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The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families. Through the perspective of a community of former graduates and Naval Academy insiders, this podcast will help you learn about life at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Through our shared experiences, Academy Insider guides families through the anxiety and frustration caused by lack of understanding, misinformation, and confusion. This platform is designed to better relationships between midshipmen and their loved ones. This podcast is not affiliated with the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy or Department of Defense. The thoughts and opinions are exclusively those of your host and his guests.
The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
#135 Learn About PROTRAMID - The Iconic Naval Academy Summer Training
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I’m joined by Gabe Iglesias, a fresh USNA graduate (Class of 2026) heading to the submarine force, to walk through what Professional Training for Midshipmen actually looks like during PROTRAMID when you’re on the road, on base, and suddenly holding a lot more freedom than you had in Bancroft Hall.
We talk about why Protramid right after plebe year is such a big deal for service selection. You might show up convinced you want aviation, then discover the cockpit is not your happy place. Or you might step onto an SSBN thinking submarine life is all pain, then realize the crew culture, the mission, and yes the food can change your perspective fast. Gabe breaks down how the summer training blocks and sub-groups rotate, what changes between East Coast locations like Norfolk and Kings Bay versus West Coast time in San Diego, and why “transit days” can make or break your weekends.
We also get practical about the stuff parents ask nonstop: per diem and pay timing, DFAC versus eating out, duty vans and who holds the keys, and the liberty dynamic that creates great memories. If you’re heading into PROTRAMID, supporting a midshipman, or trying to understand Naval Academy summer training, this is the clarity you’ve been looking for.
Subscribe, share this with a plebe or parent who needs it, and leave a review if Academy Insider helps. What’s the one Protramid question you still want answered?
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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.
We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.
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Welcome And Quick Disclaimer
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to the Academy Insider podcast. This episode is gonna feel like an old school OG Academy Insider episode because we're bringing on a fresh recent graduate. When I started Academy Insider, I was immediately after graduation. I had just graduated from the Academy, and all of my perspectives, all of my stories were fresh. They were new. And so I'm excited to bring on a recent grad to talk about Pro TriMid. This is the purpose of the episode. We're gonna talk about summer training and specifically Pro Tramid from what the work blocks are like, the actual social dynamic and aspect, the travel, the money, the eating, like all the different things that would comprise understanding how Protramid works. This is the episode for you. So if your Sunday daughter is about to go on Pro Tramid in second or third block or is actively on it in first block right now, I hope you enjoyed the episode. Let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, take a listen. Enjoy your day. Thank you so much. Before we get started, I want to make a quick disclaimer to make sure that everyone knows Academy Insider and myself, Grand 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 listen to
Meet Gabe And His Path
SPEAKER_01the episode. All right, Gabe, my guy, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the Academy Insider podcast. This is super fun for me. For anyone who doesn't know, Gabe and I have been able to build a friendship and relationship over the past couple of years as a result of the Dallas Parents Club, the North Texas Parents Club. And uh, and funny enough, like his parents' involvement in that. Uh, we we connected in Annapolis, we connected in Monterey when he was doing his internship out at the Naval Postgraduate School. Like we've had been able to do a lot of stuff. And so to kind of get the opportunity to come and riff and chit-chat and talk all about Protramid, um, I'm stoked. But for everyone who has no idea who you are, which is crazy that they wouldn't, because you're the most infamous man of Annapolis, uh, if you don't mind just giving a quick like rundown and background about who you are, how you ended up in Annapolis, and where you're at right now.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Thank you so much, Grant. Uh yeah, so like he said earlier, my name's Gabe. Gabriel Iglesias is my full name, just like the comedian. Everywhere I go, my nickname is Fluffy. And it's actually super funny. Grant and I met, yeah, like he said, through the Parents Club, but we also had some friends in common that we had no idea we were friends with, and everybody started connecting us like, hey, you guys have to meet each other. And so that was super fun. Uh, and then we did get to connect for the first time in Monterey, and then we've been chit-chatting ever since about all sorts of things. Um, again, my name is Gabriel Iglesias. I just graduated the Naval Academy, part of the class of 2026. So I'm officially in the United States Navy and I am a submarine officer. So I'll be going over to Charleston here in a couple months to the nuclear power school over there. Yeah, I um got into the academy in 2022. Uh I did not get in my first time around. I went to preparatory school. I didn't go to Naps. I went to Northwestern Preparatory School in California. And then I got into the academy my second time around. Uh from Dallas, Texas, uh been in Texas my entire life. My family's from there uh and in Mexico area as well. And I've been in Dallas specifically since I was 10 years old. But yeah, being here at the Academy, going through this experience has been an absolute blessing. I'm super excited to get on here and talk about approach of it and just chit-chat about some stories we got.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that see, this is this is fun for me because like you may not get it, but for like the OG Academy Insider fans, this is what it started like was like the immediate graduate. Because I'm old now. Like when I reflect on some of my stories from 10 years ago, I'm like, I'm starting to realize like I'm like the old people who are like, I think I remember it this way, but look, I may be getting everything wrong because I'm getting old and I'm getting uh like back back in my day. That's what you were gonna say. Back in my day, dude, back when we had real plea be years, back when you weren't so okay. Oh yeah, all the above. Um man, I just again, this this will be fun to be able to recount and talk about all this different stuff.
Why Protramid Happens Earlier Now
SPEAKER_01And one of the first things that again will be different between my Pro Tramade experience and your Pro Tremid experience, and we'll talk about it, is this idea of the fact that it has been switched or flipped from after your youngster year. So when I was a midshipman, I did Pro Tramit in my second summer, meaning I went from after my youngster year and before my second class year. So after sophomore year, before junior year, I did Pro Trimit. For Gabe, he did it between his plebe year and his youngster year, like that immediate first summer. And so, you know, that adjusts a little bit of the experience. And I kind of want to just like turn it to you to reflect a little bit on maybe what you appreciated about the fact of that switch and then how it impacted kind of how you approach summers into the future and whether you thought like that was a cool thing that Protramid got flipped uh to right after plebeier.
