As you progress through the years at the academy, leadership responsibilities grow. Each year, you and your classmates assume more important roles in running your company, your battalion and the brigade. By the time you are a first class midshipman, you are making daily decisions affecting the morale and performance of other midshipmen. You are teaching them the fundamentals of the naval profession and helping them through difficulties. You are leading them through personal example, communications, rewards and discipline and other techniques you have learned in the classroom and through three years experience. Your leadership responsibilities also increase in summer professional training. After learning what it is like to be a Sailor aboard ship during second class cruise, you undertake the duties of a junior officer during your first class summer cruise. You build your leadership skills in these and other settings, where you can learn from mistakes and benefit from the guidance of seasoned Navy and Marine Corps officers. By the time you take your position as a naval officer responsible for leading talented Sailors and Marines, you know what leadership techniques and styles work best for you in different situations.