#130 The End of Plebe Year

Plebe year ends with a fast, emotional sprint: finals wrap, intercessional leave hits, and then zero block brings the two biggest milestones most families are waiting for, Sea Trials and Herndon. If you’ve got a plebe at the U.S. Naval Academy, or you’re trying to understand the Naval Academy journey from the outside, this is the background that will help. 

We start with a term that always makes people do a double take: “spooning.” I explain what spooning means at the Naval Academy, why plebes normally have strict forms of addressing upperclassmen, and how that one small permission to use a first name signals a bigger transition from plebe and upperclassman to future peers in the fleet. If you’re a parent, it’s also a handy piece of insider language so you know exactly what your midshipman is talking about. 

Then we get practical about zero block and Sea Trials. I walk through what to expect from Sea Trials, why it’s designed as a crucible event, how long it can last, and the kinds of physically demanding stations plebes move through as a team. I also share what I want plebe parents to keep in mind if you’re in town: how to support your midshipman, what’s helpful, and what can become a distraction. 

We close with Herndon and the key detail many people miss: “plebe no more” happens after Herndon, but official promotions for the Brigade come on commissioning day. If this helps you, subscribe, share it with another USNA family, and leave a review so more parents and future midshipmen can find the show.

For any real estate questions, please text me at 650-282-1964

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

This podcast is independently produced and reflects the views and opinions of its creators. It is not officially affiliated with, endorsed by, or representative of the United States Naval Academy or its affiliates.

Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all.  He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.

He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a residential real estate company that matches service academy families with trusted real estate teams all across the country.  Text (650) 282-1964 with any real estate questions.

