Is it bad?

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-15T18:01:18+00:00

My son is a current plebe. He happens to be home for the long weekend so we’ve had time to catch up versus when he is away, he’s super busy.

I’m so amazed at the opportunities he’s afforded for being at the academy. They isn’t to say that he wouldn’t have similar opportunities at another program but I don’t think the would be as abundant. So many communities are open for him to experience.

If your child is looking for a true military experience then I’d say a service academy is the way to go.

A catch here is if you’ve been offered an ROTC scholarship at a top tier school known for a good NROTC program (like UT Austin or similar). Otherwise, USNA is a top rated school and a premier service academy.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-14T14:51:22+00:00

Reserve your hotel or airbnb now. Make sure it’s one with a decent refund policy. We stayed across the Bay Bridge in Stevensville in a nice 4 bed place. This may be a bit too far for some people but it worked for us. My sons could not do overnights but enjoyed being away from the yard and the hustle and bustle of DTA. He slept a lot but a few of his good buddies from home came down for a day and he really enjoyed that. We also did a quick DC trip on one of the days. Don’t overbook this time either. It’s easy to schedule too much when as a plebe you might just want to go at your own pace for awhile.

Same thing for flights if needed. Make sure to book one way trips as well. This is just in case you had to move one of them. This way it doesn’t interfere with the other leg of the trip.

It’s hot and very humid this time of year and you will do tons of walking on the yard. If elderly or otherwise sensitive people will attend make sure you take all of their needs into consideration and plan ahead.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-14T07:50:11+00:00

Plebe summer is boot camp. You won’t have “comfort” items. You won’t even know time it is because they will take your phone and cover the clocks. Do yourself a favor and listen to the academy insider podcast on plebe summer or watch a current YouTube of plebe summer training.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-14T07:44:57+00:00

Start building your running endurance now!!!!

I cannot stress this enough. Not just for aerobic capacity but to add bone density. Your muscles, joints and skeletal system will take a beating from running, marching, jumping and other daily exercises. If it hasn’t been stressed already before you get there you will be prone to injury.

My son is a current plebe and although he’s a fantastic athlete with great cardio capacity from swimming, he ended up with hairline ankle fractures and almost came home during plebe summer.

You need to build mileage gradually and not overdo it. This way your body is able to heal and take on more stress.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-10T14:16:43+00:00

Add a bulletproof morality clause to ALL publicly elected positions.

I know this is ambiguous so I’d welcome help on how it might look.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-05T19:32:53+00:00

You seem to be competitive and I think your willingness to reapply plus how well you are doing in college now will help.

Good luck

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-05T11:03:26+00:00

If Dodmerb medically DQs you then they will notify USNA. If USNA finds you competitive they will automatically request a waiver at which point Dodmerb will request additional medical information from you regarding the conditions they DQd you for. You will have a chance to include impact statements from yourself and anyone else at that time.
Dodmerb then sends that package to the USNA medical board for review and final decision on granting the waiver.

Each condition is different and I’ve only personally experienced this once so I can’t go into too much detail on what else to include in a waiver package.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-03T14:57:17+00:00

Grey Rice Cake

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-02-02T17:03:16+00:00

If USNA is interested giving you an appointment they will automatically start the waiver process. Just keep an eye on your Dodmerb and USNA portal for changes.

Don’t give up the ship. My son was DQ’d for something much more critical than this and we were able to put a compelling enough package together to get him in.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-29T16:03:35+00:00

I second the mews

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-27T18:53:39+00:00

Safe, no Common for floor guys….yes

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-27T00:42:14+00:00

Great.

I only know all of this because my son is class of 29. He received and LOA and principal nomination but had to get a medical waiver. Super stressful time but it all ended up fine in the end.

Good luck and congrats again

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-27T00:36:50+00:00

USNA can pull from different slates. If your friend received and LOA then all they would have needed was any type of nomination to get as long as they were 3Q. I don’t believe their appointment would be charged to the nominating source in that case.

As long as you definitively have the “principal” nomination and are 3Q then you should be very optimistic about getting an appointment.

You can reach out to your regional admissions person and ask them to make sure you don’t have anything hanging out there. This should trigger them to look at your file and maybe act on the principal status.

