There are 9 pages of information in this parent resource handbook. For those of you beginning the process, please read the whole guide. There are so many different things to discover! It is helpful to have a framework for this new experience. There is a new vocabulary, new schedules to plan around and a whole new world to explore. So take a deep breath and read all about it. Then join the listserve using the link on the upper left side of the home page (Click on the hand signing up). You will meet some of the friendliest folks in the world. Don't be afraid to join in the discussions. You are one of us.

The Naval Academy has a wonderful website. Although parts of it are not accessible to outsiders, there are many pages that have valuable information for parents. Some of the most important usna.edu pages are linked directly from our home page. At the very bottom of the usna-parents homepage is a link to USNA schedules. If you need the most current schedules you will find them there.

This guide is a work in progress. If you have suggestions, we are always willing to add, change or otherwise rework our material. We are parents of Midshipmen writing for parents of Midshipmen. We don't have all the answers, but we can share our experiences with you. Every effort has been made to insure the accuracy of the USNA-Parents Survival Guide's content but please verify dates and places prior to accepting them as absolutely accurate because, as with all things, events and information change constantly.

To see some of the many outfits your student will be wearing over the next few years, check out our Uniforms and Insignias page.

Sometimes survival at USNA is about Navy football. To listen to a live Navy Football broadcast, go t: www.wnav.com. Left click on the "Listen Now" button (5th button down.) This will download a Real Audio stream that should automatically start the Real Audio Media Player (if you have it - most do.) There you go!

If you don't have the Real Audio Player, go to their site at http://www.real.com/ Download their trial player, or purchase a license to have it installed permanently.

by General Douglas MacArthur for his son (1942)
For those of us with Mid daughters, just substitute daughter for son and she for he!

"Build me a son, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak,
and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid;
one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat,
and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son, whose wishes will not take the place of deeds;
a son who will know Thee --
and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge.

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort,
but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge.
Here let him learn to stand up in the storm;
here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal will be high;
a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men,
one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And, after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor,
so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously.
Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness,
the open mind of true wisdom, and the weakness of true strength.

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, "I have not lived in vain."

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