Washington Area Lunch - January 11, 2013

Pictures were submitted by Dave Carruth

Twenty five of us (see pictures) gathered at the Army Navy Country Club for sustenance, companionship and to hear our guest speaker, CAPT Clinton Carroll ’89, Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen, tell us about life in Bancroft Hall today.  He is an excellent speaker and we thoroughly enjoyed his presentation.  From what he told us I must conclude that the midshipmen today are academically a different breed than they were when we were there keeping in mind that we were still on a wartime footing while they now have something like 27 majors to choose from.  For example CAPT Carroll graduated with a Bachelor of Science in political science and was then a Marshall Cox Fund Scholar at the Universite de Francois Rabelais in Tours, France.  Reveille is now at 0630 and taps is 2400.  Admittedly it’s been a long time but my memory says we got up earlier and went to bed earlier.  You will be happy to know they teach a full STEM program including seamanship and navigation.  In answer to questions he said the new parking garage will take the place of the parking at the Officer and Faculty Club and will have two or three floors below ground.  Note that the Supe has said it will accommodate at least 300 cars.  In response to questions about Spice, CAPT Carroll says they did separate a number of mid’s and since tests have now been developed which can detect spice and something I think he called “bathsalts” that the academy has the synthetic drug problem in hand at the moment.  On the bed bug problem he says the bugs get into Bancroft Hall from people coming back from camping, and other such activity with the bugs in their sleeping bags, on their clothes or in their luggage.  The method they are currently using to eradicate them is heat.  The procedure takes two to three weeks and the room temps have to be raised and held at about 140 degrees(minimum of 120) for several hours and then check the room for two weeks, repeating as necessary.  He says that problem is now under control also.
         Roger Carlquist gave us an update on the reunion and says the best estimate at the moment is about 115 people at the 65th. 
         Since the reunion is in early June it seemed to make sense to move the May luncheon to the second Fri. in April and cancel the March luncheon so we are proceeding in that direction. 
         The luncheon lasted from 1130 to 1400 and being Fri. with rain everyone working downtown was bugging out early so the traffic coming home was rough.  Oh well.   See you at Pirate’s Cove in April.   Dave