#124 The Marine Corps Influence at the Naval Academy

The Naval Academy doesn’t just produce Navy officers, it produces Marine Corps officers too, and that fact quietly shapes almost everything about life in Annapolis. We’re digging into the Marine Corps influence at the United States Naval Academy, starting with the basics most families miss: the Marine Corps sits under the Department of the Navy, about 25% of each graduating class commissions into the Marines, and that structural reality shows up in the culture, the staff, and the standards midshipmen live with every day.

I also talk about a historic shift at USNA leadership: for the first time ever, the superintendent is a Marine general officer. From there, we get practical and personal. I share what it feels like to cross paths with Marines on the Yard, why they often come across as the “best of the best,” and the small moments that make Marine Corps culture unforgettable. More importantly, I walk through how Marine mentorship can shape a midshipman’s growth even if they never plan to go Marine.

The heart of the conversation is leadership. A Marine mentor pushed me toward Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, and one passage became a lasting framework for servant leadership: earning loyalty through sacrifice, lifting burdens first, and serving the people you lead. We connect that mindset to the “light at the end of the tunnel” for midshipmen who feel worn down by the grind: graduation brings a rare chance to make a real impact on real human beings.

We close with concrete pathways for midshipmen, including the Semper Fi Society, the Marine Mentor program, summer training exposure like PROTRAMID and MAGTF-style experiences, and the non-negotiable Leatherneck training evolution.

The Vermeer Group is a residential real company matching military families with trusted real estate teams across the country.  If you have any real estate questions at all, please text Grant at (650) 282-1964 or email grant@thevermeergroup.com

To stay most up to date with Grant, Naval Academy updates, and real estate insights, follow him on LinkedIn

The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.

This podcast is independently produced and reflects the views and opinions of its creators. It is not officially affiliated with, endorsed by, or representative of the United States Naval Academy or its affiliates.

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 matches service academy families with trusted real estate teams all across the country.  Text (650) 282-1964 with any real estate questions.

We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.

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Transcript

Welcome And The Marine Corps Link

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Hey and welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast. In today's episode, we're gonna talk all about the Marine Corps influence at the Naval Academy. This is something that I think sometimes gets overlooked, especially if you don't really have a background in the military, which is totally fine. Again, growing up, I had zero knowledge of the Naval Academy, really zero knowledge of the military. I didn't really fully understand that the Naval Academy, again, the Naval Service includes both the Navy and the Marine Corps. And as a result, there was a large Marine Corps influence at the Naval Academy, and I'm excited to talk all about it in this episode. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions after, please shoot me a note. Otherwise, enjoy the listen. Thank you so much. Before we get started, I want to make a quick disclaimer to make sure everyone knows Academy Insider and myself, Grant Fremier, are in no ways official representatives of the United States Naval Academy, the Navy, and or the Department of War. What I'm doing here again is just trying to provide a little bit of context, perspective, and understanding for the Naval Academy journey. But my use of the Naval Academy and conversation about them does not imply endorsement from the institution. If you ever have any questions directly for the Naval Academy, I encourage you to reach out to them directly and the Public Affairs Office. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. And I hope you have a great listen to the episode. All right, let's jump into it. Because again, at the end of the day, the Naval Academy graduates about 25% of its class, again, the senior year class, about 25% will graduate to become Marine Corps officers, right? So literally about 250 people, plus or minus a little bit, every year commission to become Marine Corps officers, second lieutenants in the United States Marine Corps after graduation. And we're gonna use this opportunity just to talk a little bit. Again, this is really designed to elementrify the entire idea of the military and how this works at large. For those of you who may not really understand the entire concept, because quite literally, right, within the Department of Defense, the Department of War, there are a couple of different military departments as well. There is the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Army, and the Department of the Air Force. Just those three. But grant, there's more than military branches than that. Exactly. And again, these departments kind of call control of the admin, budget, funding, everything as it relates to these departments. But within that, you have other military operational branches, right? So within the Air Force, you have the actual Air Force, the military branch Air Force, but you also have the Space Force, which is technically a separate military branch, but it falls under the department of the Air Force. The Department of the Army is really, well, it's just the Army. You got just the Army for the Department of the Army. But then you also have within the Department of the Navy, you have the United States Navy, the military branch, as well as the United