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Transcript

Welcome And What We Cover

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the Academy Insider Podcast. Today's episode is gonna be about wrapping up plead year. What did this final couple of weeks look like? We have just finished finals. We are getting ready to go into what we know as zero block. Sea trials is around the corner, Herndon's right after that. Then what happens? All that stuff is what we're gonna discuss today. You're gonna discover a term called spooning. You're gonna hear a little bit peer reviews and other things in this episode and so much more. So make sure to check it out. I hope you enjoy it. If there are any questions, be sure to let me know. Again, I'm gonna be preparing to do some summer training content here in the near future as well. So stand by for that. Really look forward to it. I hope you enjoyed the episode. Let's jump into it. Before we get started, I want to make a quick disclaimer to make sure that everyone knows Academy Insider and myself, Grant Premier, are in no ways official representatives of the United States Naval Academy, the Navy, andor the Department of War. What I'm doing here again is just trying to provide a little bit of context, perspective, and understanding for the Naval Academy journey. But my use of the Naval Academy and conversation about them does not imply endorsement from the institution. If you ever have any questions directly for the Naval Academy, I encourage you to reach out to them directly and the Public Affairs Office. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. And I hope you have a great listening to the episode. Congratulations. Congratulations to you. Congratulations to your plebe, whatever your relation is to your plebe, whether that's your brother, your sister, your son, your daughter, your grandson, your granddaughter, your niece, your nephew, your family, friend, whatever the case is. Congratulations. Uh, because plebe year is basically over. Uh, depending on when you're listening to this, it may be a couple of days away. Because again, technically, you will be a plebe until you quote unquote we call Cap Herndon, where you put the cover on top of Herndon. Um, but we're really close. Finals are finished. They're on what we call like your intercessional leave, this time between the end of finals and before the start of zero block. And so this is a really incredible time for the plebes. Like, life is so good right now. You are on the precipice, you are right there from being a plebe no more. And so, again, we're gonna talk about today what a little bit of this means, but I wanted to start with congratulations to everyone who may be listening. Congratulations to the plebe class of 2029. Um, yeah, you're basically there. You're basically there from the end of plebe year, which is incredible. Now, with all that being said, there are a couple of ideas that I want to talk about when it comes to ending plebe year, coming to the end of plebe, uh of being a plebe. Um, and the first one, again, is gonna be the fun idea of this term called spooning. If you've never heard this term um called spooning, it was something that I wanted to take a little bit of time to talk about because I think it's just again, it just highlights a really unique aspect of the Naval Academy, which is for the entirety of the year so far, the plebs have had to address their upper class midshipmen by sir or ma'am, or you know, their again, name. Again, when I was a second class or first class midshipman, the plebs would call me Mr. Vermeer. Sir, Mr. Vermeer, like Mr. Vermir, sir, like all this different stuff, right? And again, it it's kind of it feels weird with perspective. Like, yeah, there's like an 18-year-old kid calling a 20-year-old kid um, you know, sir, or like Mr. Vermeer, but that's that's a part of it. It's a part of the rank structure, it's a part of being a plebe, it's a part of understanding your role in the overall process and embracing the experience. Um and so that piece is interesting. The idea of spooning uh is uh an interesting one because this idea of spooning is when an upperclassman allows you to address them by their first name or their nickname. This is I that idea is what we call spooning. And so, again, like if there was a point in time, you know, coming up on Hermann, like there may be an upper class midship who's like, hey, like we'll I'll I'll be able to like you'll be able to call me by my first name, like on Herndon. Like, there's no no day before that. Um technically, what it's supposed to be like by rule regulation, again, a plebe should not be addressing an upper class midshipman by anything besides like Mr. or Mrs. in their last name or sir or ma'am, um, up until that point. Now, again, obviously the part of this platform and program is just to provide like the kind of an honest uh context and perspective. Usually that depends on like class year, right? And and it depends on role and it depends on um everything that's going on, it depends on culture. Um, and so a lot of times, right, like if you have a youngster, again, a third class midshipman, that they've just been a plebe. Their role is to be a little bit more of like a mentor and a guide um to the plebs versus you know the second class and first class midshipmen who are really in charge of their training. A lot of times a youngster will quote unquote like spoon, um, spoon a plebe and allow them to call them by their first name much earlier in the year. And that's like that may be happening. Now, a lot for like the second class midshipmen, especially the ones who are part of the training staff who are like primarily responsible for training the plebs and being responsible for their growth and development and really the military aspect of the plebe year. Um, yeah, I I