#045 NAPS Preparation and Advice with PJ Roach '23

Preparing for and Navigating Life at the Naval Academy Prep School (NAPS) with PJ Roach

This episode of the Academy Insider podcast features host Grant Vermeer and guest PJ Roach, a class of 2023 Naval Academy graduate and former battalion commander at the Naval Academy Preparatory School (NAPS). The discussion provides insight into the experiences at NAPS, including the indoctrination process for midshipman candidates, leadership lessons, and how NAPS prepares students for life at the Naval Academy. Roach shares his personal journey from being influenced by his sister and family's Navy background to attending NAPS, leading as a battalion commander while at the USNA, and his current pursuit of a master's in information security at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Key advice for future NAPSters includes maintaining an open mindset, the importance of balancing athletics with academics and military duties, and the value of seeking mentorship. The episode underscores the transformative impact of NAPS and the Naval Academy on fostering leadership and personal growth.

00:00 Welcome to Season Two: Uniting the Naval Academy Community

00:46 Sponsor Spotlight: The Vermeer Group's Support

01:15 Special Guest Introduction: PJ Roach's Naval Academy Journey

01:20 Deep Dive into NAPS: Insights and Experiences

02:48 PJ Roach's Personal Journey: From Midshipman to Graduate School

08:16 Leadership Lessons: Becoming the NAPS Battalion Commander

25:26 Advice for Future Midshipmen: Preparing for NAPS and Beyond

29:31 Gratitude and Reflections: Shoutouts and Closing Thoughts

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

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 and the USNA Property Network 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 boutique residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community PCSing to California & Texas.

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

Connect with Grant on Linkedin
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If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, have an idea, question or topic you would like to see covered, reach out: podcast@academyinsider.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

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 you or connect you with a trusted Academy affiliated agent in the market which you're in, please reach out to me directly at grantatthevermeergroupcom. 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. In this episode, I'm joined by PJ Roach, another Naval Academy graduate, member of the Navy basketball family and actually during his time in the Naval Academy journey was both a midshipman candidate at the Naval Academy Prep School, also known as NAPS You'll hear that term a lot in this episode and then going into his first year, senior year, at the Naval Academy. He actually went back and was the battalion commander of the NAPS detail. So if there's anyone who knows NAPS, it's this man. All right, and so I hope you're able to get a little bit of insight into what the indoctrination or in-doc period is for midshipman candidates at NAPS. We dive deep into a little bit of what it's like there, what the organization is, but then, more than anything, we share some stories and give a little bit of insight and advice for about how to best prepare to show up and be ready to go at NAPS. So I hope you enjoy the episode. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at any time. Otherwise, have a great listen and thank you so much. Hi, hey, everyone, welcome to the Academy Insider Podcast.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Today I'm joined by my guy, pj Roach, another former Navy basketball player, and then, probably for a fun episode all about NAPS. Former Navy basketball player and then probably for a fun episode all about NAPS. He was the battalion commander of NAPS, which is basically the equivalent of what I did during police summer as the reg commander. So he was the highest ranking midshipman, got to see everything that went on at NAPS. So for all my future NAPSers out there, all the families, I think you'll get a fun, interesting insight and look into just like life at NAPS and especially the summer training before you show up to NAPS. So PJ, my guy, thank you so much for joining us today. If you don't mind just taking a little time and telling us about yourself when are you from, what brought you to the Naval Academy and then what you're currently doing. Now, when you're timing the Navy, Okay, Hello everybody.

Speaker 2: 3:02

I'm from Virginia Beach, Virginia, big Navy town. My dad is a retired senior chief, so he spent 26 years in the Navy as enlisted and that's kind of what brought me to the Naval Academy. He introduced it to my sister, who went to a camp for basketball, got recruited, graduated in 2019.

Speaker 1: 3:28

camp for basketball, got recruited um, graduated in 2019.

Speaker 2: 3:29

So then I was like, okay, like I'm trying to follow in my sister's footsteps, gotta follow the footsteps went to the camp, I got recruited again and then from there I was like you know what? Let's, let's give this a shot.