States Marine Corps. It is a part of the Department of the Navy. It is, by definition, a naval service. The Department of the Navy controls, budgeting, funding, and manning for the United States Marine Corps as well. And that's why there is not a United States Marine Corps Academy. There is just the United States Naval Academy. And the Naval Academy is going to commission people both to become officers in the United States Navy as well as the United States Marine Corps. And again, because of this fact, there is a large Marine Corps influence in Annapolis. And that's really what the focus of today's episode is going to be. And especially now that for the first time ever in the United States Naval Academy history, the superintendent is a Marine officer. And again, to put this in perspective, the superintendent is a three-star general now for the Marine Corps. You go when you're in the Admiral and General ranks. So if you're an admiral, it means you're in the Navy. If you're a general, that means you are in the Marine Corps side. Again, specific for a Naval Academy folks. And so again, three-star admiral is known as a vice admiral. And a three-star general is known as a lieutenant general, right? So again, funny, funny little acronyms. I had to do it in my head because I've been out of the military so long. You would say, be my little general, which stands for the first one is a brigadier general, the 07 is a brigadier general, the 08 is a major general, 09 is a lieutenant general, and then the 010 again, four-star is just a general. And so again, that that superintendent at the Naval Academy is a three-star general. So again, quite literally the second to highest rank that exists in the officer ranks of the United States military. That is now a Marine Corps officer. And that superintendent in comparison to a civilian university, that's the president. That's the president of the university, right? Like this is a major role. This is a massive role. Again, you know, again, he's active duty. But again, if this was a civilian role, I mean, we're talking about a million and a half dollar salaried type job, right? Like this is a massive job as being the superintendent of the Naval Academy. It's a huge deal. Yeah, it's just pretty wild, right? And so forever, that role has been a Navy vice admiral, a three-star admiral in the Navy. Now it is a Marine Corps officer, right? And so again, likely there will continue to be a little bit more of a Marine Corps influence, Marine Corps culture, Marine Corps standard within the brigade of midshipmen, which is a little bit of a change, right? That's a little bit of a change. It's different than when I was there. When I was there, we had a Marine Corps Commandant, which is an 06, again, more involved in the direct day-to-day. But still, like there's there's a difference in the level of command than to have a Marine Corps superintendent. Pretty unique, pretty interesting. Again, quite literally unique, first time ever in the Naval Academy history. So pretty interesting stuff, pretty wild. Because of all of this, again, kind of going back to really how does this impact or affect your midshipment? How does this impact life in Annapolis or the general midshipman experience? There are a ton of Marines on the yard on the Naval Academy campus, right? You have officers, you have senior enlisted personnel, like there are a lot of Marines that are assigned to the Naval Academy. They're professors, they are company officers, they are on the staff, right? Like they help with the Commandant staff and the superintendent staff. They act as officer representatives for clubs, ECAs, sports teams, they're senior enlisted leaders, they're the brigade drill master, and so much more. They're everywhere, right? I think this is an important factor is that your midshipman will cross paths with a lot of Marines during their time in Annapolis. They're quite literally everywhere. And I think one of the really cool parts about the Marine Corps influence at the Naval Academy is that the Marines on the yard, and I have nothing to like actually prove this necessarily. Again, this is this observation, this is conjecture. Um but they're the best of the best. Like I swear they handpick the top performers in the fleet to come back to the Naval Academy, or there's this like, you know, a very select screening process, because the Marines who are at the Naval Academy are just they're elite. They're they're really good at what they do, and they just put such an incredible foot forward for the Marine Corps as you know, ambassadors, as representatives, as mentors for the young midshipmen. And it's really cool. And again, I think really what you're about to discover over the course of this episode is that it's really just gonna turn into kind of like bragging about the presence and aura and just general demeanor of Marines, and especially the Marines at the Naval Academy. They're crisp, they're clean, they're professional, they're super fit, they're well tailored, they're like everything about them is just like it's it's it's pristine. It's just incredible, right? Like so well presenting, but so well presenting also with like a very serious intensity, right? And despite the fact that like they're so clean and polished, they're also like they're super tough and they're really intense. It's this like very, it's almost like a dichotomy of this, like, you know, what you would you would almost expect them to be super rough and dirty and rugged, but they come across as really again clean, polished, presentable, but they have that, they have that dog in them, right? They got that dog in them. And again, it's just it's just really interesting. And, you know, along the lines of having them dogs in them, you know, again, I think this is always kind of the funniest piece about my time as a midshipman because, you know, the Marine Corps probably wasn't for me. Again, I ended up as a Navy cryptologic officer, about as far away