United States Naval Academy - Lucky Bag Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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PLEBE YEAR? Midn Y: Yep. Plebe year. The infamous quote of the century, here at USNA: Suck it up and go with it, ' cause that ' s the way it ' s gonna be — MIDN CAPT Butler. Midn X: Those were the good old days. We got our first taste of what the Naval Academy would be like on 1-Day, when we were obediently sign- ing all the forms they put in front of us. We were told, By the way, one of those papers you ' re autographing says that you agree that your com- mitment will be five years active and three years in the reserves, instead of the two years that we told you before. Psych! Midn Y: That was just the first of many changes that we would see over our years at the Academy. When I talk about our plebe year, I tend to start with, Do you remember when ... ? For ex- ample, DYRW we had to pick up our uniforms at the Press Shop, and the Brigade Services Mall opened in October? Midn X: DYRW The Laundry People made us write our alpha codes on all four corners of our sheets and bedspreads? DYRW we didn ' t have to wear a nametag on liberty uniforms, and women wore real ties with WUB A instead of wings ? Midn Y: DYRW Mr. Pep drew moans and cheers from the Brigade, but in either case refused to be ignored? Have you got that spirit — yeah, yeah . . . DYRW midshipmen (besides plebes) ac- tually attended pep rallies and had a good time? DYRW we had to do over 300 push-ups at the Princeton game? Now those were really the good old days — when we excitedly summarized a football game for our upperclass, and they said, Nap?! Nap?! is that what you call him?! Do you rate that? Midn X: Our plebe year was the last year that plebes didn ' t have mandatory breakfast, and up- perclass didn ' t have reveille. Firsties had liberty every afternoon, second class had Wednesday libs, and reg PE gear was something that only plebes and really weird youngsters wore. Midn Y: But things weren ' t all rosy for the up- perclass. When we threw our company com- manders in the Severn after the last parade, they got fried — breaking ranks, or something like that. RHIR. Midn X: And firsties who stayed in the Hall while they were on weekend had to go to formation (were supposed to go to formation) on Saturday mornings. Midn Y: The reasoning behind the rule was, Bancroft Hall is just like a ship, and if you were on a ship, you wouldn ' t ever be able to sleep through reveille. Midn X: Army-Navy, ' 85 — as plebes, we were allowed to jump ship and stay overnight in Philly. It was the last year, officially, that plebes were allowed to change shoulderboards with fir- sties. Midn Y: We were supposed to be reviewing The Year. How did we get all the way back to plebe- dom? Midn X: I think we were talking about mem- orable quotes. Hey, I ' ve got one. Who said, If m 20 Class Histon. £

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Midn Y: Oh, didn ' t you hear? There wasn ' t a Training Officer this year. It was all done by he Hall computers. ew and Midn X: Was it the same computer that con- ceived the idea of RUN AIDS . RUN king 01 SANTACLAUS . RUN EASTER , and oth- ver the er various holidays and diseases? Course. i the 0- Midn Y: I think you ' re exaggerating, X. Anyway, the Academy wasn ' t really run by computers, you know. There were people behind those comput- rumor. ers. Rumor had it that The Man behind the -there machine was LT Kachmarik. around iticipat- Midn X: It must be true. That man single- handedly prevented my Mail Directory from mi- grating for a whole year. rding to e to the Midn Y: And, in spite of all his advice, we still went out and drank green beer on Saint Patrick ' s Day. 11 ral ' Midn X: You know, we had a lot of people deainat aroun( j t0 gj ve us a( j v ice. For example, take 0r ' CAPT Shupp. Please. Ha Ha. ode had , under- Midn Y: Yes, I remember the Drill God — he re found advised me that if I took a knee on the parade hange of field, he would remove my tonsils with his thumb Id have and forefinger. Midn X: He wasn ' t totally unreasonable, Y. Sure, - on his he didn ' t want us to take a knee — but he didn ' t the news mind if we took a face. Always remember Shup- orth last pology 7 (?), Work hard and don ' t take a knee. tyously. I Midn Y: Words to live by. But I have to admit, ided. whenever I think of all the valuable advice that I ' ve received, my mind starts to wander . . . back to . . . Midn X: Oh, no . . . not way back to . . . Class Historviy » ■

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you don ' t like it, quit! They ' re still taking ap- plications at the University of Maryland ? Midn Y: Too easy. It was the one, the only, CAPT K. — aka Captain Al, the plebers pal. The speech that you ' re referring to will live forever in the hearts and minds of all members of the Class of 1988. 1 wish I had a complete transcript. As it is, I can only remember general impressions . . . Midn X: I know what you mean. When I think of it, I remember bits and pieces, like faggy stuffy things, pansies, and we don ' t have to apol- ogize for anything we do. YOUNGSTER YEAR Midn Y: Yep, that speech really capped off the year well. It was the year of Carl Beve. Jr. Midn V. Talk about rumors! I heard some real winners about him. Who was he, anyway? Did he have anything to do with Sandra Day O ' Connor? Midn Y: No. I don ' t think so. Must have been another rumor. But some events were more sub- stantial — for instance, the demise of Midship- men Held Publications. We all mourned the MHP ' s loss, until we figured out that it would mean more weekends, and more civilian clothes privileges. Midn X: The civvies regs were definitely twisted. Old rules: weekends in uniform, but when de- parting on and returning from leave, civilian clothes were allowed. New rules: civvies were allowed on weekends, but for leave, we had to be in uniform. Whv? In the Fleet, vou alwavs re- port to your duty station in uniform. What ' . ' Midn Y: Whatever. Under the New Rules, the Dant ' s List was defined to replace the company officers ' list. Newly privileged mids received standardized bennies. Midn X: But there were some bonuses that we all received. Like, for example, our official Torpedo ' Em penlights. Did we really pay five dollars for those things? I still have mine. I figure it ' ll be a collector ' s item someday. Midn Y: One of the biggest events of the year was Hurricane Gloria — the gloriafied rainstorm that cancelled Friday classes and sent firsties to the sea wall to rescue drowning cars. Midn X: As youngsters, we drove POV ' s to Army, Class Histoi 21 4