50 Stories for 50 Years | On come-arounds, collapsing mid-song, and what happens when development and punishment share a room. Tucked inside the little book every plebe carried everywhere, Reef Points, our pocket-sized bible of professional knowledge, were the things we were expected to know cold. Ship terminology. Naval history. The chain of command. Customs and courtesies. Rates. You were tested on all of it. Formally, in class. Informally, in the passageway, where any upperclassman could…
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The White Chit on the Door
Published May 11, 2026
On hospital corners, room inspections, and the note that stopped my heart — then filled it. Before I was anything else at the US Naval Academy, I was a steward of a small rectangle of space, my room. The room inspection chit taught me things I never would have thought to wonder about. How to make a bed with hospital corners. How to stow your gear left to right, dark to white. Nothing adrift. Nothing…
Leave a CommentJe Ne Comprends Pas Le Wiz
Published May 4, 2026
50 Stories for 50 Years | #14 There are class ranks, and then there are rooms that don’t care about them. French class was one of those rooms. At the Naval Academy, class year is everything. It shapes how you walk, where you eat, and how you are addressed. I was a plebe.That word meant something, something loud and specific and constant. It meant you were at the bottom, and the bottom was a place…
Leave a CommentThe Law I Couldn’t Keep
Published April 27, 2026
Plebe Summer tested everything I thought I knew about my body and my will. The academic year tested something else entirely. I was up before dawn for swim practice. Even after validating some courses, the math and science requirements were formidable. A roommate conflict added friction to the hours I was supposed to call rest. But none of that was the heaviest weight. The heaviest weight was private. I heard myself curse. I heard myself…
5 CommentsWhy celebrate?
Published April 20, 2026
One Woman’s Lived History from the Second Wave I’m interrupting the distant past for a glimpse of the more immediate past, the 50th Anniversary of Service Women at the Academies, and specifically the USNA Women’s celebration in Annapolis. More than 800 women and men, spanning five decades, gathered to mark this milestone. What unfolded over four days was the result of more than a year of effort, a true labor of commitment and care. There…
Leave a CommentThe rest of the story
Published April 13, 2026
If you are old enough, you may recall the sonorous voice of radio broadcaster Paul Harvey. He told the most amazing stories and always ended them with, “And now you know the rest of the story.” A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post called “Stress Fractures” about the strain one of my female classmates endured during our Plebe Summer, particularly during a meal that required eating a thick peanut butter sandwich. At a recent…
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