from being a Marine as you could possibly be. But the the Marines on the yard, they impact your world so much. And I always remember like telling my dad stories about like the Marines and us laughing about like the Marine Corps ethos and identity and culture and just all this stuff. Because, you know, there were a couple of uh Marines on the yard. And again, what's really interesting is especially like the senior enlisted leaders that they send, the staff sergeants, the gunnery sergeants, which are the enlisted ranks, the senior enlisted ranks, uh NCOs, non-commissioned officers, that they send to the academy. Usually they have finished up, previously finished a tour as a drill instructor at the Marine Corps, like enlisted boot camp down, Paris Island or out in San Diego, right? And as a result, they have that, like, they have that super intensity, like you're watching a movie with the flat brimmed hat and you have that drill instructor in your face. Like they have that level of intensity and just like killer and dog in them, right? And again, I I keep using the term dog because I think the funniest thing, we had this one gunnery sergeant, notorious, he was well, you know, one of the senior enlisted leaders for one of the companies in in the first reg. So again, they were like over closer to the academic buildings, and I would always see them like walk into class, getting over to you know, to Michelson for my early morning classes. And I just remember always being like, oh, good morning, gunnery sergeant. Like again, when you pass them, I think this is an interesting piece about the Naval Academy too. Like when you pass a senior enlisted leader, an officer, again, for an officer, you're gonna literally have to salute them if you're outdoors and in uniform. But for, you know, and a senior enlisted personnel, you're gonna address them, right? You're gonna, you're gonna greet them and say good morning, right? So you walk past them and be like, hey, yeah, hey, good morning, gunnery sergeant. How you doing? Blah, blah, blah. And there was this one gunnery sergeant that would always like, he would never respond. Again, they don't look back at you and say, like, hey, good morning. I'd be, you know, and again, I have the demeanor that I have. So I'm like, hey, good morning, gunnery sergeant. And that gunnery sergeant would just bark at me. I mean that so genuinely. It's not an exaggeration. I would literally be like, hey, good morning, gunnery sergeant. He'd be like, just kill. You know, you I think you're gonna see a lot of stuff about like Marines is that they just have these like mannerisms and things that they do. You know, barking is one. They really take this identity of being devil dogs, right? Like that's a terminology that has been, again, my my naval and marine corps history is poor at this point in my life, but there was a battle in which they were described, you know, their adversaries described the Marines as devil dogs, right? Like they were just so relentless, they were so insane that they, you know, they described like these United States Marines, they're devil dogs, right? And and they and they and they embrace that. They own that. And uh, so quite literally, there was, you know, Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who would literally just like bark at me in the morning or address and just say like kill, right? Like kill. I mean that genuinely, like that's it. You hey, good morning, gunnery sergeant. Yeah, kill. And all those things crack me up. So yeah, you may, again, uh, it may be a fun conversation to like have with your, you know, your midshipmen if they, you know, have any marines that they particularly like and just like, you know, things that happen that just like crack them up. Because again, you may get, you may get a bark, you may, hey, good morning, gunnery sergeant. You may get a, you know, a kill, right? It's hey, good morning, gunnery sergeant, yeah, kill. Or you may get like uh, you know, a good yeah, you know, okay, so I give this is an actually interesting point too, is like, you know, every service kind of has their like call. I don't even know if call is the right word, but you'll hear some Navy folks and they'll say, like, oh yeah, hooyah, navy, hoo-yah, some very navy thing. The the Marine Corps, it it kind of their their like call is is it's like again, by like terminology, just ooh, o-o-r-a-h, but you know, they add like a real, you know, bass to it, right? So you get a lot of like err, or like, you know, something in there, like, err-rah, devil dog. You know, every time I try and impersonate a Marine, my voice gets really deep. But again, it's just like it was the experience that I had, these Marines that were a part of my experience, dude. It still brings the biggest smile to my face because they're just like, they're just Marines. And it made like it's just the best. It's literally just the best. We completely got off topic here, right? But again, that's the reality is like the Marines on the yard, they bring so much to the culture of this, and it's just so incredible. And I just like I look back at it with such fondness, right? And uh yeah, hey, good morning, good morning, Gunner, Sergeant. Hey, Red Double Dog. Yeah. Oh, I love it. All right. But on top of like the funny interactions and passing, right? I I was very personally impacted by Marines, probably more so than any other designator, any other community, any other type of officer that existed in Annapolis, right? And I wasn't a guy, like again, to put this in perspective, it's not like, oh my gosh, like I was like, I was a little Marine Corps midshipman, right? I was so into the Marine Corps, I was seeking them out as mentors because I wanted to be a Marine. It wasn't like I was proactively showing interest in the Marine Corps. The Marines didn't care. The Marines just care about teaching, coaching, developing, mentoring, and setting the standard, right? Like that's just, that's just who they