#042 Generational Changing Opportunity - The United States Naval Academy

Generational Changing Opportunity - The United States Naval Academy

In this special episode of the Academy Insider Podcast, host Grant Vermeer is joined by Troy Thompson, a class of '17 graduate, for a deep dive into the transformative impact of the United States Naval Academy on its midshipmen and graduates. They share their personal experiences, touching on the challenges and rewards of life at the academy, the power of the Naval Academy network, and the generational opportunities it provides. 

From discussing the importance of mentorship and leadership lessons to exploring the financial stability and global experiences afforded to junior officers, this episode encapsulates the essence of what it means to be part of the Naval Academy community.

Highlighting stories of influential figures within the network, such as Vice Admiral Mel Williams, the podcast encourages current and future midshipmen to lean into their experiences, embrace the academy's mission, and contribute meaningfully to their communities.

00:00 Welcome to Season 2: Unveiling the Naval Academy Experience

01:19 Diving Deep with Troy Thompson: A Naval Academy Journey

10:10 The Power of Mentorship and Leadership at the Naval Academy

22:11 Life After the Academy: The Junior Officer Experience

26:38 Maximizing Financial Opportunities in the Navy

27:59 Investment Strategies and Real Estate Ventures

28:35 Setting Financial Systems for Success

35:12 The Power of the Naval Academy Network

43:29 Advice for Future Naval Academy Students

54:07 Closing Thoughts and Gratitude

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.

Connect with Grant on Linkedin
Academy Insider Website
Academy Insider Facebook Page

If you ...

Transcript

Generational Changing Opportunity - Annapolis

Academy Insider Season 2 Podcast Episode - Troy Thompson 

Grant Vermeer: [00:00:00] Welcome to Season 2 of the Academy Insider Podcast. Academy Insider is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that serves midshipmen, future midshipmen, and their families. At its core, this podcast is designed to bring together a community of Naval Academy graduates and those Affiliated with the United States Naval Academy in order to tell stories and provide a little bit of insight into what life at the Naval Academy is really like I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you so much for listening and reach out if you ever have any questions

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 [00:01:00] 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 Vermeer group.

com. You can also reach out to me on my LinkedIn page, Grant Vermeer, and I'd be happy to respond to you there. Thank you so much. And now let's get back to the episode. Hey everyone. And welcome back to the Academy Insider podcast today. I'm joined by Troy Thompson, who's a class of 17 graduate, my classmate from the Naval Academy.

And in this episode, we're going to touch on a couple of different topics, but all with the overarching theme of what makes the Naval Academy a generational changing opportunity in someone's life. We touch on what makes being a midshipman so powerful and so amazing. We talk about the crazy life experiences, but also how well being a junior officer in the fleet can set you up for life.

We talk about the power of the Naval Academy network and what it means to be a Naval Academy graduate. And then we wrap it up all together and just talk about what makes the Naval Academy such a special place. I highly [00:02:00] encourage you to check out this episode, please share it with friends. If you like this video at any point, please like and subscribe to the channel or the podcast.

It helps us and helps get the word out about what an amazing place the Naval Academy is. So enjoy the episode, reach out to me at any time with any questions. Have a great day. Hey everyone. And welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast today. I'm joined by one of my really good friends, a member of the Academy Insider Advisory Board, and just generally a great human, my guy, Troy, Troy Thompson.

Thanks so much for joining us today. If you don't mind just giving people a little bit of background, where you're from, what brought you to the Academy? What are you currently doing? 

Troy Thompson: Absolutely. So Grant, thank you so much. Nice to be back on the Academy Insider Podcast. We were, I think I was on episode three back in 2019, so good to be back to the re release and also be a part of the redevelopment and the redesign as you bring this idea and this concept back to life.

So Troy Thompson. I am a Surface Warfare Officer by trade. I do a lot of [00:03:00] other things that hopefully will unfold and break into during, of course, this podcast. I call Marietta, Georgia, my home. I was born in Syracuse, New York. Both of my parents were Syracuse University Law School students when they had me.

Moved from Syracuse very young. Went to Omaha, Nebraska, then back to Georgia. So, had an interesting story there, but Georgia is my home. I am a 29 year old born October. Um, not necessarily into any of the, if you're into that, I'm a Libra. So from there, played football at the Naval Academy, cybersecurity, uh, cyber operations, uh, BS degree with Grant.

We did a lot of work together. Great work together. Late nights, Capstone project. Hey, we got our capstone 

Grant Vermeer: project. That's somewhere in the Naval Academy archives. 

Troy Thompson: Educational review, right? Yeah. Yeah. Educational, educational review. We did some good stuff there. So after that, did nothing with my cyber operations degree, technically, um, and went into the surface [00:04:00] warfare space.

Went directly to Sasebo, Japan after graduation and actually spent a lot of time there. So from 2017. To 2022, I was, uh, deployed, uh, forward deployed to Sasebo, Japan. I had a variety of jobs there, communications officer, cyber officer, shifted over to be first lieutenant and then fleeted up or decided to stay on the ship, fleet up as Navy speak, um, and was the navigator on board and did that for two years, got to take the ship back from, uh, From Japan, back to San Diego.

So that was absolutely phenomenal. Definitely a core memory of mine, crossed the equator twice, three times. So got to do that three times and have been to so many different places, had so many awesome opportunities, and have truly enjoyed my surface warfare experience so far, so much so that I'm assigned department head.

Grant Vermeer: I love that. First of all, congratulations on that, assigned department head. And before we even jump a ton into your, what you're currently doing in life experiences that you've got as a result of all this. [00:05:00] Being a kid from Georgia, at least I had stint in Nebraska as well, but mainly in Georgia. Did you know much about the Naval Academy and kind of what was your process of discovering that Annapolis was an option for you?

Troy Thompson: Absolutely. So it's interesting. I think what, at least from my community, I never had exposure to the Naval Academy. Didn't really have exposure to West Point or Air Force either. What most people that I knew, anybody that went to those schools, they were getting recruited as athletes from West Point Air Force and Navy.

Yeah. Absolutely. So it's funny, I used to watch the Army Navy game, and I think my dad had some comprehension because he would always make me watch it. And I didn't know that we had any service background, that we had anybody in my family that served. That wasn't something that was of my mindset back then.