Speaker 2: 3:37

So that's how I got here and now absolutely I'm in grad school, actually pittsburgh carnegie mellon university, getting a master's in information security. My kind of like background. How I got here is just networking and working really hard. I would say From the time I was a plebe I knew that I wanted to be a cryptologic warfare officer. And then kind of around the junior year mark, second class year, is where I really wanted to take my education to the next level. So I started networking that, trying to figure out what I needed to do to get IJEP, which is Immediate Graduate Education Program, what I'm doing now. And I just worked really hard and I was lucky enough to get a spot. So that's where I'm at now.

Speaker 1: 4:23

And for everyone listening, my guy PJ is just PJ, is just being really humble. Uh, getting IGEP is difficult. There are a limited number of spots and, again, you have to excel, like he's talking about. You have to excel in your major uh, complete the courses you need to have completed prior to getting ready to actually qualify to go uh and get an IGEP spot. So, and Carnegie Mellon is not a bad school, especially for information security, incredible school. And getting Cryptologic Warfare as your service selection on top of all, that is another extremely impressive feat. So congratulations on all that. And jumping back a little bit to again, you're getting ready to come to the academy. Did you go to NAPS or were you a direct admission to the Naval Academy? I you go to naps or were you a direct admission to the name?

Speaker 2: 5:06

I did go to naps and, okay, following in my sister's footsteps, again, she went to naps as well, and she graduated from naps in 2015. I graduated from naps in 2019. So, yeah, and you?

Speaker 1: 5:18

ended up going back as a, as a detailer. How was your experience as uh like, actually as a uh, what we call them? A midshipman candidate? Yeah, how was your experience as a like, actually as a? What do we call them a midshipman candidate?

Speaker 2: 5:26

Yeah, a midshipman candidate.

Speaker 1: 5:27

How was your experience as a midshipman candidate there and like yeah give me a rundown on that.

Speaker 2: 5:32

I would say I took the things that I didn't like from my detailers as a midshipman candidate and tried to bail her off that to like develop my own leadership style. So like, for example, like just one quick uh nugget of what happened to me first night I was at naps. It was a shock, like a really big shock. I did not. I I kind of knew what was gonna happen, because my sister told me but I would never really take her serious like I would just laugh it off and just be like, nah, it's not gonna happen, like whatever. But I got in that bed it's time to go to sleep and I looked up at the ceiling and I'm like what am I doing here? Like this is gonna be rough. I was a knucklehead.

Speaker 2: 6:14

Like all I wanted to do was play basketball like really wasn't trying to do the military stuff, but like it's definitely eye-opening as soon as you get there and and it's a big step for yourself and, like all the people around you, Like you have to grow and mature very quickly when you're at.

Speaker 1: 6:30

NAPS, mm-hmm, a hundred percent. And how was the rest of your experience? And by the end, did you have a positive experience at NAPS that made you want to go back as a detailer, or how did the process lead to you, uh, going back as the battalion commander?

Speaker 2: 6:46

so I had an excellent time at naps, like okay, besides the end doc phase, like once I actually got in there yeah school was very easy for me like it was a lot more relaxed than the actual naval academy is.

Speaker 2: 6:59

At naps we had liberty every single day, except for monday, depending on your grades, like if you had good enough grades you can go out any day. I had my car with me there Like it was just a blast. So like I always wanted to go back to Naps because of that, like I I loved my teachers there, like it was just an excellent experience for myself.

Speaker 1: 7:19

So that's why I went there. Were you shocked when you showed up to the actual academy? Or because you had your sister there, you knew that it was going to change. But like, how was the experience of going from the NAPS lifestyle, which I feel like is kind of similar again to our prior enlisted sailors and Marines that can experience like a little bit of freedom Right, and then show up to the academy and it's just different?

