US Naval Reserve Midshipmens School - Capstan Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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and other oflice equipment from Rockne hall up to the second floor of the new Navy building. The fellow on the other end of a file cabinet philo- sophically remarked that if he should be shot at sunrise some morning for too many infractions of the rules, at least he would get another couple hours, sleep that day. Succeeding weeks Call two of themj of indoctri- nation were much like the first as to routine schedule, Seaman Door discovered. There were always innumerable new things to learn-and on the double. But even after the first week, he found his grip tightening on this new and confusing way of life. He decided that he liked the Navy's syste- matic way of doing things, and reflected that he could have accomplished a great deal more as a civilian with more of the Navy's place-and-time- for-everything attitude. Most important of all, he found himself taking a fierce pride in being a Navy man, and in living up to its standards for their own sake-not to mention escaping the ignominy of being dubbed a landlubber. Though still, and for months to come, a dry-land sailor, Seaman Door already could feel a responsive thrill to the glorious traditions established by such men as john Paul Jones, john Barry, Commodore Perry, and Admiral Farragut-and, by lineal kin- ship, Ferdinand Magellan, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Lord Horatio Nelson. All in all, he felt like an old salt, and put full steam on living the part to the extent that he might fulfill the definition of The blaster of a Ship of WVar,,' as set forth in X'Vard's HThe Wfooden World : f'His language is all heathen Greek to a cobblerg and he cannot have so much as a tooth drawn ashore without carrying his interpreter. It is the aftmost grinders aloft, on the starboard quarter, will he cry to the all-wondering operatorf' 40 'QV iff'

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When I first put this unjorm on I said, as I looked in the glars 'Ifs one in a million that any civilian Myjigare andform will surpassf I said, when Ijirsl put il on, 'It is plain to the veriest dunee That euegi beaugf willfeel il her duhf To yield to its glamor at once,, lf the truth were known, the secret reaction of Midshipman W. T. Door, to the first glimpse of himself in his eagerly-awaited dress blues coincided neatly with the sentiments expressed by Gilbert and Sullivanls vain colonel of the Heavy Dragoons. Donning dress blues, however, had no relation in time to actually becoming midshipmen, owing to several weeks, delay in arrival of the caps. By the time they came, impatience knew no bounds. This situation was neatly epitomized by Lt. Brown, commander of the first battalion, as he addressed the formation of the ultimate few whose odd sizes had Hnally turned up. In the drily humorous tone for which he has become well known, he remarked, Now, if there is any man here who doesn't want to get his dress cap, he has my permission to fall outf' After final indoctrination exams, however, jump- ers and white caps gave way immediately to blue shirts and ties, together with the then odd-looking blue-banded headgear, constituting undress blues. The blue-banders in turn were shortly succeeded by watch caps fthe Navyls term for what we called stocking caps in our belly-Hopping days, which, while no sartorial triumph, were accepted with re- joicing when winter in Indiana showed its true bitterness. The new class schedule revealed a highly satis- factory number of study periods, compared with the old indoctrination routine, but two develop- ments served to curtail all celebration. First of 1 42 ' ----N----. ,ff ' xc:-' Mgr ----..4 . 1' X K 5 7 - '2 fi-3 ,-. .,.-- K , KQV-.,,..- Q .fff .A Q 5 V 5- ti- we ,fr f my 4 a ,Q these was thatwwhile indoctrination had seemed rigorous enou ith,mspect to studies, it was FCHHY only Zig mild fwa fer-upper. Next, two or three study periods a week were snatched away for additional athletics. Navigation, ordnance, damage control, and sea- manship-these put together made up an incubus that fevered the hapless midshipman day and night, set himigto pawinsg wearily through tables in his dreams, curses on the man who first thoughtggf a gun on a ship fand incident- ally, agreeing wholeheartedly with Lord Nelson in his opposition to the use of sights on the grounds that they fwould introduce unnecessary complica- tions intoiiringj, getting hopelessly ensnarled in buoyancyiand stability calculations, and deeply envying landlubbers whose trafiic and steering problems had ,some relation to previous experience. If there was inthe regiment who stayed on top', of his Wark for more than a few hours be- hind, he did not let it be known, and most of us were lucky to keep Within hailing distance. To quote again the proud icolonel of the,-Heavy Dra- goons, ' I . H1 diana anticipate thai' , When I lirst put this unifoiiiti on.', One entry in the program which excited aicer- I tain amount of curiosity was executive drill. Now, everybody knew what drill was, and quickly tried to think of something else, but the executive part of it sounded intriguing. All hopes were we