SPEAKER_00Right. I um, yeah, so I like you said I had Protramid right after my plebeier, and I really enjoyed that experience. And I think it is super extremely beneficial to have Pro Tramid right after plea beer instead of uh following youngster year because Pro Tramid is an exposure to the main communities we have to offer in the Navy and in the Marine Corps. Um, for those of you who don't know, Pro Tramid stands for Professional Training for Midshipman, and it is a four-week-long training where you spend one week with the aviation community, another week with the submarine community, our surface warfare community, and then with the Marines. So it is truly an exposure to everything that not only the Naval Academy has to offer, but post-life beyond the Naval Academy. And it sets your opinion um in in place and really delivers a trajectory to what you want to do. Some people come into the academy knowing they want to go aviation, then they go to Pro Trimit and they say, hey, this aviation weakness this was not what I really enjoyed doing. That was me. So they then they want to switch it up. And you know, everybody loves Top Gun, but if you don't experience it for yourself, then you really don't know exactly what you're gonna be getting into. And so I think having Pro Trimitted right after Polibure allows you to gain those perspectives and then and allows you to develop a mindset way before you start getting further in. If I'm all the way finishing off youngster year and I still don't know what community I want to go into, I think we have a problem. And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people that take their time, and I know a couple of individuals who did not choose their final community until the week of putting in their preferences.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I feel that, dude. Again, for me, I was the exact case example that you referenced, which is like, I was like, oh yeah, no, like being a jet pilot would be sick. Like that'd be tiny. Like, yeah, I'll just do that casually. Like, I'm sure I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll be able to figure it out. And then they put me up in one of those like little trainer jets over Proachmid. You like fly in the back seat in one of the trainer jets. And uh they had us up there again, quote unquote polling G's. I swear it was probably like two or three G's, like honestly, not that bad. And they they like they did a couple barrel rolls in the sky, and I came down from that thing and I was sick.
SPEAKER_00I was not I would you quickly realize roller coasters aren't for you.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I still to this day I don't ride roller coasters anymore. I'm like, I'm not dealing with my feeling anymore. It it scarred me for life, dude. It scarred me for life. Um, and so like was that did you have that experience? Because obviously, again, you mentioned you're gonna be a submarine officer heading nuclear power school. Did you know that you submarines was interesting to you prior to Protramid, or was it literally Protramid that opened your eyes to this as a as a potential opportunity?
SPEAKER_00I I didn't. I had no clue. I thought submarines, you know, I thought the life was horrible. Sure. I thought that you know you're underwater for months at a time, you don't get to see daylight, you don't get to see other new people. I'm a very social person. So I I need that interaction, you know? And and over Pro Tramit, I was on a nuclear submarine, or excuse me, all of our submarines are nuclear, but a ballistic missile submarine. Um we call them our SSBNs. And I was off the coast of Georgia, out somewhere in the in the waters of uh the Atlantic Ocean. And I've always heard, hey, submarines, they have the best food in the Navy. What do you mean submarines have the best food in the Navy? And I'm Mexican, so I'm a foodie. I I love throwing that out there willy-nilly. Yeah, exactly. And so you're telling me they have the best food in the Navy. I I don't believe you. And so I go on the submarine and it's a massive, massive submarine, bigger than anything you could have ever imagined. And the crew, phenomenal, the environment, phenomenal. Space is a little tight, but we get to the galley and we get to eating, and it is legitimately the best food I've ever had in the Navy. Because on a submarine, everything is made fresh. Every single morning, you wake up to the the smell of fresh baked bread, and it is fantastic. So it did open my eyes up. Um, it didn't solidify that this is what I wanted, but it did, in fact, open my eyes up and put it up there to where I was comfortable putting up in my top three preferences.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, dude. I mean, I ain't trying to like ruin your life here, but uh pro tribid submarine experience is like going to summer seminar. It's a it's a scam. Summer scaminar. They give you the highlight.
SPEAKER_00Summer scaminar.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they give you the highlight reel. I again I use that term in jest. Summer seminar is an incredible opportunity to go experience the Naval Academy, but they make it seem way more fun than it is. It's a recruiting. It is, it is, it is, it is a recruiting tool. Like super freaking cool, right? It is a recruiting tool. Um, and so again, like uh when it comes to again, when it comes to submarines, okay, what what was really cool about approachment is when they bring on midshipment and the submarine comes to the surface, they're able to bring on fresh food. And you have fresh foods, fresh meats, fresh vegetables, eggs, all this stuff that they can make things for you, and it is super fresh. Again, for anyone listening, because I fell for the same trap, Gabe. I felt oh, the food is great. And I was like, all right, awesome. Yeah, well, the food's less great on day 80 of the underway when you're pulling stuff from like the you know, the the back of the freezer that's been dehydrated.
SPEAKER_00You didn't you didn't go fishing? You don't go fishing, pull up to the surface, toss a quick rot in the water.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, unfortunately not. When you're when you're deep and doing ops, you ain't got the choice. You're eating rice and beans and dehydrated meats, dude. It's uh it's something.
SPEAKER_00We'll see. I will see. We'll you'll get me back on and I'll let you know. I'll give you another.
SPEAKER_01Very good. Um, all right.