are. And, you know, as a result, I had a ton of incredible mentors who were Marines. You know, particularly almost all of my mentors were really Marines. Again, this is not to discredit the incredible Navy officers who are a part of my journey. You know, Commander Morane, I just like I look back at him with such fondness. And, you know, he was a Navy guy. And again, there's different leadership styles and different things, but I was very personally impacted by Marines in my Naval Academy journey. I think a big piece of who I am today and my development and what I learned in Annapolis was because of the Marines. I just, man, like I as I go through my head and I think about the people who really impacted me. I mean, you've she's literally been on the podcast a couple of times, and I've told stories about her all the time. But, you know, then Gunnery Sergeant Beth Abbott, her investment and her involvement in my life, the conversations we had, you know, about her perspective as a junior Marine and her combat deployments and her time as a drill instructor and her time working with midshipmen and you know what it means and what it takes to be, you know, not just a successful officer, but to be just a good human being and a leader of men and women. Incredible. Chelsea Baldwin, my my company officer in my, you know, my set my latter years, junior, so second class and first class year, my junior and senior year, she was incredible. And she set a completely different standard than like my previous company officer. And it's just like, it was just different. I saw the distinction. And, you know, at that point in my life, I was going through kind of a big transformation of like my time of like really not enjoying the academy to really starting to appreciate all that the academy was, you know, doing to me in my in my development and my growth. And, you know, she played a big factor in that. Captain Green, who was a company officer in 6th Battalion. We ran across him all the time. The dude was literally frickin' Captain America. Like, I this is again some of the thing about these Marines on the Yard, dude, like I he could have been cast instead of Chris Evans or whatever the dude's name was. Like a frickin' a unit. And you know, super chiseled face and all this stuff, just like very polished and presented. Captain Green was just the man, right? And so many times we had conversations, especially in preparation for Plebe Summer. And again, my closest friends, my roommates, Christian Blanchard, you may have heard his story, you know, during the Golden Handshake episode, but he wanted to be a Marine, man. He wanted to be a Marine his entire life. And so we, and my other roommate, Jeremiah Harding, one of my close, both guys are still like my closest friends to today, that like they were both Marines. And so as a result, I kind of followed him around everywhere. And Captain Green was just like our guy that we went to with questions, concerns, need for help, mentorship, all these different things. You know, there was this guy, Colonel Athens, who was the uh the senior Marine on the yard. Again, his job, quite literally as a senior Marine, was to kind of coordinate the Marine Corps efforts in Annapolis. And, you know, he hosted and participated in a little bit of a like a care, again, our character capstone in leadership and had some conversations about some really cool stuff, and he was incredible. But there's one man in particular that I wanna kind of want to point out, and I'm gonna tell a story that I think just articulates everything that I've talked about right now and kind of puts it into perspective. Major Low Krusinger, now I think now Lieutenant Colonel Cruisinger, he was on the Commandant staff. So again, he wasn't a company officer. His job wasn't a direct, like involved with midshipman role. He was on the Commandant staff. He was in charge of his logistics operations, kind of controlling everything that the Commandant has to do. But that didn't stop him from investing in midshipmen. And he was our basketball company officer. And there are multiple times, again, in my second class year, that I was just looking for guidance and advice, right? Again, I went from playing a lot of, you know, on the basketball team, divisional college basketball. I'm a I'm a basketball player, like I love basketball, and basketball was a big impact in my world. You know, and as a freshman, I played a lot. I played more than I ever played in my time in Annapolis as a freshman. You know, I played a decent amount in my sophomore year, ended up getting hurt. And when I came back my junior year, I didn't play at all. And again, there are people who are better than me, people who developed more than me. And, you know, that was a that was an interesting transition in my world, right? And I thought that was kind of a thing where, you know, I was starting to get a bit pouty. I was starting to get a bit pouty about everything that was going on. And, you know, I went to Major Krusinger with my concerns. I had conversations with him about life and leadership, and his vulnerability and empathy to tell me his story was incredible. But we also just had conversations about leadership, and we we got to a point where he he was like, Hey, I'm gonna give you this book, and I want us on road trips to get together and have conversations about these different pieces of the book. And the book was a book by uh the name of Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield. Incredible, incredible book. It's the story of 300. 