I walked in knowing exactly where I was going.I just didn’t know what I was doing. Inside Halsey Field House, Induction Day began with an unsettling calm. Everything looked orderly, almost polite. The ferocious part was waiting its turn. Rows of folding tables stretched across the floor, aligned alphabetically by last name. I found A and stepped up to a table. The upperclassman behind it didn’t smile or look at me for long. “Plebe Andrews,”…
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The Letter
Published January 26, 2026
Who gets a letter nowadays? Back in 1977, that was the way. The only way I learned about college rejections or acceptances was by mail. No portals. No emails. No “check your status.” Just the quiet anticipation of the postal delivery and the weight of an envelope in your hands. My appointment to the United States Naval Academy arrived that way, too: A letter. A single piece of paper that changed everything. There were hurdles,…
Leave a CommentBefore the Doors Opened
Published January 12, 2026
Growing up in Annapolis, Maryland, with the outline of the Naval Academy just on the other side of the Severn River, I never gave much thought to attending the Naval Academy. That’s the simplest truth. I roamed freely through buildings and fields, along the water, across spaces that felt familiar and unremarkable. The idea of attending the Academy never entered my mind. There were no women there, because there had never been women there. Since…
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