Blocks Groups Travel And Van Keys
SPEAKER_01And so again, one of the things that I do want to mention, because you brought this up with the the four weeks, right? Again, if Pro Tramid's kind of broken up into four individual or separate weeks. With that, again, I think maybe what's not commonly understood is I think people probably assume that like your whole group, like the people who are on first block Pro Tramid together, are just all going, like all X number and all 200 midshipmen are going to Aviation Week on the same time and then service week on the same time. But it's kind of broken up into groups. Do you mind kind of running through like how the groups work and how the actual like Pro Tramid is structured from an organization perspective?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about blocks real quick, summer training blocks. So we won't get too much into zero block, but zero block is is pretty much directly following graduation before the start of first block. It's about a week long, sometimes up to three weeks. Uh, and zero block trainings are given to midshipmen who have other obligatory events, uh, such as our football midshipmen. They have to go to football camp towards the end of the summer. And so they get pushed over. Their pro trimit is during zero block. Um, and they can do other trainings and such there in their other years. But with blocks one, two, and three, you can imagine them each being about a month long. One, two, and three for pro trimit specifically, block one is always and will continue to be, from my knowledge, and on the east coast. Uh so that's gonna be all over the east coast, and blocks two and three will be on the west coast over in San Diego. And what's super unique about this is on the east coast, I believe you mentioned before we got started here that you had projected on the east coast. The East Coast, guys. Every time we transitioned from week to week, we would have to transit to another state or somewhere else. Uh and what I mean by that is aviation and surface week are both in Norfolk, Virginia.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_00You have the the Naval Station Norfolk and then uh Naval Air Station Oceana, which are right next to each other. And then your submarine week on the East Coast is gonna be out of Kings Bay, Georgia. And then your Marine Week will be in Camp Lejeune.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00Which is so all those times, yeah. Right now all those times, all those times that you're going from week to week, you're transiting. Uh, and and that's super unique because now you transition over to the West Coast Pro T, their aviation, subs, and surface cruises are all out of San Diego. Yes. They don't have that transition unless they're going to and from Marine Week. Yep. Uh other than that, that's the only thing.
SPEAKER_01Transition to Marine Week is a 40-minute drive up the five. You like can't.
SPEAKER_00Literally, literally.
SPEAKER_01It's still like in San Diego County. It is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. I I remember hitting this six and a six and a half hour drive when I was on the on the West Coast. I mean, on the east coast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so what's super unique about this is you have just over a thousand midshipmen that are gonna go on this summer training called Pro Shamid. You have to divide those thousand into three different blocks. One for the east, the second for the west, and the third for the west. So let's say you have around 250 to 300 midship. Let's just call it 350. I don't know. Let's for math's sake, let's call it 400.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_00400 for math's sake. Uh you have 400 midshipmen on block one pro-gended. When the midshipmen get their summer training uh assignments in the mids module and in the portal, it'll say something like block one A, block one B, block one C. And these are subdivisions of that summer training block that divide people into your aviation, surface, submarines, and Marines. So using again the East Coast as an example, I was block one C. And I don't know if the order changes every year, but I started my Pro Trimid in Surface Week. Whereas block one A started in aviation, block one B started in subs, and D started in Marines, something like that. And so now you have these 400 midshipmen going on block one, but then you have them each divided into groups of 100. And that group of 100 is the people that you will be with for that entire month's training. So you I started again in Surface Week, then I transitioned over to Kings Bay for subs, back to Virginia for um aviation, and then I went over to North Carolina for Marine Week. And I was with the same group of people the entire time. And I think mine was just under 90 people. I think you got like 86, I believe. Uh, and that was my group of people. And then within that group, you get divided into you know the different squads and platoons, and you actually have pro-chimid commanders. So you have midshipmen that are just peer level with you. Yeah, but they were chosen, and it it is, it is uh not even something you can apply for. It's it's just given to you. It's assigned. Yeah. And it is and it is assigned by order of merit.
SPEAKER_01Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_00Um, yeah. So it's your highest order of merit becomes the commander, and then so on and so forth down to the squad leaders. And then you have squad leaders and you were the commander at your uh Me, I I was a regular person. Uh I was in the gen, they called me the general population. Uh yeah, Gen Pop. I was I was just the Gen Pop, yeah. I was I was a squad member. Squad member. Um so but you know, you become really good friends with the commander, and and that's where it starts getting fun because the commander has the van keys. Oh nah now you gotta start thinking about who's gonna drive what.
SPEAKER_01So when you're talking about van keys, can you can you like give a rundown of this idea of like a duty van and what it is? And and piece of I think what's important again before Gabe even gets there is like you don't have a car. Like again, when when we're like you're driving yourself to approach bait, again, you're getting bussed or flown.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we we got bused over to Virginia from uh from Annapolis, yep. And that was about a six and a half, seven-hour drive all the way down to Virginia, and we get there and we muster, and everybody makes sure that we have accountability because again, everything in the Navy and the military is all about accountability. Do we have everybody where they need to be? So once we get all that taken care of, you have senior enlisted leaders and other commissioned individuals in charge of prochumid, but really they push it all on the midshipmen. They go, hey, here's your schedule, you gotta be here at this time. They give us that liberty, they give us that initial freedom in trust that we will do what we need to do. And they said, hey, if you're on liberty, you're on liberty. Do whatever you want. I don't want to know about it. Um and it's that it is what it is, and it gives you that responsibility because now if you mess up, it's on you. It's on you. And so we get given duty vans, which is essentially just a rental van. We had a fleet of Chrysler Pacificas. And so that Chrysler Pacifica fits seven people, and so that's a squad, essentially. So the squad leader would be given the van keys and the squad leader drives everybody around, and then every now and then you get a 15-passenger van, and now you're wondering, okay, the squad leader doesn't feel comfortable driving that, so now you gotta pawn that van off to somebody else, but you gotta make sure they don't do something stupid with it while everybody else is asleep. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So uh essentially you start you start to deal with real human dynamics, right?
SPEAKER_00Exactly, that's exactly right.
Liberty Temptation And Getting In Trouble
SPEAKER_01This is uh this is an interesting piece again about Pro Tramid, is that like it's the first time for a lot of midshipmen, especially now that it's after plebey or two, that like these midshipmen have for a little bit a little taste of freedom, right? Like they're not they're not in Bankrock Hall, like their time's off, they're liberty hours, you have this opportunity, you have access to a van and a car.
SPEAKER_00Again, like virtual taps. Okay, virtual taps, virtual taps, which is where you sign in on your phone saying, Hey, I'm alive.
SPEAKER_01I'm alive, right? And so again, it just opens up again, much like everything in the world, it opens up opportunity to potentially make bad decisions.
SPEAKER_00Correct. And and I want to get into that freedom and liberty part of it a little bit more. That we talked about this at the beginning, having pro-tramit after youngster year versus after plebe year. This might date you. I don't know what you went through. But we have civilian clothes unlocked after youngster year into second class year.
SPEAKER_01Ooh.
