I am not really good at this sort of thing but here it goes.
Today I realized the hardest thing about plebe year it’s not the academics it’s not all the bullshit rules. It’s watching your friends resign themselves after committing to much time to come to this academy. This week one of my friends is leaving to go back to Nevada where he said if he goes home he will end up in the mines, for the rest of his life. This place was an escape. This kid knew he was having trouble sought help and was not happy with his major choice at the end of the first Trimester. Within a week of classes it was too late for him to switch to the deck track. After trying to get himself set back he gave up hope.
This is not even the most disturbing to me. My roommate from first trimester also just simply gave up. We have gone through almost half of plebe life together. We shared a lot of memories and were each other’s support systems. I tried my best to help him with Academics this tri but his mind was elsewhere. He was in a club that took up a lot of his time. I stayed up till 12 one night studying for a test and I had given him all the help I can but when he got to the test he simply gave up. On the second test that day he had given up wrote his name and handed the test back. He had said it himself that all he wants is to be in the military and that was his reason for being here and going through all this shit. His dad is a military man and raised him to become one. When he leaves he will be going to a college in Texas and I hope he gets into ROTC. But it was so difficult for me to see him give up.
Every person has one thing or another that is hard. I study hard for all of my classes but the knowledge comes relatively easy. When there is a test in a subject I am worried about I will study for it starting a week in advance. I have developed study habits here that I would n ever of gotten if I went to a normal school. I am involved in a varsity sport but I am by no means gliding through this place. It makes it just that much harder to face coming back here after a break when your friends are gone.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
From a friend of your Dad. Nice Blog! It certainly is not for everybody. DR
ReplyDeleteUSMMA2013: Your blog is great, "thanks for sharing." You are so right and the subject of this posting is something that hasn't changed at all over the 27+ years since I graduated. Watching a friend leave the Academy after working so hard and supporting each other through more than half of Plebe Year is very tough.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son, Class of 2012, came home with his class t-shirt and showed me what was to me a new tradition where you guys have everybody who starts indoc's name on the back and you line out each one as they leave voluntarily or otherwise, I at first thought wow that's a tough thing to do. That said as I've thought about it over the past year I've thought it a great idea because I'm sure for most it increases there resolve to graduate and walk out with their name still on the shirt in a legible fashion.
Sorry about your classmate and keep on trucking. Are you A or B split?
I am a USNA grad. One son USNA and another USMMA grad. It is not only good education but a great experience that you getting...drink all of it in. The experiences you are seeing now will serve you forever. Being at an Academy you get to see people fail. You get to see good and bad leaders. You get four years of a Leadership LAb. Your civilian peers do not get such an experience. BTW I feel that people fail the Academy; that the Academy does not fail you.
ReplyDelete