The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience

#093 - The Academy Families Travel Network

• GRANT VERMEER • Season 3 • Episode 93

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Are you a Naval Academy family struggling with the high costs of visiting Annapolis for special events? Or perhaps you're a midshipman looking for a safe place to stay during your travels? The Academy Families Travel Network might be the solution you've been searching for.

In this episode, we sit down with Marnie and Paula, the creators of this incredible service that connects Academy families across the nation. They share how this network of generous hosts has become a lifeline for midshipmen, cadets, and their families, offering free accommodations and support during travels, emergencies, and special events.

What You'll Discover:

  • How the Academy Families Travel Network began and grew to over 800 host families worldwide
  • The types of support hosts can offer, from a simple airport pickup to multi-day stays
  • How the network ensures safety and vets both hosts and travelers
  • Real-life stories of how this network has helped Academy families in need
  • The process for becoming a host or utilizing the network as a traveler

Why This Matters:

The Academy Families Travel Network is more than just a free place to stay. It's a community of support that extends the spirit of the sponsor family program beyond the Academy walls. For families struggling with the financial burden of attending special events like Commissioning Week, this network could make the difference between being there for those precious moments or missing out.

Key Takeaways:

  • The network is open to midshipmen, cadets, graduates, and their families from all service academies
  • Hosts can offer as much or as little as they're comfortable with, from a meal to a week-long stay
  • The network has been crucial during emergencies, helping stranded travelers and those facing unexpected situations
  • Joining as a host is flexible - you can specify your availability and preferences

If you're part of the Academy community, whether as a current midshipman, a graduate, or a family member, this episode highlights a valuable resource you won't want to miss. Learn how you can benefit from or contribute to this amazing network of support.

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. 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 residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community with nationwide consulting and connection.

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.

Speaker 1:

Hey everyone and welcome back to the Academy Insider podcast. I'm so excited about today's episode because I get to highlight and bring to the forefront an incredible service that has been created within members of our Service Academy community and it's called the Academy Families Travel Network. And so, if you're not familiar with the Academy Families Travel Network one, check out this episode because you're going to listen to the creators and cultivators of this network, which I'm really excited. But we're also going to tease a little bit of a partnership here with Academy Insider to really support midshipmen families coming to the Annapolis area for special event weekends Plea Parents Weekend, second Class Parents Weekend and commissioning, which can be prohibitively expensive for a lot of families to cover the travel and expenses for that. And so I'm really excited to talk about this network at large, how it supports midshipmen and their families, but then also how it's really going to create a tailored specific support for the midshipmen community at large during special event weekends. And so I'm really excited about this. Make sure to check it out and if you know any families in the local Annapolis area, including sponsor families, who may be interested in supporting something like this, then make sure to take a look at this and go about it. So super excited. Thank you so much. Enjoy the listen and reach out with any questions. Let's make it happen.

Speaker 1:

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 grant at the premier groupcom. You can also reach out to me on my LinkedIn page grant for me or I'd be happy to respond to you there. Thank you so much, and now let's get back to the episode. All right, hey everyone, and welcome back to the Insider Podcast.

Speaker 1:

I'm super excited for this episode. We're going to highlight some really cool programs and just things that exist across the nation to support our Service Academy families and all the midshipmen and cadets that are traveling and in kind of tough situations, potentially in terms of housing or lodging, and so I'm excited for this conversation. But before we jump in, we'll start with you, marnie. Do you mind just introducing yourself and just giving a little bit of background about who you are, and I'm so excited to have you both on the Academy Insider Podcast. Thank you.

Speaker 2:

Hi, good morning. I have three service academy kids myself one Navy and two Air Force as well as two service academy daughter-in-laws one Coast Guard Academy and one Air Force. Two service academy daughter-in-laws, one Coast Guard Academy and one Air Force. I actually work for recruitment for admissions office for all five academies, so I love what I get to do and the people I get to work with. I'm a retired 32-year educator as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's a lot of affiliation to service academies right there. There's no favorites, I'm sure either. Right, we love them all.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, Very good, oh yeah, one family.

Speaker 1:

I love that, and Paula.

Speaker 3:

I'm Paula Treece and I have three children that have gone to service academies one at the Naval Academy, one at the Air Force Academy and my son two. They're both grads and my son is currently a junior at West Point or he's a cow at West Point.