But then we used to watch those games and I always thought that those were enlisted sailors and soldiers that were playing, just never had any comprehension. So I actually did not know about the Naval Academy as an option until Coach Ashley Ingram came to a spring practice my junior year and [00:06:00] essentially said, Hey, we've been watching your film, we are recruiting you.

We would like to have you out in the summer. And that was kind of my first introduction to the Naval Academy. Had to sit down with my coach. My high school coach back then who was a great person, Coach Ironsides, at Hillgrove High School, and he talked to me about how real of an opportunity that would be, and how much those folks do, not just in the four years that they're at school, but 20, 30 years beyond their matriculation at the institution.

So that helped me kind of. Develop my mindset about, okay, this is a genuine opportunity, despite not having much background or knowledge about what the Naval Academy or the academies in general. 

Grant Vermeer: Yeah. And it's really interesting because my dad would say the same thing, right? And in my recruiting process, because I play basketball, he was like, right, this university specifically, this is not a four year decision.

This is a 40 year decision, right? Like these are the kinds of, again, life changing opportunities that come as a result of all these different aspects. But I also think it's interesting, right, both you and I, relatively affluent areas, me in the San Francisco Bay [00:07:00] Area. I didn't know about the Academy, right?

And it wasn't until my sport that, like being recruited for my sport that I discovered the Naval Academy, right? And so I kind of want to make this pitch now and encourage you to talk because I know this is something you're doing. Is. For all my grads that are out there, we need a larger blue and gold influence, especially from younger grads, right?

To come back and speak at some of these information sessions and get the word out to as many people as we can, because I just want. Again, so many contemporary perspectives and influences to come to talk to people and spread, for lack of a better word, the good word about the Naval Academy and the service academies and the changes that they provide.

Troy Thompson: Right. Yeah. So I'd love to hit on that really quickly. So just finished up all of my, uh, application processes for the blue and gold officer program. So for those who aren't familiar, blue and gold officers are the principal liaisons in the community. I'm in a local community that, uh, engage with applicants that go to schools.

To do STEM engagements and also to just do information sessions. [00:08:00] So here in the DC area, I'm a blue and gold officer. Cause that's where I'm currently stationed. And it's just a great opportunity to get out into the community and tell people about the positive aspect of the Naval Academy, um, and also to a sewage.

Some of the fears that people have about service, about what it means to be a soldier, a sailor, an airman, what it means to be in connection to the department of defense writ large. I think that nowadays most children. Don't have a positive understanding or even any understanding of what it means to serve for our armed forces or for our military.

So truly a great opportunity. And these kids are hungry for information. Men are also, like you said, hungry for people that they can relate to. I distinctly remember my blue and gold officer experience. Because it wasn't memorable. It was an older person who wasn't able to connect. They asked a series of questions.

It felt extremely dry. And if I hadn't had the sports background and that connection to the Naval Academy as an institution itself, prior to going through that process, I would have had a completely different understanding or appreciation for what the institution [00:09:00] stood for. So it's imperative. I think it's important for us to have young folks who have energy, who are doing great things, whether it's in the military or out, because you don't even have to be a graduate of the Naval Academy to be able and gold officer.

You just have to have a passion for making sure that our service academies. And, you know, partial to Annapolis, um, bringing in partial to Annapolis, bring in high quality candidates from every inch of America who have a genuine love for our country, who have a genuine desire to serve and who are intelligent, competent, and ready to lead.

I mean, if you have a commitment to do that, like your area probably is hurting for blue and gold officers. And if they're not, they probably could use them. Sure. 

Grant Vermeer: Absolutely. And I think, I think it's so big to. Like touch on all those aspects and be able to come and be able to express with a generally recent perspective of your time at the academy again, the power of being a mid shipment, the life lessons that you learn and everything that comes from your experience in Annapolis and how it sets you up for life, right?

And so that's kind of why I want to turn it over to you is [00:10:00] as we shift back into this is just talking about the mid shipment experience. And I want to have used this opportunity in this platform to kind of be able to spread that word as well. I know you. We've been friends for a long time. I know you've been keeping a long list of like Leadership lessons and life lessons that you've been because that's the kind of reflective person you are Can you tell for all the parents out there that are listening grandparents or even to people who may be interested in the Academy?

Can you share your experience and some of the major life lessons and leadership lessons? You learn from your time in the Academy and just kind of relate it to a high level of how Special the place the Naval Academy is in developing these things 

Troy Thompson: Yeah, absolutely. So I always love prefacing this. One, radical transparency is one of the things that is hard to have, but it's a critical at an institution that prioritizes integrity like the Naval Academy.

And I actually had a, an opportunity to almost get kicked out of the Naval Academy while there. I don't talk about this often, but I actually had an honor offense. [00:11:00] And that honor offense was something that I don't speak about often, but it was one of those things where it humbled me. And the reason that I had that honor offense is because first two years as an athlete, my grades weren't great, but I had always seen myself as somebody who was a high academic achiever who was extremely intelligent.

I kind of had some hubris. With regard to my natural capabilities and competencies, that honor offense was an indication of the fact that my hubris had overcome my integrity and had overcome my desire to do right. And that was one of the most humbling instances that I had, uh, at the Naval Academy. And something that I'm genuinely thankful that happened when it happened, because that changed the trajectory of not just my military, uh, time, but also more particularly my officer time.

Um, because I had certain engagements with the Commandant after having had positive engagements with the Commandant, Colonel Liszewski, at the time, I had negatively oriented engagements that were truly humbling, but also forced me to have to look at myself in a different light that I had never had the opportunity to do.

So that's one tenet [00:12:00] that I internalized, and there are two there. It's one, how to be comfortable being comfortable, or how to be comfortable being uncomfortable. And two, how to not internalize failure. And to ensure that you are always doing the right thing, even when nobody's looking. So those are two of my, my highest principles that I continue to ascribe.

And that's a story that I tell my sailors. That's a story that I tell my mentees, because at the end of the day, you can learn a lot by watching people who are doing things correctly, but I think you learn a lot more by learning how not. And I can honestly say that my greatest leadership lesson and my greatest life lesson as a man was the moment where I was the closest to failure and in fact failed.

