an SCL, which stands for Senior Enlisted Leader. So that Senior Enlisted Leader again is a senior enlisted. So for the Navy we're talking E7 and above, so chief petty officers or senior chief petty officers, and then in the Marine Corps because Christian, I'll let you explain this one, but basically it's E6 and above in the Marine Corps. And, christian, I'll let you kind of give some background on that.
Speaker 2:The organization's just a little bit different. In the Marine Corps there's a major leadership step. In the Navy that occurs between E6 and E7. So in the Navy you go from being a first class petty officer to being a chief petty officer. That's where it's a significant step with regard to leadership and status. In the Navy that step occurs one rank earlier. In the Marine Corps you go from being a noncommissioned officer as a sergeant, as an E5, to being a staff noncommissioned officer as an E6, a staff sergeant as an E-5 to being a staff non-commissioned officer as an E-6, a staff sergeant. So during Plebe Summer and at the Naval Academy in general, you'll find E-6 staff sergeants and E-7 gunnery sergeants fulfilling the same roles as E-7 chief petty officers and E-8 senior chief petty officers.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thanks for that explanation. And so then with that, that's the company leadership. And now each company has two platoons that fall underneath it, and so that platoon will have a number. So you can be anywhere from first platoon to 30th platoon. And so when we talk about platoons during plebe summer, this will directly correlate to their academic year company. So when we talk about being 26 company rough riders me and christian, both for our time at the academy that means we were in 26th platoon during plebe summer. So for all the people in 25th and 26th platoon, that comprises november company. So during my pleb summer I was in November company, 26th platoon. And so that's where that organization Now dropping down to the smallest unit level, is the squads, so platoons.
Speaker 1:We talked about companies having about 80 plebs. So again, split that in half a platoon has about 40 plebs and then each squad roughly has roughly 10 plebs, and so your squads are going to be led by a squad leader. Now that squad leader can either be a first class or a second class midshipman and it is their job to literally train the plebes day in and day out, like that is the most impact that you can have on like 10 individuals is being a squad leader because you are with them 24-7.
Speaker 2:If you have any input on that, christian, in my opinion, a squad leader is the most important role in all plebe summer and I think that translates directly into the fleet that the lowest levels of leadership are the most important to me in the most significant way, because that's where I don't like using cliches, that's where the rubber meets the road, that's where the most tactical decisions take place. That's where in Plebe summer, that's where Clebes learn the most is from their squad leader. Whether it's good or bad, that's where they have the best or the worst impressions of the Naval Academy is based on the example that's set by the squad leader.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and as you hear stories and as plebes write letters back home, you'll probably very frequently hear about the squad leader.
Speaker 2:You spend the most time with them.
Speaker 1:You spend the most time with them.
Speaker 2:The most control over your life, absolutely so.
Speaker 1:I mean, I remember my two guys. So I had a midshipman, ensign Cox. He was my first set squad, sorry, Squad leader. Oh classic, I mean, that was his. So funny enough, guys, I wonder if they follow this.
Speaker 2:Do you know if any of those guys?
Speaker 1:I've had a couple of them comment on my stuff, so I really hope they listen to this. But to this day, the funniest introduction of all time Pleaps Summer.
Speaker 2:I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I think about his all the time.
Speaker 1:So this guy and this guy's a goofball Like I grew to love him so much into the academic year and after graduation. But this guy, he walks up and he introduces himself and he's like my name is Mitch Shimon Ensign Cox. And then he paused and waited for everyone to laugh and he was like if you ever laugh at my name, I will end your life and everyone was just like.
Speaker 2:Uh, he was right in front of me when he said it too, and let's clarify his name spelled c-o-x, c-o-x.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, yeah and oh. And now look, I'm an extremely immature guy, right like I was about to start chuckling and then I found out he was right, right in front of me.
Speaker 2:How are you not gonna?
Speaker 1:be. My name is mitchibin and st cox and I was like, oh no, uh, they told me not to laugh. That was like the one thing I learned about plebe summer was like don't laugh and don't bring attention to yourself this is like six hours into it, yeah this is six hours in.
Speaker 1:We're really off to a rough start. But I mean, like these are stories that we laugh about now to this day and tell to this day and like, but that's, that's what being a squad leader, that's what being at the squad and the platoon level is all about, right, like you have such an impact on the lives of all the plebs, all right, so just to recap here so you have the 4th Class Regiment. We're talking about 1,200 plebs. That breaks into two battalions, the Port Battalion and the Starboard Battalion, which roughly have about 600 plebs each. Now those battalions are in control of different companies. So again, port Battalion is Alpha through Hotel Company, and then Starboard Battalion is India Company through Papa Company, and then they also take Tango Company. Now, again, when we're talking about size of companies, we're looking at about roughly 80 plebes per company, which then breaks into the platoons, which are numbered platoons. So 1st to 30th Platoon, which have roughly about 40 plebes in each, and then we break down to the squad level. Each squad 1st squad, 2nd squad, 3rd squad, 4th squad all have roughly 10 plebes each. So that's what the organization is at large.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to kind of dive a little bit into the roles and responsibilities of each of these levels of leadership and kind of what everyone does. So I'm gonna take the first one, which is the regiment, which is the regimental staff. So I had such an amazing experience and honestly to this day like it is an unparalleled experience to be the regimental commander of Plebe Summer. So I mean it makes me sound way more important than it was. But like I was the highest ranking midshipman during Plebe Summer which is pretty crazy and it was my role and responsibility basically to report to the officer in charge of Plebe Summer, which for military people is an O5, a commander in the Navy, about everything going on within the 4th Class Regiment, what I appreciated about the regimental staff and sometimes some people don't realize this and these are a lot of tough conversations that I had to have with my staff when I was a regimental commander.