Speaker 1:

Cow at West Point. I love that. I mean there's a lot of Service Academy affiliation in this call today, so I love that and thank you both so much for being here. And I think what's even cooler again for anyone who's listening in right now, these two together started an incredible program called the Academy Families Travel Network, and so I just want to turn it over to the both of you or whoever wants to answer, just to talk about what this program is. What do you do with this and, kind of, how did it come to be?

Speaker 2:

Well, it came to be because my first child was Air Force Academy and then, two years later, my next child went Naval Academy and I was on both parent pages and driving her car. Because she finally got her car junior year from California to Annapolis and because I was on both parent pages, I put it out there. Hey, is there any families that I can stay with? And this is back in 2018. And there were families. It was awesome experience to stay with families from both all the way across.

Speaker 2:

When I got back, a fellow Air Force Academy mom, Tracy Kirby, who also helped us start this, said oh that's really cool. Why don't you do that for everybody, Marty? So now all three of us are at over 800 families, I believe, all over the world, and it's a fabulous network. And so that is how it got started. Yeah, and I'll tell you, it was put in place two years before COVID and that is really when it was used, because our kids that were PCSing I have a 20 daughter, 20 from Navy and those kids were not allowed to stay at hotels. Unless you were PCSing to that base, you couldn't stay at that base hotel when you were PCSing. So it came in so handy for so many mids graduates, cadets et cetera, and families.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and can you talk a little bit again? You mentioned this word because it really is this beautiful network across. What exactly are people offering or signing up to do? Are they hosting on a one-day basis? Can you talk a little bit about how it's actually been built out now and what you do?

Speaker 3:

It works in various ways and it's basically up to the person who's traveling and the host okay so you can come stay for a day. You can ask to stay for a few days a week. It just depends on what your needs are. Sometimes it's just my car broke down. Can you help me get somewhere? So it how, however, we can best help those that are traveling?

Speaker 1:

Sure, no, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Please. The hosts can offer as much or little as they can. So we have one active duty wife in Hawaii and she said I still have young kids at home, I don't have enough room to host someone overnight, but I'll pick them up in the airport, I'll show them the Island, I'll cook them dinner. We've had a case where a kid was stuck overnight at up in Seattle heading to Japan a Navy mid and actually graduate and one of the families up there picked him up, let him come home to their house, fed him, let him take a shower, take a nap, and then took him back to the airport oh, and show them Seattle as well. So you offer as much or as little as you can and you can state that on our list what you're able to do.

Speaker 1:

No, that's so cool and so exciting and so, just so I'm understanding and potentially the listeners as well, this isn't like you're renting out your home or it's vacant home. These are people who are currently actively living in the home, who are offering a guest bedroom or a basement or whatever the case is, to potentially house or transport individuals when they're in need.

Speaker 3:

So I look at it as like sponsor families away from the academies. We have this amazing group of sponsor families that help our mids when they're there, our cadets when they're at the academies, but this is a way for everyone to be a sponsor family, as needed throughout the country.

Speaker 2:

Sure, and it is free of charge. There's no charge, of course. And it's not just rooms in a house, sometimes it's the entire house. I just met a gentleman. He's got a 12 graduate from USAPHA entire house. I just met a gentleman he's got a 12 graduate from USAPHA. He's offering two, two empty beach homes in on a Lake in in Oklahoma. He's got two of them. He goes. Is it okay if?

Speaker 1:

they're, you know if I'm not living there. Yeah, yeah, yeah it's great I might.

Speaker 2:

I might take advantage of it too. Hold on, you get a lot of those. Yes, there's a lot of people with two homes that are like well, can I offer my Airbnb for free? Yes, yes.

Speaker 1:

No, absolutely. Well, I mean, what a beautiful thing you've created. And so, as we're talking about this now, who can utilize this network? Who's it designed for and like? Is it just for midshipmen and cadets After?

Speaker 3:

Well, obviously it started for, you know, traveling across the country. It's for midshipments, it's for cadets, it's for families of midshipments and cadets, it's for graduates. So it really covers've had one family in Colorado Springs hosted the entire.

Speaker 2:

Naval Academy softball team at their house when they came to the Air Force. So we've had educators use it, we've family members have used it and truly it's up to the hosts of what they're what and who they're willing to do. We've even had siblings of you know that are not in an academy utilize it and it's really up to the hosts and what they're willing to supply.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I would say kind of the first initial question that I'm sure you know many families may have. They're probably like, wow, what a cool service. But how do I, how do I know my, my child, is going to be safe? How do you, how do you vet the host? Is there restrictions to who can actually host? How have you gone about that process on your end?