So that's something that I think the Naval Academy taught me that I probably would never have gotten elsewhere that I am so existentially thankful for. A couple of other things that I've got is I have a series of questions for what to ask. And I think that oftentimes. When you don't have information, you don't know what questions that are correct to ask to be able to figure out how you can provide value.

And [00:13:00] this is great for, you know, new JOs. This is great for plebs because oftentimes you're going into this organization, you're kind of blind to what you're going into. You're going into this major. You don't know how you're going to pan out from an intellectual and skills based perspective. I mean, cyber operations, we had people who had been coding for 10 years.

Um, so there were certain people who had expertise, but they That you had to look at and say, oh, okay, you are, you are definitively better than I am at this skill set. So maybe I can lean on you. Whereas other people had policy oriented backgrounds, and they were really comfortable reading, comprehending, evaluating, and understanding how policy engaged and interacted with.

The technical aspect of things such that you could have that, that Evan, that flow, um, so the questions that I always like to ask is first and foremost, how can I be a value here and what am I missing? Oftentimes we go into a situation thinking that we know what it's about. And I, they, and plebe summer is a great example of that.

You know, they, people tell you all the time that you walk into plebe summer and you're going to get yelled at. You're going to get screamed at. You're going to [00:14:00] get told the chop. You're going to get told to get on your face and do pushups. But they don't actually tell you. What, what are you, what are we trying to do?

What are we trying to do with this process? And what is the end state that you should be trying to, to understand and break into? And I think, I think so much like about how do you get young people to recognize early that this is about more than just the actions you're doing. And it's about those underlying principles that we're trying to inculcate into.

Grant Vermeer: No, I think, I think that's huge, man. I'm going to, sorry, I'm just going to cut you off really quick just to, just to interject, which is, uh, first of all, Selfless plug or selfish plug to go listen to I recorded an episode with Commander Mike Murnane, uh, and he was the officer in charge of plebe summer. And we talked about the purpose of plebe summer, the purpose and mission of plebe summer and a huge piece of this.

And to go back to your first tenant that you brought up about, you know, having to be close to failure and learning and developing. I just want to reiterate to everyone listening, and this is what I think is [00:15:00] so special about service academies. Again, for us, the mission of the Naval Academy is to develop, to develop midshipmen.

And so I think there's a lot of things like in a lot of different, um, aspects of even commissioning sources, OCS, whatever the case is, like they're screening for people who already have the traits. Everything at Annapolis is all about development, which development's not fun at times, right? In order to develop, you're gonna have to go through adversity.

You're going to have to fail. You're going to have to learn, adjust, and then make or make adjustments. Right. And so, um, I think this is a really special thing about the service academies again, is that the mission of the Naval Academy is to development shipment, morally, mentally, and physically. Right. And you're, and you're going to do those things, which is going to be painful at times, it's going to be difficult at times, and it's going to make you uncomfortable and you're going to have to get comfortable.

In that state of discomfort, because that's how we're growing, learning, and eventually leading. And so, um, so I just want to interject with that. That's kind of like my big piece that I always tell people is they're getting ready to come to the [00:16:00] Naval Academy, right? Is you're going to, and this is the thing that a lot of people say, you're, you know, you're going to fail.

You do all this stuff, but like, this is the purpose, like the purpose of the Naval Academy is to develop yourself, to push yourself, to grow, to become a better person and leader. And so you really need to embrace that. 

Troy Thompson: And that embrace process is, that embracing that is something that looks different for everybody.

And I think that's what we all have to think about prior to. Um, there's this principle in Bushido, which is the, you know, the warrior principles of the samurai. Uh, that essentially say, you have to think about battle before it ever occurs, such that when you enter battle, You don't have to think with your mind, you're thinking with instinct.

Um, so you have to think about those challenging circumstances prior to ever entering them. Because if you're thinking about them in reality, then ego gets into play. Um, you, you know, what's more comfortable is always going to be your, your most natural route, the path of least resistance. So you have to think about what are my actions going to be?

Who am I? What do I [00:17:00] stand for? And how am I going to act? Um, Versus how do I think my basal core is going to want me to react? And that's a critical realization to have prior to ever getting to that moment of challenge. But I think the Naval Academy does a good job of forcing you to get to that point. Um, for everybody other than maybe like a 1 percent group, um, that inevitably end up finding that, that out and out in society, um, by themselves.

Grant Vermeer: Um, and not only do they force you better term into it is we provide people with mentors and teachers and coaches there to guide you through that as you're discovering it. And I think this is one of the most special pieces of the Naval Academy is the access to senior officers, senior enlisted leaders, and just general great leaders that are on the yard.

Right? Again, if you go to an ROTC program and no shade to ROTC programs, but you're likely dealing with a singular officer and a singular chief or whatever the case is. At the Naval Academy, you're going to have multiple commanders, O5s, you're going to have multiple captains, O6s, you have a company officer, which could be a Marine Corps [00:18:00] Captain, a Marine Corps Major, a Navy Lieutenant, a Navy Lieutenant Commander, whatever the case is, and multiple senior enlisted leaders.

There are so many mentors and people whose sole purpose of being at the Naval Academy is to teach you, to coach you, and to mentor you. Yes. And it's incredible. And if you can go through that and be proactive enough to reach out to the resources that are there in the people, you can go through that.

You're going to be put into those situations, but you can better navigate those situations, utilizing the people that are there, that are there to teach you, guide you, and mentor you. 

Troy Thompson: Let me, I'm going to talk about that really quickly because there are two people that come to mind here. Um, then Major Robert Green, uh, who was the football team, uh, professional development officer.

Um, and then, then Gunnery Sergeant Tim Owens. They were the two people who were from a day to day basis. Uh, they engaged with us at such a core level on not just what it meant to be an effective officer. Um, And an effective officer through being a good [00:19:00] man shipment, but what it meant to be men. Um, and that was such a, a pivotal moment.

And everybody has different styles. I mean, you're going to have your SEL and your company, you're going to have the departmental, I'm not departmental, but you're going to have the battalion, uh, SELs that are there to assist you. And you're also going to have your company officer who's a Lieutenant. Um, or captain, and you're also going to have your battalion, uh, uh, officer who is going to be, you know, a lieutenant colonel, um, commander or captain.