Speaker 1:It is not the regimental staff's job to train the plebes. We still have to uphold the standards, we've got to enforce anything if we see it. But if you want to have day-to-day interaction with the plebes, do not apply for the regimental staff. That is not the role of the regimental staff. It is not the job of the regimental staff. The regimental staff's job is to do everything they can to support the platoons and the companies to conduct training in the best way possible and to help them out so that way we can better the plebes. Because, again at the company and the platoon level and down, that is where the real training happens. It is the regimental staff's job to make sure that all of those units, those smaller units, have everything they need in order to train effectively. And if they needed something guess what? That's my job to communicate with the officer in charge of plebe summer to get them the resources that they needed. So, again at the regimental level and the regimental commander, it's a very high level overall execution, morale, welfare, just everything that's going on in the regiment falls under the scope and responsibility of the regimental commander.
Speaker 1:Now, kind of the reason that I wanted to be the regimental commander was during my plea of summer. I remember that the regimental commander gave what we call a fireside chat and those fireside chats resonated extremely well with me and by the time that I made my way to become a second class midshipman in the brigade and was thinking about plea of summer, I knew that I wanted to be able to share my story with as many Plebes as possible. And the best way to share my story was to be the regimental commander, because I got to have these fireside chats, and what a fireside chat is is the regimental commander gets to sit down with every single company in Plebe Summer just the Plebes. I got to kick all the detailers out, so it's just me and the Plebes and I just got to talk to them. I got to share my story, I got to share my hardship during Plebe Summer and be like hey look, I was about to leave.
Speaker 1:I had a really hard time during Plebe Summer. I let my emotions control my experience and I was like homesick, I was miserable. And and I was like homesick, I was miserable and I had a very defeated attitude and I didn't think I wanted to be here. I didn't think I wanted to do the military, and now look at me right, like I have completely made the transformation I have bought in to what the Naval Academy is all about, and so the last thing that I wanted was for any plea to make a permanent decision based off of temporary emotions, and that was something that I realized, not during plebe summer. That was something I realized years down the road was. I almost made such a big mistake in my life because the Naval Academy has literally been the best decision that I've ever made in my life was sticking it out. So I just wanted to be able to share my story in the hopes that it would positively impact even just a single plebe during plebe summer, and that's really why I wanted to get into that and so on.
Speaker 1:The regimental staff now so that's the reg commander. Regimental staff will have an XO, an executive officer. That's my number two in command. That's the guy that I would consider my doer. So if I ever realized that I needed something done, I'd be like, hey, xo, get this done. Like, can you? Like, hey, we need this, make it happen. And so the XO was my doer. And so my XO, matt. He was absolutely phenomenal, he was unbelievable. I can't speak more highly of him. My man's out in Hawaii now as a SWO and he was just fantastic. Now he wasn't as good as my battalion-y XO and I'm only saying that because that guy's currently on the podcast right now.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so during the academic year, you better talk about me that nice whenever Matt's on the show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, for those of you with the inside joke there. So Christian was actually my During the academic year, second semester, first year I was the 6th Battalion Commander and so when we get to the academic year we'll do another recap of the organization and structure of the Brigade of Midshipmen in the academic year, because it's a little different than Plebe Summer. But I was the 6th Battalion Commander and Christian was my XO and he was the best and I absolutely loved him. So, yep, All right, Anyway, kind of moving on there. So there's an XO, he gets stuff done.
Speaker 1:I've had phenomenal XOs in everything that I've done, so I've been an extremely lucky man. They make my life super easy. The next piece is the ops, so regimental ops. Now Plebe Summer has a tremendously complex schedule with constantly moving pieces. I think the Regimental Ops has the hardest job in the entirety of Pleap Summer, from the sheer stress of making sure everyone gets where they need to go and that everything is running like how it's supposed to, and going and playing with the schedule. Being the ops is extremely stressful, but it is an extremely crucial and important piece of pleb summer.
Speaker 2:There's also responsibilities as well. There's just a lot that really falls directly into your responsibility and you just have to handle it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Without a doubt. So then there's also an admin officer on the regimental staff, an adjutant. The adjutant is in charge of the watch bill. So you stand watch over plebe summer, both as detailers and plebes. So the adjutant's main responsibility is being in charge of that watch bill. We have a regimental drill officer who's in charge of all of the drill. So during plebe summer you do a lot of drill, don't you Christian?
