Twenty-eight days. That?s when everything changes.
In 28 days, about 1,000 U.S. Naval Academy seniors will be commissioned, and the structured, relatively safe life they?ve lived for four years will morph into something completely different.
They are going to Norfolk, Charleston, Pensacola, Quantico. And they are ready to put their lives on the line for their country.
Of the approximately 1,000 midshipman graduating this May, about 68 are from Maryland, Navy officials said.
Baltimore native Sheivon Davis, 23, of Baltimore, is graduating with a math degree. After graduation and a weeklong cruise, she?ll be stationed on a small ship in Norfolk, Va.
Severna Park native Ryan Frantz, who majored in naval engineering said he feels a “nervous excitement” about his next stop in Pensacola, Fla., where he?ll undergo aviation training.
“I?m definitely ready to get out of here, but I am nervous because … I know how this place operates, I know where you need to be, when you need to be there.” That familiar comfort will be gone on his new assignment. “It?s the proverbial goldfish getting thrown into the pond from out [of] the bowl,” he said. “It?s pretty much the same transition as high school.”
Other graduating Marylanders said their family and friends are expressing fear about their upcoming commissioning.
Germantown native William Recalde is headed to Quantico, where he?ll undergo Marine training. He said his mom was “kind of upset” when he was selected, but “she?s supportive,” he said.
Clarksville native Maksudul Ali said he tries to keep things positive with his friends and family.
“It?s hard to explain to people ? we really don?t talk about our future in terms of the war, we try to catch up on all old times” he said.
The midshipman said graduating in a time of war doesn?t change their outlooks.
“I am at least two years away from combat,” Frantz said. “[Commissioning] is what we?ve been waiting to do since we got here.” Davis said politics don?t affect her.
“You can?t say today I am not going to be in the military because there?s a conflict, but tomorrow I want to be in the military because there is peace,” she said.
The Maryland midshipmen said they?d look back on their experience fondly and that one of the most difficult realities to face will be being away from their friends.” The Naval Academy is just one of those places where only people that went to the Naval Academy get it,” Davis said.
