#049 Inside Plebe Summer: Understanding Naval Academy Terminology Pt. 1

Ever wonder what the heck your son or daughter is talking about in their letters home or during phone calls as a Plebe at the Naval Academy? Join us as we break down the unique terminology and traditions that define this intense initiation period, Plebe Summer. 

With insights from Troy Thompson, a 2017 graduate and active duty Naval officer, and Rick Conlin, a 1999 graduate and author, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolving language and customs that have shaped the Plebe experience over the past three decades. From Troy's tales as a former football player and cyber major to Rick's reflections on his Navy days, we aim to make you feel like an insider.

Get ready to learn about the intricacies of Plebe life, starting with the terms "alpha code" and "bulkhead" and their crucial role in daily routines. Discover the disciplined practice of hitting the bulkhead, standing at attention, and maintaining "bearing"—the stoic composure required at all times. Delve into the creative punishments like the "bearing bear" and the significance of collective responsibility, where the entire company faces consequences for an individual's mistake. Our lively discussion highlights the mental fortitude and camaraderie that these traditions foster among the midshipmen.

As we wrap up, immerse yourself in the rigorous routines and humorous mishaps that define Plebe Summer. From the brisk pace of "chopping" and "squaring corners" to the memorable practice of "sir sandwiches," our personal stories capture the humor and intensity of these traditions. You'll hear about the importance of maintaining bearing during inspections and the amusing challenges plebes face. We hope you enjoy this episode filled with laughter, insights, and a genuine appreciation for the disciplined environment of the Naval Academy. Thank you for tuning in, and we look forward to your feedback!

This episode will answer:

• What is an alpha code and what does it mean?
• What is a bulkhead? 
• What is bearing?
• What does it mean to get dropped or put on your face?
• What are chow calls?
• What does it mean to sound off?
• What is chopping mean at the Naval Academy?
• What does it mean to square your corners?
• What does it mean when my child says they have to stick out their paw?
• What is a sir or ma'am sandwich?
• What is bracing?
• What are common punishments during Plebe Summer?

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.

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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 it's going to be the first part in a multi-part series about Plebe Summer terminology. So if you have a Plebe coming into this new class, the class of 2028,. You're just interested in the academy or kind of want to learn some of the unique intricacies of Plebe Summer and specifically Plebe Summer terminology, then check out this episode. I'm joined by one of my really good friends, troy Thompson, and then another friend that I've made through Academy Insider, ricky Conlin, who's a class of 99 graduate, and we share all of our stories, insight into plebe summer terminology and talk about how terms have changed or stayed the same over the past 30 years, and so we're really excited about this. This is a super fun episode and by the end of it, you will feel like a little bit of an insider. You'll understand the inside jokes, you'll understand the terminology, the context, the sarcasm, all of the above, and you're going to get a great laugh. If you enjoyed this episode, please, please, please, like, share, subscribe, leave a review. Doing all of those things helps out the channel tremendously. So if you can do that, that'd be incredible, and if you ever have any questions, please, as always, reach out to me. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy the episode. Hey everyone and welcome back to the Academy Insider podcast.

Speaker 1: 2:30

In this episode, we're going back to the roots, the roots of Academy Insider, which is explaining the terminology of Plebe Summer. As I tell this story, as I was preparing for this episode, I was laughing because I was like this is what started. Academy Insider was this lack of understanding of plebe summer terminology, the uniqueness and niche aspects of the Naval Academy, and so I'm really excited to be joined today by both Troy and Rick. Thank you both so much for being here today and being willing to share your experiences and stories as we go through this. If you don't mind, we'll start with Troy. If you just give us a quick introduction, the audience should know Troy. You've been on a bunch and if you're an OG Academy Insider fan, you probably know Rick too because he's been on the podcast as well. But if you don't mind just giving a quick introduction and background about your experiences in midshipmen, Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 3:17

Once again, thank you, grant, for having me on the podcast. Always a pleasure to provide value and just tell a story about the Naval Academy the goods, the bads, the ins and the outs Once again. Troy Thompson, a lieutenant active duty, a service warfare officer by trade, class of 17,. Former cyber major Grant and I had many a late night doing coding projects, coding the NACMA from scratch, etc. Also was a football player, as you can tell. I played quarterback at the Naval Academy in 2013-2017.

