Personal Narrative: Induction Day At The Naval Academy

Induction Day at the Naval Academy is the first day for all midshipmen on a sweltering June day in Annapolis. For the class of 2017, Induction day was June 27, 2013. New plebes are mulling around in a single file line pouring out of an ominous building where fresh high school graduates entered and frightened children wearing all white canvas bags dumped into the loading docks. The white stone bare aside from the crest of the academy loomed over me as I stood silently waiting for my costume change. I waited to check in wearing the worst middle-aged woman khakis and nautical striped shirt to ever be produced. My hair was cut and resembled an orange cereal bowl on my head. Seven in the morning was when I said good-bye and stepped inside the building leaving my family at the doors.
Aside from the anxiety making me nauseous, the air around me was cool, crisp and relatively calm. Gear issue was the easy part. Walking through the hallways in line holding a bag fit for Santa Claus seemed taxing but was child's play for
what was to come. Once given my thick, white canvas uniform, the pleasantries ceased. The berating began. Becoming one of the frightened children I stumbled over my own feet to make it to the loading docks behind the building that transformed me. I began to realize what I had gotten myself into, and I remember thinking how long of a summer it was going to be.
The cool air that soothed my nerves before was replaced by piercing screams and heat that beamed down and filled the air with moisture.
My mother told me at least once in my life to stop running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but once my foot hit the asphalt off of the bus, that is what I embodied. I got off of the bus and stumbled up the mountain of steps a plateau of red tile overlooking the parking lot. Parents crammed as far forward as possible like the front of a rock concert to attempt a potential glance at their child. Dragging my Santa Claus bag along with me, I dropped it in order to drink in the air around me. The problem was my bag fell on one of the upperclassmen in command during the summer; it turned out that she was the one who decided the grueling tasks of my day to day life during the summer. During the summer, it was suggested to me to stay below the radar and blend in with everyone. Needless to say that did not happen for
me.
The rest of the day was a painful blur. The amount of colloquial language picked up in those short 12 hours was incredible. I was running through the halls, turning on a dime in the center of the hallways, screaming encouragement for the Navy, and reciting codes or standards. Having zero background in the military lifestyle or structure, all of this new information overwhelmed me and formed a bottomless pit that sat in my stomach reminding me that I chose to be here.