thedrifter
12-02-05, 02:04 PM
Posted on Fri, Dec. 02, 2005
Navy gets ready for game in shadow of war
By Steve Goldstein
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Rhythmic footfalls echoed off the stone walls of Bancroft Hall yesterday as the midshipmen of the Naval Academy assembled for noon formation in Tecumseh Court - and suddenly found themselves bombarded by water balloons.
The suspected snipers were from West Point, of course, cadets on campus as part of the semester exchange between the two academies - and all part of the high jinks leading to tomorrow's 106th renewal of the Army-Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field.
But much more than a rivalry, this is also a special relationship "that transcends football," senior Midshipman Paul Angelo said. In a short time many will be brothers-in-arms, the water balloons replaced by more deadly weaponry.
So amid yesterday's revelry, there was earnest reflection. In recent days, middies first class - the seniors - have received their duty assignments.
"Now, it's become a reality," said Midshipman Jacquelyn Hanna of Lisbon, N.D. Her class, the first to enter after the Sept. 11 attacks, has "always been very aware that's what we're going to be doing very shortly," she said.
Receiving her assignment to surface warfare - after she completes two years' study at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar - made it suddenly very imminent. Some of her friends will be Marines on the ground next year.
"We know we won't be so lucky that everyone comes home," Hanna said, "and it's a sobering fact."
Another pointed reminder came Wednesday in the person of President Bush, who told the assembled 4,300 middies at Alumni Hall that "some of your former classmates" are training with Navy SEAL teams to storm terrorist safe houses or "preparing to lead Marine rifle platoons that will hunt the enemy in the mountains of Afghanistan and the streets of Iraqi cities."
Angelo, a senior from Columbia Station, Ohio, said his destiny was impressed upon him when he first walked into the Yard four years ago.
"When we arrived as plebes," he said, "I remember someone saying we're the first class to enter the Naval Academy during a time of war since Vietnam. We all came here knowing what to expect.
"Everyone is really gung ho to implement and put into practice what we've been training for the past 3 1/2 years," said Angelo, also a Rhodes scholar assigned to surface warfare.
There is a running commentary among his classmates as to how many times a certain commandant will remind them that "we're a nation at war." The point has been driven home repeatedly.
In their classrooms, they debate tactics with combat veterans, as well as the utility of war and even whether the United States should be fighting in the gulf.
Sam Fromville of Fallston, Md., who is headed for submarine training in Charleston, S.C., when he graduates in the spring, said instructors ask them what they think about Iraq, whether the focus should be on winning the fight on the ground or winning the support of the Iraqi people.
"Is it a hearts-and-minds mission or a kill-the-insurgents mission?" Fromville said. "This is a discussion we have in class just like Congress has in Washington. These are valuable discussions."
"Most of us appreciate the debate in Washington and realize that's an important part of what makes our country safe and what makes our country good," said Midshipman Christine Higgins of Salisbury, Md., who will be a surface-warfare officer.
Hanna, though, said most of her classmates no longer debated the issue: "I think most of us have put aside whether we should be there as a question, because the reality is we are there, and for better or worse it's a situation we have to face and we have to find a way to properly handle the war."
When the middies walk through Bancroft Hall, they can see enshrined on the walls the names of their predecessors who have fallen in the line of duty. More significant in their young lives are the high school classmates who enlisted right out of school, who have already seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, who in some cases have not returned.
"When you hear about someone else being killed, it makes you appreciate the burden that everyone is carrying here," Higgins said. "They are not just going out to make money when they graduate or to pursue civilian careers, but to perform a service."
And so yesterday, there was time to look forward to the big game, and to the chance that Navy will win four in a row and break a bizarre deadlock that stands at 49 wins apiece and seven ties.
There was time to enjoy the return of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy that had been kidnapped by persons (read: cadets) unknown.
There was time to think of other things.
"I definitely heard anecdotes that there was a very different feel to the academy before we entered an armed conflict," Hanna said. "People's view of the military and its job was different - because we were a peacetime force.
"Things changed in ways we really can't understand," she said.
Contact reporter Steve Goldstein
at 202-383-6048 or slgoldstein@krwashington.