Speaker 3:

We try to just send the information out on academy boards. So the mid moms and dads, the same West Point moms, the Air Force parent resource page we try to just get it out that way, but we also look at everybody who comes in. Parent resource page we try to just get it out that way, but we also look at everybody who comes in. If we feel they're not giving us enough information, like they just can't say hey, I want to get the list. Well, tell us who you are, what you're doing. And the way I look at it is we're hoping all our families are good and upstanding people, but we also understand they aren't. So if you get there as a traveler and don't feel comfortable, by all means leave, I mean, but I tell my kids that in any situation. So we're hoping the people that are signing up for this are upstanding people, but we do live in a realistic world. So pay attention to your surroundings, even when you're there.

Speaker 2:

And we do our best. We know that the academies really vet them and we look to see what pages they're on, we look at their photos, we look at their affiliations. So we do our very best to vet everybody and I think for all hosts.

Speaker 3:

And it also goes both ways. We tell our hosts if you don't feel when a traveler contacts you, if you don't feel comfortable opening up your home to them, don't right, a community that we all care about.

Speaker 1:

It's a community, like you're saying, that in the vast, vast majority of situations, they're people of high character and, again, they're signing up for this because they want to help, right, they want to serve, and no, I think that's beautiful and still to have a certain level of a vetting process just to make sure, making sure they're answering questions and being able to verify they are who they say they are right, and I think that's, I think that's phenomenal. And you know, if there's a family listening to this actually and you know, they're like, wow, this is great to know that. You know, my child could take advantage of this, or I, as the family of a, of a midshipman, could take advantage of this. If they also want to sign up to be a host in you know, a one-off situation, how can they do that and what's the process? How would someone actually sign up to be a host?

Speaker 3:

So they would need to email us at academyfamilystravelnetwork at gmailcom. If you want to be a host. We have five questions that we ask. One is where you live. We don't want your address, we just want your town and your state. We're not going to put your address out there because we don't want someone knocking at your door at three o'clock in the morning just because, they have your address.

Speaker 3:

We need your name, we need your service academy affiliation. We also want to know if the hosts have their own affiliation to the military. So, whatever you've done, retired military served, however. We want to put that in there. We also need your email and phone number and then special stuff. If you have special requests like I only want to do it in the summer, or I only want to do it in the winter, or I live close to this Air Force base or I live close to Disney World, we ask that you give us that information to put on your line.

Speaker 1:

Yep, no fantastic. And so just to just to clarify then too, cause you know, eventually I'm going to make a strong push to try and get as many families in the local Annapolis area to sign up for this as well. Just to be clear. So you're not, you can put like caveats to your hosting which is like hey, I'd love to be a host over special event weekends. Right, I'll be open to parents weekend or second class parents weekend or commissioning week for families who may not otherwise be able to make it to the Annapolis area. That's something that is totally allowed from your perspective.

Speaker 3:

Yes, that is absolutely and completely up to the host. Whatever they send to us, we cut and paste and put it on their line. I know there's a current family in Annapolis that said emergencies only, they don't want to have anybody at their house, but they say we're there for any kind of an emergency. So, and there's other people across the country who have similar things. So it's totally up to the host. We just provide the list. We don't do anything else but give them the list.

Speaker 1:

Sure Okay.

Speaker 2:

Fantastic. Some of the instances when it's been used has you know, car emergencies, kids having surgeries, parents want to come out there. They don't want to. They can't afford a hotel for a whole week while their kid's in surgery. And of course, you know the regular the PCSing families have used it. I myself have used it. I got a flat tire at night on Highway 99 in California and apparently USAA said they don't service that part of Highway 99 in California. But I stayed with a Bakersfield family which was, you know, on the list, which was fabulous. They came and got me, rescued me, so I myself had a chance to use it, which is great. So well amazing.

Speaker 2:

Yes, there's so many instances like I I've. I think one of our best examples, a best story that I have, true story was there was naval academy grad heading in the right after christmas in the bad snowstorm with his sister to pendleton. He was coming from missouri. He got to nebraska, totaled his car with his sister in it and at one in the morning we put in place four different families that drove border to border and were able to safely get those kids to pendleton yeah, and who would not want that for their children?

Speaker 1:

No, 100%.

Speaker 1:

And again, I think it's an incredible service that you guys have built out Like this is.

Speaker 1:

It's unbelievable Again at a cultivating this community, building this community of Service Academy families across the country who are willing to help in this case, you know whether that be in the case of emergency or whether that just be like you're saying, if you know you need to be in you know Maryland, let's say, your son or daughter is going through a medical procedure when you know they're a midshipman and they're in this situation, you can't afford to spend 10 days in a hotel you know in the in the Maryland area to have these again potential opportunities and community that's been out or been built out.

