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WALDO NEWS June 20, 2022 Induction Day /Part 1 AM Waldo News is emailed to those who purchase access almost every day during the summer. It includes information on what the Plebes did during the day, what we photographed, Plebe Summer slang terms and acronyms, and anecdotes. BTW, when you meet your Plebe during Plebe Summer, he/she will talk "greek" to you. Or the slang and acronyms seem like "greek." You will receive your first WALDO NEWS July 1 in the evening. |
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Training Day 0 Minus 10 June 29 is considered Training Day 1. It is from Induction Day that 45 days are counted until the end of Plebe Summer. That takes us to August 12. So Plebe Sumer continues after Parents Weekend for another week. There are actually two I-Days, the second one being on June 29. It is on that day that the NAPSTERS arrive and are processed. The NAPSTERS are Plebes from the Naval Academy Preparatory School, about 200 of them. There are several reasons there is I-Day minus 1. 1) It is used as a practice for the June 30 I-Duction Day. Those processing inside Alumni Hall have never processed Plebes before Induction Day. 2) It frees up the NAPSTERS to help the really new Plebes to get oriented in their rooms.
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Report Time Typically each Plebes is given a report time, from 0600 HRS to 1000 HRS. Many arrive very early, worried that if they are late it does not bode well in the eyes of the Naval Academy. The truth is that if you arrive at 0600 HRs for a 0900 HRS report time, you will wait at least until 0900 HRS to enter Alumni Hall. There will be along line. You will wait in line. At some point someone at the beginning of the line will announce, "All those with 0800 HRS report time come forward." That announcement time may come after your report time. It depends on how backlogged, if at all, they get in Alumni Hall. |
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Station 1 The first station I call the "Sir Sandwich Station." Your son/daughter will be met by upperclassmen to sign in. The first thing spoken by the upperclassmen is, "From now on the first and last words out of your mouth will be, 'Sir.' Do you understand?" Inevitably, making sure he/she does not make a mistake, will say, "Yes, sir." Wrong. The answer, "Sir, yes, sir." There is a "Sir" before and after the "yes." The upperclassman will repeat, "The first, etc." Again the answer, "Sir, yes, sir." I have seen these ping ponging as much as five times until the Plebe realizes what he/she did wrong. There are actually double sir sandwiches, and triple "sir sandwiches." The most I have ever heard are five "sir sandwiches." Here is three of them. "Sir/ma'am, sir/ma'm, sir/ma'm, yes, sir/ma'm, sir/ma'm, sir/ma'm." It's a tongue twister Try it. The "sir Sandwiches" are used only during Plebe Summer for training purposes. |
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Station 2 / Name Tag + Reef Points At Station Two the Plebes are given a little brown envelope with four name tags. He/she puts one on. The rest are kept for later. Often during the summer the Plebes will lose their name tag. That's why there are four. When they lose on, they are usually required to wear two of them as a reminder. Even three. I say six of them once. You might wonder how when they are given only four. Well, they have to find some other Plebe with the same last name and wear their along with the ones they have.
And once, I saw a Plebe, because he had lost all his name tags, have a envelope pinned to his blouse. His name was on the front, boldly written. I think this was against rules as the Detailer asked me not to photograph it. The Plebes also receive a Reef Points at this station. It is this book that must be memorized. Below is one of the first Reef Points, about 1905. You can see how impressive the little books was.
They are assigned sections of it during the summer. All summer they are holding up in front of their faces, memorizing whatever. A lot of times they are just staring at it.
Near the end of the summer, there is a Rate Competition. During it the Plebe with the best knowledge of "rates" in his/her platoon competes on stage with the best from the other platoons. It is noisy. |
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Station 3 / Alumni Association and Sponsors At these two tables the Plebes join the Alumni Association and are asked if they wish to sign up for the Sponsor Program. |
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Station 4 / Contraband The Plebes enter a curtained area and are allowed, without any repercussions, to drop into a container any contraband they have. |
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Station 5 / Dropoff The Plebes give up their civilian duffle bag or whatever else they brought with them. It is stored somewhere until Plebe Summer is over.
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Station 6 / Medical Tomorrow |