Ellie
Navy gets ready for game in shadow of war
By Steve Goldstein
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Rhythmic footfalls echoed off the stone walls of Bancroft Hall yesterday as the midshipmen of the Naval Academy assembled for noon formation in Tecumseh Court - and suddenly found themselves bombarded by water balloons.
The suspected snipers were from West Point, of course, cadets on campus as part of the semester exchange between the two academies - and all part of the high jinks leading to tomorrow's 106th renewal of the Army-Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field.
But much more than a rivalry, this is also a special relationship "that transcends football," senior Midshipman Paul Angelo said. In a short time many will be brothers-in-arms, the water balloons replaced by more deadly weaponry.
So amid yesterday's revelry, there was earnest reflection. In recent days, middies first class - the seniors - have received their duty assignments.
"Now, it's become a reality," said Midshipman Jacquelyn Hanna of Lisbon, N.D. Her class, the first to enter after the Sept. 11 attacks, has "always been very aware that's what we're going to be doing very shortly," she said.
Receiving her assignment to surface warfare - after she completes two years' study at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar - made it suddenly very imminent. Some of her friends will be Marines on the ground next year.
"We know we won't be so lucky that everyone comes home," Hanna said, "and it's a sobering fact."
Another pointed reminder came Wednesday in the person of President Bush, who told the assembled 4,300 middies at Alumni Hall that "some of your former classmates" are training with Navy SEAL teams to storm terrorist safe houses or "preparing to lead Marine rifle platoons that will hunt the enemy in the mountains of Afghanistan and the streets of Iraqi cities."
Angelo, a senior from Columbia Station, Ohio, said his destiny was impressed upon him when he first walked into the Yard four years ago.
"When we arrived as plebes," he said, "I remember someone saying we're the first class to enter the Naval Academy during a time of war since Vietnam. We all came here knowing what to expect.
"Everyone is really gung ho to implement and put into practice what we've been training for the past 3 1/2 years," said Angelo, also a Rhodes scholar assigned to surface warfare.
There is a running commentary among his classmates as to how many times a certain commandant will remind them that "we're a nation at war." The point has been driven home repeatedly.
In their classrooms, they debate tactics with combat veterans, as well as the utility of war and even whether the United States should be fighting in the gulf.
Sam Fromville of Fallston, Md., who is headed for submarine training in Charleston, S.C., when he graduates in the spring, said instructors ask them what they think about Iraq, whether the focus should be on winning the fight on the ground or winning the support of the Iraqi people.
"Is it a hearts-and-minds mission or a kill-the-insurgents mission?" Fromville said. "This is a discussion we have in class just like Congress has in Washington. These are valuable discussions."
"Most of us appreciate the debate in Washington and realize that's an important part of what makes our country safe and what makes our country good," said Midshipman Christine Higgins of Salisbury, Md., who will be a surface-warfare officer.
Hanna, though, said most of her classmates no longer debated the issue: "I think most of us have put aside whether we should be there as a question, because the reality is we are there, and for better or worse it's a situation we have to face and we have to find a way to properly handle the war."
When the middies walk through Bancroft Hall, they can see enshrined on the walls the names of their predecessors who have fallen in the line of duty. More significant in their young lives are the high school classmates who enlisted right out of school, who have already seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, who in some cases have not returned.
"When you hear about someone else being killed, it makes you appreciate the burden that everyone is carrying here," Higgins said. "They are not just going out to make money when they graduate or to pursue civilian careers, but to perform a service."
And so yesterday, there was time to look forward to the big game, and to the chance that Navy will win four in a row and break a bizarre deadlock that stands at 49 wins apiece and seven ties.
There was time to enjoy the return of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy that had been kidnapped by persons (read: cadets) unknown.
There was time to think of other things.
"I definitely heard anecdotes that there was a very different feel to the academy before we entered an armed conflict," Hanna said. "People's view of the military and its job was different - because we were a peacetime force.
"Things changed in ways we really can't understand," she said.
Contact reporter Steve Goldstein
at 202-383-6048 or slgoldstein@krwashington.
Ellie