The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience

#107 Plebe Duties At The Naval Academy (2025) - On The Yard 004

• GRANT VERMEER • Season 3 • Episode 107

Share episode

Send us a text

From Chopping to Chow Calls: Decoding the Secret Language of Plebes

Ever wondered what it's really like to be a plebe at the United States Naval Academy? In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the unique aspects of plebe life that go beyond academics and physical training.
As a Naval Academy graduate, I'm excited to share insights into the daily rituals, responsibilities, and challenges that shape the plebe experience.

We'll explore:
Key Elements of Plebe Life
  • The concept of "rates" and what plebes are (and aren't) allowed to do
  • Unique traditions like chopping, chow calls, and plebing your cover
  • The evolution of media restrictions and how they're enforced
  • The ongoing tradition of signature sheets and poster boards
  • Fun aspects like plebe dates and bets with upperclassmen

What You'll Gain from This Episode
  • Understanding of the daily routines and expectations for plebes
  • Insight into how company culture impacts the plebe experience
  • Ideas for conversation starters to get your midshipman talking about their experiences
  • Perspective on how some traditions have evolved over time
  • Information on common plebe punishments and remediation tactics

Bonus Content
I'll also share where you can find more information on "prono" (professional knowledge) and "come arounds" - two other important aspects of plebe life not covered in depth in this episode.
Whether you're a current plebe, a parent trying to understand your midshipman's experience, or just curious about life at the Naval Academy, this episode offers valuable insights into the unique world of plebes at Annapolis. Join us as we explore the traditions, challenges, and moments of levity that shape the first year at the Naval Academy!



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.

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 are interested in sponsoring the podcast, have an idea, question or topic you would like to see covered, reach out: email podcast@academyinsider.com or text Grant at (443) 951-3064