Speaker 2: 7:47

It is very different at the academy, but I would say I had a different like mindset going in because I just came off NAPS so I was thinking I was going to have the same amount of freedom, doing whatever I want to do basically, but that part was a shocker. But then when you get there you find a bunch of friends immediately. So like my roommate from Plebe Summer, like we're still close to this day, like it's just like a bond that you can't get anywhere else, I don't think like the naval academy and other service academies too, but I just think that bond with your, your classmates, is just unbeatable.

Speaker 1: 8:16

100 and so you're going into your first year and you're applying for summer leadership training stuff, and did you apply specifically to be the NAPS battalion commander or what was your process of interviewing to actually get that job?

Speaker 2: 8:31

I knew I wanted to be the NAPS battalion commander. I literally went to my CO and I was, like I want to be NAPS battalion commander. What are the steps that we need to take to get me there? And she was, like I know how to get you there, I'm going to help you. And we met. She helped me develop my like speaking skills because I like I'm going to be honest, I didn't think I was a good speaker, like I'm not big on public speaking, like I don't. Like that for getting these positions, is you have to be confident or the leadership will not trust you to put you in that position, because that's a big shoes to fill. To be able to like be in charge of, like, let's say, like 70 of your classmates and like 250 to 300 mitchell mccandidates, like they're all looking at you once you get there, like okay, what do we do? Like what's next? So, like you have to be confident and you have to like know your stuff or they won't listen to you so yeah, and you're the.

Speaker 1: 9:28

You're the big dog on campus at that point right, like you've got.

Speaker 1: 9:31

You got five stripes on, everyone's looking at you and again in that vacuum of the of the in doc, right, I was looking at you like no, that's the, that's the battalion commander. Yeah, that's the battalion commander. So, like you're saying, you have to have that certain level of authority that comes with the confidence piece Right, and so it was great that you had a mentor, your company officer, leading you through the interview process. When you got selected as the NAPS battalion commander, was there a commissioned officer or senior enlisted leader that then helped you prepare to actually be the battalion commander or kind of? What was your interaction with Naval Academy staff or NAPS staff for um, for in doc?

Speaker 2: 10:10

um, so at naps there was a an 03 in the marines, captain bowling who was kind of in charge of me, and we like had email exchange and then text message exchange like getting me ready for ready for the NAPS in-doc. So like that was my point of contact to NAPS. And then at the academy I kind of worked with Captain Mendenhall who was a 4th Battalion Officer and he kind of helped me through the process of like trying to get myself ready for that and also it was cool because his daughter was going to naps that summer, okay, so he knew.

Speaker 1: 10:49

He knew his daughter's fate was in your hands. He had to get you ready.

Speaker 2: 10:53

He's definitely a great officer and, like I, definitely got to him so like it was cool. And then he opened up his home for me and my staff to come over and like have pizza and just get to know each other. So that was also a great experience as well. So that's awesome. Captain Mendoza, he's the man.

Speaker 1: 11:14

He's the man.

Speaker 1: 11:14

He really is he really is. And you know, I think it was really interesting that, like you wanted to take kind of your experience as an appster going through in doc as a midshipman candidate and, like use that and some of the experiences to develop yourself as a leader. How did that? How did that also impact your vision and goal for the end of in doc, like when you were going out because you wanted to be the naps battalion commander, like that's what you wanted, what was your vision, what did you want the midshipman candidates to get out of the in-doc process Like? What was your vision, what was your goal?

Speaker 2: 11:45

I wanted everyone to feel like they can succeed in the NAPS environment, like not everybody who comes to the Naval Academy or NAPS has like the same academic background. So like it can be challenging at times but if you got into the Naval Academy you can make it through.

Speaker 2: 12:05

Like there are a bunch of resources that will help you. You just have to have the mindset to know that you can make it through and have the hunger and drive behind it to like know that you're going to do whatever it takes to get it done. So, like that, along with just making sure everyone was comfortable, along with just making sure everyone was comfortable, so like when I was going through naps, I felt as though there was one detailer who was always on my back, like because I always wanted to go to a sports period, no-transcript and this one detail was always on my back and I was looking for someone to like step in and like come, either talk to me or talk to the detail and say, hey, like he's having a rough time. Like give him, give him a break. Or like talk to me and like try to talk me into like accepting the military role that I need to be in while I'm here. But that was never there. So I always made it.