Speaker 1:

It's truly special and I really appreciate it. But I also understand, from again, a host perspective, that your life changes and your life fluctuates at times and there may be certain periods where you're able to support this and others that are not, and so if a, if a host no longer wants to participate, can they opt out and how does that work from that perspective? I just kind of want to provide to a listener who may be interested if they sign up, are they locked into it for a certain period or how does that process work?

Speaker 3:

No, they are not locked in. All they have to do is email us and say, hey, it's not a good time. Recently we had a family that I think they adopted two younger kids. They hadn't. They were empty nesters. They adopted similar kids and she said we just don't have the room anymore. Can you take us off the list? So I did and I said when you're ready again, just contest us back, we'll add you back on. Or in the instance of some of our, our international families, like if they're moving, they're PCSing, and they just say, hey, we're PCSing from here to here. We can't. As soon as we get settled in our new house, we'll send you the new address. So it's, it's for when it's convenient for the host and and that's it.

Speaker 1:

I please.

Speaker 2:

No, it's all up. It's all up to the hosts. They, you know it's, it's their limitations.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Well, fantastic. And so now, kind of turning it to the listener, which may be a midshipman or a family of a midshipman if they want to actually take advantage of this network and utilize it, who do they contact to set all of this up? Is it also an email to you? Is it a phone number? Is there a list that just exists? How would they go about actually utilizing the network which you've built?

Speaker 3:

So it's again emailing the Academy Families Travel Network at gmailcom, and again they have to tell us where they're affiliated. We might send an email back and forth getting their information to vet them, and then we give them the list. At that point it's up to them to contact the host. We do not contact hosts, we're not the reservations at a hotel, we just provide the list.

Speaker 3:

But we also, at the top of the list in yellow, we have information like on how to be a good person while you're there, you know, clean up after yourself, write a thank you letter, leave no trace, use your manners so that so that somebody would want to host someone again. And some of the reviews we get on some of the you know, when I post out to the parents on on some of these family academy groups, people come in and say, oh my gosh, I had the best experience. I had these great kids from wherever they were, from a different academy, and they were just amazing. I'll host again. And then people are like, oh, how can I host? So we just want everybody to make sure they're kind and nice and and and thanking these people who are opening up their homes to them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I want to mention one of the reasons we keep saying email us is that's because of OPSEC and PERSEC we don't have a website, we don't have a Facebook page, none of that, because we want to keep it as safe as possible. So it's done entirely by email. And then one additional I don't know that we mentioned this. It's also good for pleasure travel. We've talked about emergencies. We've talked about pcseing. You know teams using it, schools using it and stuff. But, for instance, my home that I own is by yosemite national park and I receive about 300 visitors a year.

Speaker 2:

Holy smoke you know academy visitors a year and I love it. It's like Paula said, it's like being for those of us that aren't lucky enough to live near an academy. We get to be sponsor families, which is fantastic.

Speaker 3:

And also like my son. When he was a cadet candidate, before he showed up for our day at West Point, he and his buddy I live in Tennessee. He and his buddy wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. They had three weeks after graduation. It was a two-day drive, two-and-a-half-day drive from here. So here's these two. Well, an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old. They camped at the national parks when they were at the grand Canyon, but it's that drive in between.

Speaker 3:

So, they stayed at Academy family, with Academy families going and coming, and like the families were like, well, what do they want to eat? I want to make sure we get them, like, the food they want while they're here. And one one family, they weren't even home and they said, well, the dogs that are staying in the main house, y'all can stay in the, in the guest house. And I'm like, well, that's pretty cool. So you said, I said I want to go stay in their guest house. So, and I know we have a family in Colorado that has a bunk house that's available. I mean, so there's just so many opportunities and it's just. You know, they always say, like your mid is my mid, your cadet is my cadet. And it's true, no matter where you live, I mean people are willing to help, no matter what.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, it's a ooh please.

Speaker 2:

The friendships that you make when you stay with these families will you'll keep those friendships forever. You know I have to say some kids are a little hesitant forever. You know I have to say some kids are a little hesitant. My little 2020 daughter, you know. When she found out, she's like, oh mom, I'll just. You know, when she couldn't PCS and stay at bases, she says I'll just stay in my car on the side of the highway, I'll sleep in my car.