Speaker 2:Yes, you do a lot of drill, don't you Christian?
Speaker 1:Yes, you do, and so they're in charge of making sure that all drill parades and like the actual drill competitions are going well. They provide a ton of training. There's a PMO the Physical Missions Officer PMO and they're in charge of making sure that everyone is meeting the physical mission during Plebe Summer. Everyone is meeting the physical mission during plebe summer. Now we have the honor and character liaison, which is kind of the liaison to the plebe summer staff for all of the honor and character classes, the ethics classes that you take during plebe summer, which is cool. And then there's a safety officer who's in charge of making sure that everything's done well but also tracking all sick and like injured chits. We talk about chits. A chit is a medical authorization to be exempt from certain responsibilities or obligations. So you're sick, all right, well, you're exempt from all activity during the day and you can be S I Q, which stands for sick in quarters. And then, same thing, if you're injured, you can get a chit to be like hey, I hurt my shins, I have shin splints, which means I am exempt from running, but I still need to do all upper body activities, et cetera, et cetera. So the safety officer will track all of that Now, as we talk about staffs, all the different staffs, like battalion staff will have basically all of those same positions and then the company will have a couple less, but they still meet all of the same obligations.
Speaker 1:But that is what a staff is comprised of. But that's all the boring stuff. We're not going to worry about that. What I really want to jump into now is making our way down to the battalion. So the battalion again, it's basically a mirror image of what the regimental staff is, but now more focused on a smaller number of individuals to make sure that they're meeting all of the things that are necessary. But now we jump down to the companies, because this is really the big one. This is where you start to have direct interaction with the plebs. So I'm going to let Christian go here. Christian, if you don't mind telling the people like what's the role and responsibility of a company commander, and can you explain kind of how company commanders are selected and how the company commanders work, like the difference between each set during plebe summer?
Speaker 2:yeah, absolutely so. The entire purpose of plebe summer is to indoctrinate new civilians, to lead them in the oath of office at the beginning of a summer and, over the course of the 50 days of plebe summer, indoctrinate them and transform them into indoctrinate may have some negative connotations In a positive way. I mean introduce them and expose them and teach them and, again like, transform them into the ways of the Navy, specifically the Naval Academy, no-transcript. So that is the primary responsibility. It's the responsibility of every detailer. But that responsibility is vested in a very specific way in the company commanders. So that's a midshipman who's responsible for that development of all 80 plead midshipmen in the company. The plead summer staffs, the entire staff from the regiment down, is all selected.
Speaker 2:In the spring semester of your second class year, so the junior year, there's a series of interviews that take place. It's pretty serious. At the regimental level, the entire the commandant and midshipman who's a colonel or a captain conducts a great series of interviews to figure out who Grant was going to be, who the regimental was going to be. At the company level it's a little less formal. Typically, the way our company did it, an email was sent out and anybody could put their name in the hat and then company commander, and every position actually is pretty competitive because when you company commander isn't necessarily the most prestigious position, sometimes individuals are dead set on being squad leaders and sometimes the company officers of the academic year switch things around, but the company commander oversees everything about the company in a way.
Speaker 2:Captain Green, who's one of my mentors, worded at one time that the unit commander is responsible for the soul of the company. So the company commander represents the image of what that company is. He's not necessarily always going to be the one doing everything. He oversees the entire. He or she oversees the entire operation and is instructing the other detailers what to do. Some of the unique responsibilities company commanders have are, in kind of a ceremonial way they lead parades, so they stand out in front of the company, they lead drill for the major events, particularly parades, probably the most high-profile responsibility a company commander has, who, honestly, company commanders are often more behind the scenes. There is direct interaction with the plebes, but a lot less, significantly less, than platoon commanders and squad leaders, but every day, every night at Blue and Gold, which I don't know is everybody familiar with Blue and Gold?
Speaker 2:We have not talked about it yet on the podcast, so if you don't mind explaining what Blue and Gold is, yeah, so every night during plebe summer and then weekly during the academic year, all the plebes, right before lights out taps, which is bedtime, they all gather together in the passageway in the p way and it's an opportunity for squad leaders, for platoon commanders, to talk with the plebes, address any injuries, kind of debrief the day a little bit. At a personal level, at the squad level, that's also when mail's handed out and detailers not investigate.
Speaker 1:They uh inspect mail for contraband contraband, yeah, that's right, get that contraband out of here. Give us one good contraband story, do it. I know which one we're thinking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think we're thinking about the same one, probably Wasn't it, tristan, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I'm absolutely talking about Tristan Tello.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know how many pairs it was it was, but this is the funny thing, because a lot of times friends from back home will send really outrageous and silly things to their friends, to the plebes, because they know that the detailers have to inspect it. And we're really looking for, like junk food, caffeine, stuff that they're not allowed to have at magazines. I don't think they can have stuff like that and our I don't know who it was that pulled it out we had some really like hard detailers oh yeah, we did pretty old school guys like we definitely got hazed and they were just very like.