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast and another episode of the On the Yard series here on the Academy Insider Podcast, sponsored by and powered by the Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation. Again, super excited to be a part of the fleet of podcasts here at the Naval Academy Alumni Association. So shout out to them for their support and just continuing to just help the Academy Insider effort and get these episodes going. Today's episode is all about plebe duties, the like plebey things, the plebeum of everything going on at the Naval Academy. And we talked about a little bit the academic experience. We talked about the full day and everything that was going on. This is about like the unique intricacies of plebe year. Again, chopping, uh chow calls, plebing your cover, signature sheets, boards, pronoun like all these different aspects that can make up the plebe experience. What plebes, again, quote unquote, rate and don't rate, things that are allowed and not allowed. This is gonna be the episode today. So if you're looking forward to some of that, make sure to check it out again. More than anything, this episode will provide a little bit of context understanding and hopefully give you enough ammo to ask fun and probing questions that will lead your midshipmen to tell you fun stories, to tell you funny things that are happening and kind of pull out of them some of the ridiculousness that's going on and some of the things that like make the experience when you have a little bit of perspective. Fun, entertaining, funny, ridiculous, all of the above. And sometimes it can be tough and you get caught in the grind of the day-to-day that you don't realize some of these things are happening. And so I think these talks, like this episode, is gonna be great information for you to kind of pull out of them some of the funny, more lighthearted stories that may be happening to them in their plebeier. Make sure to take a listen. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much. And as always, ask any questions. Enjoy the listen. All right, let's jump into it. And the first thing that I want to mention is this term and this idea of a rate, right? Or a duty. Um, but specifically rates and what like when we say something like the fourth class rates or what a fourth class midshipman rates is really comes down to like what they are allowed to do, what the what are the privileges they have or do not have, right? The things that are they they are required to do. And so again, this is gonna be an episode kind of all about the the plebe duties, the things that are kind of like external. You know, we talked a lot about like the academic year experience. This is gonna be a breakdown of like all the stuff that is very plebey, is very like outside of the scope of the big picture and more of the the nitty-gritty day-to-day things that are going on. And so again, this first thing, you're probably familiar with the term chopping. And if you've been listening listening to Academy Insider, you know what the term chopping is. Um that still continues into the academic year. Um, so anytime you're in Bancroft Hall, basically up until about 1900, 7 p.m., um, plebes are required to chop, which means again, they're basically jogging, they're running through Bancroft Hall through the whole time. And so again, chopping maintain like remains uh a piece of the plebe experience during the academic year. Chopping is still happening. Uh again, I remember my time as a midshipman. Yeah, it's not like the mids are like running through uh Bancroft Hall unless they're late to class. The beautiful thing about being a plebe and chopping is like if you are a little behind schedule, you got out of your room late on your way to fifth period, like in the afternoon. Well, guess what? You can you can chop pretty fast. You can be running through the halls to make class on time. But um, but yeah, that that so the idea of chopping, chopping absolutely still exists. You may also hear a term called chow calls. Again, this happens during pleep summer. We talked a little bit about chow calls in some previous episodes all about pleep summer. But chow calls still continue during the academic year and they're still happening. Um and they happen basically. We call every minute on the minute, starting at 15 minutes before formation. So, for example, if you have formation at 1155, right? New meal formation goes at 1155. So basically 15 minutes before that at 1140, the first chow call is starting, right? And so they're getting out of class, they're make their they're busting their buns to get back to Bancroft Hall to be ready for chow calls that start at 1140. And basically what happens is they're gonna go through their chow call every minute on the minute, which means at the top of the minute, they're gonna start their chow call. Again, usually chow calls will take somewhere between 20 to 40 seconds, depending on what's going on, how fast they're moving, etc. Um, they're able to quote unquote like rest or relax for the the period of time in between. So let's say it takes you 40 seconds, you got 20 seconds to like take a deep breath, catch, relax, and then you're staring at the clock, and as soon as it hits the top again, you're going, sir, now you have 14 minutes until noon meal formation, like noon meal formation goes in, smoke park, I think, because you know Bancroft's under construction. So um all that's happening. So again, you have you have chopping, you have chow calls. Um, another term you're gonna hear is is plebing your cover. And so, as a plebe, when you're in Bancroft Hall or you're on the yard, anytime you take your cover off, anytime your cover has to come off, you don't just get to hold your cover. Like again, you'll see a lot of midshipmen, and this is such a unique, like niche aspect of the Naval Academy. If you see an upperclassman holding their cover, they're just gonna be holding it by like the bill, like the brim of the cover, right? They're just gonna kind of be holding it down there, or they'll hold it from, you know, kind