Speaker 2: 3:48

Truly enjoyed my time at the Naval Academy, as I've said multiple times on the podcast, and excited to tell some stories about it, not just peeps on the terminology, but the stories that ingrain those terms into your mind Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 4:00

And Rick.

Speaker 3: 4:02

Yeah, hi Grant, really happy to be here. A member of the og academy insider club. Um, I go by, uh, rick, some know me by ricky as my pen name, also known pretty ricky conlon for those rocking fans out there. Um, I am sadly reminded, uh before this podcast began, that I am 30 years removed from from Cleve Summer.

Speaker 1: 4:28

I didn't mean to do that.

Speaker 3: 4:30

I'm like, I'm like I'm still like knocking the cobwebs off of that. I was class of 99, did my stint in the Navy, was a was a job, as well as working in the nuclear Navy the Naval Reactors Program. I got out, got into business, did my MBA have been a variety of consulting gigs as well as entrepreneurial gigs. You can see them in New York City today, lady Liberty in the corner, and you know I have a bunch of passions. Probably the one that's most profound is writing. I've written two into a trilogy about the Naval Academy, the Black End Trilogy. Second book, sex and the Hall. Really love the Naval Academy topically and really excited to be on the show. So thanks for having me.

Speaker 3: 5:21

I cringe to think that I am the old guy perspective on here, but I'm looking to have a lot of fun and really happy to be here.

Speaker 1: 5:29

If you haven't read, uh, the black and trilogy, incredible novels, super fun in a unique um aspect and look into the midshipman experience just through fictional stories. But a fun way to bring up funny topics or funny little unique niche aspects of the midshipman life and experience through a fictional story. So if that's something that you're looking for a fun little novel to read, also get a good insight to the Naval Academy. So really awesome there. But let's do it, fellas. So again, the topic of this episode is going to be jumping into all things Cleve, summer terminology. The reason I brought both of these gentlemen on with me is because we want it to be a fun storytelling episode and also just let you know again, like hey, they did this in the class of 99, they did this for the class of 17. What did we do? It? The same.

Speaker 1: 6:15

Was there a difference in how things changed, what things may continue to change and what things are? Just again, the naval, a lot of stuff. The naval academy has changed, but even more has stayed the exact same, and so that's going to be a fun topic and unique aspect that we bring up today. So the first thing I want to bring up is the term alpha code. So you're going to hear the term alpha code and I'm going to pass it to these gentlemen because I guarantee they know it. What was your alpha code? And then we'll run into what it means right at the end of it.

Speaker 3: 6:45

M176462 and 991242.

Speaker 2: 6:50

Yeah, that's right drilled in the brain.

Speaker 1: 6:52

It's drilled, it's drilled, it's drilled mishima, fourth class, vermeer, and 176630, like that, like they're saying, drilled into the brain. And the reason is and we're going to jump into what this term bulkhead means next but when you're in plebs summer, you'll hit, you'll have to hit a bulkhead. Like basically, anytime you have to go, everywhere you're going, you're gonna have to hit a bulkhead. And the first thing you do when you hit that bulkhead you bang on the wall and you say midshipman, fourth class, x, right, midshipman, fourth class, premier. And then your alpha code one, seven, six, six, three, zero, and you know, as a result, it's ingrained in our in our brain and basically how it works. Troy, do you mind breaking down, like why, what the first two numbers mean and then kind of how the remaining four just play out?

Speaker 2: 7:35

Yeah, absolutely so. If you guys remember from the introduction, grant and I, we were classmates, same major, so you saw that both of our alpha codes had one seven and that's an indicator for your class year or your new student graduation, not the year that you enter Cleve Summer. Once you have that first two, then you have a four-code unique identifier that's within the class itself, because every entering class is about 1,100 to 1,200 people with enough attrition space to graduate, about 10 to 1100. No-transcript.

Speaker 3: 8:29

Yeah, absolutely, and that's it kind of more local wanting to maximize their civilian time, like I did join at the end and I just remember it was just such a such a rush to the the oath of office. All I can remember is they couldn't get the vcr tape to work to show us, like, what we were doing or what we're signing up for. So, like the lieutenant company officer, we roll in five minutes before oath of office. They're like, yeah, just say I do at the end and off you go. So I'm sure it's probably a little bit more coordinated right now and I would hope that VCR technology is at least better. But that was my memory of Alpha.

