All midshipmen begin the four-year program
with Plebe Summer, a period designed to turn civilians into midshipmen.
Plebe Summer is no gentle easing into the military routine. Soon
after entering the gate on Induction Day, you are put into uniform
and taught how to salute by the first class midshipmen and officers
who lead the plebe indoctrination program. For the next seven
weeks, you start your days at dawn with an hour of rigorous exercise
and end them long after sunset, wondering how you will make it
through the next day. Forget television, leisure time or movies.
You will have barely enough hours in the day to finish your assigned
plebe tasks.
The frantic, exhausting
pace of Plebe Summer leads you somewhere. It gets you ready for
your responsibilities when the brigade returns from summer training
and the academic year begins. The summer also builds the foundation
for the tangible and intangible qualities that make an outstanding
naval officer. You learn self-discipline. You learn to organize
your time and decide which things are most important. You reach
top physical condition. You develop your ability to think clearly
under stress and to react quickly when the unexpected comes your
way. Any officer who has stood the watch on the bridge of a ship
in a storm or landed a jet on the deck of an aircraft carrier at
night can tell you the importance of these qualities. Plebe Summer
introduces you to the basic how-to’s of the Navy as well.
Aboard Naval Academy sailboats, you learn to respect the power of
wind and current. In motor boats and yard patrol craft, you learn
the basics of seamanship, navigation and boat handling. On the weapons
range, you learn how to fire small arms safely and accurately. You
also learn why we have high standards of honor, character and morality.
And, you begin to develop your own ideas about leadership and the
techniques that will make you an effective leader when your turn
comes.
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