SPEAKER_00That's what that's when that's when we unlock civilian clothes. However, as a plebe, you can wear civilian clothes if you're outside of the 35-mile liberty radius.
SPEAKER_01Right. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So if you're on weekend and you're 100 miles out, you are authorized to wear civilian clothes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so these were used to be plebes, fourth class midshipmen going into transitioning into youngsters, third class midshipmen, have liberty in civilian clothes now. And this is the first time if they've been doing everything right. This is the first time that they're truly out there in public representing the Naval Academy as midshipmen without having something screaming, hey, I'm a midshipman. And so now they have that added layer of responsibility. How are you gonna deal with that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh again, honestly, I'm so old now, I can't remember on like my youngster cruise if I was allowed to wear civvies. I know for sure when we pulled into like Quebec, like when we were in Canada, right? Like I definitely brought civvies and we could wear it in like when we were in Quebec. But I'm like, I'm trying to remember if like when I was in Norfolk, again, because I was based out of like naval base Norfolk over there, like if I was wearing civvies, but yeah, dude, I you're spot on, right? Again, it's just like it adds this like first opportunity. And again, I think a reality, especially for the parents listening, I know we want to believe that all of our midshipmen are the most upstanding of individuals, and and uh we we That's exactly what my mom knows.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly what my mom knows.
SPEAKER_01There are a lot of midshipmen that get in trouble over approachment again. When you're present with temptation, when you're presented with this opportunity, like some people unfortunately make bad decisions and make bad decisions and get caught. Um and so that can lead that can adjust uh scenarios, right? Like I remember mine, and again, you know, I don't know if your statue of limitations is up yet. I know mine's up. I'm I'm a whole civilian now, so it's fine. But um, but like again, we had again, we had a bunch of midshipmen again in my time, even even though it was after youngster year, we still had a lot of midshipmen who were still 19 or 20 years old, right? Even though we were still in the second class year, we still have midshipmen who were under 21. And we had we had multiple alcohol-related incidents where midshipmen got in trouble for drinking underage. And again, like when you're there, there's more opportunity to try and be hidden or be away or whatever the case is. And and people got in trouble. And as a result, like things happen. You get liberty locked down, those duty vans, like they get taken away, right? Like, there are a lot of things that can that can happen over over pro Trimit. Um and uh I hope that doesn't scare like parents out there, but again, it's just a body of the world. You're gonna you're gonna experience like people are gonna make decisions, and and decisions have consequences, either positive or negative, but like it is what it is.
SPEAKER_00And and that's why I would stress, you know, it's all about the people you hang out with. You're surrounding yourself with the right people. Yeah, they might not be what you would quote as the fun people, right? I mean, it's all depending on who you are as a person and what you're looking for, right? I I always surrounded myself with uh a group of good people uh that I believe were great people. Yeah, and I mean. We had a great time approaching mid and never got into an incident, never had anything near an incident. But then we had other midshipmen who were getting into a duty van, uh not fully intoxicated, but with alcohol in their system. And then all of a sudden they're coming through the gate. Yep. And guess who's smelling the breath when that window grows down? The gate guard. Every single person gets gets ID'd in the car, everybody out of the vehicle. And now we have an ARI, an alcohol-related incident.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, major incident.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Exactly. Because now you're dealing with not only underage drinking, but hey, who provided it?
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00Um, right? The investigation starts. So exactly. The investigation starts, and then, oh, you guys were over at the beach with another group of people. Who are they? And and even if the investigation, because a lot of the times these bases, they they understand, okay, these are midshipmen, they got into some some trouble. We're just gonna hand them over back to the naval academy. Well, guess what? The na the naval academy is not gonna put it down. The naval academy is gonna crack down on it and they're gonna start questioning everybody. And as soon as somebody gets uh names get mentioned, they're gonna get pulled aside. Okay, who else were you with? And who else was there? And what were they doing?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so much to your point, right? Like the academy, uh, in everything that we do, again, it's gonna be the one producing the future officers. There, there is a reputation in a in a standard of behavior that is expected. And so, much to your point, like if if midshipmen act out of line, like uh there's not gonna be leniency, right? Like they're they they have to enforce uh truly and hold the midshipmen accountable to like an extremely high standard of behavior while like while they're out on summer training and representing the naval academy directly, right? So man, well, enough about uh getting in trouble. We'll we'll kind of pause there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For parents who are out there, yeah, it's possible. Um, but one of the things that I do want to talk to you about, again, I I've seen this question on a lot of like parents' pages and stuff. We're gonna kind of shift to like certain unique aspects of Proach Mid.
Per Diem Pay And Where You Eat
SPEAKER_01Um we'll get to like the work side of it eventually, but like food, eating. Are you when you're going base to base, are you eating on base? Again, I get a lot of parents who are like, oh, like, should we is there like are they getting paid? Are they getting per diem? Are they eating on the y'all or like eating on you know, on the base galley, or are they eating out of town?
SPEAKER_02Right, right, right.
SPEAKER_01How did you go about that? How were things happening? Were you and your buddies eating out a lot, or were you eating on the gat, like in the galley? Kind of how'd that work for you, your team?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So, and just just to put it out there, you talked about per diem. And anytime, I want everybody that's watching to know that anytime we are out of the Naval Academy, whether it's on leave or on training, X, Y, and Z, when we are not eating directly at the Naval Academy, we get paid what it would have cost the Naval Academy to feed us.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I I believe it's somewhere around $13 to $14 that it costs King Hall to feed each individual every day. And so every day that I'm on leave, I get paid that amount as if that was my food given to me that day. And so we're getting per diem while we're out in Pro TriMid. So we are getting paid. And if you have a third block pro Trimid, your um youngster pay has already hit because you're on plea pay all the way through around halfway through June or July. That's when you start getting that updated paycheck. And so you are getting paid your regular monthly stipend and it increases halfway through the summer. And then on top of that, you're getting paid per diem as well. And now this is all back pay. You don't get paid every single day $13, $14. You get it at the end of the month, you see it in and you leave an earnings statement. But for my experience personally, over on the East Coast, we had a meal provided to us, or at least the option to have a meal provided to us every single day.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00Uh when we were in Virginia, we had uh a defect on base that we would go eat at. And if we went to that specific area, we didn't have to pay. However, on base, you have Pizza Hut, you have McDonald's, you have Taco Bell. Off base, you have all these little mom and pop shops that you want to go try. If you want to go to any of those, you're more than welcome to, but you're paying out of pocket. Um, but the the the main point that I'm trying to make is you had a meal provided to you for free, should you choose to take it. Yeah. Might not have been the best food. Um but when we were when we were down the submarine, that that was great food. And then when we went over to Camp Lejeune, Camp Lejeune had a defect, and that defect was impeccable. Yep. That was some of the best food I thought that I was not gonna have at a Marine base.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um and so in Camp Lejeune, we were forced to eat at the de facto for breakfast and lunch. And then you could choose to go back for dinner. If you wanted to go on a little hike over to the nearest McDonald's, you can go, you can do that with your buddies. And then again, but that's out of pocket.