Speaker 1: 9:07

Codes. I was about to say right, you complain about being called old and you talk about VCRs at your eye day, I feel like a lot of vcr.

Speaker 3: 9:18

Yeah, yeah, oh, my god, goodness, you're in for a treat.

Speaker 1: 9:21

This episode, though all right jumping into the second uh term just because of the relation here is a bulkhead. When we say bulkhead rick, do you mind giving the people an understanding of what the term bulkhead is?

Speaker 3: 9:33

bulkheads you, I mean. I mean, it's like you learn the new vocabulary of the Navy. Walls become bulkheads, hallways become peeways. You know, bulkhead and hit a bulkhead is all you do as a plebe Looking at a wall, running into a wall, yelling in front of a wall there's a lot of walls in plebe world. Oh yeah, and those would be bulkheads. But but you're, you're yelling at them, you're hitting them, you're. You have a far more intimate relationship with a bulkhead than you would ever care to remember.

Speaker 1: 10:06

Yeah, yeah. And hit and hitting a bulkhead is not just a uh, uh a phrase, it's not just a matter of speech. Like you, quite literally again, when you hit a bulkhead, you will run up to that bulkhead and you will hit the wall three times and then you have to repeat right, mcchinman, fourth class, premier M176630,. Right November, company 26 platoon. Sir, like you'd have to identify yourself with your alpha code, your platoon and your company and like, anytime you hit a bulkhead which was just about like 27 times a day at a minimum right, like you're doing it. Right, you're banging on the wall and you're hitting a bulkhead. That is the terminology. To hit a bulkhead is to go and like get your spot on the wall. But then being on a bulkhead also means something. Yeah, troy, get it, get it. What? Being on a bulkhead also means something? Yeah, troy, get it, get it. What? Being on a bulkhead is.

Speaker 2: 10:56

I pulled it directly from the Pleep Summer Standard Operating Procedures just so we can have a pervasive version.

Speaker 1: 11:00

And I'll tell the story on the back end, so it's a resetting portion, so hit a bulkhead fourth class, machinima, move extraditionally to the designated muster area. Face the bulkhead.

Speaker 2: 11:20

Execute an about face and sound off with their name and alpha code is grand, Fourth-class machinimum remain at attention until direct Grand resetting period, where you one have to maintain your bearing and we'll talk about that afterwards. But it's also a resetting period to make sure that all 115 of the people that are in the company, that they can all be on the same page. Cause, coordinating as a company officer, squad leader, a pl coordinating as you know, company officer, squad leader, platoon officer, you know 115 bodies can be a lot and that hitting the bulkhead is also a reset for the company officers, for the squad leaders or platoon leaders, to really get their team back in order and get them back in line so they can maintain good order.

Speaker 1: 11:52

Yeah, 100%, and it is a very structured thing, right, right, when we talk about being on the bulkhead, you hit the bulkhead to be on the bulkhead and when you're on the bulkhead, that's when you are standing at attention and receiving any kind of command what's going on. But when you're on a bulkhead this is what's important is that understanding about? In bancroft hall there are different colored tiles on the floors and the tiles. The singular tile that's closest to the bulkhead, that's closest to the wall, is like a dark gray.

Speaker 1: 12:19

The dark gray and then everything else in the center is light gray, and so you need to keep your heels not on, not on that dark gray, but just like right on the line, like right on the line right there.

Speaker 3: 12:31

And so, um, you know you joke, but like a lot of the shipment experience a lot of the plebs don't experience is being on a bulkhead, right Like, and being right on that line, right, being right on that fine line, oh man, Studying brief points about yeah, rick go, I don't remember that line and I don't know if it's just because it didn't exist or it was just something that I got yelled at daily, for, like, I wouldn't rule out either, I I definitely feel like that attention to detail would have really not done me well, so I don't remember that, but it might just have been my, my lack of attention to detail that is.

Speaker 1: 13:08

It's possible. They may have redone the flooring in baycroft.

Speaker 3: 13:11

It's also possible yeah, I think we had all the we had when, when I was there in the 90s. That was in the midst of all of the like wing transition, so the rooms and everything looked differently. They may have retiled. I don't remember that. That might be a uniquely new thing. It may be.