Speaker 2:

No no, no. But mom, it's so weird. I don't know these people, I don't want to stay with them. Well, she did it anyway and they treated her like royalty it was. You know we treat them. Your mid is my mid, your cadet's my cadet. They treated them like their own and she had the most phenomenal visit and is still in contact with many of these families. So you just become really close.

Speaker 1:

No, incredible. Well again, thank you both very much. This is so cool. Paul, I know you mentioned that you have a list of like recommendations as well for people to you know how to potentially best behave or utilize this service. Are there any rules or kind of restrictions for the group, anything that is kind of like formalized more than just recommendation?

Speaker 3:

No, not really. I mean we just expect that if you're in someone's house you'd be a good guest. I mean that should be. We shouldn't have to tell people that that should be given a given.

Speaker 2:

And for the most part they are. I think the biggest issue we have had and really just with the kids has been because they are still kids, they're young, you know is if their plans change, they forget to tell these hosts sometimes, and we've had this happen a couple of times, so they just that's why we emphasize it at the very top of the paper. You know, if your plans change, please let them know, because these people are planning on you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, absolutely Well, incredible. Again, thank you both so much for taking the time today to explain what you've built with the Academy Families Travel Network. I'm very excited to you know, get the word out and hopefully encourage more service academy families across the country to sign up to be hosts, as well as to encourage, you know, midshipmen, cadets, and especially the families of midshipmen and cadets traveling to Annapolis or traveling to West Point or traveling to the, you know, the Air Force Academy, to utilize this too if you need it right. I think that's kind of a big thing that I want to highlight as well is that you know we're trying to create this community and I want to highlight everything that the both of you have built, because it's so special just to support the service academy community. Right, and again, I think the reality in today's day and age is that travel is extremely expensive and for some of these special event weekends, like a commissioning week, that's a serious cost burden on a lot of families. To try and be in Annapolis, you know, in May for seven or eight days, like that can be way more money than people have the ability to execute on.

Speaker 1:

And so, again, I'm just so grateful for, again, the platform that you two have built and hopefully you know together to get the word out. We can support that and again, not only support our midshipmen and cadets, but the families of midshipmen and cadets as well in this process, and so I absolutely love it. And I'm going to ask a question that I ask of every guest here, as we kind of wrap it up, and I mean it's especially relevant to the both of you because you span the entire gamut of service academies, but it goes. It goes back to just the power of a service academy education, and so you know, I just want to turn it over to you is, having had multiple children go to service academies and other loved ones, you know, across the gamut, what's your recruiting pitch for, why young men and women should consider a service academy education.

Speaker 2:

This is what I do. You want to go first, paula? You go ahead. Basically, it's you know. I tell them, you know, college is college, but this is more than college. You have to have the heart to serve, and not just serve in the service, but serve your community.

Speaker 2:

Yep and not just serve in the service, but serve your community and serve, and Paula will tell you some other examples of service that her kids have done. And beyond that, it really, truly I think it really. These service academy kids are so much more mature than, and get so much more of a well-rounded education because they teach them about savings and retirement, get so much more of a well-rounded education because they teach them about savings and retirement. My kids at 18 years old were asking us about retirement plans. I'm like, wow, I didn't know that at 18. And it sets them up for success. But beyond that, how can I put it? These kids, some of these kids, and my own included sometimes you know these are high caliber kids and that's not always the norm at their schools.

Speaker 2:

And I think my the best call that I got was from my oldest on his first call home and he says you know what, mom? He goes. Do you know what the best thing about this place is? I said you get to jump out of airplanes. He says, mom, I'm normal and what that means is just. These kids are just. The entire community is just outstanding. And the parents, we all may be different, from all different parts of the world, but we all raised our kids the same way, obviously, or they wouldn't be there. Yep, and that's my answer. Okay, paula, wow.

Speaker 3:

I think the incredible opportunities that these kids are given.

Speaker 3:

I mean I wish I'd had some of these opportunities when I was in their age group, the fact that my son, who had never been out of the country, the first two countries he was sent to from West Point were Tajikistan and Armenia, and he spent four months in Armenia learning, with an immersion in Persian. I mean, where else are you going to get that opportunity? He got to go to the Marine Corps ball while there and like talk to the ambassadors and other people and people from the service academies in Armenia. And when a 20 year old is given those opportunities, it's just incredible.

Speaker 3:

My, my Air Force child wrote a paper on hypersonic missiles while she was in college. Well, she won a contest and she just presented her paper at the. It's the aia, I think, but the big academy for aerospace engineers, like across the country. I mean, so where can you find first off, do research on hypersonic missiles but then be allowed to be chosen to present it? Also, she's been able to. She's in graduate school now at Georgia Tech, so she's getting a graduate degree in aerospace engineering.

