In March 2020, U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen on spring break were ordered to not return to Bancroft Hall. Our break had been extended indefinitely. Communication with classmates and subordinates was limited as midshipmen were spread across six different time zones and exposed to a variety of additional stresses and tasks in the “at home” environment. “You can’t learn leadership online” was a phrase repeated throughout the duration of online classes that carried over into the summer.
In fall 2020, the reform of the brigade began to occur. Return dates were spread out into groups over several months to allow for adequate quarantine space. With one wing dedicated as quarantine space for the entire semester, several hundred midshipmen relocated to neighboring St. John’s College in Annapolis for their living quarters for the semester. The relocation involved two entire companies in addition to tens of midshipmen from three additional companies. Entire company cohesion, cultures, and traditions would be eroded with some disappearing entirely because of long periods of isolation, quarantine, and general separation.
While most of the brigade would return to Bancroft Hall by the spring semester, multiple quarantines and restriction of movements contributed to the further decline of the already deteriorated culture of the Naval Academy. A culture that once boasted professionalism, excellence, warfighting, and tradition had effectively evaporated. By the end of the spring semester, in an attempt to reset the Academy’s culture, it was announced that the entire Naval Academy would shuffle every individual into a new company save for the members of the Class of 2022. The Class of 2022 is the last class to experience a full year at the Academy that was unaffected by COVID-19. The first class of ’22, the seniors, were tasked with reestablishing a culture at the Naval Academy. Amid the reset at the Naval Academy, a great deal of time was spent discussing the kind of culture the Academy should foster, and what it means to be a midshipman.
The idea of what it is to be a midshipman has changed little change since the position was created. It is our sole purpose to develop ourselves into leaders capable of taking U.S. sailors and Marines into combat. As future junior officers, this is the great truth we must keep before us. Thankfully, the Naval Academy has graciously provided 47 months to relentlessly prepare our minds, bodies, and souls for this higher purpose.
The specifics of this preparation are more difficult to define. The best example of a guideline for developing naval officers can be found in Augustus Bell’s interpretation of John Paul Jones’s definition of the qualifications of naval officers. These characteristics range from being cautious and punctilious, capable mariners to being able to distinguish between error and malicious intent. “The Qualifications of a Naval Officer” are things we should all strive for especially before leading others into enemy fire.1 However, this list of qualifications should add three additional characteristics for which midshipmen should strive:
Understand what you are protecting. Every member of the armed services raises his or her right hand and swears or affirms to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. From that moment, it is on us to understand our way of life, why our Constitution is worth protecting, and what freedoms we are preserving for ourselves and our posterity. It is important to know and learn our history, its successes, and errors, and how the naval service can look to the future together. After all, the Naval Academy mission statement says that the aim is to develop leaders for the highest levels of command, citizenship, and government, so we cannot limit ourselves to only the scope of war. Being in the naval service means we have to prepare to be diplomats, judges, engineers, mothers, fathers, and mentors. We have to understand the deeper meaning of our higher calling.
If you are not current, you are not viable. We must dedicate ourselves to learning the naval craft. Effective shiphandling is likened to an art; it does not come from PowerPoint slides. It is a craft that must be practiced and mastered. In addition, midshipmen should be able to speak intelligently on the current large-scale operational strategy of naval forces, as well as the force capabilities of U.S. allies and adversaries. Midshipmen must become naval thinkers and avoid Admiral Williams Sims’s idea of just being a “practical officer,” someone good at their current job but who lacks the preparation for higher duties. In his 1921 Proceedings article, “The Practical Naval Officer,” Admiral Sims states that he does “advocate very strongly their [midshipmen] being given clearly to understand what they are here for, what they are in the navy for, what the meaning of their contract is, otherwise they are more than likely to waste the priceless years during which only habits of study can be formed and knowledge easily acquired.”2 The Navy deserves more than officers who are just going through the motions. Being a “practical midshipman” is a selfish idea and we must take it upon ourselves to not waste our time in training. We must be all in, all the time.
We must possess the courage of our convictions. Our character is the most controllable aspect of our lives. We have been granted the full trust of the U.S. government. We must be capable of taking a moral stand for what is right and live by and grow our moral compasses. We must be committed to freedom, democracy, and the fair treatment of all. The recent cheating scandal at the Naval Academy has hurt our brand. We are better than this. We must hold ourselves accountable and be prepared for a future in which mistakes like these could result in the deaths our sailors or Marines.
Adding these additional characteristics is only a starting point. Rebuilding a culture is about more than sheer role identification. To graduate leaders dedicated to a career of naval service, it is imperative the Class of 2023 advocate for a warfighting culture at the Academy.
Warfighting culture is about forming the desire to win. It is about understanding our current adversaries and it is about creating a sense of urgency in our tasks. Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication (MCDP) 1, Warfighting, states that “As military professionals charged with the defense of the Nation…[we] must be true experts in the conduct of war.” Being a professional in a warfighting culture is about adopting a “get things done” attitude while working to understand the art of war. Naval Doctrinal Publication (NDP) 1, Naval Warfare, emphasizes being prepared to, at times, fight a fort. In today’s environment, “the risk of operations must be measured based on the potential strategic reward” as a once predicable location cannot be held at face value. At the end of the day, leaders must be reminded that “the resources they will expend in war are human lives.” The culture must instill a sense of urgency that emphasizes this. Is 47 months of school and summer training enough to prepare leaders of sailors or Marines?
If the Naval Academy is going to establish a warfighting culture in the 21st century, it needs to exercise every advantage at its disposal. With new classrooms in the recently finished Hopper Hall, midshipmen need to learn current fleet operations and tactics. Provide midshipmen with greater understanding of this century’s most powerful weapon: information. Providing midshipmen with higher classification briefs would allow future officers opportunities to invent and challenge current ideas and strategies much earlier in their careers. The next Admiral Nimitz or King could be studying in Bancroft right now, and the Academy must help them avoid falling into the trap of being a “practical officer” by providing this information.
In addition, situated on the banks where the Severn River meets the Chesapeake Bay, the Naval Academy is a short drive from the world’s largest naval base: Naval Station Norfolk. This proximity needs to be better exploited. Allowing midshipmen to interact with active-duty crews and equipment can help them better grasp their future careers while also increasing the sense of warfighting urgency. Finally, the Academy must more efficiently use its proximity to Washington, D.C., and the Pentagon. Inviting more speakers from different services and naval attachés from U.S. allies would provide a foundation for understanding joint integration on the battlefield. Only so many lessons can be transported through literature and news articles. To be better suited for the future of mass integration of naval and joint forces, midshipmen need to be able to pick the brains of the people in command and those who represent allied countries’ fleets.
The U.S. fleet is one of the nation’s greatest resources. With the return of great power competition, maritime superiority and control of the seas cannot be taken for granted. The Naval Academy exists to train officers capable of assuming command. The cultural reset currently underway is a great opportunity to examine what it means to be a midshipman and what it takes to be a naval officer. Adopting a healthy warfighting culture that emphasizes a sense of urgency and the responsibility we will soon hold will make our fleet more lethal. And better using spaces available on the Yard as well as the proximity to Naval Station Norfolk and D.C. will allow midshipmen to better pursue a foundational understanding of what great officership should be. The cost of complacency can and will be human lives if proper actions are not taken.
1. Augustus Buell, Paul Jones, Found of the American Navy: A History (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900).
2. Benjamin Armstrong, ed, 21st Century Simms: Innovation, Education, and Leadership for the Modern Era (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2015).