Speaker 1: 13:30

I'll have to do some research. We'll have to do some Academy Insider Bancroft Hall history research on flooring, on flooring, to see where we're at. But you brought up a term, troy. You brought up a term that I want to talk about now, which is bearing, because bearing is really important. When you're on the bulkhead, you have to keep your bearing, and so do you mind talking about what bearing is.

Speaker 2: 13:51

Absolutely, because this is the thing that I struggle with, the absolute, most absolutely, because this is the thing that I struggle with, the absolute. Um. So the concept of bearing, uh, for us smiley folks, um, when you're in plebe summer, you're meant to be stoic, you are meant to be, you know, as gray as gray can be plebe in greek means you know, kind of bottom of the barrel, um, and when you're at that point you are, you are not supposed to smile, you are not supposed to interact, you're not supposed to have your eyes move in direction of people moving, like you should be staring at the opposite bulkhead, making sure that your eyes have the ultimate, you know non-movement, and that your face has no bearing, no smirks, no movement, nothing along those lines. And if you do not have bearing, depending on the circumstance.

Speaker 2: 14:32

There are a couple of different things that can happen. One you can get put on your face.

Speaker 3: 14:36

I don't think they do that anymore?

Speaker 2: 14:39

Oh no, you do. Yeah, you can get put on your face.

Speaker 1: 14:41

Yeah, you still do push-ups. So, for everyone listening, just to avoid hazing and quite literal beat-down punishments, there is a structure to how many push-ups can be done as a result of getting dropped. And we're going to go through all these terms. You're hearing all these terms. You have no idea what we're talking about. We're going to go through, but, uh, there is a structure. So there are some sops and when we say sop, it means a standard operating procedure, uh, and that, that kind of detail, the punishments or, for lack of a better term, the uh, um, the extra military instruction to help, uh, help it, help teach a plebe about the importance of bearing right. Right.

Speaker 2: 15:21

And a great story that talks about just how they purposely challenge your ability to maintain bearing, because after about the first week, week and a half, you're no longer giggling and smiling at your friends. You recognize it each summer. You know it's a tough thing that you need to maintain bearing. You kind of recognize it At that two-week period. Once everybody starts to get into the flow, they start to introduce little pieces of chaos. So Edward Allade Grant your teammate, my roommate for most of my time at the academy for the listeners, he's a 6'9 basketball player. He was, you know, starting center on the team, huge guy, an absolute, amazing human being, and after a while they recognized that he was a pretty quiet person.

Speaker 3: 15:58

So at least during the summer he's not in reality.

Speaker 2: 16:01

So what they would do is after we would hit a bulkhead, they would say Alani, war cry, and Ed would have to do exactly bearing. Ed would have to do the loudest screech, and everybody I mean mean no matter where you were you would bust out laughing.

Speaker 2: 16:19

It was a test to see who could maintain bearing despite having these injections of absolute chaos like. Imagine seeing a six nine basketball player, you know, walking around with the biggest muscles in the company, just screaming at the top of his lungs. But that's what the process is all about.

Speaker 1: 16:37

Oh man, oh man, yeah, and you know, in order, like again, everything about the academy which is so funny during these things, which seems so trivial, is, there's always a form of remediation if you are unable to do what is tasked, and so I'm going to put this one over to Rick to see. Rick, have you ever heard of the term bearing bear, and was there a bearing bear for you during your plebe summer, do you?

Speaker 3: 17:03

have any idea what I'm talking about If I say no, no, I, I I had. This is entirely new, newly treaded territory for me, so I would love to know what a bearing bear is.

Speaker 1: 17:10

All right, so at least again, what's what's funny is that everyone's experience can be a little bit during different. During cleave summer, troy's laughing, so his detailers must've done something similar. But if you did not like, if you had continuously had problems keeping your bearing, if you were someone who was constantly laughing or constantly looking around, I Troy you mentioned that earlier and it's another term that we're going to talk about is keeping your eyes in the boat.

Speaker 1: 17:31

If you did not keep your eyes in the boat. If you were like looking around, all right, and you weren't good at keeping bearing, our detailers would make you go down to king hall at that meal. Grab one of the honey bears literal, a literal bear of honey. You know what I'm talking about that. Come there and hold that. So instead of studying reef points when you were on a bulkhead, you would hold the bear in front of your face and it was called the bearing bear because you had to stare that bear directly in those eyes and his little honey filled eyes. And just to keep that, to keep that bearing.