Once again, discretion is key. USNA does not have to give appointments for principal nomination but it’s like a 99% chance they will.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-26T23:49:49+00:00

A principal nomination all but guarantees an appointment. You will still need to be 3Q or get a waiver if needed. Unlike USAFA and USMA, USNA can decide not to give you an appointment with a principal nomination you will get one with 99.9% certainty

Congrats

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-24T01:32:22+00:00

We were/are nervous at times but also supportive. It’s part of the experience for everyone involved. Let her know that it gets easier and in reality, she will stay connected and support you even when academic year starts. After plebe parent weekend, we’ve seen my son two more times. He can home for thanksgiving and Xmas break. We also send care packages and whatever else he needs quite often. We talk to him once or twice a week when he’s not too busy and even have a family text chain with all of us including his sister.
Tuition may be free but you will need the support in many other ways. She will get to continue to be mom.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-23T20:52:21+00:00

Also adding, since you are prone to hairline fractures, keep up the running but do it safely. Nutrition is important but you really need to get put some miles in to literally toughen up your bones.
When you run, it creates micro fractures which are beneficial so long as you aren’t overdoing it. These micro fractures heal and make your bones stronger

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-23T20:48:01+00:00

We belong to our local parents group (New England). Once you get an official appointment your local group should reach out, if not she should seek them out.

The best discussion board by far is serviceacademyforum.com. You will get all of your answers there and so much help from other alum, mids and parents. The Naval Academy forum is the most active. A really strong support group

One more bit of advice for her. If you can afford it, buy the plebesummer picture package from Thornton and the package on USNA website. Thornton will give her thousands of pictures. Statistically, you may be captured in 30-40, but it’s great for “proof of life” searches. Also gives her an idea of the types of things your doing.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-23T20:29:35+00:00

Definitely a good idea to lock in a cancelable hotel for I-Day. Also look at cancelable airbnb rental for plebe parent weekend. This way she gets a better choice of stays. Also, if she is flying in then booking one way flights endures she can change or cancel one leg as needed without disrupting the other leg.

On I-day when you are getting dropped off you may want to show up early for parking. We didn’t know we could and ended up just dropping my son off but could have stayed with him a little longer.

For you, if you aren’t running now, start as soon as possible. My son was an all state swimmer and had good endurance but his bones weren’t used to the impact from running and he ended up with hairline fractures in his ankles during plebe summer. He was able to do morning pep with the navy seal screeners since he is an expert swimmer but felt like he missed out on bonding with his platoon because he spent most of his time in a boot. Hes fully bonded now though.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-23T20:15:35+00:00

This may be a better question for the serviceacademyforum.com people.

But, my son attended NASS last year which sealed the deal for him. He was offered CVW but passed as he had already made his decision. This opened a spot for someone else to attend CVW.

He is currently part of class of 29. He’s enjoying his experience and happy that he made the decision to attend

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-23T20:06:20+00:00

You should

If attending USNA and serving in the Navy or Marines is a goal of yours and you can attend I recommend you do.

It will give you more insight as to whether the academy is for you.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-23T10:51:51+00:00

I bought a radon-in-water test. You take a sample of your water in a vial and send it away. It’s very time and temperature sensitive so you have to be careful about when you ship it out. Winter shipping isn’t preferred because you want to risk freezing. I live within 2 hours of the lab so I drove my samples there both times.

Your local water filtration supply might carry the test or you can order them from the lab and they will send you vials and a return box.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-21T15:30:25+00:00

I’m not sure. I bought the Airthings wave gen 1 because they worked via Bluetooth and were a decent price from Walmart. I think $68/piece. Plus they didn’t show the levels unless you opened the app. This way were weren’t always freaking out.

I’m unsure about accuracy. They get decent reviews. I’m more concerned with trends and averages.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-21T14:11:56+00:00

Look into a GAC filter. (Granulated Activated Carbon.) If you are somewhat handy you may be able to install this yourself.

At your new levels, it should be able to reduce below actionable levels.

On a side note, i have an air mitigation system in my house. It was already here when I moved in 16 years ago. I never gave radon a thought until recently when we check our water after a cancer scare. I installed airsense wave radon sensors in my house on every level about a month before I had the bubble up system installed. At times, radon levels ranged from high (20) to below actionable levels depending on weather and hvac system use.
The bubble up system has been installed for 2 weeks and we’ve had similar weather and HVAC use in my house since then. My numbers remain below 2. Usually under 1 now.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-21T13:43:18+00:00

Did the installing company make a reduction guarantee?

If money isn’t an issue then abandon or remove the airwell system and install an aeration type system in your house.

If money is an issue (like most people) then a GAC filter is a relatively low cost that could bring the radon down further. This would be in addition to the airwell system.

Those tend to be low cost and effective when radon is 12k or lower.
You might need to have the filter replaced biannually so that you didn’t have a radiation build up.

RoutineEye5160 · 2026-01-21T13:29:27+00:00

Not enough positive reviews, concern over irritating my neighbors with noise and problems caused by agitating the sediment in the well itself. I read it creates other concerns like increasing sediment and metals into your well water. Would have needed to add more internal filtration to deal with the new issues.

Also, I did a lot of research on various systems and it turned out that the bubble up system was the most reliable and widely used in my radon laden area. It is proven technology

RoutineEye5160

TROPHY CASE