Straight from the sources themselves, current and past midshipmen share the quotations, thoughts and pieces of advice that helped them survive their own plebe summer experiences:
MIDN 1/C Conor Safbom (USNA Class of ’19)
“I just always reminded myself that over 80,000 people have gone through this before me and if they could do it, I could too.”
MIDN 1/C Kelsey Melinosky (USNA Class of ’19)
“I was told to find the fun in it.”
2nd LT Christopher Goodale, USMC (USNA Class of ’17)
“The Man in the Arena” (Speech delivered by Teddy Roosevelt)
“Embrace the suck.”
MIDN 2/C Hannah Milliron (USNA Class of ’20)
“Whenever we were running I would think about a story that a retired green beret shared with me back home. He said when he showed up to basic training to become a green beret, there were these huge, intimidating muscle dudes that said they had been training their whole lives for this. Then one of the sergeants led them through a run that never seemed to end and took them back to the barracks, but didn’t stop running, just ran right past. A lot of people gave up at that point because they had already mentally told themselves that they were going to be done soon, but this guy told me he and three others kept following and ended up making it. That was where the sergeant told the four of them that they were going to make it through. So whenever I thought I wanted to stop, or it was too hard, I just thought of him.”
ENS Alex Cowsert, USN (USNA Class of ’18)
“The standard you pass is the standard you accept.”
“You’re a part of something only a few will make it through.”
“Giving up on yourself is giving up on everyone in your life. Everyone trusts that you’ll do that job you need to do.”
MIDN 1/C Sidney Knipple (USNA Class of ’19)
“I thought about all of the people I left behind (since I was a prior) and how I couldn’t let them down. A couple of them were going through some really hard things and if I wasn’t going to be there for it, then I had to do my best everyday to make sure I was gone for a freaking good reason.”
MIDN 2/C Juliana Bae (USNA Class of ’20)
“I think I always said ‘Just get to the next meal.'”
MIDN 2/C Diego Caballero (USNA Class of ’20)
“Take it one day at a time.”
MIDN 2/C Ashley Pestano (USNA Class of ’20)
“Mine is pretty simple to be honest, it’s just ‘Let’s go.’ When you break it down it becomes ‘Let us go.’ It reminds me that I’m not alone and that we’re in this together and that’s how we’ll get through it: together.”
ENS Haeley Horan, USN (USNA Class of ’18)
“We all must suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment.”
2nd LT Mary Kraynak, USMC (USNA Class of ’17)
“One thing that comes to mind is the song ‘Fighter‘ by Christina Aguilera. I’m pretty sure I would repeat the chorus part of the song while on the bulkhead and from that song I would tell myself to ‘be a fighter.'”
MIDN 2/C Jessie Brodeur (USNA Class of ’20)
“Keep moving forward!”
MIDN 2/C Julia Kalshoven (USNA Class of ’20)
“I actually prayed a good bit so I think I repeated ‘God help me with this’ or ‘God be with me’ a lot, but I also got a letter from my aunt with that Winnie the Pooh quote: ‘You are braver than you believe… Stronger than you seem… and smarter than you think. Also, ‘they can’t kill you and they can’t stop the clock.'”
2nd LT Shon Maduka, USMC (USNA Class of ’18)
“You chose to be here.”
“Wake up, make it to the next chow, get to bed, repeat.”
MIDN 2/C Ruth Langat (USNA Class of ’20)
“Your brain gives up before your body does.”
MIDN 2/C Madison Falvey (USNA Class of ’20)
“I always just thought about the fact that once I woke up there was never more than 6 hours between meals, so I only had to survive in 6-hour intervals.”
ENS Emily Tucker, USN (USNA Class of ’17)
“Before plebe summer someone told me to remember that it can’t go on forever, it’s only 6 weeks and the exercises had to end at some point too. I remember holding front leaning rest and counting to 10 over and over again in my head telling myself there’s probably only 10 more seconds left.”
“We had to learn ‘The Man in the Arena’ in plebe summer and the end of it really stuck with me: ‘if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.’ Kind of makes you realize that it’s better to fail than it is to realize somewhere down the line that you regret not doing it or that you haven’t really done anything.”
ENS Kelsey Ackerman, USN (USNA Class of ’18)
Song lyric: “Girl you’re shining.”
Advice: “Keep smiling.”
Mantra: “One step at a time.”
ENS Victoria Reyes, USN (USNA Class of ’18)
“Pain is temporary.”
“If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
“Keep a smile to your face and a song to your heart.” (Master Chief Sawyer)
MIDN 2/C Niki Roxbury (USNA Class of ’20)
“I thought to myself ‘this isn’t like full metal jacket at all.'”
MIDN 2/C Ladavish Dorn (USNA Class of ’20)
“I honestly always recited a verse: Psalm 4:13.”
MIDN 2/C Alexis Bolden (USNA Class of ’20)
“There’s a bible verse that has God asking ‘Whom shall I send?’ like who shall he send to battle to fight for Him, to represent Him, to never give up, to be the very best that He has to send and the reply was: ‘Here I am, Lord, send me.’ and that’s what motivated me. I wanted to be the one who He sent. So whenever I was down or nervous or thought I couldn’t do it, I would just say, ‘Here I am, Lord, send me.’ and I wrote it in my ‘I’ll find out’ pad and would read it all over again and pretend to look at my rates.”
MIDN 1/C Lesley Ayala (USNA Class of ’19)
“Play the game.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
MIDN 1/C Madeleine Pershall (USNA Class of ’19)
“My mom sent me Teddy Roosevelt’s quote: ‘If you believe you can, you’re halfway there.’ and I still love it.”
MIDN 2/C Justice May (USNA Class of ’20)
“What really helped me through it was knowing I was doing it for others. Not myself. I felt God called me to lead a life of service, so when the Academy got hard, I had to remind myself that the process was molding me to be a better person so I’m equipped to lead and serve those in my division, command, etc.”
MIDN 2/C Amaris Lopez (USNA Class of ’20)
“If I don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
“Your mind will quit a thousand times before your body will.”