Speaker 3: 18:03

Let me just say that's fantastic, I love that and it gives me great hope. So with every I mean it's very, it's very naval academy to take great pride and say that you know, you were the last class to have a plebe year and things get easier with time. Um, you know, we, we say it as as old grads, but when we were mids all of the crusty old guys would say the same thing. So it's an endless cycle and you do lose certain traditions, you know for, for rational reasons, and so there is this perpetuation of things getting easier. But I think the Naval Academy and its structured torture and mayhem is always good at filling the void in the nebulous, and so I would say the bearing bear is one of those things and I applaud that's a great idea.

Speaker 2: 18:52

You heard it here first. We got the mark of approval.

Speaker 1: 18:56

Do you have anything that you remember, like if someone couldn't keep their eyes in the boat, like, were there any creative punishments that you had, or was it like people just constantly getting dropped as, like the punishment for not being with it?

Speaker 3: 19:08

Yeah, I think it. I think it was just getting dropped and I mean I say that because my eyes were any anywhere but the boat it. And I mean I say that because my eyes were anywhere but the boat it was probably on Tannison Island somewhere and I just remember I was really strong but I played football too.

Speaker 3: 19:22

And I remember being really strong at the end of Plebe Summer I played 10,000 push-ups but yeah, eyes in the boat bearing general military, bearing not my forte as a plebe. I learned quickly to do otherwise, but I can't remember any specific tortures.

Speaker 1: 19:43

Fair enough. Well, since you got dropped a lot, do you mind we keep using these terms? Do you mind like providing some clarity and definition into, like, what it means to get put on your face, getting dropped, et cetera. Like you let the people know, like when they hear those terms, what is actually happening?

Speaker 3: 19:58

Yeah, I mean you're just getting, you know, non-so-subtly requested to get in the push-up position and execute, and sometimes that would rotate between leg lifts or some equivalent of burpees, but it was generally get on the ground and do something sweaty and, you know, calisthenic oriented, and that happened often. I don't remember any tally count for maximum, I just know that there were certain days where I did a lot of pushups.

Speaker 1: 20:33

Yeah, 100, 100%, a lot of pushups, and so that's exactly it, like when you get dropped, you'll hear these terms, right, because all these terms kind of come together and form. So if you're a plebe, hypothetically, and let's say I'm standing on a bulkhead and I'm supposed to be looking at my reef points and I'm not studying because obviously like why would you actually study? When you're standing on the bulkhead, you got the reef points in front of your face, but you're like peeking over or you're looking to the side and out of nowhere you don't realize. When you're looking to the side, you make eye contact with a detailer and your heart drops and you're like, oh, I just got caught and they come over you. They're just going to say get on your face, get like, get on your face Right.

Speaker 1: 21:15

And so that term get on your face means like, all right, I'm getting down into the push up position. That push up position is known as the front leaning rest, all right. So when you're in that, like locked out up top, you're in the front leaning rest, and then you would say in that situation you would like, once the detail tells you to get on your face, you could then say and it would be grammatically correct or terminology correctly, like I just got dropped, right, if someone tells me to get on my face, I just got dropped, dropped, and so that that's how we got there. And then you'll do again like rick was saying some kind of push-up, some kind of flutter, kick, some type of squat or burpee, or get up or up down, um, and that's that's.

Speaker 1: 21:53

I mean, that's what it is, that's like that is the primary punishment that is getting dropped and getting put on your face the other.

Speaker 3: 21:59

The other variant to that, which I think is very noteworthy, is one thing that's drilled into your head as a plebe and I think it's a great thing is team accountability. You win as a team, you lose as a team, and so we would get as a company, dropped, usually for somebody's individual mistake, and so sometimes we would get dropped and immediately go into push-ups. But I remember going, you remember you said front-leaning rest, and I just remembered those times where you know somebody would screw up and then everybody would get dropped and you'd have to just wait at the leaning rest and wait for your classmate to unscrew whatever was screwed up. And many times I was classmate um and and sitting there in the front leaning rest saying waiting on our classmates. Sir, we're waiting.

