Berkshire Community College - Falconer Yearbook (Pittsfield, MA)

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here was a time in other years when the applications of principles and methods here in school were recognized but perhaps not fully appreciated. 1 This was typical of all classes in which professional subjects were taught, but . midshipmen invariably failed to see the sense of the system, to understand the excess of importance placed on nice judgment and technioalities, and to realize that exact- wordings must be reviewedagain and again until stamped indelibly on their memories. Those who graduated ten, nfteen years before our class thought surely the nrst two years aboard ship were suiiioient to learn the detail and routine of a peacetime Navy. The word' Emergency was not reckoned as death and destruction falling from a peaceful Sunday morning sky. For them, it meant only breakdown, collision in the fog, or a minor squabble. For them, there was preparation before and after graduationg a new Ensign was given two years to recover from the Academy. Now there are no dummy runs, but the shibbcleth remains the same - From knowledge, sea power. What is learned must be retained, we must face and be ready to solve problems three months after graduation that others have waited years to encounter. The hours spent on exact and complete knowledge are repayed with the assurance that we can do our part. We have been pressed, but we are prepared.

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