Speaker 2:It was kind of like full metal jacket kind of scenario. I mean they were not to toot their horn too much, but they were old school they were awesome and I'm just gonna pick somebody I'm gonna say like armenita, like one of the sure why not yeah absolutely guy, and he pulls out. It was something like three or four pairs of the most beautiful skimpy little lace thumbs but what they say, what they say on them, christian what?
Speaker 1:they say oh all right, well, I'm gonna cut in here. On the backside of said garments were the words booty camp.
Speaker 2:I remember because tristan was in my squad so I like I was standing next to there and like and and look at, I was like standing there, right there, as as whoever the detail was pulling him out and he's like oh, are these for you, mr you, mr Tello, are these for?
Speaker 1:you, you enjoying booty camp, Like you having fun. Oh man, I remember just dying at that mail call. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:And it's crazy being a plebe. Obviously you feel like your detailers just are so quick on their feet Like you enjoy booty camp Tello. But then when you become a detailer, it's like some kind of transformation happens and you have the same kind of stuff with mail and contraband and everything. It's uh, yeah, you just inherit something absolutely that was outrageous.
Speaker 1:I didn't remember that they said that oh, yeah, that, oh, I remember that to this day. We also had we also a couple just more contraband stories. Just because we're on the topic, one of our company mates had an uncle who went to west point and so we constantly sent a mail with like west point flags and west point gear and stuff. And that was always easy attention brought to you, easy prey, absolutely. So, as we talk about this, for any parents, loved ones, whoever may be listening, I hope these stories can show one of two things. One all of the detailers will inspect the packages you send. So that leaves you with two options. One don't embarrass them.
Speaker 1:My mom would send little notes on the top of all my packages like hey, boo, love you so much, miss you so much. And like I would, yeah, I'm so. For everyone who doesn't know, my nickname is boo. It was growing up all the way back home. Absolutely, if you are from the bay area, northern california. Like no one knows me as grant, like I am boo, so that's what my family calls me. So they were sending me all this mail like hey, boo, like love you, I miss you so much, and my detailers had a field day with that.
Speaker 1:So a couple tricks of the trade here. They can't open sealed envelopes. So if you want to send something lovey-dovey, then seal it in an envelope within the package Right. Tip number one. Two if you are trying to embarrass your plebe, then put it right on top. Absolutely, if you're looking to embarrass the person that you're sending stuff to, people will inspect the stuff. So feel free and have a field day. Send some booty camp underwear. It's fantastic. Classic, all right. But we got to there from talking about the company commander and talk blue and gold.
Speaker 2:So that's about the plebes at the end of the day are sent I don't remember the times exactly, I think it's like nine o'clock they're sent, they get 30 minutes of personal time to take care of laundry, write letters, write their thoughts of the day which we can get to later, and then at 930, they come out and there's like five to 10 minutes of mail distribution, talking to the squad leaders, talking and everything, and then it's blue and gold. The company commander silences everybody and then maybe a few company-wide announcements by the ops or the admin. They just have to get some practical things out of the way and the company commander gives his blue and gold speech and it's designed to be this, I don't know just this motivating speech about anything, about the Naval Academy, about life leadership upcoming events.
Speaker 2:Justin Reed, the company commander. Whenever I was platoon commander he gave a great speech the night before the first parade or the first parade of our set we were second set and he like pulled something from this book about military leadership and just kind of drew it all together. And those are some of the biggest kind of I keep wanting to say things like spiritual. What I mean is like intangibles. You know you have a lot of really like physical memories of Plebe Summer, but some of the greatest like motivating and tangible, kind of emotionally stirring that's what I'm looking for. Emotionally stirring moments are these blue and gold speeches. Um, good company commanders can like really reach in and um and inspire the plebes in a really good way. Absolutely that's one of the, I think one of the most significant direct interactions that the company commander is going to have with his plebs.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and just for everyone listening. So a little pop quiz here is how many platoons are in a company? Give you a couple seconds here to answer Mr Blanchard. What's?
Speaker 2:the answer.
Speaker 1:What's the answer?
Speaker 2:Two.
Speaker 1:Two platoons, one company. Now, what's cool about Pleb Summer is there are two sets of detailers. So after about three weeks the detailers will turn over, so you actually get two sets of detailers and so the company commanders what we're talking about here at the company level, the company commanders it'll always be one of the sets will be someone from the first platoon and then the other set will be from the second platoon. So for us in November Company, we had a 25th platoon, someone who was in the 25th company during the academic year who acted as the company commander, and then for the second set of Plebe Summer, we had someone from the 26th company during the academic year come in as a company commander. So you will get one of each for sure.
Speaker 2:And that's significant too, because every academic year company they tend to have very different personalities and so at the platoon level those personalities are going to manifest themselves just at the platoon. But at the company level you get kind of a different taste, you get a broader perspective about the brigade as a whole just by getting two different leadership personalities from the different companies.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right, let's drop down to the platoon level. So again, platoon level. These will be numbers. So anywhere from 1st to 30th platoon during plebe summer, which again directly correlates to your academic year company. So again, me and Christianian we're, we claim we are from the 26th company, which means during our time at the academy we are in 26th company, which, again during plebe summer, meant we are a part of 26th platoon. Um, now, every platoon has a platoon commander and during the class of 2020s plebe summer, the 26th platoon had the greatest platoon commander of all time, mr Christian Blanchard.