Speaker 2: 22:50

It's just like.

Speaker 3: 22:51

Oh, the sweat and slippage I just that's what reminds me of getting dropped.

Speaker 1: 22:57

Oh man, I that is so funny. That was my favorite, like that was my favorite especially, and we're going to get into all these, this is oh, this is so funny.

Speaker 1: 23:00

That was my favorite, Like that was my favorite especially, and we're going to get into all these. This is, oh, this is so good, because when you're doing like uniform races and rack races and stuff and you have classmates who didn't meet the time, hack right and they're running from somewhere else, everyone's like all right, time's up on your face, right. You just get on your face and then it's exactly that. It's like all right, start telling, like, start chanting, right, and everyone's in there singing sir, waiting on my classmate, sir, like the whole thing. And there's nothing worse than being in there trying to make your rack and hearing that coming from the hallway because you just know that every single plebe in your company is sick. They're just mad at you, like why?

Speaker 3: 23:37

are you guys taking so long?

Speaker 1: 23:40

nothing worse oh man, all right. Well, uh, let's. Let's keep it back into like hallway fashion. Right now, before we move on to the next piece, there are a couple terms that are critical to the plebe experience, which are chopping and squaring your corners, and so I'm gonna, I'm gonna turn it over to troy first. R chime in anything. Give us a rundown on what chopping is and what it means to square a corner.

Speaker 2: 24:09

Absolutely so. Chopping it is essentially you have to run when, inside a Bancroft Hall, as a plebe, you are not authorized the luxury of walking. You're also not authorized the luxury of soft corners. What do I mean by that? You have to run the moment you enter into those fourth class doors. And when I say run, there are many people who break into a sprint and would oftentimes get yelled at by our SELs, but you know it's a nice pace to make sure that you can get to the next location in an expeditious manner.

Speaker 2: 24:40

Additionally, you have to cleave your cover, which means your cover being your Nixie cup when you're inside or indoors, you have to have a sprawled hand and hold that Nixie cup out and you are chopping every single time that you are running and then squaring your corners. Anytime there is a light gray tile, you have to ensure that you turn at a right angle to get to the next location. So 90 degree angles, every single location, anytime you need to turn. There were no soft angles. You don't get the luxury of walking. You don't get the luxury of leisurely turns.

Speaker 3: 25:19

And it has to be done down the middle and you have to sound off at each square.

Speaker 1: 25:23

that's give me a sound hey, rick, give me the sound off, give me one. Well, give me first, if you don't mind.

Speaker 3: 25:29

Just the definition of sound off and what it, what it means in this context sound off is like a mandated, repeated phrase that you must yell out in a motivated fashion. Uh, you know, and and it happens, you know, sometimes you're just compelled to to sound off and yell and scream by the detailers. And anytime you square a corner you have to sound off, you have to. Yeah, the gold standard is good evening, sir, but I've seen modifications of that. I've seen detailers force underperforming pleads to stay or to say maddeningly frustrating things to upperclassmen, to draw attention to them and to get yelled at. So all rules can be bendable, but no rule is.

Speaker 1: 26:19

The one that will not be broken is, if you are squaring corners, you are sounding off at least oh, yeah, yeah, that it is so, so funny because, like to me, that's the funniest thing because you, you just get so used to saying sir, go navy sir, or sir beat army sir, but you can say one or the other and, and because you're just not smart enough as a plebe, you'll mix and match instead of saying with the same one every time. So the amount of times I would slip up and say like sir go Army sir, I'd be like, oh crap, you knew someone was going to hear you, because in your brain you're saying beat Army, but you say go Army, and then you're done for.

Speaker 2: 26:57

You do that, you're done for.

Speaker 3: 26:59

It was incredible playing football at the Navy and just like the amount of times at the Naval Academy that you hear go Navy beat Army. It's like in the tens of thousands of times. Like you want to know how much a game means to the Naval Academy. Like just walk around Plebe Summer and hear how many times you hear go navy beat army as loud as possible. Over and, over, and, over and over again.

Speaker 2: 27:27

It's non-stop oh yeah, I mean, even after workouts in plebe summer. That's what you're saying. That's what you're saying. That's what you're saying. Funny story again. Not the best bearing, um, but another alternative to chopping squaring quarters and sounding off. At a certain point in the summer, in spite, I started to sing my squaring off, not recognizing that you don't want to draw attention to yourself when you know gallivanting through the hallways. So I would sing it and that became my thing and I'll say, sir, go Navy, sir, and that was my thing, and after a while I stopped getting dropped for it, but.