SPEAKER_01Yep. And I I again just for parents listening, I think you probably like assume by context clues that D fac is just like again, the the galley, the human area. The the D fac literally stands for dining facility. Uh so like a military dining facility, D fac. Um, but anyway. Not that anyone, I didn't I didn't even know it was called a dining facility until like preparation for this episode. I would always, again, you just call it a D fac or the galley, but yeah, it's a dining facility, basically. And uh um, no, that that's again, it's interesting. And this will also it'll fluctuate based on whether you're East Coast or West Coast. Because again, what I think is really interesting on the East Coast is your weekends, a lot of your weekends are spent transiting to the next location, right? Like again, when you're busing from Norfolk to Kings Bay, Georgia, um, that's like that's a long drive, right? And so like your your weekend times are taking up a lot of the case with with with transiting, whereas if you're at least your daytime. Yeah, right. And and again, if you're in San Diego, uh a lot of times, like you'll finish your workday on Friday, and like they'll tell you, all right, like you have to be back on Monday morning at your neck, like your yeah, your next location, right? And so you now have Friday night, all day Saturday, all day Sunday to out in town if you want. And you're in a you're in a meeting, again, San Diego, and you're gonna live in like it's super fun. There's tons of places to eat, there's tons of things within a uh again, an Uber drive of you know, an Uber ride of wherever you want to go. And so um there is more opportunity to do that. And again, this is where like again, parent involvement. Yeah, if you do want to send your kids a little extra money, like yeah, they can eat out, like if they want, like they can. Um, and so like you know, that can be a beneficial thing, but obviously, like you're saying, there's also an ability to eat on base for every single meal if you would like, right? Like you're not gonna go starving, but the opportunity does exist to go out eat out in town, and it's even more prevalent, in my opinion, in a place like San Diego, because the ease of convenience to get to all these places is like it's great. There's more, there's more uh nice, uh, nice restaurants in San Diego than there is in in Kings Bay, Georgia. I'll tell you what. They there ain't much in Kings Bay, Georgia, boy. No, no, no, no. Swamplands and submarines. That's about it. Oh goodness.
SPEAKER_00And a next.
SPEAKER_01And a next and a next. And a next. Um okay.
What Each Training Week Feels Like
SPEAKER_01Uh shifting a little bit to like the actual work side of it and your remembrance of all this stuff. How was your experience in the different weeks of approachment? Right. Do you remember having like uh because again, what what I what I'll try and put into perspective for a lot of these is each community at the end of the day, they are trying to put their best foot forward and showcase the best the community has to offer to try and get midshipmen to want to be a part of that community. And so it can be pretty sweet. Again, the Marines care a little bit less about that. They're just gonna show you what being a Marine is actually like. Let's go, let's go PT and and blow stuff up. Um but uh yeah, uh what was your reflection on like your time during approach mid from the actual like work block periods?
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, I'll go in chronological order. So I started in in surface week, and again, we were given a rough schedule where we are told, okay, hey, I will see you guys tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning in this uniform right here. And so hey, 7:30, you better be mustered right there. And that's when we get taken. And for surface weeks or for surface week, we had uh scheduled ship tours of all different types of surface ships. And so I got to go on a destroyer, tour it around, ask some questions, hang out there. I got to go on an LPD, tour around, ask some questions, have lunch on the LPD with the captain and staff, and then we'd go over to a different ship. And these tours aren't, I remember I mentioned earlier that I you have about 180 or so midshipmen in your group. But then within that, remember, you get broken up into platoons and squads. So these tours are with your squad. So sometimes there was a day where we had three tours, one in the morning, afternoon, and then uh evening optional. And then there was one day where a larger group of people got taken on a ship and we actually went underway for the day.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00And then we came back. But pretty much your evenings, probably by four, four thirty at the latest, you were free. And and you got, but you got to do a lot. Again, you got to tour all the big deck surface ships. Uh, got to walk in a carrier, got to see a retirement ceremony in the carrier. Um, and then another one was with small vessels uh like your your patrol boats that are out and about, or the LCACs, your landing craft with the air cushions. Yeah, where you got to see a whole demonstration with those guys. And so that's that's what that week really was for me. And that was probably the most um jammed week other than Marine Week, because Marine Week, you're not allowed to leave base. When we were there at least, I'm not sure if it's different now. But I mean, Camp Legion is such a large base, you really don't even want to leave base.
SPEAKER_01I was literally, I think I think I was in the field the whole time. Right. Like we other than we slept. I remember again Marine Week, I remember sleeping in the field, like in one of the little like like bivy sacks, like where you put yourself off to make sure like bugs don't crawl on you. And that's when I do. I was like, nah, this this ain't for me.
SPEAKER_00This is not for me. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I I don't know that I was made to do this.
SPEAKER_00It just takes a special kind of creature. Uh but yeah, uh so surface week was super packed.
SPEAKER_01Sorry, so I was just gonna like double down on Surface Week really quick. It sounds like it was kind of the same thing. You didn't get underway on Surface Week, correct? Like this is the same code you did.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, we uh one ship. I forget exactly what ship I actually was um the late golf. I don't know if it's retired yet or not, but it was it's a cruiser.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00The USS Late Gulf, I got underway on that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, did you for like a day?