Speaker 2:Greatest platoon commanders I at least got to hear it. We had Dave Espy too.
Speaker 1:True, you're right. I was trying to get a little compliment in there for you.
Speaker 2:You got to give a shout out.
Speaker 1:But absolutely for Dave Espy as well. It was honestly a result of everything that our detailers did for us that made the detail staff from 26 platoon again be so awesome. But, christian, if you don't mind, we talked about the roles of the company commander. What's the role of the platoon commander? What's a platoon commander? Look like on a day-to-day basis and with that, why did you want to do that job? Why did you want to be a platoon commander?
Speaker 2:So I think the easiest way to divide up platoon commander responsibilities is kind of into two pretty specific parts. The first is pretty obvious as platoon commander you're responsible to and accountable for 40 plebe midshipmen and those you have four squads as well. So you've got four squads of 10 plebes each. And that's during my plebe summer. It was two second-class midshipman squad leaders and two first-class midshipman squad leaders and they report directly to me about the state of their plebes, the training of the plebes, physical health, safety, mental health and safety, literally everything. Like I said, the squad leaders have the most direct involved role of any detailers and I'm the first midshipman leadership to whom that status is reported and then that's a chain of command, then that goes up to the company commander as necessary.
Speaker 2:The most unique thing about the platoon commander position is that it's the lowest level of detailer leadership that has other detailers reporting to him. So the platoon commander is for squad leaders. The squad leader's responsibility is to lead, plead and shipman. But now as platoon commander I had four squad leaders reporting directly to me about the physical health and safety, the mental health and safety, everything about the 40 platoons in my command. So that's a unique leadership challenge because obviously, particularly for the first class squad leaders that you're responsible to, that are that you're leading essentially.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, let's say how it is. They're reporting to you, right, Like you are, you are there in this point you are their operational commander. But it's weird because you guys are really good friends, point, you were their operational commander, but it's weird because you guys are really good friends.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we went through plebe summer together. I was particularly close with one of my roommates, was was one of my squad leaders, and then my other roommate was the company commander. I think we did a really good job about that, because we took ourselves seriously, but not too seriously, and we never really felt the need to be adversary about much at all. I think we did a good job of being on the same page and communicating well, which communication is everything everywhere in life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I'm just going to butt in really quick. One of the really unique things about being a detailer and that you get from being a part of the plebe summer detail is experiencing real peer leadership for the first time, Peer leadership.
Speaker 2:there it is.
Speaker 1:Because there is something so difficult about like A.
Speaker 1:I'm really good friends with this person, but you need to have a very serious conversation with them if they're not upholding the standard or meeting the expectations or not accomplishing what they need to accomplish.
Speaker 1:And when you add the rank structure of having squad to platoon and platoon to company, where you guys are technically you're all midshipman, first class, at the end of the day You're in the same class. But Plebe Summer adds this rank that the Plebes see as like oh no, this is different. They see someone with three stripes on their shoulder. It's significant, like it's significant right. And so it is very crazy because for the detailers it doesn't seem like much, it just seems like you're working with your friends, but to the plebs it's real right, like there is a real distinction between the different levels of leadership. And then you have to treat that very seriously as a detailer which adds a whole nother dynamic of leadership. And then you have to treat that very seriously as a detailer which adds a whole nother dynamic of leadership in that peer leadership aspect. It's really really cool but really difficult.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Now you said there are two parts about mainly about being a platoon commander. Let's jump to number two.
Speaker 2:So that first part is the leadership aspect. As platoon commander I owned 40 pleadman shipmen, four squad leaders responsible to and accountable for them. The second part is the platoon commander is responsible for drill for his platoon which is one of the big things that attracted me to it.
Speaker 2:I had the privilege of serving on the Naval Academy Silent Drill Platoon, the Jolly Rogers. I did that for the first three years of the academy, Loved it. We were responsive, we spun rifles and everything. If anybody listening to the podcast has seen that, yeah, I, like the Army, Navy and Air Force have teams and everything but the Marine Corps, Silent Drill Platoon is the epitome of drill worldwide in my opinion, Absolutely. Anyway, I enjoyed that a lot and I wanted to carry that through. The platoon commander has a unique role in drill because in each set there are what are called drill competitions and I don't even know if everybody listening is familiar with drill. So let's go over it real quick.
Speaker 1:Break it down, baby.
Speaker 2:Right. So let me give like the most basic definition I can. So drill is the organized following of orders that are given by a unit leader.
Speaker 1:Discipline baby, discipline, baby, discipline.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you've probably seen it. If anybody's seen military movies, mentioned Full Metal Jacket. That's marching together in cadence, in step, that's flanking movements, turning, at the same time, shifting positions with a rifle in hand. All of those things constitute drill. And there's unarmed drill which is without rifles, and there's unarmed drill which is without rifles and there's armed drill which is with rifles.