Speaker 1: 28:04

I would recommend don't draw attention to yourself.

Speaker 2: 28:06

Don't do that.

Speaker 3: 28:09

That's pretty epic. I like that. Yeah, that's pretty good you sound. Yeah, you sounded good.

Speaker 1: 28:13

You still got the pipes man. All right, this is going to be the final term and we're going to wrap it up and in following on episodes we're going to continue this series and go through terminology. But just since we're on the topic of it all, is this idea of sir sandwiches right? We're talking about sounding off at all these different things as a plebe, sir or ma'am sandwiches is important because every time you say anything, anything during plebe summer, you're going to have to start and end with sir or ma'am, right, depending on who you're addressing or whatever the case is. So you know, as you're sounding off and squaring your corner let's say you're a little plebe chopping through the hallway and you're getting ready to turn the corner You're going to have to say sir, go Navy sir or sir, beat army. Sir or ma'am, whatever ma'am. And you know, in terms of remediations, we're talking about the bearing bear and all these different things.

Speaker 1: 29:02

My personal favorite was someone who would forget to do a sir sandwich or a ma'am sandwich and they would just say like they would respond to a question or sound off without starting with sir and as a remediation, because obviously you can't remember, you have zero discipline and zero respect for anyone there. We're just going to make you say sir, say sir, even more Right. And so my favorite is like there's a certain time during plebe summer where if you were to stand, like in a certain hallway, you would watch plebes running by going sir, sir, sir, go navy, sir, sir, sir, right you got you got triple sirs.

Speaker 1: 29:32

You're on triple sir sandwiches because you can't. You cannot remember how to say sir oh man, the sirs, yeah, oh man.

Speaker 3: 29:42

Yeah, that that brings. That scares me because, like, I think one of my most pivotal moments of plebe summer was we're prepping for an alpha inspection, which is like the most intensive inspection that you can have for a room, and we had waxed the floors and my chair was on the desk. So I sat on my bed, which is big. No-no plebe summer world, as I found out quite quickly and quite loudly, and about five minutes into getting absolutely destroyed in the hallway it escalated into second-class Katie Hill getting in my grill and making me say the mission of the United States Naval Academy with every word is a ma'am sandwich. It was. And we got to that part and I said the military academy and said the Naval Academy blew me up and I just like at 10 minutes they just threw me back in the room and I could have collapsed. But so when I hear sir sandwich, ma'am sandwich, like that's where my head goes. That is funny. Amateur move, Rick, Amateur move. I got you. Don't sit on the bed.

Speaker 2: 31:01

The other part is I mean because you get so used to saying, sir ma'am, you also have to remember that you have SELs walking through In that rank recognition, like you say, to the wrong gunnery sergeant, sir or sir. Good morning sir. Oh, they are one.

Speaker 3: 31:18

I work for a living.

Speaker 1: 31:21

I know, sir oh man.

Speaker 2: 31:23

I distinct sir, oh man, and I distinctly remember we had one Gunnery, Sergeant Bond, who is a phenomenal human being, ended up being my ACL. He would not play. He would either get dropped in that moment or he would go and talk to your squad leader and they would take care of him on his behalf, Because he was like I am not a sir, I don't say that, so know that recognition make sure you know that recognition.

Speaker 1: 31:47

Uh, all right, well, awesome. This is gonna wrap us up for part one of the plebe summer terminology. I appreciate both y'all. If you're listening to this episode and there's a term that you hear from your son or daughter, whatever the case is, in in an Instagram post, in a Facebook post, in a newsletter, in a letter home from your son or daughter, send it to me. Send it to me and we'll make sure to get it incorporated and I'll answer it for you and also tune back in, because we're going to do a part two, potentially a part three, and we're just going to keep going with these terms. So, gentlemen, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate you both and, man, this was fun. This was fun.

Speaker 3: 32:22

This is good. Thanks for having us, man. Thanks for having us. This was fun.

Speaker 1: 32:25

For everyone listening. Hope you have a good episode. Have a great day. Appreciate you. 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.