Um, and, but those are resources at different levels. We're all going to have different styles that are going to be able to connect with you in your unique language. And the key is as a midshipman is how do I find what my unique style is through these leaders? And how do I lean into them to ask them to pour into me when I need assistance?

And I can honestly say that major green and a gunnery sergeant Owens, they were that for me. At my highest highs and my lowest lows, they gave me the real talk that I needed, uh, to, to either adjust my behavior or to tell me, hey, you're on the right track. This is where you need to go. This is where you might be able to fine tune some things to optimize your performance.[00:20:00] 

And it's so important to have that the academy experience is not designed to be done in a vacuum or done alone. You're meant to have a mentor. You're meant to have your peers. And another piece that I think is critical is you are meant to mentor. Um, and if you don't have a mentor or somebody that you're pulling along with you, uh, you're, you're failing the organization, but you're also failing the next generation of Americans, uh, because that mentorship is so pivotal.

It's so critical to help guide them into success, but also to steer them away from failure. And that was something that I learned pretty early. Um, is that, that, that mentorship and also having somebody that you're pulling uh, in the right direction is critical. It's also a, a great way to hold you accountable for your actions.

Cause there's nothing worse than you messing up and having to look at your mentees and saying, I didn't embody the things that I told you, uh, were the high values of this institution. I didn't embody the mission. There's nothing that will help course correct you faster than that. 

Grant Vermeer: No, one, one thousand percent.

And I just want to make uh, a more general announcement again to any parents, grandparents listening [00:21:00] for your midshipman who's going through this experience. I want to reiterate how amazing of a place the Naval Academy is because of this. There are a ton of Navy and Marine Corps proven leaders. The elite elite go to Annapolis.

They get short, short tour orders to go to Annapolis and they are there to teach, coach and mentor your son or daughter or your loved one who's going through it. And it's incredible because this experience, the Naval Academy experience is more than just academics. It's more than just the military piece.

It's the mentorship piece. It's the people piece. And so much of that, uh, you know, sometimes as a midshipman you just want to get away from it all. I encourage you, like you're saying, to pour into it. To be proactive. To reach out. To draw that mentorship and show that like, you want to, you want to be coached.

You want to be led, you want to be mentored. You want to receive that information from all these people who have a ton of experience and leadership experience in the Navy and Marine Corps coming back to, to share their [00:22:00] wisdom and experiences. Um, and I want to kind of, as we've touched about how special the experience at the Academy is because of this stuff, I also want to touch about.

How special the place the academy is because of the opportunity it provides you Once you're out of it far in the future, but in this piece I want to talk about the immediate piece right after And so I want to turn this over to you to talk about your experience As a junior officer, right? For someone for a young, for a young man or woman who's out there who might not know about the academy and they're like, okay, I go to school.

It's free for years. What's what's next. I want to take this opportunity to pass it to you to say, this is what life is like as a junior officer. These are the things that I could, I've been able to set my life up because of. And just, again, turn it over to you to just talk about your experience as a junior officer.

Troy Thompson: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so it's, it's, it's awesome. I mean, so you leave school, you have about 30 days of basket leave. Uh, get your life together, get your mindset, uh, figure out. What are the, you know, did I want to go [00:23:00] to a new country after this arduous four years at the Naval Academy? Um, and then it, for me, it was off to, off to the races.

I went to our, our BDOC basic division officer, of course, immediately after basket leave. Um, and what that did for me is I didn't really have a period of transition. Um, or, or waiting, I was immediately off to the fray learning my job. Um, and I can honestly say that I had such a blast as a junior officer.

Um, so surface warfare community gets a really bad rep. I loved leading, which is the principal reason why I wanted to do it because your first job as a surface warfare officer is to lead your second job is to be an absolutely phenomenal, competent. Uh, chip driver to be an absolute, I don't know what that was.

we got balloons coming on the screen. I, I love it, I love it. , um, to be an absolutely top-notch war fighter, um, and, and also to get qualified and, and outside of those responsibilities, the Navy doesn't really load you with a, with a whole lot else. Now it can seem like it's [00:24:00] overwhelming and oftentimes it is just because of the, the level of expectation that we place onto the surface Navy, uh, to be present.

Um, to go out and, and do our nation's, our nation's bidding on, on both sides of the world, on the Atlantic, in the Pacific, um, in Europe, in the Red Sea. I mean, you see it right now with the, the engagements with the, the, the Houthi rebels, um, in the Red Sea and how pivotal the surface warfare community is there.

I mean, my job as a surface warfare officer. Particularly as a junior officer in Japan challenged me beyond any semblance of my expectation. I mean, there were days where I would get there at 5 a. m. and I wouldn't leave until 12 o'clock. Um, but that was what was needed. There were also days where I would get there at 6 a.

m. Five a. m. and I would be able to leave at three. Um, and it just depended on what work needed to get to get done that day, what my sailors needed, what cycle we were in, what level of readiness did we need to be at for, uh, for the ship and for what was going on. Um, and it challenged me, [00:25:00] but it also forced me to learn how to prioritize and that that ability to learn how to prioritize effort.

I think that was helped. With my time as a, as a, as a athlete, a student athlete at the Naval Academy, because you have to, you know, pick and choose what are the most important things that I have to do based off of what I have going on. What are the closest alligators to the boat is what I used to say colloquially.

Um, cause you got to shoot the closest alligators to the boat. Can't worry about the one that's, that's, you know, a nautical mile out. Um. So absolute phenomenal experience. I ended up spending five years in Sasebo. Um, and that five years, uh, I traveled to 16 countries, uh, all across the Indo Pacific I deployed to every fleet other than four fleets.

So that's going to include. All of Asia. I went to the Straits of Malacca, went to the Suez Canal. I went through the Straits of Hormuz. I went through the Bad El Mandeb. I went through the Straits of Gibraltar. I saw Italy. I saw Spain. So I got to do a whole lot of engagement for [00:26:00] somebody that was stationed out in Sassabo.

Um, got to go to Australia, went to India four times. I mean, absolutely phenomenal, broad experience. And that was on behalf of the Navy. That wasn't just going to visit, um, for some of those, uh, which was, which was awesome. Um, and then also had my personal travels that I got to have some, some fun with as well.