of the the back portion of the cover, they'll just hold it. This idea of plea being your cover is like you got to put your whole hand into the cover and like spread it out and like hold it from the inside and like put it all the way through. Um, really a small thing, and this isn't even like a big uh inconvenience necessarily, it's just something that's required. There's just another another thing on top of everything. Um, you know, one thing that has changed a little bit from my time, and again, this is a really small difference. Um, you know, we when we would eat in King Hall as plebs, we would have to we call sit on the front, like front three inches or front six inches of the chair, which means like you got to sit all the way at the front of your chair. You don't recall rate the backs of your chair, like you're not able to lean back, sit back, relax. You gotta be up on the front of your chair, you know, posture really tight and strong and eating um in a certain way. That is only happening during plebe summer now. Uh so during the academic year, the plebs rate the back of their chairs. Um, you know, they're able to kind of go about and do that again. That may be different from company to company, but it's certainly not kind of like a brigade-wide thing anymore, uh, mainly just an only during plebe summer thing. So again, when they're in King Hall now and they're eating, uh, again, a lot of times they're just relaxed, sitting in the back of their chair, um, you know, not sitting on the front of your chairs at meal. Again, that's a that's a plebe summer only thing. The next one I want to get into is this idea of media, right? So, again, we've talked about shopping, we've talked about chow calls, we've talked about plebing your cover, sitting on the front three, which no longer happens. Um, media is an interesting thing because this is even since my time at the academy, this has become even way more commonplace, right? Like, even when I was, you know, at the the Naval Academy, Instagram was like just becoming a thing. Like I created an Instagram in like the senior year of my high school experience, right? So, like Instagram was a new thing. It wasn't like a everyday, there was no, there were no reels, there was no TikTok, you weren't scrolling all the time. Um, and so this piece is really interesting because for us, what media meant, like if you rate media, it means you were allowed to A, listen to music, B, watch TV series, like stream Netflix. Um and so again, when we talk about rating media, we're just talking about having access to your technology for the purposes of entertainment, right? Like, not for the purposes of studies, etc. Like you always had the ability to do that, but for the purposes of entertainment. Um and so that's one of these things where, again, technically, fourth class midshipmen um do not rate media, right? Like you see, you're you do not rate media except on liberty periods. So again, during the academic day, during your study period, you do not rate media, which means you're not supposed to be on social media, you're not supposed to be, you know, watching Netflix or listening to music. Um this one's like nearly impossible to enforce. So again, we're, you know, in a previous in the one of the previous episodes, we talked about this term, you rate what you skate, right? Like at the end of the day, you rate, like you have the privilege to do whatever you're willing to risk if you were to get caught. And um, again, it's a term you're gonna hear all the time in the military, um, all the time at the Naval Academy, really, really skate. And so media is one of those things where like, um, again, I'm not in there today, but again, it was the same way when I was a midshipman. I'm sure the same, you know, technically it's not allowed because it's not, again, you you don't even have time to do it because you're just so busy as a plebe. Um, but again, technically not allowed, probably really hard to enforce for upper class midshipmen nowadays to like go through and and be doing that. And so um, again, I I would assume um also, I think this is like one of these things where if you're taking care of business, again, this is a really kind of this is just a life concept, but it applies directly at the Naval Academy. Is if you're taking care of your business, if you're sat, right? Like if you're a sat midshipman, you're set in satisfactory standards academically, fitness-wise, et cetera, like you're getting done everything you need to get done, then you're not gonna get micromanaged necessarily about like everything that you're doing, how you're spending your time, you do all this. But the moment you become unsat, the moment you are out of standards, and now like the attention is on you, well, yeah, now like now you bait me at a spot where like you definitely you are not rate in media, like you are not able to get away with you know, certain things that might technically be um, you know, not allowed, but you know, sometimes may go on. Um and so again, I I think this is one of those things that um will especially come down to company culture. There may be some companies that are way more relaxed about it and more like, hey, as long as you get your stuff done, well, it's all good. Like I'm not, I'm not worried about it, I'm not gonna micromanage your day-to-day. Um, and there may be other ones that are like, hey, no, absolutely. Like, we're gonna come around and do room checks during study period. We want to make sure you're not participating in any of these things. Like, you got to be locked in and doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing, right? And so um that's kind of how it goes. Again, I would say some of the more like quote unquote obvious things, like you're probably not gonna see pleas playing video games during the academic week. Like, that's uh probably again, not something that's feasible. Um, and if someone saw that, they'd be like, hey, cut cut that out. Like, we're not doing that today. Um, but something that you could do during Liberty. But for the most part, if you're like