mean the vast majority of cases, that's gonna be like, hey, yeah, yeah, once you put that cap on Earth, then you know, then you can call me Paul. Until then, until then, we're uh no. Um, and so again, that that is an interesting concept. And uh, you know, really I want to bring it up because I think it's a fun discussion point. It'll allow you to kind of get to understand the characters in your son or daughter story again or your plebe story a little bit more. Like, hey, what is what is spooning bid like for you as they're you know, who who allows you to call them by the first name, who doesn't, how strict is um, you know, your experience, your company, all of the sort, right? Like those are the things that I think can lead to interesting and fun stories. Um, and I think it's always funny because this term, like it, it's a it's an interesting one. I remember being a plebe, and uh, you know, it was it was closer to like it was it was a close to spring break, uh, honestly. Again, when I was a midshipman, it was closer to spring break. I was a plebe, and we had some second-class midshipmen who like came up to us uh during a training, um and they just kind of used this term. And I had no idea what they were talking about. Again, if any backstory on me is like I didn't know much about what I was getting myself into, obviously. Um but like they came up to us around spring break, and we had a couple midshipmen, second-class midshipmen who came up to a group of plebes of us, and they were like, Hey, um, we're gonna start letting you spoon us now. And I remember sitting there, I was like, What? Like, wait, what hold up, hold up. I I think I'm missing something because what the heck did you just say? And uh there was again like a lot of craziness, a lot of funny stuff, and they're like, Oh, you know, like we're gonna let you like call us by our first name. I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, for sure. That sounds a lot better. That sounds a lot better. Um, and so again, all this stuff, like as you're approaching that last week of plebe summer, there may be some again, quote unquote, spooning going on, upper class midshipmen starting to kind of phase transition that relationship from like a very strict um, you know, relationship of upper class midshipmen to lower class midshipmen, um, to then more peers, right? And uh, I think that one's always interesting because what is fascinating is that like if you're a second class midship and you're with your plebe, and four years from now, that second class midshipman is a lieutenant junior grade, um, and that plebe is an ensign on a ship. Guess what? Like you're just peers, strictly peers. Um, and so that transition, that relationship needs to happen. And there, and there is a change. And so um, you know, that's a fascinating piece um towards the end of plebe year is this idea of spooning. And I think I wanted to bring it up just as a conversation piece that you may have a little bit of like tidbit and insider knowledge, and God forbid you ever hear the term or you hear your plebe talking about spooning an upperclassman. At least you know, at least you know what they're talking about now instead of being uh oddly skeptical. Um and so that's what we have there. Now, again, as I'm recording this, we're we're we're coming in towards the end of um you know finals week here, and when this gets published, um finals are gonna be done, they're on i leave. Um i leave's the best, man. You get a couple days to just like decompress before you show back up for zero block. And um, you know, there's lots of cool stuff. You know, not every midshipman's gonna participate in zero block. And when I use the term zero block, I'm talking about this period again after finals, really like starting this Monday, all the way through the end of commissioning, which is gonna be basically like a two-week period. Um, there's some midshipmen that are gonna have summer trainings, there are gonna be some midshipmen that have uh internships, there are gonna be some midshipmen. I know, again, my connection to the basketball team. Um, like the basketball team is participating in like a um a tournament and some exhibition games out in Puerto Rico, like there's a lot of really cool stuff that can happen during that zero block training period with a lot of really cool, interesting things to happen. Now, with all that being said, for the the plebes that are gonna be on the yard, which is gonna be the vast majority of them, um, there are a couple of major evolutions and events that are coming up. The first is sea trials, right? C trials will start. So again, everyone will have to report back on Sunday evening, I believe, or maybe Monday, but I think Sunday evening at the end of your intercessional leave. Um, and that zero block starts basically Monday. Now, there's probably gonna be some briefs going on, certain things that are happening, but like really the major event that's gonna happen is sea trials. And sea trials is a is a really um cool evolution. It's also a really difficult evolution. And it's designed to be really difficult. When I say difficult, like mentally, yeah, emotionally, yeah, like no, physically. Physically, very tough. Um, and so you know, those will get back on the yard, they'll have Monday to reset, recoup, everything's going on. Um, and then literally starting at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday, they're gonna start the sea trials evolution, which is meant to be a crucible event. Um, if you haven't listened to the episode that we've talked about crucibles and the idea of the Naval Academy being a crucible, well, there are also cruci like sub-crucible events um throughout the year. And and one of those for plebe year is sea trials. It's really this culminating kind of capstone event for the plebs to showcase all of the