SPEAKER_00Just for a day. Yeah, just for a day. Okay. Left in the morning, came back in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_01Okay, wow. Yeah, yeah, all right. Yeah, man. See, that's the kind of stuff though. So this is again, this will be a funny, interesting piece. Midshipmen are like the bane of the existence for people actually in the fleet. Because like getting underway and pulling back into port is like it's a horribly difficult experience, and it's so much work for people involved. And like for a ship to have to get underway and then pull back into port to just call everybody back.
SPEAKER_00Just just so just so the midshipmen can walk around and ask some questions.
SPEAKER_01And that's why, okay. So I'm telling you, like this will drive every single sailor and every single officer on that ship insane. They're like, I can't believe we're having to do this. This is unreal.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I just I can't emphasize this enough again, especially now with the perspective and having peers who are out there as like trainos and and like training officers and operations officers on these ships and the navigator and stuff. As a midshipman, if you walk in even with an air of entitlement or like that this should be happening, or you're not coming in, like I am a guest here. I appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you for showing me. You are going to rub every single person the wrong way. Like, you need to realize, you need to have the self-awareness to realize like you are a massive inconvenience into their world right now. And like, if you do anything besides like be a really hospitable guest and show appreciation for what they're doing, like I'm telling you right now, you are going to rub people the wrong way.
SPEAKER_00Right. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And what was super unique about that underway on the cruiser is that the ship maintained underway. Okay. We left with the ship in the morning. So I think they had something planned, and they just said, you know what, we'll just take the midshipmen.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00And then in the evening, a small boat came up uh below alongside, and then we we climbed with the Jacobs ladder to to the smaller boat. That's pretty sick, actually. Um yeah, it's it's a little bit of an experience. It was funny. Um, but then like let's talk about our our subweek now. Subweek, I went over to Kings Bay, Georgia, and we have a whole week's time where nothing happened for five out of the seven days. Yep. For five out of the seven days. Actually, one day we toured a facility down there. I forget exactly what it was, and then we got a brief from uh from one of the admirals. And then there was uh the underway that actually, when it came time to go underway, we left for two days. Yep. But the other three, four days that we were there, it was hey, just make sure you check in at this time in the morning and then check in at this time in the evening and don't do anything stupid. Have fun. And but then let's talk about rubbing people the wrong way. On a submarine, it's a very confined space, right? We had 30 or 40 midshipmen hop on board this submarine. Yeah, every single one of those midship had a place to sleep. That place to sleep, if you go to the torpedo room now, you have people just chilling on the sides of desks and all the enlisted folk that we kicked out so that we could have a comfortable place to sleep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You again, as I'm gonna get your own rack while there are some enlisted sailors that are hot racking three to a bed for that time period because you're just because you're on board. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And so and so that again, if you come in like you just like you said, if you come in with any sort of little bit of entitlement or that you deserve to be there, people will realize real quick. And yeah, it it might not affect you, sure, but it won't benefit you. It won't benefit, it won't benefit you like like it would to be a hospital guest.
SPEAKER_01And it's what perpetuates the like the ring knocker stereotype. It's what perpetuates this like again, all the all the oh, you're one of the academy types, right? Like you're one of the academy guys. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Like it and look, I not to like get completely off track, but like, yes, there there is a certain um, you should carry a certain level of confidence and appreciation for the education, the experience you get in Annapolis. Like it's truly special, it's one of a kind, but that's something that you hold internally. That's not something you project outwards or air, right? Like it should be a piece of the foundation of your confidence. But like again, uh when you get out to the fleet, whether it's as a midshipment or whether it's a junior officer, like your job is to uh to to be of service, right? Is to to help out and like not like make the world about you. The moment you make everything about you, dude, like oh man, I'm telling you right now, like it's it's just not good. It's just not good, and we're gonna rub people the wrong way, and that's not the purpose of what we're doing. So, anyway.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, I'm gonna get it right.
SPEAKER_00So we've we've spoken about surface week, we've spoken about subs. Again, submarine week was a little slow up until we were underway. Yeah, and that's about all that happened. And then aviation week is what I had next. And again, drive back up to Norfolk because we got to go to Naval State, Naval Air Station Oceania. And aviation week was also pretty slow. Yep. Really nothing happened other than a couple of hangar tours and our our one flight in the trainer. Yep. And other than like I I mentioned before we got started, there was one day we showed up at 9:30 in the morning in uniform. We muster in a hangar and they go, Okay, guys, this is what we're gonna be doing tomorrow. It took them 15 minutes to explain. I said, You're free for the rest of the day. Cool. We literally worked for 15 minutes, and now everybody's upset because you're telling me one, you got the I had to wake up, guys. Then you have the oh, I could have been doing X, Y, and Z, and then you have the, oh, I have to be in uniform for this. Like so, and again, you really don't know what to expect. And but I took advantage of those opportunities because then my buddies and I, what we would do during aviation week is okay, we're not gonna go see this hanger. Okay, why don't we just walk in there ourselves? Why don't we just walk in there ourselves and present us ourselves to the some random people that I meet? Hey, we're mid shipping from the Naval Academy, we're here for this reason. We're in our aviation week, and we'd love to check out what you guys have. And then they go, Oh, yeah, sweet, let's do it again. Me and my buddies got a couple rides and a couple of different aircraft. Nobody else did, simply because we asked, simply because we presented this. So they go, Hey, we're we're going up in the air in three hours. You want to come back? We'll get you up there. Okay, sick. Let's do it. Um, so there we are flying in a Romeo. There we are flying in a in a in a 53.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So just those little opportunities. It again, I didn't have to do it. Yeah, show the interest. Even even if those squadrons weren't assigned midshipmen or or at least for that week, like, hey, you guys are free now, they're still there and they would love to show off what they do because people are proud of what they do. And when you ask them those questions, they go, hey, why don't you come here at this time and I'll show you. Got to go in some simulators and and and such. So it was it was a lot of fun for me. But it was honestly not a lot of scheduled activity during that week. True. And then um then they had to transit over to Lejeune for Marine Week. And this is something you mentioned earlier that you spend your weekends transiting. There was a group, I I forget exactly which group it was, but there was a group that was really upset because they were told they have to muster at Saturday morning because they were gonna start the transit to their next location. And they're all there at nine in the morning or something, eight in the morning. Bus doesn't show up. Bus not showing up. Two hours later, where's the bus? Three hours later, where's the bus? Oh, the bus is broken down. Yeah, we're not gonna be able to get you guys a bus till this afternoon. Okay, wait till the afternoon. Afternoon comes around. Hey, we're not gonna be able to get you guys a bus until tomorrow. Yep. And so now you just wasted a whole day because everybody's just waiting. And it is something that's something you can plan for, but then you have some really upset people. Like, I could have been doing X, Y, and Z. I could have been over here. Why do I have to be here? So it's just it's just those little things that happen. But then yeah, we made our way over to Camp Lejeune, got there, met up with uh one of the officers from the Naval Academy that's a Marine that was in charge of us for that week. Yep. He gave us our barracks. We didn't sleep in the field, we were bougie.