on your phone or or tablet and iPad, all that stuff again, it's one of those things that's probably nearly impossible to enforce. Um, and so people probably get away with it. Like you probably see your your plebe responding, sending you a reel or you know, responding to a comment on Instagram or something. Um again, uh minor de minor details, right? Like I would not be stressing about that, but it's always funny, like when you go into mid-regs and you read what is technically allowed and technically not allowed, and then you take a look at what is almost more feasible to enforce and what you know is an emphasis on enforcement versus not, right? And so um that that's what we talk about when we talk about rating media. And uh again, that one's always funny to reflect on and see how things are going today. Because when I was a plebe, like they took that very seriously. Like, rating media was a very serious thing, and if you got caught like listening to music or watching something, like we would get absolutely flamed, like absolutely destroyed as a plebe class. Um, and I think the tide is changing a little bit with that one, just again, just as time changes and the access to smart devices changes and um everything continues to develop. So um those are some of the like primary, again, plebe duties or rates, things that you're not allowed, right? Like you don't you don't rate, like you don't you're not allowed, you don't rate walking through Bancroft Hall. You have to chop, right? Like you don't rate um just going straight to your room before formation. Like you have to go do chow calls. You don't rate holding your cover in a normal way, you have to plebe your cover. Um, again, in the past, you did not rate the back of your chairs, like you did not have the privilege of sitting in the back of your chairs. Again, that one's kind of changed to more of just a plebe summer thing. Um, and then the media, right? Like, do not rate media. Um, but when it comes to enforcement and all this different stuff, again, at the end of the day, you rate what you skate. You rate what you skate. And so uh again, I just um as we talk on Academy Inside about a lot of stuff, I'm here to provide context, perspective, and understanding. I'm not uh encouraging or promoting any type of behavior, it's just one of these things. Like at the end of the day, you're in you're an adult and and actions have consequences. And if you choose to do something that you know is against the rules and you get caught and someone chooses to enforce that, like guess what? Like you better be ready to accept the consequences of that because you knew what you were doing, right? And so um boom. So that's those are kind of some of the plebe uh duties and daily rates. Uh one thing that I want to talk about, and again, I have a whole episode in the past about signature sheets, and I encourage you to go check that out because I think they're super fun. Um, and it's a super fun pastime at the Naval Academy and some of these different things. That experience has developed. So signature sheets are still a thing. Um the plebes are definitely still doing signature sheets. This is one of these where uh this one is super, super company dependent, right? Um again, there are some companies where the signature sheets they're done in two or three weeks, right? Like you go and you go and get your signatures from the upperclassmen, you go meet everyone, you learn their names, you learn a little bit of information about them, you get their signature, and they move on. Back in the day, we had like serious tasks. And if you want to learn about tasks and absurd things that happened in order to get signatures, I encourage you to go back and listen to an early, early episode I did all about signature sheets with Nikki DeGuzman. Um, and that's one of my favorite episodes anyway, because it's just like it's the it is the comedy of the Naval Academy. Like it is the old school, like crazy things that happen. Um, but as we know, like sometimes people take it too far, one thing leads to another, and there's a big event that then, again, uh causes change for the future uh of it. I don't know what the the the truth is, um, but the gouge, the rumor, the you know, what caused this shift of tasks and not tasks. And again, it could have just been a uh a decision that was uh thought out about the fact that tasks are distracting from the plebs and what they're supposed to be focused on when it comes to their actual academic studies, when it comes to their physical fitness, like this is just an unnecessary distraction. It actually detracts from the mission. Um, that could absolutely be one reason. Uh the reason that I've kind of heard on the rumblings on the down low is that uh once upon a time, a couple years ago, um, you know, signature sheets were happening and tasks associated with earning a signature were still happening. Um that is kind of uh again, like I again, rumor on the street is someone was tasked to go get a picture with a yard dog, which is what we call squirrels. Um someone to like go task to like actually catch a squirrel and take a picture of the squirrel. Like if you wanted to earn this person's signature, you literally needed to capture and then take a picture with a squirrel. Um, rumor on the street is someone actually caught a squirrel. They literally caught the squirrel, and then the squirrel bit, literally bit the midshipman. Uh, and that caused, you know, obviously a big medical issue. Um, and then was kind of the driving factor that led to uh, you know, midshipman leadership, the brigade leadership being like, and no, you guys are done. There are no more tasks allowed. Tasks are done. You guys ruined it for everyone. Those those are banned. Tasks are banned. And so again, as of this year, tasks are banned. Again, I've seen silly stuff like, hey, you need to go take a picture with a fish or get a picture with a fish or like something like that in order to earn my signature. Again, I think there's again, company to company, you may see things that are small, minute, not major time things, and