After the initial thunder of yelling and chaos of that first evening at the Naval Academy, the shock and awe of entering Bancroft Hall and realizing rather quickly that I was yelled at from every corner, one instruction rose above all the others: “Eyes in the boat.” Look straight ahead. Do not look left or right. Do not make eye contact. Move. We were told to rapidly navigate to a company area we had never…
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Getting In
Published January 19, 2026
I didn’t spend much time wondering whether I would get into the Naval Academy. In 1976, I assumed I would. That certainty wasn’t confidence so much as innocence—a product of youth, limited perspective, and a life that had unfolded almost entirely within the familiar boundaries of Annapolis, Maryland. This may sound strange now, but at the time, I never doubted the outcome. I was that young, that naïve, and that unaware of the larger world…
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