Speaker 2:So each plebe at the beginning of plebe summer has issued a rifle, an M14, old M14, wooden stock rifles. They're unloaded, obviously, and the firing pins are removed and most of them have a lead pipe drilled into the barrel. So they're inoperational but they're used for drill and they're treated with the same sort of like sacred seriousness that any of you ladies and gentlemen who've been to bootcamp. It's the same thing you don't lose your rifle, you take care of it, you keep it clean and you treat it as a precious thing. So drill is pretty much a daily part of Cleve's lives and to me it's a beautiful thing because it's one of the most important parts of that indoctrination and transformation process, because there are very few things at the Naval Academy that are more different from civilian life than drill and there are a few things at the Naval Academy that's a more dramatic shift from anything you've done in your life before, because you're shoved into this environment with 40 people that you don't know and you're being yelled at by another group of people that you don't know.
Speaker 2:You're shoved into one big group and told to get in a square and to face the same direction and to stick your arms out to get the spacing and to stand in line, kind of like you did when you were in kindergarten. But now it's a lot more stressful.
Speaker 1:But now it's serious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now it's very serious, but what it does is it teaches you so many things. It teaches you how to work as a team. It teaches you discipline, how to follow orders quickly and decisively. It teaches you confidence because, again, it's something so different from anything. You every you know, if they're led right, like an entire platoon at Plebes can witness how much better they become at this one thing by the end of the summer.
Speaker 2:So I've talked about this a lot more than I talked about the leadership. So that's obviously one of the big reasons that attracted me to be platoon commander. I talked so much from the Plebes perspective about how amazing it is to watch that transformation. But from the platoon commander's level, being able to stand in front of the plebs, issue confident orders and train them and practice with them like a coach Coaching is very important to me, so you're coaching them at the same time that you're giving them the orders and watching them follow through with the coaching that you're giving. It's a very rewarding experience.
Speaker 2:And so, like I said, there's a drill competition in first set and in second set. So I served as second set. So that was the second half of Plebe Summer. Our unique responsibility was taking the plebes from where first set had gotten them. So at this point they know how to wear their uniforms, they know how to carry out the routine at Fleet Summer Now, more or less Now we're kind of completing that intro process, but preparing them. We're the ones who prepare them to enter the brigade amidst shipment. We're the detailers that have the responsibility of presenting them to the brigade.
Speaker 1:Yeah, would you say that that was probably the best part of your job then was getting to put those final touches onto this group of plebs, or what would you say? The best part about being a platoon commander was.
Speaker 2:I think overall I was thinking about this today Just as background. I also did pleb summer as a second class, so I did two plebe summer details. The reason I did that and the reason I was passionate about plebe summer is because there is never another time at the Naval Academy where everything matters so much and everything is taken so seriously the pride of being a midshipman, the pride of following standards, of adhering to standards, of really believing in the academy. When everything's not cold and gray during the winter and whenever academics aren't involved. It's just pure military, and I love that. It was the best time of year to me and so just getting to train the plebes and watch them grow I think was my favorite thing and for some reason like 40 was just a good number for me. Just getting to train the plebes and watch them grow I think was my favorite thing and for some reason like 40 was just a good number for me. Like getting to that was a good size unit again to kind of be able to own and assist in transforming.
Speaker 2:And then yeah, it's a very rewarding experience, Having worked as hard as we possibly could. Our entire staff was amazing for November Company, particularly 26th Platoon.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I had no worries at all that our plebes didn't belong in 26th Company in the academic year and because I knew that we'd done our job. So that was very rewarding for Hello Night, which is the end of plebe Summer, whenever we introduce the Plebes to the brigade.
Speaker 1:And so I apologize, I don't want to cut in, because it's so true. When you turn over the Plebes to the brigade of midshipmen at reform and you go into the academic year, it's a source of pride, right Like when you turn over these people that are well-trained and they know what they're doing. It is a major source of pride for all the detailers to be like, yeah, like it was freaking difficult. We put in a lot of hours, a lot of energy, a lot of effort, a lot of emotion, but we succeeded and we accomplished our objective of making them ready for the academic year, and that's a really good feeling and that's why I think plebe summer detail at large, regardless of your role or responsibility, is so rewarding, and so it really is cool. Let's push on here to what do you think the most challenging part of being a platoon commander was? And then, with that, usually this kind of leads to what was the best leadership lesson you learned during your time as a platoon commander?
Speaker 2:I think I kind of have one thing that answers both questions. I think I figured it out kind of early on, but one of the toughest things was learning when to back off, because I wasn't a squad leader, you know, I was platoon commander and that means there was a very important part of the chain of command between me and the plebs, and so allowing the squad leaders to do their job, trusting them to do the job, that was their responsibility, which was again I've already described it, but it's the most, whatever you want to say like intimate level of leadership, like they know everything about their 10 plebs. And then I had to trust them and there were times early on whenever it was difficult to trust, you know, whenever I wanted a particular plea to, whenever I wanted to say very particular things to a specific plea, you know, because of a problem that was going on. But I knew I had to back away because even three or four days in those squad leaders knew their plebs way better than I did, and so if I was needed to talk to the plebs then they would tell me. And that was something I established early on.