and certainly not dangerous to the midshipman in order to kind of get to know someone better. Um, but like the the tasks of old uh are certainly gone. The tasks of old are certainly gone. Um in terms of timeline, so this is one of these things that's interesting, and we go back to like um what's going on because as I'm you know recording this in mid-October, we're about nine weeks into the semester. Um there are some companies that are still doing their signature sheets. Like they have not been finished. And then there are other companies that were done within literally about two to three weeks, right? And so um again, that and that's dependent on a lot of different factors, the training staff, the upperclassmen in the midshipment, how serious they want to take it, because usually it's done on a week-to-week basis, right? Like at blue and gold on Sunday night, they will be like, All right, did you guys get all of your signatures done? Right. And usually, again, in order for you to be quote unquote done with the signature sheet tasks, every single midshipment, every single plebe in your company had to get all of the signatures done in that week. And if they were not done, again, you have Sunday night to Sunday night in order to get it done. And if they were not done, then like they would quite literally call it rip your sheets. They would rip your sheet and then print you a new one and make you start over and start from scratch and go and do it all over again. So this is a week by week evolution. Um, and it sounds like some of the companies still have not accomplished uh the the finality of finishing signature sheets, and others that have been done since week three. Right. And so as we talk about the distinction and the difference of company culture and how it impacts a plebe life, again, subplebe may have for the past six weeks haven't had to we worry about doing anything additional or getting any signatures. And for other plebes for the past six weeks, they've had to still go any moment they've had free time, go knocking on doors, asking for more signatures from the upperclassmen, and like again, that takes time. Like that's really difficult. And so um, those are kind of everything that's been been going on. Um, and uh, you know, that kind of concludes you know the pitch about about signature sheets. Um poster boards. Boards still absolutely a thing. Um, you know, again, kind of again, if you have a billet, um, you know, you are the company academic officer, you know, you're the company commander, all this different stuff, then you get a board. The you know, the person gets to pick their theme and what they want on it. Um, the plebs have to make them. And again, generally, you know, plebes will kind of break out like, all right, person, you know, this group makes that one, that group makes a different one, all these different things. And then it usually turns out um that the people that have are artistically inclined to end up end up having to do the vast majority of them anyway, because it matters to the upperclassmen. They love it. Like it's it becomes fun and personal to have your poster board and you want it done well. Um, so again, the people who are artistically inclined generally make it happen, which brings me to another uh kind of like militaryism, something that I think is like a really important and fun thing for us to talk about, which is um uh competency in the military uh is usually rewarded with more work. You know, usually you think like, oh yeah, if I'm competent, I get my done like job done, you know, I'll be I'll be good and left alone. No, like if you prove that you're competent in any aspect or realm, like uh guess what? Now we're leaning on you to make it happen. And um, and so again, if you are artistically inclined as a plebe, uh you're probably gonna be relied on pretty heavily for the poster boards um to get those complete. Again, as a Navy basketball player, when I was the battalion, I was a 6th battalion commander in second semester of my first year. Um, you know, I had I had them make a board um, you know, with David Robinson on it, the Admiral, um, you know, talking about my command commander's philosophy and commander's intent. And uh that was really cool. Like I really enjoyed that. And so again, the boards mean something. So it's really cool when the plebs do a good job, they take it seriously, um, and make them look really nice. Like I think that piece is is really cool. So those are the two like iconic ones signature sheets and poster boards. Poster boards are usually done within three to four weeks in the semester because the people want them up. They like they want them finished and complete and displayed um in Bancroft Hall. Again, signature sheets, wide variety. Some done in a couple weeks, others still week nine, still going, still getting signature sheets. So um, again, wide, wide variety of experiences there. The next thing that I want to talk about is this idea of a plebe date. As we're talking about, again, plebe stuff, plebe duties, plebe rates. How about pleb dates? Plebe dates. They still happen, which I love. Um again, sounds like I mean, I talked to a couple people, sounds like maybe they're um more sparse, like they're not as common, um, but usually they're like super fun and funny. And so basically, um, you know, again, when you're eating lunch in Bancroft Hall, you're sitting with your squad, right? Like you're sitting with um your unit, your company, the people that are in your squad in your company. And this idea of a plebe date is that plebes can go invite upper class midshipmen on a date to join them at their company table, at their squad table during lunch one day. And usually what comes with plebe date is like a very extravagant invitation, right? Like you're not doing something, you're not just going up to someone and asking them to join you for lunch. Like, usually, in order to do that, like you got to do something insane, like really funny, really cool, really extravagant to kind of ask someone up on a plebe date. So um, again, this is one of these