SPEAKER_01We we had a little bit of I only slept in the field literally one night. Oh, we were in the barracks too. They put you in the barracks for like the week. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so you got put, we had two per two per room. And then we were at the at the base the entire week, and every single day the Marines had something for us to do.
SPEAKER_01Full day.
SPEAKER_00Every single day we were up in the yeah, full day, full day. Again, the only free time we had was after dinner. Yeah, and uh, I remember hitting a hike over to the next that was a couple miles away just to get a haircut and then walking right back. So we we weren't allowed to leave the Marine base when I was there. And I'm not sure if that's changed at all.
SPEAKER_01Pretty sick too. Like you again, they do some cool stuff. Like you they they got you repelling off the side of buildings, they got you doing uh like um like a paint tip uh weapon kind of like scenario. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Sweet.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, you do all that, you go into combat simulators where you're pretending to drive uh a whole vehicle, like like a seven-ton with a gun on the top. No kidding. We didn't get to do that. Yeah, that's sweet. It's a lot, a lot of cool stuff, and you're kitted up and everything. Okay, you go you go through it with them, and then they take you through their endurance course, and everybody has a lot of fun until they come out and they are just covered in mud and swamp and disgusting everything. And then it takes you like three days to get it off your clothes because you put it through the washer seven times. But uh yeah, it's a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01No, all right. Well, I look, the this is a cool uh this is a very cool training. And I again, I'm glad that that the shift was made to put it where it's right after your plebeia, because again, like you're saying, it gives you an opportunity to like see where you have an initial interest or a spark based on something that would happen, to then uh like kind of navigate and facilitate. Align yourself, yeah. Align yourself for future summer training because like now you have a whole extra summer to like try and get a cool internship or professional training exercise that allows you to go and be with that community, it allows you to really direct uh and like make sure you're taking advantage then of your summer cruises as well in a way to like support that. Um what else have we got? What am I forgetting? What have we not talked about? Yeah, training time out.
SPEAKER_00How long do we have your grant? Like fifteen more minutes?
SPEAKER_01Not even ten minutes.
SPEAKER_00Not even ten minutes. Gotta go fix a Porsche.
SPEAKER_01Oh no. Oh no. All right. So uh what was the question? So literally, so okay, I'm I'm gonna talk just like to my editor here. All right. Um so Daryl, we're just gonna come right back in and I'm gonna do this like our like what have what have I what have we not talked about? And then I'll let you like riff on anything that that maybe we've forgotten. All right. So okay. All right. I I mean this is uh super fun.
SPEAKER_00You didn't read your own email, bro. It said mute your phone.
SPEAKER_01Uh um yeah, let me put this on do not disturb. Don't disturb. All right, um, okay, so now now we're actually starting. Alright, okay, cool, cool. All right. I mean, this has been a super fun recap. What am I forgetting? What have we not talked about? Is there anything you remember specifically from your approach or mid from any aspect from like just the human element to it, to the money, the travel, the uh uh the actual trainings. Uh what what do we for what do we forget?
Friends Outside Your Company Plus ROTC
SPEAKER_00I mean, I I don't think we really forgot anything big other than it's just it's a lot of fun.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Whoever your midshipman is or whoever you're supporting, the reason you're watching the Academy Insider right now is whoever is going on Pro Trip and whoever has gone, has had a great time or will have a great time. This is truly where you have almost your initial opportunity to meet other people in your class outside of your company. Because there's there's a thousand midshipmen in your class, and I guarantee you there is not a single person that's ever graduated the academy that can name 800 of them. 80% of them. And this is your your first opportunity to really start meeting people other than whoever's in your same major, whoever's in your same team, or whoever's in your same company. Because if they're not in one of those three, you most likely don't know them. And Pro Trimit is really where you start to gain a new perspective on other midshipmen that are there with you. You meet people that are similar to you, people that are not, people you really enjoy being around, and it creates all these new bonds. And with that, I also want to point out that the the Naval Academy is not the only one sending midshipmen on Protramid.
SPEAKER_01True.
SPEAKER_00There are ROTC programs who do Prochumid. Uh there are a couple other schools that send their midshipmen to Prochramid. And so you will run into other people that are there at the same time from other schools, and you gain a different perspective on that. Same thing with other summer trainings. I was on an LPD, uh, I believe last summer, yeah. And I had there was eight midshipmen, but there are from the Naval Academy, but there were 16 of us total, and the other eight were for different schools that were getting sent on summer trainings as well. Yeah. So they the these other schools, they may not be as active as the Naval Academy to the point where you have blocks, but they do have summer trainings.
SPEAKER_01100%. I I I I remember my uh my approach remained as well. We had a couple of guys from Villanova, like Villanova's ROTC program that were there with us and getting to talk with them and go through everything. Like it was funny, right? Like it was always they're like, yeah, no, like this is like my first time wearing uniform. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Literally, literally.
SPEAKER_01Like PT once a week. Uh, and I'm like, I think all of us like post like plebeier, we're like, what the what the frick?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you you get to know all your people, all your mids that are with you, and you're hanging out with your group of 10 to 60 midshipmen, and all of a sudden you get these three in your uniforms, you're like, who are y'all? Yeah, yeah. But there are other people that go.