Speaker 2: 13:05

I guess an impact made an impact on the kids by always checking in on the midshipmen candidates who I thought were having a rough time. I would go around After new male formation. We all go on to the field and we set up our stuff before we go into the chow hall. So I would go and talk to each of the midshipmen candidates who were having a rough time, ask them how their day is going, if they need me to talk to anybody, like if everything was going well. So I felt like that was my way of giving back to what I didn't have.

Speaker 1: 13:42

Yeah, I love that. And how did you discover which midshipmen were having a rough time? Were there like thoughts of the days that were getting sent up to you that you're like, oh, hey, this person's having a rough time? Or was it detailers talking to you that's like, hey, I have a kid in my squad who's really struggling? What was your process of finding those individuals?

Speaker 2: 14:04

I would say the detailers, like the details. I told them to come to me if they're having trouble with the kid and he's not like getting it or you're having to like put him on his face a lot. Like I want to talk to those kids because most of the time, like I don't want to be like stereotypical, but it's most of the time it's athletes that are like having a rough time, like they really just want to be there to play their sport and I hate to say this, but the coaches like they tell you just enough to where that.

Speaker 2: 14:33

Like they can say that we, oh, we told you that, but like I feel like they don't give the full picture of like what's going on and what's going to happen. So, like that was the way, my way of like making sure that the athletes are here to stay and that they know that they can like make it through this place.

Speaker 1: 14:52

No, I think that's really important. I I, you know I've told my story on Academy Insider a bunch, which is like, again, I was a recruited basketball player. When I showed up, I was aware of the Naval Academy, I was aware of what I was getting into. But like, kind of, like you're saying that moment of you laying in bed for the first night, like in shock, like oh, oh, snap, like this is, uh, this is gonna be different than I thought it was. Yeah, like that's what happened to me too.

Speaker 1: 15:16

Right, and it doesn't mean that they're not going to turn into great achievement and great officers. It just means that they're not, they weren't prepared for, like, what was about to happen and instead of, like you know, driving them away from the Academy. Sometimes it's just like having the right involvement in interaction with people to be like, hey, no, like I know you're going through a rough time and the machine is going to do what the machine does, right, like it's not like taking it easy on them in terms of like you're still going to have to do all the stuff everyone does.

Speaker 1: 15:46

You're still going to have details yelling at you, but sometimes it just takes the, the literal like, kindness or investment of one person to come up to you and be like, hey, I know what you're going through. I went through the exact same thing. I promise you like it's going to get better, right. Like you're going to, you're going to get there and this is a great opportunity for you. You just got to like, you just got to let the military thing do its, the machine do its thing, and like you will get there, right. And so you know, I love that perspective, because that was that's what I took to plebe summer with me, which is like during my fireside chats during plebe summer, as the regiment commander, I got to like talk to every single company and do a fireside chat, right, share my story. Like during plebe summer, I was ready to go.

Speaker 1: 16:27

Yeah, I wrote, I wrote a home, you know, to my mom that said like like hell, hell, I hate this place. Like come, save me, help me please. Right, like I was ready, I was ready to go. Yeah, and it. Sometimes it just takes the literal investment of the little kindness or like the, the notice of one person to come over to you and be like, hey, it, like it's gonna be okay, like you don't have to love it right now. You're not supposed to love it. This is hard right, like because for me I'm having people telling me like oh, you know, like you're here for the wrong reasons, you don't love it.

Speaker 2: 16:56

Why are you doing this and you're?