things I don't necessarily have a good story to tell you uh today. Again, we we had some pretty awesome stuff like when I was a midshipman of how plebe dates were asked, but I'd encourage you, like if you ever have an opportunity, like you're on a conversation, you don't know what to talk about, your plebe is be like, hey, have you had any funny plebe dates? Have you been on a plebe date? Had does anyone you know, have they been on a plebe date? Um, because those are those can always lead to good funny stories. Uh, and so I would encourage you to ask about that again. Asking about signature sheets, asking about boards, were they required to build any boards? Um, you know, how was that experience? Have you been on a plebe date? Like all of those are great conversation topics that may lead to funny stories that might not otherwise come up, right? And so uh that's that's what we're here to do. Along those lines, and again, with you know, the football season in in full swing, um, is this idea of a bet, a plea bet. And so um, you know, plebe bets on football games are still a thing, absolutely still a thing. And these are the again, plebe bets are usually what lead to like some of the more like some of the funnier stuff that you see on on the yard happening. Um, you know, because again, what'll happen is like a plebe will bet an upper class midshipman on the football game. The plebes are required to bet that Navy wins, and um and then the upperclassmen are required, again, as a result, therefore, to kind of take the away or visiting team. Um it always helps when Navy goes when Navy's winning football games because then plebs are the ones who don't have to do anything, right? Uh no, they're not usually required to do any of the funny punishments. And so you get upperclassmen that happens, right? And so again, a lot of times what you'll see is like, again, you'll see midshipmen marching to class with a cadence, being marched to class because they lost a bet. You'll see them wearing um, you know, funny uniforms. You maybe see upperclassmen in their like plebe white works going to class because they lost a bet, right? Like you'll see silly uniforms, you'll see marching, you'll see upperclassmen doing things, um, you know, upperclassmen doing plebe things. Like, you know, hey sir, I bet you that um again, if if Navy wins, like you have to be a plebe for a day, right? So you see upperclassmen squaring corners, sounding off, chopping through Bancroft Hall as a result of their lost bet. Um, and so those are those are things that are going on. So again, I encourage you. I think these are fun conversations with plebs. Hey, have you made a plebe bet? Have has anyone in your company made a plebe bet? Um and uh again, another one of those common betting uh wagers is this idea of carry-on, and which leads us to a fun next conversation as we talk about rates, like what you rate as a plebe. Again, as a plebe, you don't rate media, you don't rate just walking through Bancroft Hall, like all you have all these duties. When you win carry-on, that means you no longer have to like abide by the plebe rates. So if you have carry-on for the day, well, now I can not chop. If I have carry-on for the name, now I do rate media. I do get to do the things I otherwise wouldn't have like had the ability to do. And that's this idea of carry-on. Now there's always caveats, like you your upper class may say, Hey, yeah, you have carry-on, but you still need to do X, or but you still need to do Y. And those things are kind of you know talked about um through the different process because it's not like, oh, I win carry on now, I get to go wear civilian clothes. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like it's it's not all the way. It's just kind of generally a relieving of some of the plebe requirements, some of the plebe duties for a day. Um, and that can come from winning a bet. Um, a lot of times you'll see them again, they'll bet them for their rank, right? So a lot of times, again, a big thing when I was a midshipment is someone would go and they would bet, like they would bet the command or bet the superintendent. And so you'd see a plebe walking around with like vice admiral stars and rank on after Navy won, because they literally went and bet the superintendent that Navy would win that Saturday. And if they won, then they gotta like be the super. It's like it's like bring your, you know, be the principal for the day. You win in sixth grade from from a raffle. It's kind of like the same thing, right? Like, yeah, you get to wear the rank, you get carry-on, all the silly stuff. I mean, you you're you're not making uh superintendent decisions, but it but it's usually a fun thing that you'll see from time to time. And so um again, bets as it relates to like Navy sporting events and specifically Navy football games is a big piece of the plebe experience, and I'd encourage you to kind of ask about these things. All right. So as we hit this about you know 20, 25 minute mark on the episode, again, as as we're just recapping, I'd encourage you to ask about you know their plebe rates. Like what do they rate? Chopping, chow calls, plebing your cover, sitting on the front three, um, you know, media, but more specifically, the big ones are like, how is your signature seat experience? Did you have to do anything funny to earn a signature? How long did it take you guys to get them done? Um, you know, what was um, you know, did you have to make any poster boards? Who was your poster board for specifically? How was that experience? Have you been on a plebe date? Did you invite anyone on a plebe date? Uh, do you know anyone who did? Are there any funny stories there? Have you bet an upperclassman on a football game? These are all questions that you can be asking that may lead to your plebe telling you funny stories, right? Like kind of getting them going and opening them up about things that are going on. Um, and so I think those can be really fun conversations. As we kind of get ready to wrap it up and conclude here, the last thing that I want to talk about, and