Speaker 2:And that's what we have to do as leaders is whenever you're about to enter into a training environment, especially, you've got to talk to the subordinate leaders that are in your charge and tell them what you expect of them and then how you see your job, and then ask them what they see your job to be and what they expect from you. So that was something I really tried to lay out was that I trusted them. I wasn't going to try and badger them about kind of a whole array of things. I was trusting them to come to me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think that answers both your questions. A big challenge, but also a big leadership lesson is that whenever you're in charge of subordinate leaders, you have to trust them.
Speaker 1:Absolutely All right. We're going to move on to a little bit more fun conversation here. We got a little insight from people wanting to know what do they think? A little bit about the perks and then some of the tougher, undesirable or less glamorous parts of our respective jobs. So I'm going to go first as the regimental commander. The perks, everything, dude, everything. It was the coolest thing in the world, all right. So check it out Like being a part of the regimental staff, like Grant basically I'll just summarize it which is like the superintendent's yacht. Now during pleb summer there are multiple Wolverine we call Wolverine cruises, which are like two hour like underwears. We get on the yacht and they make a bunch of really awesome food and like the superintendent of the Naval Academy, like hosts, this party on his yacht and so like, oh, I got to do it like four times because there's like multiple ones throughout plebe summer, because I thought it was twice.
Speaker 2:You got to do it four times it might have been twice.
Speaker 1:I might be exaggerating, I'm probably exaggerating.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it probably was twice but like I've avoided this whole time really talking trash about the glories of having five stripes and being cursed with only two, oh man. But, june commanders, we had a little bit too much work to be going out on boats in the middle of the day.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Hey, schmooze, baby schmooze, you want the real job description of regimental commander is schmooze.
Speaker 2:That's the number one. Yeah, excels in schmoozing with higher ranking.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, so check this out. So, with higher ranking Well, yeah, so check this out. So we have during Plebe Summer, we have a ton of distinguished speakers come talk to the Plebes and, as the regimental commander, it was my job to one meet them, greet them and then introduce them to the brigade. So I got to have like full-on conversations with Nathan Fick, who's author of the book One Bullet Away and is now the CEO of a cybersecurity company called Endgame, and so I get to talk to him as someone in the cyber operations major and interested in the field. Talk about the perks of the job. By being the regimental commander, I got to meet and talk to this guy and then because of that, I got to actually have a one-on-one sit down conversation with him later into the academic year because we built that relationship and that connection. So that was really cool. I also liked that I had the ability to go and witness all of Plebe Summer from all the different companies, because you establish a culture within your own platoon and your own company that you get so used to that that it's almost refreshing to go see and witness how all of the other platoons and companies execute to still achieve the same objective of Plebe Summer. Right, we talked about in the previous episode of Commander Rene and about the purpose of Plebe Summer. But there are so many ways that you can go about actually getting to that point. And so to be able to see that and go witness how every platoon and company decided to execute, that was really cool. So to get to see that and go witness how every platoon and company decided to execute, that was really cool. So to get to see all that and introduce high-level speakers and go on the Supes yacht, Wolverine cruise baby so many perks to being the regiment commander.
Speaker 1:Now there were some less glamorous parts of the job. Specifically, when I talk about being the regiment commander, again, you are responsible for everything that goes on in the job. Specifically, when I talk about being the Reg Commander, like again, you are responsible for everything that goes on in the regiment. So I kid you not.
Speaker 1:On the way back from sports period one day, the Commandant was looking out of his window and saw a plebe pick a flower off one of the flower bushes in T-Court. But he couldn't see who it was, but he was mad. But he didn't know who it was, but he was mad. But he didn't know who it was. So what happens was I get summoned to the commandant's office and stand there at attention for like 15 minutes as he's screaming about me about how my regiment has no discipline and, like can't do anything right, and that they have no respect for the yard and no respect for anything on there, and they're picking all these flowers right, like, like dog, like literally. One plebe decided to pick a flower and I'm the one getting screamed at right, but like. But here's the thing. That's what it's about.
Speaker 2:like, I like the whole scope and responsibility to civilians, I think. But it's I mean, who else is I don't know who else is he gonna fuss at. He's not going to go to the company level, like that's not. Like you're the representative and that's for me to butt in just for a second. Yeah, please, schmoozing and everything aside. Like somebody has got to represent the brigade to notable people who come to speak, and that's not a bunch of nonsense or anything. Somebody has got to do it. And so you're going to pick somebody that's well qualified and that can speak well and that can not. Somebody like me. You know I wasn't designed for like Regstep, you know I did exactly what I was supposed to do.