300. I'm sure you've seen the movie King Leonidas and the Spartans against Xerxes and the Persian King. But this book is a is a true commentary, not only about military leadership, but just about leadership. And Major Krusinger made me read this book in disgust with me throughout the way about every little thing and why this matters and why whether or not we're playing basketball or not playing basketball is just not as important as my continued development as a young man and a human being to be prepared to lead, you know, at that point, either sailors or marines, as soon as I graduated. And I just kind of want to give a rundown because I just think that like this is so it's so important and it sticks with me so much. Like this is again, this book, this passage that I'm kind of about to go through and these conversations that I had with Major Cruisinger really set the foundation of, again, and I don't do it well all the time. I fail constantly at it, but set the foundation of the type of human being that I want to be. And so again, this book, Gates of Fire. It's a it's again the story of the 300, and there's this passage toward the end of the book where, again, Xerxes, the Persian king, after they defeat the Spartans, there's one survivor on the Spartan side. It's a little battle squire on the Greek side of Battle Squire. He's discovered by the Persians beneath a mound of dead bodies. They kind of find him. He's he's sick, he's sick, he's injured and mortally wounded. But they kind of resuscitate, they're able to resuscitate him, the Persian physicians, bring him back to health at Xerxes' orders. Because Xerxes wants to know, like he wants to understand who were the Spartans. Who were these people that for every one of them was able to defeat and kill 40 of his soldiers, his his best trained soldiers, and who had the bravery and courage to stand there and continue to fight, knowing that they would die? What were they like? What what motivated them? What did all these things? Like Xerxes was, he couldn't comprehend how something like this would happen. And he particularly wanted to know about his counterpart, the Spartan king Leonidas. Right? And you know, he asks a question Is Leonidas a king like I am? If he is, where's his throne, his crown? Why did he fight in the desert in the dirt beside his men? What made him do such a thing? What kind of king was he? And the young squire in his last breath, he says, I will tell his majesty what a king is. A king does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A king does not dine. While his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand watch upon the wall. A king does not command his men's loyalty through fear, nor purchase it with gold. He earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. That which compromises the harshest burden, a king lifts first and sets down last. A king does not require service of those he leads, but provides it to them. He serves them, not they him. And I remember going through that and having a conversation with Major Krusinger, and he told me, he's like, You don't have to be a king. You don't have to lead the Spartans. I just want you to replace that passage, replace the word king with leader, and then read it again. I will tell his majesty what a leader is. A leader does not abide within his tent while his men bleed and die upon the field. A leader does not dine while his men go hungry, nor sleep when they stand at watch upon the wall. A leader does not command his men's loyalty through fear, nor purchase it with gold. He earns their love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. That which compromises the harshest burden, a leader lifts first and sets down last. A leader does not require service of those he leads, but provides it to them. He serves them, not they him. All right, we're taking a quick break from the episode because I want to tell you about what I actually do for my day job. Because at the end of the day, it's what allows me to continue making new Academy Insider episodes and producing this entirely free resource for our greater community. I love to joke, you know, I have my sugar mama. Okay, I have my wife who's still on active duty making that stable paycheck. But as it turns out, I would love to also continue contributing towards our household income. And I do that via residential real estate. Ever since getting out of the service, I have been in the real estate world and I've built a residential real estate consultation and referral business that serves Service Academy families nationwide. Again, it's my goal to be your guide, mentor, connector, and overall consultant through the entire process. And so if you are listening to Academy Insider, I would love to also have the opportunity to help you in this world. If you are thinking about buying or selling a home moving forward, I would love to have the opportunity to talk with you, help with you, consult you, and then connect you to a great real estate team anywhere in the country. I've helped multiple midshipmen families buy a second residence in the Annapolis area or even buy or sell their homes across the nation. I've helped graduates in the fleet buy, sell, and navigate their PCS, and I'd love the opportunity to do so. I've had people ask me how they can support me in the Academy Insider effort. And honestly, by supporting my actual job and my business would be the greatest way. So if you do anyone who's considering buying or selling a home in 2026, I'd love if you reached out or put us in touch. Means the world to me. