How ‘BOUT them Midshipmen! The Rule 5 post I never would have expected to write.

Like Smitty, who does the weekly aggregation of Rule 5 posts at The Other McCain, I’m a Naval Academy grad. (Though Smitty’s just a kid – class of ‘95, I believe, while I’m Boat School ‘82.)

Navy’s awesome 23-21 victory over 19th-ranked Notre Dame last week gives me a great excuse to get active again in the Rule 5 community with this pic from the Navy Cheerleaders website:

Why is this the Rule 5 post I never would have expected to write? Women were still a novelty at USNA when I arrived. My class was only the third with women in it, and a lot of people weren’t happy that women were there at all, or at least were disturbed with what we saw as politically correct moves relating to specific female midshipmen.

In any event, we probably were more unkind than we should have been; in fact, my classmates and I were pretty damn crude, and let’s just say that we didn’t think good looks were plentiful among that early group of women who braved (and I do mean braved) the transition to a co-ed institution. We said some nasty things. Please accept my belated (and anonymous) apology, ladies from the classes of ‘80-’82.

Some “old-timers” I meet at alumni functions would still like to change the Academy back to an all-male institution. But I’m betting the young mid in the middle of this pic feels differently.