Plebe summer drill july 1972

From left to right Jordan Smith (L), Desmond Fretz (c), Horace Witaker (R)

Admiral Mack held an assembly with the Class of 1976 during those first few days in July 1972.  During the first assembly we were told to look to your right and look to your left.  One of you will not be here four years from now.  He was right because Horace did not make it through.  Desmond became my roommate during my first class year at Annapolis.  We were both majoring in mathematics.  Believe it or not when I tried to become a teacher in California (Dec 2004), I was told that the degree from the United States Naval Academy was not sufficient.   Unbelievable! So, after 28 years of not seeing mathematics I take the CSET test for Algebra & Geometry and pass the AEPA in Arizona granting a clear Secondary Mathematics Credential.   More on that later....

Excerpt from Annapolis Creed

                                                                         Plebe Summer Begins
​
In 1972 the Brigade of Midshipmen consisted of 36 Companies, six battalions, and two regiments.  The Plebe Summer Detail will add one platoon of approximately 40 plebes to each company.  The plebes in 1972 are divided into 18 different companies, I was in Foxtrot “F Company” which consisted of plebes from the 17th and 18th Companies.  The companies are not changed for the entire summer and compete against each other for performance points.  Each Company is divided into two platoons of approximately 36 plebes each.  Each platoon consists of three squads of about 12 plebes.  I am assigned to the 17th Company platoon.  The first half of Plebe Summer is known to the plebes as "First Set."  The first set familiarizes plebes for the basics of military life.  Below is just one example of the quotes that we had to memorize verbatim:
 
“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best in the end knows the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”.
​
— Theodore Roosevelt, "The Man in the Arena."