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the rest of the episode. Have a good day. And again, I think sometimes you read that passage, you tell the story of the 300, and you assume that like this is about being an infantry marine. And a huge piece of it is, right? But it's, it doesn't, again, it doesn't have to be applied to just military leadership. This is life leadership. This is about being a father. This is about being a husband. This is about being a good human being who's a part of a community, who's a part of a tribe, right? And I discovered that being an officer, being a leader, being a human, it's not about commanding. It's not about commanding loyalty or demanding these things. It's about having real empathy. It's about knowing your people. It's about knowing the people around you and what they need and what they want and what they desire. Right? Again, a leader earns the love by the sweat of his own back and the pains he endures for their sake. Right? Like, what are you doing at your own extra effort, at your own discomfort, to help the people around you? That's it. Again, this isn't, in my case, as a cryptologic officer, it's not about like again, picking up something heavy and putting it down last or fighting side by side with a sword. But it was like, what extra efforts am I gonna make? What things am I gonna do to go above and beyond to make sure that my sailors know that I genuinely care about them and I will do whatever it takes to help them in their world. That's it. Right? And I just think, in general, of all of the mentors that I've ever had, who are really invested in my development, who taught me and advised me through my struggles and difficulties, and who kind of set my foundation and really reinforced which was my high school ethos of being a man for others, of being a person of service. Again, service not being what I do, it's not the uniform I wear, but rather service being my virtue, what I do, who I am is a person who is going to see other people. Literally. Not necessarily have to see them visually, but to see them, to understand them, to learn from them and see what struggles and pain points exist, and do what I can to try and help. Of all of the people and all of the mentors that I had who have taught me and advised me and reinforced that standard, they were Marines. They were Marines. Objectively, they were Marines. I ended up becoming a Navy officer. I didn't go into the Marine Corps, but that is the reality. And whether or not your son or daughter, whether or not you want to be a Marine or not, it doesn't mean you can't and won't still have the impact mentorship teaching, coaching, and involvement of Marines in your Naval Academy experience. It's the coolest thing. I I am the biggest fan. I am so grateful for my Marines, you know, who are a part of my world. And, you know, going back to that Major Cruisinger story, I just remember I was so down and out again. I my Naval Academy experience is a constant, is a constant feeling of being like, dude, this freaking sucks, and I just want to be done. Like I don't want to be here anymore. And, you know, it was Major Cruisinger who let me know that the light at the end of the tunnel, with the tunnel being the Naval Academy, the light at the end of the tunnel was that in very soon I was gonna have an ability to make a really positive impact in the life of real human beings, in the life of my sailors. Uniquely, probably compared to any other 22-year-old in the country. Being a military officer, you have an ability and the authority, the responsibility, the obligation to really help people. Like you have the opportunity to advocate on behalf of your people, to get them additional training, to get them education, to work with your unit to support other people's personal lives if they have to, they want to go to a wedding or they have to do these things. Like there are certain things that people just dismiss. But as an officer, as a junior officer, you have the ability to champion your sailors and make their lives better than anyone else's. And that is the light at the end of the tunnel. Like I'm telling you, for if you're a midshipman listening, or if you're the parent of a midshipman listening, and your son or daughter is complaining, or again, if you're a midshipman and you're complaining, the light at the end of the tunnel is the fact that you are very close to being able to make a really positive impact in the life of other human beings. And that's a really special thing. And the Naval Academy is a grind and it sucks. And it's it just it there's so much BS and so much dumb stuff. And the Navy and the Marine Corps are dumb in general, right? I think that's like again, it's funny saying that. I love it. I think it's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. But there's so much stuff where you're like, this is so ridiculous. But the light at the end of the tunnel is that you are going to be able to truly make an impact in people's lives. And the Naval Academy is going to prepare you to do that. It's going to prepare you to handle your own struggles, your own internal battles, your own difficulties, your own adversity to be able to then take on the burden of other people's and support them through their journey. And that's it. I wouldn't be who I am today without Marines. I think they're wildly impressive people. I think having a Marine Corps superintendent is a really cool little adjustment and change. And I'm excited to see the continued development of the Brigade Amidshipmen as a result of this. I think it's awesome. I think it's awesome. I have a lot of love for my Marine Corps brethren and sisters. It's really cool. Pause. Now moving on to the things on the yard. Again, that's my that's my take on all this stuff. But like when it comes to the Marine Corps influence, it's more than just the Marines on staff. There's a ton of stuff to expose people to the Marine Corps to cultivate and foster the Marine Corps experience. And so there are a couple things on the yard that I want to bring attention to. The first is the Semper Phi Society. Semper Fi Society is a group of midshipmen who have a Marine Corps affinity and definitely want to pursue a Marine Corps commission. The Semper Fi Society is a group of midshipmen who kind of support Marine Corps objectives. They host speakers, they bring in Marines, they coordinate cool events that are Marine Corps affiliated and related. It's really awesome. Again, your son or daughter is interested in the Marine Corps. Being a part of the Semper Fi Society is probably a great opportunity to get continued exposure to the Marine Corps. There's also an actual Marine Mentor program. As a result, every company of midshipment has a Marine Mentor. So even if your company officer is not a Marine, your company