Speaker 2:Because, I can talk to thieves and I can talk to like O3s and enlisted and below Like I don't go and have these like schmoozy conversations, Somebody's got to do it Again. You're the representative for the entire DTL staff and the entire regiment. The commandant is going to fuss at you because then you trickle it down to everybody. I don't remember being told to tell the plebs not to pick flowers, but I feel like you probably were. That's the kind of stuff. One pleb does something and then Grant tells the battalion commanders, who tell the company commanders, who tell us to tell the plebs to stop doing stupid stuff.
Speaker 1:Yep, absolutely, absolutely. And then, what's also interesting, it goes back to exactly how you answered your piece about what the most challenging thing about being platoon commander was.
Speaker 2:I had a feeling that was going to really, that was going to click with you too.
Speaker 1:Is dealing with staff who is not performing as expected. When we talk about holding your peers accountable, that is an extremely difficult thing to do right, and when you're in that position where you have the five stripes, like, you have to be careful in how you do it, because the last thing you want is people not being willing to be forthcoming and come talk to you when they have problems and so trying to find that balance of being approachable, being kind but also being very firm and upholding the standard, and then dealing with people on my staff when they were not performing as expected. Because here's the thing I'm young for my grade and there are a ton of people that were prior enlisted or went to prep school or went to college for a year. So I'm sitting there as this 19 year old kid, like having stern conversations with 22, 23 year olds that are technically my peers and being like you need to get your stuff together, like that is not a fun conversation to have and like that is the thing that people don't see.
Speaker 1:That are just the tremendous leadership opportunities and experiences that you get during Plebe Summer, because in in plebe summer, it's serious right. Like there's no other way to put it besides, like when you're in it, it's so real that, like, those conversations and those scenarios are real and they practice real leadership. So, all right, we've gone for a while and we have provided so much value to everyone here. So, christian, thank you so much for coming on and talking about all of this. I hope everyone learned a little bit about the Plebe summer structure and organization and I hope you continue to listen to Academy Insider to learn more about the Naval Academy. But before we go, last parting words, christian Blanchard from the perspective now of having been a detailer and a graduate of the Naval Academy, what would you tell Plebe Vermeer or Plebe Blanchard going into Plebe Summer?
Speaker 2:I'd definitely tell them two very different things, because then I would have a lot of choice for.
Speaker 2:Blanchard. I think, man, a lot of things are going through my mind. The first thing that kind of popped in is, again, a little bit of a cliche, but it's to like take it seriously, but not too seriously. You know, I think particularly what I'd tell Blanchard is to look to Grant to learn how to like look out for others, you know, to learn how to think outside yourself a little bit, you know, cause I know we kind of both did that, but at least Grant was the one who kind of did it for me multiple times throughout plebe summer, setting an example for me and other people in our class too. It's really easy to get bogged down and to only think about yourself and to only think about how difficult it is. And so from Grant's perspective I know he had that experience too, and so maybe from his perspective he didn't help a lot of other people, you know, because it's a very it can be a very internalized experience and it shouldn't be, you know.
Speaker 2:So I think it's not a competition. You know the way that you excel during plebe summer is learning how to. Is that it's not about you? There it is. I finally worked oh, dude, it's. My big mentor was Captain Green, and that was one of the three things he said in any given conversation was that it's not about you. And that is such an important lesson in all of life Everything from being a plebe through being a detailer to being a graduate, to you know, being a plebe through being a detailer to being a graduate, to, you know, getting married soon. You know, none of that is or was about me, and that shifts your perspective. It makes you think about others first and makes you realize that that's truly what it's about. When everybody does that, you can't. You can't beat a team like that. You know when everybody is deciding that, it's about everybody else. You know that's a tight team.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad that you said that because that's like my number one overarching advice. When people are like how do I do well during pleb summer? Like how can I be good during pleb summer? If you want to be good during pleb summer, be an elite teammate, Be the ideal teammate. If you can be a fantastic teammate and you realize that it's not about you and that it's about the success of the squad and the platoon and the company and you're willing to help others and you think of yourself less often than you do about the people next to you, that's how you're great during plebe summer. If you are an ideal TMA, oh, a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:Because, you know, maybe a lot of plebes go on a plebe summer and and it's not always this kind of like really selfish sounding thing. But you, everybody wants to like excel and seem good from the detailers perspectives. You know, nobody wants to like be hated by the detailers, but if you focus on that, obviously you're only thinking about yourself and you're you're on excelling. But whenever you decide that it's not about you, you do excel in front of the detailers for the right reasons, you know, and you form tight knits with your classmates. Without trying to actively like be cool and be a friend or something, you just act selflessly and those relationships manifest themselves Naturally. You know you build confidence because you're doing good things constantly and so it's a cycle that continues to feed itself, you know. I mean that's so absolutely to Blanchard, to Vermeer, to everybody.
Speaker 1:It's not about you.
Speaker 2:It's just not about you.
Speaker 1:That's good stuff, hey Christian, thank you so much for coming on yes sir.
Speaker 1:I love talking to you. I'm so glad that we get this opportunity to share our stories and provide a little feedback and provide a little insight and provide a little advice for people about to come through. So it means the world to continue this relationship. 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. Thank you.
