cadet blogs

Summer is Over Already?!

(The Cadet Experience, Class of 2012) Permanent link All Posts

It is hard to believe that I am back at school about to start my third year in college with just 21 months left until graduation. I am looking forward to new classes and what adventures await in the coming year; however, of course my incredible summer experiences are not far from memory!

The beginning of the summer brought us the honor of being able to don a new set of stripes as a 2/c cadet to go along with the privileges of an upper class such as overnight liberty on Saturday nights as well as finally being able to wear civilian clothes again.

The majority of this summer I spent sailing with the Academy’s Summer Ocean Racing Program in which we made a podium finish in nearly every regatta we sailed in on the sailing vessel Glory. Most notably, Glory won her class consisting of nine J44’s in the 635 mile race from Newport, Rhode Island to Bermuda beating experienced yachtsmen who have sailed the race many times.

At the completion of Ocean Racing, I spent a week at Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina touring the facilities, CG airframes, and even getting some stick time aboard a C130 aircraft. We were even lucky enough to get some time off to go to the beach and explore the Outer Banks.

The last portion of my summer training experience was spent serving as cadre for the incoming class of 2014. My particular job involved working teaching various seamanship skills as well as sailing aboard FJ and 420 sailing dinghies. It was pretty amazing to see teenagers fresh out of high school transition to adults in the military in front of your eyes.

I have great memories from some pretty incredible experiences this past summer. As an upper-class diving further in depth into my mechanical engineering major and with a pretty busy fall sailing season ahead, this year looks to be promising!

More about Alex.

Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/10/2012 11:33 AM