has a Marine mentor. And there are, again, so many Marines on the yard to be your personal mentor if you want to learn and grow and develop from a Marine. Super cool stuff. And then there's a ton of summer trainings, right? We're going to kind of walk through some of the different summer trainings that'll expose people to the Marine Corps. Again, especially related to previous episodes we just did about summer trainings. You know, again, obviously the first one is kind of going to be your first taste, which is Pro Trimint. So going into your third class year, going into your sophomore year, the midshipmen will participate in Pro Trimint. It's a four-week training evolution. You get a week with aviation, submarines, surface, but then you also get a week with the Marines. You get the Marine Corps week, Marine Week. And, you know, the midshipmen will be exposed to basic Marine Corps training, physical fitness. So go to the range, shoot guns, hike, do some different MOS presentations. Again, MOS meaning the Marine Occupational Specialty. That's what your actual job is in the Marine Corps. Again, because you can be Marine Corps ground and do a wide variety of different jobs. Like not all Marine Corps ground officers are the same. Not all Marine Corps ground officers are infantry officers. Every Marine Corps officer is a rifleman. They all go through TBS, the basic school, and they, you know, developed in a similar baseline foundation. But again, you could be a PAO. You could be a supply officer. You could be a logistics officer. You could be a low-altitude air defense officer. You can be a, I don't know, a combat engineer, you can be an actual infantry officer. Again, millions of things that you can do in the Marine Corps, in that your MOS, military occupational specialty, marine occupational specialty, that kind of is the different distinct jobs that you can have. And again, the midshipmen will get exposure to the different MOSs that exist. There's another training, it's a cool one, PTE, professional training event. If that if that doesn't make sense, this term PTE, then I encourage you to go listen to my last episode if you haven't, because we break down what that is. But it's called MagTAF. Again, this is it's spoken MagTAF. Uh it stands for the Marines Air Ground Task Force, and you'll see it abbreviated as just M-A-G-T-F, MAGTAF, the Marine Air Ground Task Force. It's kind of like a service cruise almost, but for the Marine Corps, right? And basically you're assigned a junior marine officer as a running mate. You get to experience the daily battle rhythm of a marine unit, marine officer. The, you know, the blocks divided into two two-week segments. So you'll get to kind of be with two different units, two different officers, get to see two different cultures, experiences, all this different stuff. But you kind of get the most like real exposure to day-to-day life in the Marine Corps through MACTAF because ProchMid is kind of uh, and then Leatherneck is more of like preparation for TBS. So it's more of like the training side of the house versus like just getting to see what you know day-to-day life is for Marine Corps, junior Marine Corps officer and some of the Marine Corps units. Another one, Marine Security Forces, it's a cool one. That's for folks who like definitely want to be like a Marine infantry officer. You get to walk around and hang out with Marine Security Forces. A lot of physical training, you know, lots of shooting, lots of cool stuff. It's pretty, pretty sweet. The reconnaissance training assessment program, RTAP, I actually don't know much about that one, but that exists. The Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center, abbreviated MWTC, the Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center. That's a cool one. That's like a special forces type one as well. You know, if you're interested in being a Marine, you're top performing, and you put in a request to do this as your PTE, it gives you an opportunity again, exposure to infantry, some of this stuff. This is the first one where you have to complete the MARSOT screener. So the Marine Special Operations team, they host like a screener during the year. And what a screener is, you're going to hear this term screener for the EOD community, explosive explosive ordnance disposal, the SEAL screener, again, kind of going through for the SEAL community, and then the MARSOT screener, the Marine Special Operations Screener. What a screener is, is quite literally what it sounds like. You're putting a screen, you're like screening which midshipmen actually have the capability, the aptitude, the physical fitness, all these things to participate in future trainings and continue down the pipeline for that stuff to become an EOD officer, to become a SEAL officer, or to participate in some of these Marine Corps training evolutions and pursue a commission in the Marine Corps. So lots of cool stuff there. Mountain Warfare Training Center is an awesome one. And again, you have to complete the Mars Aut screener to even like qualify and apply to submit an application to do that as a PTE. Other cool ones, Marsock. You can actually go to a Marine Special Operations Command Unit and kind of go with them. It's pretty freaking sweet. You know, MarsOc is, again, they're the special operations component of the Marine Corps. And special operations, when we talk special operations, like the Navy SEALs are a special operations unit. They fall under the, you know, special operations command. So Marsock is basically the Marine version of SEALs, right? And super badass. Super dope. Really cool stuff. Another one is the Marine Corps instructor water survival school. You can kind of learn like combat, water proficiency, and swimming and do all that stuff and other really cool ones. So again, and there's more. Tons of really cool opportunities to get exposure to the Marine Corps over summer training as well. Not just the Marines you have on the yard, but