Speaker 1: 16:58

like, oh yeah, no, you're right, you know what I mean. And so, uh, you know. It took a conversation for me with my company officer, lieutenant berg, back in the day. He was like he's like, grant, you don't have to like the military doesn't have to be who you are, it might just be what you do right, and so you know you don't have to. There's not a singular experience that the that is the correct experience. Yeah, right, it's just your experience and you're going to develop and learn and grow through that experience, and so I think it's really cool that you were able to take that perspective in a place where, again, the large majority of midshipmen candidate are athletes. That kind of need to get their uh grades up or kind of get the academic foundation and preparation to actually show up to the academy and keep them going right, because that process is only going to make them better.

Speaker 1: 17:48

Leaders, navy and Marine Corps leaders Because, again, you know people joke, it's hard, you go through it, you don't like it, but we make it to the end, right, you make it to the end and you go out and you do your thing in the Navy and the Marine Corps and you know some of the great officers of all. Time again, you can be a great officer no matter what your background is, but a lot of them were athletes right, and by the end of the process you grow to appreciate it right you might not love it, but you grow to appreciate it and respect it right, and so that's great and I appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 18:22

And jumping into a little bit of the NAPS structure, right, the next structure in general, you kind of mentioned there about 250 midshipman candidates staff somewhere, you know 50 to 70 midshipmen that are kind of managing all of them, or the detailer staff. What was the company structure? How many companies are there? And yeah, yeah, how does that work at naps?

Speaker 2: 18:44

so there's three companies and uh two platoons each, so one one, one, two, two. One two, two, three, one, three, two. Yeah, I was a part of uh two two when I was at naps. So, okay, two, two. Um, which one's the zoo?

Speaker 1: 18:59

was that a thing? I feel like that was.

Speaker 2: 19:01

There's a they say three, two to zoo three, one, two like they have to like whatever platoon is. Like two they they try to say they're the zoo, but like it's. Yeah, it's just a constant like battle between the, the second platoons.

Speaker 1: 19:18

So and uh, in terms of the, the length of the, the in doc, right, so we're, because I forget. We probably should clarify this when we say the term in doc. In doc is like the naps version of plebe summer. Correct Is the indoctrination to get you ready. How long is that in doc period?

Speaker 2: 19:35

It's about half the time it's plebe summer, so we say like three and a half weeks since plebe, summer is like six and a half.

Speaker 1: 19:42

So six and a half Exactly? Yeah, because for bleep summer, right, we have two sets of detailers, like one, one set that goes about three, three and a half weeks and then the other set that goes three, three and a half weeks. So, like you're saying, it was a single set of detailers down there, right? Uh, going through an in-day and the training, do you do military evolutions in terms of, like, the O course and the E course in gray space, or what does a normal day look like for a NAPS in-doc thing?

Speaker 2: 20:15

There's no O course or E course at NAPS. For the most part, everything is like on that base in Rhode Island, so there's a lot of gray space, I would say that. But there is an evolution called Buttercup where you like save the ship, and I thought that was like a really cool experience, like you're with your whole platoon and you go in. The water is definitely cold, though, but you have to basically like save the ship from like sinking, so I thought that was pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 20:48

Like the image damage your stuff.

Speaker 2: 20:48

You're like, you're like, you're like knocking wedges into like holes to stop the leaks, right, yeah, yeah, but there's, there's a, there's someone who's in charge of that stuff. That's like they're like helping you out. But yeah, I think that was a part of the uh damage control stuff that we did, so that was a cool like end to that evolution, I think okay, oh, very cool, very cool.

Speaker 1: 21:05

Um, and when, when you're when a midshipman candidate's going through in doc, right, as a plebe, you don't have plebe summer, you don't have your phone. What's the communication situation for the midshipman candidates? Are they able to have the phone? Do they send letters? Are there any phone calls? Kind of how's that work?

Speaker 2: 21:20

I would say it's the same as plebe summer like they don't have their phone, they're able to send letters and receive letters.

Speaker 2: 21:27

You can receive packages of like food and stuff like all the normal goods sure I would say the one difference between naps and doc and plebe summer is, uh, you have phone calls every week, so like you have one every week instead of plebe summer, where you have like one every other week. So I think that was it. Yeah, three phone calls through the summer, ple. So like you have one every week Instead of Pleap Summer, where you have like one every other week.