Speaker 3:

Probably anywhere else she would not have done that en route to her pilot slot. They probably would have said you know, first off, you know you're not going to be flying jets and you're not going to do this if she'd gone to a regular college, but now she's going to have a master's degree before she even starts her pilot training. And then my oldest is in Japan. I mean she gets to experience a different culture while serving on a ship there and she has just loved it. And I look at these opportunities and it's not just the three that my kids have had, but all of my friends' kids and all of their friends' kids. I mean going to foreign countries and immersing themselves in these countries and leading people learning these leadership skills at 23, 24 and stuff. So I mean it sets them up for life and gives them an opportunity that a lot of people go into regular college just don't get.

Speaker 1:

I love it, mic drop. I love every bit of it. Yes, you got something else.

Speaker 2:

Well, I just wanted to add a couple of things, please Is a little off topic, but one of the that the hosts will benefit from this as well, from this whole, from meeting these amazing kids and one of the things I was blessed because my kids had both. Two of my kids had traveled to Israel and made friends with IDF soldiers from Israel and this is prior to the October 7th thing but they traveled here and I hosted them and, wow, what an eye-opening experience for me to you know who, you know, cause we didn't go to an academy and we didn't get to go travel the world and we it brought the world to us, which was amazing. And I was able to actually find some other hosts on our. You know, we called and asked and I was able to find other hosts that were willing to host them as they traveled this country as well. And there are a couple of tag team things to tag onto a couple of things.

Speaker 2:

Usually we don't make the arrangements unless it's emergencies. There have been times, you know, for the sake of the poor kid doesn't have the list, and it's snowing outside and they crash their car. We're going to step on that phone and make those phone calls for them. We're not going to make them do that themselves. And lastly, I just want to say I would love to see you use this list, give it a shot, see what you think. Come to Yosemite, come stay with us.

Speaker 1:

I love it.

Speaker 2:

Use and I'll I may take you up on that too.

Speaker 1:

My, my wife and I are looking for a little two day, two, three day trip before we, before we send her on her way on deployment. So watch out, I may actually take you up on this.

Speaker 2:

I would love it.

Speaker 1:

But no, I again I, to the both of you, thank you so much. As you know, again, more than anything, what I love with Academy Insiders is supporting future midshipmen, midshipmen and their families right at large, and this is exactly what you guys are doing, spanning across all service academies, and I'm so grateful for what you've built and excited, hopefully you know together in getting the word out and just continuing to highlight this platform, hopefully the amount of families that we'll be able to support right and provide a real service to them and just continue to build our community together in the sharing of experiences and getting to meet each other, and so, really, appreciative of the both of you. Now, if anyone has additional questions about this program or anything, would you like them to reach out via that exact same email or kind of? How would you encourage people to get in touch if they had more questions?

Speaker 3:

That's the best way, because then we can send stuff right from there and it puts you on our list. So we have, like, if we need something, at one point we had to change a whole bunch of stuff on our list. So we we keep a list of who has the list, so we let them know hey, this is updated, so so the best way to contact us is through that list.

Speaker 2:

But we do, we monitor the pages and we have active duty. We're now that our kids are graduated, we're on the active duty pages too, and if there are emergencies, you know we try to monitor that and reach out to those families and tell them, hey, we try to monitor that and reach out to those families and tell them, hey, we can help you with this. And I myself put my phone number on I believe still on the paper emergencies, because you know there's times that it's I just, we can just do it faster, Yep, If there's an emergency.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Well, to the both of you. Again, a genuine thank you, Also to anyone listening. You can always just reach out to me and I'll put you in touch. We'll also put in the show notes and all the descriptions of everything. We'll put that email account for you to reach out. But feel free just always to shoot me a message and I'll put you in touch and we'll just continue to build this thing out and continue to provide a great service to the service Academy community. So thank you both very much. Before we wrap up, any last words, anything you want to add before we officially close out here no.

Speaker 2:

Well, thank you for your support. We do appreciate it. You know, getting it off the ground and getting it into the ears of people is the important thing to make it work, because it's the people that make the list work. So we appreciate that and we look forward to having you come visit.

Speaker 1:

I love it, Can't wait, All right. Well, everyone, thank you so much for the listen. If you have any questions, reach out. Otherwise, I hope you have a great day, 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. Thank you.

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Grant Vermeer

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