effort that they have put in to test all of the effort and work that they've put in to grow, develop, uh, get faster, stronger, fitter, um, you know, through their time during plebe year. And so again, starts at 3 a.m. It's uh, you know, it's a long evolution. Yeah, how long exactly? Uh look, things can adjust, things can change, there's always audibles to be called. I mean, but we're talking 12 to 16 hours. Like we're talking a very long evolution where the plebs are gonna be um being put through endless grueling physical activities and tasks. Um, you know, usually upwards of like 40 to 50 stations rotations that you'll be going through. Um, you know, usually you kind of start out on the field, like where you would see them like working out doing during PEP during plebe summer, doing calisthenics, doing workouts, doing bear crawls, kind of getting put through uh these difficult physical exercises. Then there's rotations all the way through. They'll go out and they'll probably run the O course, they'll run the E course, again, the obstacle and endurance course, which is over really on the naval station side across the river. Um, there will be runs, there will be uh like Marine Corps type activities. Um uh, you know, there will be ground fighting, there will be uh simulated uh marches through, you know, with with fake rifle, like there's there's so many things that happen. There's uh boat races, you know, carrying boats, um, all the different stuff. Like if you were to take almost like um a highlight reel of uh you know, like military training and buds, like that's what it's gonna be. But it's tremendously difficult. Um again, we're talking like 16 hours, no real breaks, like you're just going pedal to the metal, like getting pushed and going through it. Um, you know, I remember doing sea trials and um it's super difficult. I and again, I always thought I was like, and I and I was like genuinely in very good shape. Um but around like hour seven or eight, like I was cramping like crazy. And and funny story, like I hate mustard. I don't know what it was. I mean, I'm talking like yellow mustard, like hinds like squirt mustard. And uh I was cramping up so bad. And like that was like thing number one. Like, if you were having a cramp, like you would have upper class midshipmen walking around with stuff. And in today's day and age, I hope they're walking around with like salt tablets and you know, like electrolyte packs, some element packs or whatever the case is, just get some electrolytes and you know, bananas, nutrients, vitamins in your body. But at that at that point, they just walked up to me and they were like, just open your mouth, like we're about to squirt some mustard in there, dude. Let's get this cramping stopped. And uh it put into perspective for the first time in my life, like what is worse? Taking taking a mouthful of yellow mustard or cramping. And and I thought mustard was worse. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, get that away from me. I'm just gonna work through the cramp. Like, we're just gonna go through it. Um, and I always thought, you know, those are kind of my recollections. Um, but I again, sea trials for me was one of the like really cool opportunities because, again, at the end of the day, like as a varsity athlete, there are times where you're not with your company as much. Um, you're on the road, you're traveling for games, you have practices in the afternoon, you have morning workouts, you're strength training, you're watching film, you're trying to compete and win at the division one level. And as a result, you're not with your company as much. Like, you're not going to some of the noon meal trainings, you are not going to plebe workouts because you are working out with your varsity team. Um, you know, there's a lot of the things that are happening that make it difficult. And C trials for me was a really special opportunity because I gotta like, I gotta be with my company. I gotta be with my friends, you know, who I was living with and have been going through all these things, um, and get to be there with them. And so um, you know, it was it was really cool. It was really special. Now, for the sake of the parent understanding, again, we're not gonna try and break down like every single aspect of sea trials, right? This is something where um, you know, not even the plebs know, right? Like the plebs aren't gonna get a full brief of like where they're going and what's gonna happen at every station. They just know that they're gonna go through a crucible event. And that's all I encourage you to know about it as well. Um I think it's a fun opportunity to get to talk to them about their experience. What went well, what was super difficult, what was fun, what was not fun, what was um all these different experiences because there's gonna be a wide swath of things from just physical fitness to literal, like again, combat, fighting. There's gonna be ground fighting, they're gonna get like those pugle sticks, they're gonna get to whack on each other, like beat each other um with those Pugle sticks. There's gonna be um uh everything. Again, really difficult, really crucible type event. And um, and so again, that's gonna be happening very soon as your as your plebe comes back from intercessional leave and they get ready to show up for for sea trials. You know, it may be worth just shooting them a quick text saying, hey, good luck with sea trials. I hope you have fun, you know, go crush it, whatever the case is. Um, you know, again, I think it's really interesting because it is. It's it is it's like a mini, it's like a mini SEAL screener, right? Like it's a mini crucible event. Now it's way different from the SEAL screener. Just to be very clear, I don't want to get that misconstrued. Um, if you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say