Speaker 1: 21:45

So I think that was it. Yeah, three phone calls through the summer, pleap Summer, like you're saying one every other week. Okay, yeah, so super interesting. And then the mail situation. People send mail Like would you receive or give mail to the Machiming candidates?

Speaker 2: 21:58

Right, yeah, there's a mail room like right across the plaza, like it's a big mail room and all your detailers would just go and bring it up to your company.

Speaker 1: 22:08

Sure, and would they hand it out at like a nightly? Do you guys do blue and gold or what was the night kind of situation?

Speaker 2: 22:19

Yeah, like a nightly, do you guys do blue and gold, or what was the night kind of situation? It was blue and gold and they hand your uh, your mail to you and stuff. You go take a shower and you come out and you uh sing blue and gold together. Um, I actually had a funny story with uh, with blue and gold. Yeah, I don't know if it was funny back then, but it's definitely funny now.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Um, dom antonelli was my yes my god, yeah, he was your detailer. Yeah, that's my guy. Yeah, he was your detailer. He was my detailer. You're a youngster. I forgot about that. You're a young guy.

Speaker 2: 22:40

We're like going through this, we're just learning blue and gold. So like this is one of the first couple of days and me and this other guy across from me like we're good friends now he was on the lacrosse team at the Naval Academy, kyle Fairbanks we're just geeking Like we cannot stop laughing and Dom loses his mind over blue and gold. Like he literally loses his mind the next day. We're on our face forever. It feels like Like he literally got so mad and I was like wow, like that's kind of a turning point. I would say was like okay, this is actually serious. Like I need to stop like taking everything as a joke, like playing around the time, like this is actually serious, like I need to mature. Some like that was. That was a big turning point for me uh, that's funny.

Speaker 1: 23:26

you say that because dom antonelli for everyone listening was another navy basketball player. Right, so he's a, he's a basketball player, but he always, he always had that marine corps in him. Yeah, he ended up being a. He ended up being a Marine Corps officer. He really loved it, just transitioned out. Big shout out to Don Mancinelli, just got out. Him and his wife are both going through a graduate program at Tuck Business School at Dartmouth. Shout out to them. They're incredible. They did the Marine Corps the right way. They had fun. They were overseas.

Speaker 1: 24:07

I'm seeing pictures from Japan and Okinawa and Korea and all over the place and, wow, good for them. All right. And, side note, the Naval Academy can be really there you talked about. It is serious, right, it is serious. And you kind of wake up to that. And that indoctrination period is really all about taking a civilian, a normal high school kid, and getting them ready to be again to be a midshipman. And so I kind of want to ask is do you believe that NAPS set you up for success as a midshipman and do you believe the NAPS process does a good job of getting midshipman candidates ready to go to the Naval Academy and be a midshipman?

Speaker 2: 24:41

I think it does a great job. I'm pro NAPS, so I love NAPS, but you take English right there, you take physics, take chemistry and you take math. So, like the chemistry and math that you're taking, it's literally like the first year that you're going to take at the naval academy and then, if you still remember the physics that will take you and help you go through physics one and physics two. So, yep, I I think it does an excellent job of preparing you academically, uh, morally and physically, obviously like that. That's their job to to, you know, help you transition into that step.

Speaker 1: 25:22

So I think they do a great job of doing that as well sure, in kind of turning the conversation to talking directly to someone who may be getting ready to show up to naps, is getting ready to show up to indoc and be a midshipman candidate. What advice would you give to them in terms of preparation, whether that be fitness mindset or just overall advice for a future midshipman candidate?