we talked a little bit about this, is the idea of punishments. We talked about it in the in the previous episode about the academic experience and punishments. Um again, a lot of times when plebes are not doing things well, um, you'll hear a bunch of different punishments and things that can kind of go call it, go back to the basics or have these different things in order to remediate an issue. Um, and so you know, some of the things that are still common that were were very common when I was a midshipman are this idea of 24-hour blues or whites, meaning like you, again, when you like, even when you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, like you don't get to put on, you know, shorts, your, you know, your Usnas and your blue rim, like you got to go put on your either summer white uniform or your working blue uniform just to go to the restroom, right? Like 24 hour blues, 24 hours whites. These are these are common punishments. And again, that one's usually in relation to, again, like, oh, six weeks and we still can't get our signature sheets done. Oh, well, like now we got to be professional 24 hours a day. Like you got to wear your uniforms 24 hours a day, right? Like it kind of leads to funny, ridiculous, uh silly stuff. Um, morning tours are another one. Like sometimes, again, in that workout period, if you don't have a plea morning workout, maybe you're marching tours, uh, meaning like um again, potentially like literally walking around with your your rifle for a little bit. So morning tours could potentially be another punishment. Um, you know, some things that again were uh more common when I was a midshipman that have phased away is this idea of what we call racetracks or one-way P-ways. Um, you know, we used to be like, hey, you can only go in one way on the P-Way. So again, if you want to go, you can only take right turns, like you can't turn left. So if you want to go left, you gotta go right all the way around in order to like end up going left. Right. And so um all these things kind of lead to certain punishments. When it comes to this, again, I'm not here to say like what specific punishments are happening or what or what are not happening. But if you ever hear your plea mentioned, like, oh yeah, we have a punishment, we have a remediation. Oh, I'm you know, I have a morning tour, oh I mean, we have 24-hour whites, like those are the ideas of what's going on. Is it some kind of remediation for what has been deemed by the upper class as like, you know, kind of poor performance in one area or another? Um amazing. This is gonna kind of wrap it up. I want to keep this one a little bit briefer. I've kind of been ranting on a bunch of ones in the past, but I hope this is like a fun breakdown on some of the, again, some of the plebisms, some of the plebe rates, some of the things that are happening in the life of the plebe that are very plebe specific. Um I I do want to encourage you at the end of this episode as well, because I won't do another episode about it, is this idea of prono um because this is a big plebe experience as well. I would go back and listen. I did an episode last year actually with the midshipman all about prono or professional knowledge. So if you want to get a little bit of insight about pronoun because you may hear this term pronoun again, just an abbreviation for pro professional knowledge, prono, um, go back and take a listen to that episode. You can you can find it um you know on the Academy Insider Podcast and and kind of go through and and find you know the prono episode as I'm I'm gonna go kind of scroll through and try and find it with you as as we're going through here to find an actual episode with you. Um episode 73 from November 3rd of 2024. Episode 73 is all about pronoun um because that'll go back to this experience. Experience of professional knowledge. It'll also talk about this idea of come around, which are a big plebe thing. So if you hear the term come around, if you hear the term prono, um, you know, these are the different things that you know you may also hear. If you want to learn more about that, I highly highly encourage you to go check out episode 73 as well, where we talk all about that. Um but yeah, no, I I just these are the fun things to be in a plebe. Um, you know, I I I saw I saw some stuff the other day which I thought was really awesome. Uh, you know, this was a big thing. Like, again, a lot of this stuff happens in King Hall or happens around, which makes it really fun. Um, but you know, a lot of times, like, you know, birthdays will happen and people have to stand up on their chairs and sing happy birthday to a, you know, to a plebe squad mate or to an upperclassman on their table or do all these things. So um, all that stuff is super fun. Again, all of this stuff is dictated and annotated in mid-regs, um, the midshipment regulations about what's actually allowed, what's not allowed. These episodes hopefully are just again about providing context, understanding, perspective so that way you can understand when your plebe's telling you a story, or even ask some more probing questions that may lead to some fun stories being told. So I hope this was fun. I hope you got a little bit out of it. I really enjoy, you know, getting to share these little bits of insights, these little tidbits that uh hopefully make the plebe experience just a little bit easier to understand. So thank you so much. If you have any questions, let me know. Um otherwise, we're back next week with a super fun interview uh all about stoicism, which is gonna be a really interesting thing, all about the Naval Academy Leadership and Ethics Program and like specifically the teachings about stoics and stoicism. So super excited about that. Make sure to check it out. I hope to continue to see here on Academy Insider. Let me know if I can ever do anything for y'all. I appreciate it and I hope you have a great day. Thanks for the listen. 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 it 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.

Head Shot

Grant Vermeer

Host