the SEAL screener, um we can have an opportunity to talk about that in the future. But again, in order to participate in like Navy SEAL summer trainings and pursue a path of commissioning as a Navy SEAL officer and get the opportunity to attend BUDS, um, you have to do certain evolutions at the Naval Academy to kind of screen for that. Um, and hence the SEAL screener. It's a very similar idea, very similar thing that they'll be going through. It's just gonna be a little bit more positive in nature, right? Sea trials is gonna be a little bit more designed as like uh we can do this, we can get through this, we can do hard things together. Uh obviously you're getting pushed through it, but like it's not necessarily an uh evaluation. It's very much like, hey, we are getting through this together as a team, we're going through this. It's gonna be really difficult, it's gonna be really hard, we're pushing each other, but we're working as a team, we're getting through it. Whereas like the SEAL screener, like that's an evaluation, right? Like they're making a clear determination of who they want to give the opportunity to move forward to like future summer training and who has it, who has the it factor to go be a Navy SEAL, right? And so those things are gonna be a little bit different, but alas, 16-ish hours, 15, 16 hours of non-stop workout, of non-stop combat, of nonstop movement, of non-stop all this stuff. Like it is a very difficult event. Uh, I assure you, for your son and daughter's safety, um, this is extremely well regulated, extremely well orchestrated. There are medical people at all parts of the journey. Um, constant hydration, constant refueling, constant everything to make sure that the men and women participating in this event are gonna be uh okay, right? Physically. Obviously, it's gonna be super hard. There's gonna be a lot of soreness. There may even be some injury, right? There's gonna be things that happen, um, but they will be taken care of. And um, and so again, I encourage you, as a parent listening, is just to know that they're about to go through a really special, incredible event. Um, that'll be really difficult, but it'll be positive and they will be taken care of. Um, and so that is the idea of sea trials is providing a crucible event for the midshipmen. And um, I'm sure, again, if you follow the like the the Naval Academy social media accounts, like official accounts, I'm sure they'll put out a ton of pictures and videos and cool edits of sea trials because it because it's cool, because it's super cool, right? And so those are things that you need to be watching out for. Um, and you probably hear about a bunch of your pleeps cramping up, too, is my guess, because the sucker's hard. Yeah, again, after um after sea trials ends, basically, right? Like you'll be going all the way through until Tuesday evening, and then it's probably honestly straight to the rack, and then you get up for Herndon on Wednesday. So when you if you're in town to like visit your midshipman um around Herndon on Wednesday, like super fun opportunity, you're probably gonna have a really sore plebe. You're probably gonna have a really exhausted, really sore plebe um going through because Herndon is that following day right after. Um one thing that I do want to bring up, obviously Herndon is a very public event. Herndon is an incredibly public event. And um, you know, again, uh obviously you should you should be there. This is a fun, it's designed to be that way. It's a spir Herndon is a spectator sport. Um, you know, it's really interesting. I took a look at the um plebe summer permit to report package for the class of 2030. Um and there were some things in there that I thought were um interesting, like in a good way, um, from the guidance from the Naval Academy leadership. And I think this applies to sea trials. If you get into town for Herndon and for commissioning week and all this stuff, sea trials isn't necessarily like that's not the place um to be. Honestly, you're more of a distraction at that point um than anything. Herndon, this is a celebration. Herndon is uh the this capstone culminating event. This is the the celebration piece of it where the plebs are gonna start chanting plebe no more at the end. Like it's gonna be frickin' special, it's gonna be incredible. Um but sea trials, right? Like again, if you're around and looking, like do your thing, but don't don't get involved. Don't get uh, you know what I mean? Like, don't make don't make it difficult um for the Naval Academy and the Naval Academy staff to do to do what they need to do. Um that would be my only input and advice. Um you know, we'll have conversations with the plebe families as well, getting ready for plebe summer about like potentially where's appropriate um uh appropriate presence uh for plea plebe parents, pleep families, um, you know, around I Day and around plea parents weekend and all this stuff. Um sea trials not necessarily it. So just as a uh just as a friendly uh piece of advice, and um, you know, I just kind of want to reiterate it's support like the guidance of the Naval Academy official, like stat like uh stating on some some of that stuff too. So um we'll go, right? And so again, Herndon is still a huge thing. Again, the plebes up until Herndon, they still have to know the days, right? Like again, we talked about days in previous episodes. There's a certain number you have to know the days until major events. Well, guess what? When when they're here and they show back on Monday, they'll be like, we have two days until Herndon. Like that's uh that's about it. We got two days until Herndon, and you know, probably like what is it, like 10 days, something like that. Ten days until commissioning. That's exciting. Like, that's a great feeling for the plebs. Herndon continues to be