Speaker 2: 25:43

I would say if you're an athlete or if you're just a regular person and you're pretty active, you should be fine physically. Definitely, the, I guess, focal point for me where I was like a little bit struggling was the front leaning rest. Like being able to hold that position for minutes at a time was kind of rough for me, like I'm a skinny guy so that's kind of expected. But um mindset, I would say, uh, don't, I guess, like shut anything out off of first glance. Like give things time to like develop and like have an open mind. I would say like don't just go there wanting to be an athlete and only an athlete and no military stuff. You're gonna have a terrible time and you're never gonna like it there. Like you have to understand that there is the military that that's an aspect and there's also the academics and there's also the sports. Like there are three things that you have to balance at one time, so don't just be all focused on one thing.

Speaker 2: 26:53

I think that's a big point that needs to be driven to a lot of Napsters and a lot of Naval Academy athletes, because there aren't a lot of Naval Academy athletes that go on to the big leagues, to the pros. There's been one, I think, basketball player to enter the NBA and that's David Robinson. Football players I can probably count on one, maybe two hands that have gone on to the NFL. So you just have to understand like cool you got into the Naval Academy from athletics. But it's not everything and it's not your life. Like I went to the Naval Academy for basketball but now I get to go and do cool things Like I service-select selected Cripsology Warfare.

Speaker 2: 27:38

I'm in grad school at Carnegie Mellon. A really good institution Like the Naval Academy will set you up for a lot of things. Like there are so many doors that can be opened through the Naval Academy. You just have to go out and seek those things. So whatever you want to do, you need to find the officers who are in charge and who can help you get there and like hang on to their coattail and like ride it out to get where you want to go yeah, no more power to you.

Speaker 1: 28:04

And I want to highlight from your story this is my advice to all the michigan candidates coming out to get ready to check in in newport um, ask questions, be, be proactive, right, like you went to your company officer and you're like this is what I want. Please help me get there Right. And I think the whole premise of the Naval Academy and naps in general is that there there are military staff there whose sole job it is is to teach, coach and mentor you right, they have to administratively like, take care of you and all that, but like they were brought to those locations to be your guide, to be your mentor, to be your teacher. And sometimes we don't take advantage of that as midshipmen by proactively kind of stepping away from it or not leaning into it. I encourage you to be like PJ and ask those questions and seek the guidance and lean into everything, because that's the true beauty of the whole experience is that there's so many people with so much experience from the Navy and the Marine Corps, all the leadership experience, all the life experience, who have been through similar situations that you're going through that are there to help you out Genuinely there to help you out and it may not feel like it at times, especially during in-doc with all the yelling and all the things, but, like you're saying, those people are there to help you and if you just take advantage of that and ask those questions and lean into it and be really proactive, you can really have an amazing, amazing experience right and get a lot out of it.

Speaker 1: 29:31

So all right, and so just getting ready to kind of wrap this thing up then and bring it together, I want to give you an opportunity to give a shout out to someone who's made a really big impact on you or your Naval Academy journey. You know I'm a big believer in the power of simple actions making a really big impact on people, so I'll turn it over to you to see if you have anyone that you'd like to mention as someone who had a big impact on your Naval Academy journey.

Speaker 2: 29:57

So, as far as my journey and into my now service assignment cryptologic warfare I would like to shout out two individuals who helped me on that path Lieutenant Commander Macer and Lieutenant Commander O'Donoghue. Both helped me tremendously. Lieutenant Commander Macer was my police cyber teacher, so she sat down with me and taught me everything I needed to know about cryptologic warfare, because that is what I wanted to ultimately serve and select as a senior. And then Lieutenant Commander O'Donoghue just helped me along the way by whether it was writing letters, letters of recommendation, putting me up for certain awards she's just always been there and always has been rooting for me. So she's had a very big impact on my life thus far Amazing.

Speaker 1: 30:52

All right. Well, dude, BJ, thank you so much for taking the time to explain to us a little bit about NAPS, the Naval Academy Prep School, and what it means to be a midshipman candidate, what it means to go through INDOC and just share your experiences as the battalion commander and your insights. So, thanks so much for taking the time to join us today, man. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 31:11

Yes, sir, thank you for having me All right For everyone listening.

Speaker 1: 31:14

I hope you enjoyed the episode. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have. 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 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.