Um, 

Grant Vermeer: yeah, and those personal travels. Uh, those personal travels are, are, are available and free again, because of a part of the financial situation that you get in as a, as a junior officer. And this is kind of what I want to touch on too, is just, again, the reality of having a great job, a great career, potential career immediately after graduation.

Right. 

Troy Thompson: So I can talk about that. The financial part was actually something that really surprised me. Um, because when you're in Japan and you get BAH, uh, if you're, if you're here, uh, stateside, but when you're in Japan, you get what's called OHA, um, which is Overseas Housing Allowance. So it's a use or lose.

You don't get to pocket anything that you don't use, but you also get what's called COLA, which is Cost of Living Allowance. [00:27:00] Um, but the, the cost of living when I was in Japan was so low. From the day that I stepped foot in Japan, um, for those five years, I was able to put away two to 4, 000 every single month.

Into my desired investment mechanism. Cause I was not spending any money. Um, five years of that, that is absolutely insane. Right. Yeah. Um, so, you know, by the time I left Japan, not only did I have, you know, I set aside about a hundred thousand dollars in my retirement portfolio over the course of that time, um, that includes matching that the, that the Navy does, so the Navy will do a specified 5 percent match for every single.

Uh, month, which was absolutely phenomenal was free, free money, but then that grows. Oftentimes it will grow at, I don't want to get too technical, but I think I haven't had a year of growth beyond or below what the market has had since I've been investing with the Navy or with the TSP process, which is partially, uh, you know, portfolio allotment, partially just the reality of the markets in this time.

Um, [00:28:00] I bought a 15 acre farm. I started, uh, you know, a real estate investment company and was able to start injecting into short term rentals and creating wealth there. Um, and started to really understand the system at large while I was deployed. Um, so I would say to folks, you know, the financial opportunities are absolutely phenomenal, but the key is.

Your first job is to get qualified so that you can be a, a, a, you know, a participating member, but that doesn't mean that you can't do the financial things in tandem. So this is something that I really wanted to engage on. I had a mentor who was a service worker officer who told me before I ever got out is to set it and forget it.

So what does that mean setting systems before you ever get to your ship such that you don't have to think about the allocation of funds was so important for me to where I knew that on the 1st and the 15th, really it's like 30th and the 12th. If you have maybe fed or USA, um, you're getting that check and you [00:29:00] know exactly what that check is going to be.

And you know exactly what your bills are. You're leaving the Academy with no debt or you should be leaving the Academy with no debt. Um, other than the career starter loan, if you took that and that's a 0 percent loan, um, um, You can set aside whatever it is that you budgeted on that same day, and you can set up an auto pay so that you never have to think about it.

And it takes away that cognitive friction away from having to make the decision to put that money into a pot that you cannot touch. Um, so I was able to set aside an additional. 25, 000 in real money that ended up growing into about 85, 000 by the time I was finished um at the naval at that five years in Japan that ended up being the down payment for a property that changed my entire life.

Um, and I'll talk about that because that was a part of my junior officer experience transitioning over as well. Um, so five years bought a 15 acre farm for my family. Uh, you know, had some, have some great opportunities to engage with them. They're, um, saved about a total of 125, 000. That ended [00:30:00] up becoming about 250, 000 total, um, in terms of capital, uh, capital gains that never got sold.

It was just, you know, sitting in, sitting in my, in my pockets. Um, and I had a blast. I was able to see the world. Um, and this was zero stress. I mean, I, I did not have to worry about, uh, having to eat. I didn't have to worry about where, You know, this, this is all in the middle of a pandemic. This is in the middle of a jobs downturn that I had people, friends who are in the tech community who are getting laid off.

This is in the middle of a variety of these government shutdowns, all sorts of stuff, or at least threats of government shutdowns. But I never had to think about that. I was just able to serve and I had all those things. Really on repeat on auto. Um, and, and was able to just be present in my job and have a blast in my five years in Japan.

Um, so that's the first five years, you know, 

Grant Vermeer: and that's just the first five years. Like this, this is what I want to hype on, right? This is just the first five years. There's so much that can go on. And again, not everyone's as, as [00:31:00] active as an, as an investor, right. Or, um, whatever the case may be, but I just wanted to reiterate.

The power of the Naval Academy and everything that's going on. No debt coming out of college, right? Like you're saying, at least from school, what you choose to do otherwise. And with the career starter loan, like zero, 0 percent interest rate, it's great. As a midshipman, you are making money. You are, you are receiving pay, which means you have the ability to open up an IRA if you'd like to.

Again, I'm not a financial advisor. Troy's not a financial advisor. I just want to kind of expose people to the opportunities that exist. In Annapolis, you get a 36, 000 career starter loan. Your junior year, you could be contributing again, maxing out your IRA from each year, if you want it to even starting in your plea beer, right?

You could be leaving the Academy. With, I mean, at that point, maybe 35, 40, 000 in IRA before you've even started working just based on all these [00:32:00] different, all these different aspects. And then you go, you're able to contribute to your TSP. You get the life experiences of being deployed, going on a ship, which is great.

Can't really spend money when you're on a ship or in my case, a submarine. Right. And so I think that piece is awesome. At the end of the five years, you can be so set up for life. Again, I'm not, I'm not a financial advisor. This is just my perspective. Again, I come, I'm blessed and privileged to not have any external debts or things that I needed to take care of, but just by contributing to my TSP, I maxed out my TSP while I was in the Navy because I was deployed so much.

I was splitting rent, whatever the case was. I was able to, when I left the Navy, I rolled my TSP over for my TSP into my IRA and bought a, bought a rental property out of my IRA as a result of this. And this is just five years in the Navy as an officer. And I'm able to do that. It's incredible. The opportunities are endless.

Again, how you want to utilize that money, how you want to invest. That's that's on [00:33:00] you. I just want to articulate the power and the opportunity that is there if you choose to take advantage of it. That is provided by going to a service academy from an elite education to no debt, to the career starter loan, the opportunity to open investment accounts, that life experience that comes with being a junior officer.

And then on top of that. The ability to contribute not only to the military's 401k, the TSP, but other investments or just save cash to make it again, make an investment in the vehicle that you would like to do. And so it's, it's, it's insane. And all this is in five years after graduation, we're talking about a nine year period from 18 to 27 years old.