an incredible like experience and a huge part of the plebe experience. Um and uh, you know, it's so funny. Like I look back on my time and I was um talking talking to some people recently, and uh the simple simple pleasures of plebe life. I was like, man, what are you most looking forward to about Herndon? And he's like, Man, you know what the most Like most thing I'm most excited about for Herndon is that after that, I'll be able to go to the seventh wing gym and work out with my shirt untucked. Like that, that is, that is the plebe experience. Like again, when you're in Bancroft Hall, when you're in that seventh wing gym, when you're in wherever you are working out as a plebe, like you need to be shirt tucked in, uniform regged, exact to a T. When you get to be a youngster, like that, that regulation is no more. And so I just think that like that's funny. Like that's what the plebe is looking forward to. Like at the end of Herndon, like of all the things you could be excited about, it's like, no, I'm excited to go work out and have my shirt untucked. And uh I it just like it it brings back a flood, a wave of of memory and thoughts and laughs. Cause like the simple things, the simple things that you look forward to at the end of plebe year, these basic freedoms, these like silly aspects of living life, that's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. And then after that, like that zero block period is a plebe, um, actually pretty low-key, right? Again, when we talk about zero block, sea trials and herden are gonna be during zero block or in zero block. After that, like after those two events, like there's probably gonna be briefs, there'll be some summer training, there'll be some you know, mandatory military obligations that have to be at, certain things, but like it becomes like pretty low-key. And then again, they're still a midshipman fourth class until commissioning week. This is an interesting uh distinction. Again, just as we talk about like semantics, they will be a fourth class midshipman all the way until commissioning, like on commissioning day, when uh as soon as commissioning happens, where you know, the first class midship, the seniors, commission and become ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Every single other midshipman promotes too. So all the midshipmen in the stands, the plebs are gonna put on their youngster uh shoulder boards, the youngsters are gonna put on their second class shoulder boards, and the second class are gonna put on their first E shoulder boards. So there is like that wave of promotion. And so your plebe will become a youngster officially on commissioning day. And they will act, they will like update their uniform, they will kind of do everything on that day. After Herndon, though, they will become, again, you are no longer a plebe. You you graduate from being a plebe, and now you are again just a fourth class midshipman. And so a lot of the stuff that like comes with being a plebe is done, which makes Zero Block a really nice period. All things relative, all things relative a really nice period because you have this time to decompress, not have a ton of mandatory obligations, not have all of the plebe stuff to do, uh, and you get to live just like a little bit more low-key in preparation for all the celebration, all the ceremony, all the super fun stuff that happens during zero block and commissioning week. I hope that provides a little bit of perspective. Keep this one uh generally short. I just wanted to talk about this like this ending period of plebe year, how this all works, the idea of starting to call first class or call upperclass midshipmen by their normal names, that relationship transition from like plebe and upperclassmen to more of peers, right? Like this, all of these things will be happening in this next couple of weeks. And so um, really cool opportunity to understand and talk to your plebe about this shift, about this change, um, you know, understand sea trials and about about what they're gonna go through, um, talking about Herndon and, you know, putting that cover on the top of Herndon and becoming a plebe no more, but still being a fourth class midshipman until commissioning day, in which case then they will promote and become a third-class midshipman on that day and change their uniform. Um, so much good stuff to look forward to. Really incredible. If you have any interest in learning more about Herndon, specifically the history of Herndon, the tradition of Herndon, all of that. Um, I highly encourage you to go check out a previous episode that I've done uh with Admiral McNeil about Herndon, all about it. And uh it might not be on YouTube. Uh, I think this was before I was doing like the video portion of the podcast as well. It was just kind of an audio thing. Um, and so I'll put a link to it if you have any interest in learning more about it. I think it's fascinating. I think there's a ton of really cool history associated with Herndon specifically. Um, so make sure to go check it out. And uh again, if there's anything I can ever do for you or your family, please let me know. Uh, my intention is to do some good um good content about like summer training and understanding what they may be going through out uh during their summer trainings and how you can be um uh in the loop um as a parent and following along um and understanding the journey that they are a part of. Um yeah, I appreciate it. If there's ever anything, say the word, let me know. Otherwise, I hope you have a great rest of your day. Go Navy, beat Army, and congratulations to the plebes on almost being plebs no more. Super incredible, and congratulations to all the families who have uh finally made it to this end of a really difficult year. So thanks, y'all. Have a good 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.