go do really cool things in the Marine Corps at large during summer trainings. Really awesome opportunities. You know, if you're if your midshipman is interested in stuff like that, you can kind of ask about some of these trainings. And if they're participat or trying to participate in the Marsat screen or do some Marine Corps summer trainings, could be a cool opportunity to learn a little bit about what they want and what they're hoping to accomplish. And then the biggest one is again Leatherneck. And that's going into your first class year. You have to do Leatherneck if you are going to commission into the Marine Corps. That's like a non-exception. All these other stuff is exposure. You can have fun with it. If you're going to commission into the Marine Corps, you have to go to Leatherneck because Leatherneck is quite literally an important training evolution. It's like a pre-TBS. You kind of get exposure to all that. But but it's also an evaluation for the Marines, right? Again, this is a very important two-sided decision. You need to want the Marine Corps, and the Marine Corps needs to want you in order to actually receive a commission as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps. And so, you know, T or Leatherneck is an awesome opportunity. You go up to Quantico, you go to the basic school, Quantico, Virginia, and again, you're put through and evaluated on your leadership, physical fitness, military skills. You know, you run the O course, you run the E course, you do basic stuff like you learn land navigation and kind of going through all this stuff. Again, evaluation is a strong word. It's not like, you know, it's not insane. As long as you are, you know, engaged, curious, learning, physically fit, able to participate. Like it just shows you have the desire and will to. Like that's what they're looking for more than anything. Again, I don't, I don't want people thinking like, oh my gosh, they're not going to make it. Again, you should have trust in your son or daughter that they've prepared appropriately to succeed there. Again, it is a training evolution, but there's also, again, a slight evaluation because, again, they need to make sure that they actually want to be a Marine, and the Marines need to make sure that that person is likely going to be a good fit for the Marine Corps as well. All right, wrapping up, final things, just you know, like what can you do in the Marine Corps, especially coming out of the Naval Academy? So there are three main service assignments that you can do within the Marine Corps. You can service select Marine Ground. And again, if you go Marine Ground, you're gonna go to the basic school, go through, and you're gonna have, again, a ground contract, meaning you are not a pilot. And so as a result, at the end of TBS, you will receive your MOS, your Marine Occupational Specialty, which then is your job-specific code within the Marine Corps. Again, you can be an infantry officer, you can be, you know, again, PAO, supply, logistics, all this different stuff. Tons of different communities within the Marine Corps. And so when you get a Marine Ground Service assignment, it means you're just going to TBS to be a Marine Ground Officer and you won't know what your actual job is gonna be until the end of TBS. You can be a Marine Aviator, you can get an assignment in Marine Corps Aviation, which means you're gonna go to TBS because even the pilots they still go to TBS, they go through all the training because every Marine is a rifleman, even the aviators. So you go there and then you go to flight school and then you figure out what you're gonna fly after you're already there, right? So when you get that assignment, you don't know what you're gonna fly. You just get your assignment, you go to TBS, you then go to flight school, and then you figure out what you're gonna fly. You just know again at the Naval Academy that you have a like an aviation contract. You have a flight contract, you're gonna go to flight school. And then recently you have Marine Corps Cyber, which is part of like the Marine Corps ground thing. But again, in order to support the cyber effort, there are a handful of midshipmen that can already kind of guarantee that they're gonna get a Marine Corps cyberspace officer MOS and go through that knowing that they're gonna have that MOS and designator at the end. So Marine Corps Ground, Marine Corps Aviation, and Marine Corps Cyber. What an episode. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed getting to talk about it. This is a special topic to me. I really enjoy getting to share these stories about the influence Marines had in my life. There will certainly be no shortage of exposure, no lack of exposure to the Marine Corps for anyone at the Naval Academy. You know, you may hear Yumid Shipman complain about the Marines. They can be a lot, they can be intense. You know, notoriously, they you know, stereotypes would indicate that maybe they have a you know stick up their behind sometimes. I think that is potentially the negative side of the Marine Corps environment or atmosphere, personality in general, if we're just stereotyping. So you may, you may hear some of that from your midshipmen as well. They can be really tough. But having the influence on the Marines on campus, that's a huge part of what makes the Naval Academy so dang special. Straight up. Straight up. Because even if it's not your cup of tea, the lessons that you will learn will last a lifetime. It's just that simple. And so, so yeah, we're gonna wrap it up there. I hope you enjoyed this. If you have any questions specifically about the Marine Corps path, please feel free to ask. I have tons of friends who are going through it right now and be happy to share those details. And I hope you gained a little something out of this episode. Thank you so much. Have a great day. 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 it 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.