The things that you can take advantage of that can be generationally changing. Yeah, it's, it's, it's insane, 

Troy Thompson: right? It's really incredible. Not even to mention, that's not even to mention the ROI that you get from the tangible leadership experience, depending on what community you're in in that five years, that if you [00:34:00] know how to communicate it, when you get out, translates.

To a 130 to 200 K job. Key key being if you know how to communicate it. I've seen, I've seen people who graduated and did their five years get out and get an 80 k job that they took a pay cut because they didn't know how to translate their experience or because they weren't deliberate about their experience at the academy.

And I've seen people who get out and because they were deliberate about that, you know, that nine year period, they were able to leave the academy, go do their five years of obligated service. Go shift to the reserves because you have a, you would have a three years of cell res service after that. But in the meantime, go and do a, a job that you can net 130k to 200k.

And now you're on a different trajectory, and you're out of the military. Um, and that's only, and that's one option if you choose to get out. Not to mention if you stay in there, there are different benefits that you can use, um, that are innumerable. 

Grant Vermeer: It's, it's, it's really, it really is incredible, which kind of leads me [00:35:00] since we brought up a little bit of the transition and just life outside of the Navy, do you mind touching on, um, we, again, we talked about the power of being a midshipman and we talked about kind of the power of being a junior officer.

Now I want to talk a little bit about the power of being a Naval Academy graduate in the network, the Navy Academy network in life. How have you seen that? How have you experienced that already in your life being a member of the Naval Academy network? 

Troy Thompson: Yeah. So. I'm going to start with saying that purpose is so important to help you translate the Naval Academy Network into tangible value.

Um, you have to know who you are, what you stand for, or at least know what questions to ask, going back to one of my frameworks earlier. Because if you don't know that, it's really, really hard to The geolocator or centralize who you need to talk to who's going to provide you the most value in the network and then it gets really big really quickly.

Um, but the beautiful thing about the Naval Academy network is you are always 1 degree of separation away from somebody who can provide you [00:36:00] so much value. I mean, almost immeasurable value to be quite frank. Um, so I can go down a list, right? Um, so financially, um, you look at the real estate world. We have the Naval Academy Real Estate Investor Network.

Um, you've got, you know, folks in every single, uh, major, uh, area that we have naval bases in, who, um, Can provide investor experience who can provide agent realtor experience who can provide mortgage experience I mean the the opportunities are endless there to help provide you with is this right for me to purchase a home versus rent and What markets are are better or that are escalating in this environment?

So that you know professional network that understands exactly what you're going through or what your child is going through and who can help you Give you the information that you need to be able to be in a savvy investor, um, an intelligent investor, and it's looking out for you just by virtue of the common bond of being a Naval Academy graduate.

Um, you've got, uh, you know, I can do personal shout outs to, [00:37:00] uh, Keegan Wetzel and Dre Evans in San Diego, um, who, you know, Keegan was a nuclear engineer who was. You know, the 1 of the major football guys, when I was going into my official visit, I got paired up with him because I was supposed to be a smart guy.

And he was a smart guy on the team. Um, and we've now created a relationship in the real estate and private equity slash alternative investment world where. I go to him for so many things. We talk and exchange. Um, and he's in the San Diego market. Absolutely killing it. Um, Naval Academy connection. And, and I now direct my mentors or mentees to him if they're going to San Diego to say, Hey, take a look at the San Diego multifamily market to look into the VA loans to buy yourself a property that can absolutely change the trajectory of not just your family, but the next generation of your family, just by virtue of being, you know, Stationed in San Diego or another market, uh, that's, that's close to nearby.

Dre Evans is another guy who we talk very frequently about, um, high level [00:38:00] deals. You know, what are folks doing, um, both in the business side, but also in, in, uh, the private alternative investments and things along those lines. Like there's a whole world that opens up. Um, and that's just in San Diego, um, from a leadership.

It's really, yeah. 

Grant Vermeer: It's all over the world. It's, it's crazy. Right? Even, even for me, you, it could be far away. It could be close, right? Yeah. I, I've experienced it even just through my, my sponsor family, the pil, the Pilger family, uh, while I was at the academy, the Pils were my sponsor family. They're incredible.

Ed. The, uh, my sponsor dad was the CEO of Naval Air Facilities, Washington, uh, joint boot base Andrews for a while, which is great. He had a ton of Navy connections that really helped me out. Power the Navy network. His wife, Jen, a successful entrepreneur, successful startup founder and exited, right? She's given me guidance in the entrepreneurial world.

That could be more than I could have ever wished for, like in desired. It's incredible. And that just expands and it [00:39:00] stretches so wide. In having the The Naval Academy behind you, having the Naval Academy Network as a part of this and being able to go out and, like Troy said, articulate your purpose and why you're trying to continue to make impact in this, in this world, and why the Naval Academy helped shape that for you.

You're going to get the support. You're going to get the camaraderie of all of the Naval Academy and even the Service Academy graduates all over, right? It's, it's truly incredible. 

Troy Thompson: Well, let me talk a little bit. I mean, so even on the Hill, right? So right now my job is to be a liaison. Uh, to Capitol Hill, the legislative branch with regard to the Navy and Marine Corps appropriations priorities.

Um, I got to spend a year on the Hill last year in the office of Senator Susan Collins as her legislative fellow, another opportunity that the Navy provided me, um, that has provided me immeasurable benefit. Um, but when I went into the office, [00:40:00] I mean, there were Naval Academy graduates that were literally helping run her intelligence platform.

Dennis Weschmeyer, um, or Weschmeyer, who is, you know, a Naval Academy graduate was there and was her principal, uh, you know, committee on intelligence, select committee on intelligence representative, um, you know, operating at the highest levels of command, citizenship, and government. It is happening today, um, in very real time.

Uh, the Naval Academy graduates, um, On the Hill, there are Naval Academy graduates that I've had the opportunity to sit down and talk with who are working in the White House. I mean, and that's both in uniform and out of uniform. I mean, the opportunities are absolutely endless. And it's phenomenal to see that power, that connection, that network translate into, you know, one amicable friendships and relationships, but also, if needed, you have the ability to ask for favors.