SPEAKER_01No, and and to your point, I I want to double down on the point that you made, which is like this is your opportunity to build friendships with people outside of your immediate circle in Annapolis, right? Like my approach made, I built such an incredible friendship um with a guy, again, who was what otherwise would have like really never ran into him, right? Like wasn't a basket, wasn't a basketball player, wasn't in cyber, all this stuff. And we ended up like building a great friendship, working out every day to the point where he like literally convinced me to do the SEAL screener, my second class year. Cause like he wanted to be a SEAL. I just wanted to get in shape for basketball season.
SPEAKER_00I just wanted to graduate.
SPEAKER_01I just want to get, I just want to get I want to get through here, right? I want to graduate. And so we worked out like every day through Pro Tramid. And then like when we came back into the school year, we kept working out together and doing all this stuff, convinced me to do the seal screener, which was the dumbest thing that I've ever done. I'm way too soft for that, dude. I would, I would I quit in about like four hours. I was like, this is Oh, don't say that. This ain't happening. Um, yeah, well, terrible decision, terrible, terrible decision making on my part. But um, but anyway, again, there was an opportunity, real opportunity to like build real friendships with people who you otherwise wouldn't have.
Parents Visiting Tradeoffs And Smart Support
SPEAKER_01Um, and so this actually gets to like my piece because I see this stuff on parents' pages all the time. Parents asking, can I go? Can I visit? Can I see all this stuff? And here's what I'll here's what I'll offer, right? The first thing is always just communicate with your kid, right? Like I if your kid wants to, like if you're in San Diego, especially if you're West Coast, like, yeah, there probably are opportunities where you could go to dinner together on a Saturday or spend time together on a Saturday. And like there's no there's no rules against it. But you just need to understand the trade-offs that you're making. If you are taking their time on a Saturday, that's a Saturday that they're not spending with the other midshipmen that are out there with them, right? And so it's not inherently a bad thing, it's not inherently a good thing. You just need to understand the trade-offs that are happening. And again, they're gonna be working, they're gonna be spending time with their peers, with their friends going through stuff. And again, if you're a family that wants to come out there and spend time and maybe see them once or host a group of midshipmen in the middle of the street.
SPEAKER_00I was about to say, yeah, host host a little dinner for some mids.
SPEAKER_01That that would be awesome. Like that's really cool and it'd be appreciated. But I also want to like set an expectation that like you you shouldn't expect or demand presence, you know, you showing up, uh shouldn't guarantee things. It's still the military, their schedules can change, they can do all these different things. Um if you are gonna come again, try and make it as good as you can for the larger group, right? And and there to support. But um, you know, I think there are a lot of pieces to it. Because again, people have strong opinions. You're gonna get parents who are like, oh, leave them alone, you're a helicopter parent, don't do that. I'm like, look, some kids actually like their parents, not to be like I uh here, check it out. Sometimes like, yeah, no, if my if my mom was like, hey, I want to come visit, I'd be like, Yes. I'm gonna go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, same thing. My mom just texted me, hey, I'm coming up in April. I love it. I said, absolutely. I mean in August, not in April, August.
SPEAKER_01Can't can't wait to see, right? Like, genuinely. So, like, look, look, there, there, this is not an inherently bad thing. You wanting to go out there is not an inherently bad thing. Again, you just need to understand and be self-aware of how your involvement or your presence would affect the dynamic with them and their and their peers. And again, it's not inherently a bad thing, it's not a good thing necessarily. Just you just work through it and just communicate with your kid. And if they want you to be there, then like that's great. If they don't, then don't show up. Not not overly uh complex. That's just kind of my opinion on that one.
SPEAKER_00Um, and then there's a lot of opportunities to help as well. I mean, again, it doesn't have to be face-to-face time. We had uh a midshipman in our approach who's whose family lived near the base in Virginia, and all of a sudden she pulls up in her personal car.
SPEAKER_01Huge.
SPEAKER_00And now we're not having now we're not having to worry about driving seven other people in a duty van. If her and her friend want to go out, or her and this person want to go out, they they have the opportunity to. So and I do also want to point out for for all the civilian parents out there, your D-Bids card does not work at any other base. Yes, other than the Naval Academy.
SPEAKER_01You're not getting on, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're not getting you're not getting on base without an escort. And if the base is at a higher level of security, then you're not getting on base at all. Yeah. No, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Um I think we bring that down to if you can supplement and make things better, like that's awesome. Just communicate with your kid on like how that would happen. Uh, but don't don't inject yourself, don't force yourself into things, don't try and be around like things that you shouldn't be around, right? Like just be just just be cool. You know what I mean? Just like just be just yeah, just enjoy it.
Final Takeaways And How To Reach Out
SPEAKER_01And again, for anyone, what I would also offer is if any uh parents, anyone who listens to Academy Insider is planning on coming to San Diego for like second or third block training, shoot me a message. I I'm out here. Like it even if your kid doesn't want to hang out with you, I'll go grab a cup of coffee with you. We'll we'll figure it out, we'll make it happen and hang out. So um, all good there. But Gabe, you're the man, dude. This was this was so fun. Um this was I I hope we can continue to do something like this. It it brings to me, this is fun because this is like what Academy Insider was designed for. Like a very recent graduate with still fresh experience, kind of like talking about the experience and going through things um in a way that'll just provide context and understanding to all the parents out there and maybe a future midshipman who's trying to understand the process. So uh give a goat, dude. This was great.
SPEAKER_00Hey, thank you so much for having me, Grant. This has been awesome. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01All right, everyone. Thank you so much. If you have any questions, let me know. We'll be continuing to put out new content moving through the summer to all the class of uh, you know, 20 or 2030 folks getting ready.
SPEAKER_002030 starting up, man. Hey, good luck. Good luck.
SPEAKER_01We're right there. And uh yeah, get ready for the United States Marine Corps Academy, baby. Come on, it's about to turn up this summer. I love it. So um, anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the episode. Reach out with any questions, and I hope you 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.
