Day in the Life of a Stanford Navy ROTC Midshipman
NROTC Drill at UC Berkeley
Every Thursday, we leave Stanford at 1230. 35 minutes into our 60-minute commute to UC Berkeley from Stanford, we see the towering skyscrapers of San Francisco (SF) outside our window. After driving this route every Thursday for the past 4 years, I know the route by heart, but I am still in awe every time I get to drive through the wonderful city of SF.
As a Midshipman (MIDN) at Stanford, myself and the two other Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) MIDN have to commute to the host school of UC Berkeley for all our NROTC training events. While this commute was daunting at first, I have come to appreciate it as a senior. It allows a chance to catch up with the other Navy ROTC MIDN from Stanford as we carpool up, to drive through the beautiful city of SF, and to experience life at UC Berkeley and make friends from California Maritime Academy and UC Davis (the other two host schools that are part of NROTC Unit UC Berkeley).
Because of the distance between all the universities that are part of the UC Berkeley NROTC unit, all of our training is consolidated on Thursday to minimize the commute. We have 3 hours of our Naval Drill period, followed by 1.5-3 hours of Naval Science class, and then we usually factor in another hour to complete any additional activities that must be taken care of in-person. During the rest of the week, our ROTC commitments are either over Zoom, such as MIDN staff meetings or Naval Science classes (which may sometimes occur over Zoom depending on your class year), or are done independently among the MIDN at each campus.
While drill days vary drastically, on this particular day all 48 MIDN in the NROTC Crew fall in together and hear some opening remarks from the MIDN Commanding Officer to kick off our training day. We then split off into the Navy Options and Marine Options to conduct our individual training specific for each branch. The Navy Options go to the Berkeley Fire department to work on damage control drills, compete with Firehouse hoses, and practice Halligan breaching tools. The Marine Options throw on their rucksacks and hike up into the Berkeley fire trails to conduct a land navigation exercise, implementing the skills learned in the classroom the week prior.
Naval Science Class
At the conclusion of our training, we all come back together to be dismissed as a crew and then proceed to change uniforms and get ready for Naval Science classes. These classes vary based on class year and service option, but include classes like Naval History, Navigation, or Maneuver Warfare, and are taught by one of the Active-Duty staff members at our unit.
A benefit of having a smaller unit is having lots of interaction with the Active-Duty Staff. As a 1/C MIDN, I take a naval science class taught by the Commanding Officer of our unit, a Captain (O-6) in the Navy. This means I get 3 hours a week of learning from the perspectives and experiences of a naval officer with 20+ years of experience, and in a class of only 8 people, I get to ask lots of questions. This kind of access to an O-6 is unheard of once we are in the fleet, so we do the best to take advantage of it now.
Leadership and Voluntary NROTC Teams
A central part of NROTC training is getting each MIDN leadership experience before they enter the fleet. At NROTCU UC Berkeley, this means each MIDN will have 3-5 billets (leadership positions) throughout their 4 years. You get increasing billet responsibilities as you get more experience in the program, up until your 1/C year, where you are given the billets in charge of running all the training and logistic coordination for the unit. These billets can be big time commitments, and can entail a lot of stress. However, I have always been properly prepared and supported, and have grown more as a leader from having these responsibilities than from any other experience at Stanford. As a 1/C MIDN now, I hold the role of MIDN Executive officer, working under the MIDN Commanding Officer to oversee training, and ensure the coordination between the Navy training plan and the Marine option training plans align with the overall intents of the Commanding Officer of the unit.
There are also voluntary teams that you can participate in with the unit. These are things like the Drill Team, Color Guard, Endurance Team, Knowledge Team, etc. These teams practice throughout the year and train to compete in a yearly ROTC drill competition at the University of Colorado Boulder. We fly to Colorado and get to spend a weekend competing against other units. Each team is managed by a MIDN Team Captain who will host additional practices that the members are required to attend. I am personally the Captain of the Marksmanship Team and a member of the Knowledge Team. To ensure we are adequately prepared, the Knowledge Team gets together after drill to do team practice, and the Marksmanship Team practices on Friday mornings.
Once our training and classes conclude, myself and the other Stanford MIDN pile back into the car, and begin the commute back to campus, enjoying the lit up skyline of San Francisco along the way. We typically arrive back on campus around 2100.
Life Outside of NROTC
A usual Thursday entails a 1230 departure from campus, and a 2100 return time. This ends up being a big chunk of the Thursday and requires MIDN to plan their classes accordingly. For me, it often meant loading up on Mon/Wed/Fri classes, and avoiding T/Th classes that often conflict with ROTC commitments. Luckily, this very rarely presented issues with completing a required class, as Stanford offers many different classes, at different times, during different quarters. So even if a class I want to take conflicts one quarter, it is likely that it does not conflict the next quarter. Taking a whole day out of your week for NROTC does impact your ability to accomplish your long to-do list, and it requires you to carefully manage your time. However, this issue of “too many things to do and not enough time” is a common problem at Stanford, and an extremely important skill to learn before becoming an officer.
Being at a crosstown unit means we have a lot of independence. We get to plan when we workout, what classes we take, what extracurriculars we are involved in, and our social life – all independent of ROTC. This is different from many other ROTC units, but it gives us the unique opportunity to learn how to shape our own college experience how we want. However, if you fall short when it is time to perform in training, then you will face disciplinary action. Therefore, it is on you to learn how you want to balance all these commitments. This closely mirrors the realities of life as an officer in the fleet, so navigating the intricacies of balancing your social life, workout routine, and ROTC commitments during your college years is great preparation for later on.
So for me, after four years of experimenting, I have developed a pretty diverse but packed weekly schedule. For example, I am currently taking a computer science (CS) class on Natural Language Processing to fulfill my final CS requirement for my major in Symbolic Systems, a 20-student seminar class on interactive design in symbolic systems, an earth systems class on adaptation, and a Russian class to continue progressing towards my goal of achieving Russian fluency. After classes for the day, I go to Stanford Triathlon club practice from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. This has been a great way to find community at Stanford, as well as work on functional fitness that transfers over well to the Marine Corps fitness requirements. To supplement this training, I often workout 3-4 times a week in the morning right when I wake up, one of which is usually with another NROTC MIDN. Around this schedule is when I fit in time for homework and socializing. During the week, I use the gaps in my day to either get lunch or coffee with friends. I will often also schedule time once a month to get coffee with one of the National Security Fellows from the Hoover Institute. These are Active-Duty military personnel on a one-year fellowship at Stanford, and because there are so few ROTC students at Stanford, we have unparalleled access to meeting with them and hearing from their rich and diverse experiences in the military. Weekends are my time to either finish up schoolwork for the week, but I also try to squeeze in a hike or trip to SF with friends.
Overall, doing NROTC at Stanford has been the perfect mix between getting integral military training, while also getting to experience life as a student at Stanford. This mix has exposed me to a diverse range of experiences and opportunities that have ultimately shaped me into a leader with a better understanding of the world, preparing me to become an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
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