As long as your performance meets the opportunity that you are seeking, um, which is important, right? The academy network cannot do [00:41:00] more than your work ethic and your performance indicates for yourself. And that's something that, you know, you learn pretty quickly once you get out into the fleet. But if I could tell you in one thing, I don't fall into the trope of C's to get degrees, perform at the highest level as soon as you can.

Because that translates into excellence outside of the fleet and opportunities that you cannot even imagine. Um, and so one last 

Grant Vermeer: person. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. One last person. Give it to me. 

Troy Thompson: One last person that I want to talk to talk, uh, with respect to, um, because it just, it speaks to, um, the power of the Naval Academy Network, um, is leadership, uh, and this person is a phenomenal leader and I, and I actually work for him right now, um, and he's doing, you know, just great things, um, and I was actually, well, not, not leading right now, um, that I was able to be his, his, uh, one of his side boys for his retirement and Admiral Cecil Haney.

Um, and Admiral Cecil Haney was [00:42:00] the first black STRATCOM strategic command, uh, commander who's literally in charge of the nuclear weapons, right? Um, Admiral Haney, I've seen him now on multiple occasions. Um, you know, I, I had the opportunity to be a, a U. S. Naval Institute board of director member, um, for a year.

Um, so I've got to have a lot of close conversations with Admiral Haney. Uh, but he is literally the embodiment of. Operating at the highest levels of command, citizenship and government. Um, excelled at command, excelled, uh, you know, as, as the leader of StratCom, it is now excelling, um, you know, as a, as a citizen and providing tons of value.

And it's just awesome to see somebody who came from, you know, Humble backgrounds in the D. C. DMV area, uh, went and matriculated at the Naval Academy, excelled as a military officer. I was willing to pour into then 19, 20 year old Troy Thompson, and has sustained that connection through, you know, the last 7 to 8 years of [00:43:00] my military service.

And that is what the standard is. Um, that no matter how high they are, These individuals, the Naval Academy Network will lean into you should you have a desire to, to kind of stick your neck out and say, Hey, I know that you've done this. Help me get to where you are and beyond. And that's the beautiful part about the Naval Academy Network.

Grant Vermeer: Special, special. So we've talked about the power of being a midshipman. We talked about the power of being a junior officer, and we talked about the power of. The network in general. And so I want to kind of put it back into your court here to wrap us up a little bit, which is if you're talking to a high school student out there who may be interested in the Naval Academy, or you're talking to an appointee getting ready to report to I Day.

What would you tell them about why the Naval Academy is such a special place, and why, again, they should consider it if they want to go there, or if they are going there, why they should stick it out through tough times. 

Troy Thompson: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so something that I said earlier is that [00:44:00] there is power in pursuing purpose.

Um, and what I think so often nowadays is young people focus on money as the root of their lives. That's something that they are continuously seeking. Um, and the question that I always ask young people is, Why are you seeking money? That's the real reason why you want to do whatever it is that you want to do in life.

Um, so I, I, I would seek to challenge people. At the core of your heart, at the core of your soul, what is the thing that makes you burn with passion? Um, for me, that was genuinely service. And I knew, I didn't know what I wanted to be as a young person, but I knew that I wanted to help people. I wanted to serve people and I wanted to provide people opportunities to be the best that they could be.

Um, you have to ask yourself that question, and then you have to look at every single school, every major that you think you want to choose, every opportunity that's going to be provided for you, and say, does this align with what makes myself burn with passion, not happiness, because there's a difference between purpose and happiness.

[00:45:00] Happiness is a fleeting thing. Um, and you're not always going to be happy at the Naval Academy. That's the reality of it because it's going to challenge. It is going to make it's going to make things hard because, but it's designed that way because it is going to help you grow. Right? The breaking is going to make you who you are supposed to become.

Um, so think past a desire for temporary 4 years of college, which sounds crazy, right? Why would I do that? Um, because on the other side. There is so much value, and it's an immeasurable thing to have clarity in your life and alignment in your life at 21. And the Naval Academy, I think, is one of the best opportunities, or any service academy, is one of the best opportunities to kind of do cold shock therapy to get yourself aligned, um, and to give yourself purpose and orientation towards what your life's purpose is, so that you can begin working.

In pursuit of it earlier than you would have given the traditional [00:46:00] means of matriculation through, you know, figuring out who you are and what you want to be. Um, that's the 1st piece. The 2nd piece that I would say is if you are, if you're already signed up, you know, you've made the decision to go to the Naval Academy, there is power in preparing for success.

There are certain things that you cannot prepare for in life, but there are certain things that you can anticipate that provide you with the baseline foundational principles of success. Those foundational elements that will translate into all the things that could potentially be unknown. You know, you need to be physically fit.

So prepare to be physically fit beyond what your wildest imaginations could be. You know that you need to be able to read, memorize, and internalize information because that's a skill set that you're going to need for the entirety of your life. So read voraciously, find ways, whether it's, you know, if you're a poetry person, great.

Do that, like, learn how to learn how to memorize it and recite it. If you're not a great speaker, understand and learn how to speak and speak effectively and translate your ideas in a condensed fashion such that you can [00:47:00] convey ideas clearly to people that you've never met before, because that's going to come in handy.

But those foundational principles, you can prepare for those such that when you get to a circumstance you've never experienced before and never could have imagined experiencing, you're ready. You have those foundational elements of success that you can combine them together. And make, you know, make a good pie of those foundational principles that will help you cross, uh, crossover into, into pie land, whatever you want to call 

Grant Vermeer: it.

Oh, no, absolutely. And, and what I'll, what I'll offer to everyone here is listen to Troy talk for all my parents out there from my grandparents out there. People like Troy are going to be the peers of your sons and daughters or grandsons and granddaughters. This place is part made so special because of the peer pressure, and that's different than a peer pressure and potentially a different university, right?

We joke, it is positive peer [00:48:00] pressure. Now, in full transparency, like we talk radical transparency here, there will also be negative peer pressure at the academy. Not everyone buys into the process, but there are people like Troy, there are people who have, who are pursuing that passion, and that is the vast majority.

And so this, this positive peer pressure is so special. And so I, again, my, my lasting remark that I want to leave with everyone who's there, who may either be a midshipman or who loves a midshipman and supports a midshipman, the amount of amazing people who will be the peers, mentors, coaches, and teachers of your loved one's experience will make the Naval Academy unbelievably special.

