What is Plebe Summer, and do the plebes have any free time during it?
All midshipmen begin the four-year program with Plebe Summer, a period designed to turn civilians into midshipmen. Plebe Summer is no gentle easing into the military routine. Soon after entering the gate on Induction Day, you are put into uniform and taught how to salute by the midshipmen who lead the plebe indoctrination program. For the next seven weeks, you start your days at dawn with an hour of rigorous exercise and end them long after sunset, wondering how you will make it through the next day. Forget television, leisure time, or seeing family and friends. You will have barely enough hours in the day to finish your assigned plebe tasks. The frantic, exhausting pace of Plebe Summer leads you somewhere. It gets you ready for your responsibilities when the brigade returns from summer training and the academic year begins. The summer also builds the foundation for the tangible and intangible qualities that make an outstanding naval officer. You learn self-discipline. You learn to org