And I think it's what separates the service academies from anything else in the world. Right? Because it's going to be less fun than another university. It's going to be a different experience than going to ROTC or whatever the case is. But it's the people. It's the experience. It's everything that goes in.

And if you buy into it and you pour into it and you seek, again, [00:49:00] the guidance, mentorship of not only your peers, but everyone around there, you can turn the Naval Academy into quite literally a life changing opportunity, a family changing opportunity, a generational changing opportunity because of the experiences that exist in Annapolis.

Just point blank period. And so, um, we'll kind of get ready to wrap this up. Haven't talked about all this special stuff, but I'll, I'll give it back to Troy one more time. If you want to share a story, I'm so excited and happy of the amount of people that you've called out, major green, Gunny Owens, um, and all the different people through here.

Do you have anyone else that you'd like to give a personal shout out to, or just tell a story of someone who made a difference in impact in your Naval Academy journey? 

Troy Thompson: Yeah, so I'm gonna tell the first one really quickly. And I've got one that I really want to make sure I tell. So the first one, because you just made me think of it, the people that your kids are going to be surrounded with.

When I was coming to school, I had two choices. It was Harvard. Or it was the Naval Academy. And I went to go visit [00:50:00] both in the same weekend. Um, my decision was made the day that I stepped onto the campus of the Naval Academy, and I'll tell you why. Coach Ken Yamatalolo, who is now the head coach at San Jose State, the first thing that he did when he saw my family was extend a hand of grace.

He took the shoulder from my mother and he began pushing her and walked us around the campus. Um, and through his office and talk to us like we were a family. Um, and something that I had internalized when I was wanting to make the decision is who was going to turn me and help mold me into the best man.

Um, and I knew that my football coach would be one of the people that I would spend the most amount of time with, or at least the staff that he was, uh, that he employed. And coach Nia Matalolo was the greatest indicator of what my Naval Academy experience was summed up in one person. He was grace. He was power.

He was clear guidance. Um, he was strategic. He was a winner. I mean, the things that that man taught us and that whole generation of Navy [00:51:00] football, he was the embodiment of what the Naval Academy spirit was. And I'm thankful that I was able to spend 4 years under his tutelage. All right, last story. Vice Admiral Mel Williamson.

Uh, so Vice Admiral Mel Williamson is one of the first five, uh, they call him the, the Centennial five, one of the first five black CEO, uh, black CEOs of submarines in the first hundred years of the submarine force. Um, and he wrote a book with his father, who was the first master chief. Black Master Chief in the Navy, um, and that book was called Navigating the Seven Seas.

And I distinctly remember reading that, uh, that book, um, as Navigating the Seven Seas of Leadership. And I distinctly remember reading that book and getting clarity on the fact that I, one, needed to have a leadership manifesto, or I needed to start thinking about what leadership values I cared about, um, but also thinking that, hey, I can do this.

I can be in this room. I can be a surface warfare officer. I can be at, you know, at the pinnacle of combat and tactical expertise. I belong here. [00:52:00] And that clarity was so critical for me. But I remember in 2017, yeah, 2017, the spring, right before we graduated, I got to meet Vice Admiral Williamson. And Vice Williams.

And in that meeting, uh, he signed my book and he told me, I'm excited to see what you're going to do in the next, you know, in, in your career. Um, and that something in me lit up. Um, and I, I have the, a blessing to say that everything comes full circle. So I was volunteering at, uh, the same conference that I met him at the first time.

As a lieutenant on behalf of the Navy as a recruiter, um, because the Navy has an initiative where every sailor is a recruiter. They try to get us out to the community to be able to speak and engage with folks. Um, I had the ability to talk with Vice Admiral Williams that day, um, and tell him about all the things that I've done in the last seven years, how far I had come from that, you know, first class midshipman that he hadn't seen in those times.

And, you know, It sounds small. You know, we took a [00:53:00] selfie. We had almost a 30 minute conversation. Um, and I just told him how much his book and his example meant to me. And when it was all said and done, we exchanged numbers and then he texted me afterwards and said, I'm proud of you. Keep going. Um, and that moment was, you know, even for me at 29, it provided clarity and it was just an indication of how much the Naval Academy connection and bond means.

It's not just this year. You know, we talked about the link in the chain. Um, he is a link in my chain. That I will continually think about and I'll pass down that book to all my mentees, I'll pass down experience to my son, um, the le the lessons that I pulled from his book and his father, um, in that book.

'cause I've been able to meet both of them multiple times. But that is what the Naval Academy is all about. And, and I cannot say enough how important it is to lean into experiences as has been shipman. Because the story of being able to connect who you were as a midshipman and somebody seeing you to who you will inevitably become after this service experience.

That, that moment, that delta, [00:54:00] it's great when people can see it and they'd be like, wow, I am so proud of the man or the woman that you have become. 

Grant Vermeer: Yeah. 100%. That's gonna, that's gonna wrap it up for us, man. 

Troy Thompson: That's it. 

Grant Vermeer: I just want to double down on everything that Troy said. And for everyone listening, please subscribe.

Reach out to me with any comments, questions, anything you'd like. Again, Troy is one of my best friends. He's a part of the advisory board. If you ever have any questions for either of us, if you have any questions about the life of a junior officer, if you have any questions about the amazing opportunities that exist in Annapolis, reach out to us.

It's our mission. It's our mission with Academy Insider to give back to the community, the Naval Academy community, and to support the loved ones who have a midshipman and show them and teach them about all of the amazing experiences and opportunities and what I, again, what I will call generational changing opportunities that exist in Annapolis.

Your son or daughter, your grandson, your granddaughter, whatever it is, they're in an amazing place, or they're going to be in an amazing [00:55:00] place. And it's, it may be hard and maybe extremely hard. There may be times you want to leave, but this whole process of development, this whole process of growing your network and being supported and surrounded by other amazing individuals who are pursuing their, their passion to serve and be a great leader.

Can't beat it. You can't beat it. So thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Academy Insider I hope you guys loved it and feel free to shoot me any questions at any time. Appreciate it. 

Troy Thompson: Thanks, man 

Grant Vermeer: 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.