Reef Point Excerpts

It would be a good idea to memorize the rates prior to Induction Day, in order to ease stress and time management.

    It is by no means enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor.
    He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, fitness, kindness, and charity. No meritorious act of a subordinate should escape his attention or be left to pass without its reward, even if the reward is only a word of approval. Conversely, he should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate, though at the same time, he should be quick and unfailing to distinguish error from malice, thoughtlessness from incompetency, and well meant shortcomings from heedless or stupid.
    In one word, ever commander should keep constantly before him the great truth, that to be well obeyed, he must perfectly be esteemed.

To develop Midshipman morally, mentally, and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor, and loyalty in order to provide graduates who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assumer the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship, and government.

I am an American. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.

I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.

If I am captured, I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.

If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.

When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

I will never forget that I am American, responsible for my actions and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

Rank	Navy	Marine Corps	Army	Air Force	Coast Guard
E-1	Seaman Recruit	Private	Private	Basic Airman
E-2	Seaman Apprentice	Private 1st Class	Private	Airman
E-3	Seaman	Lance Corporal	Private 1st Class	Airman 1st Class
E-4	Petty Officer 3rd Class	Corporal	Corporal/Special 4	Senior Airman
E-5	Petty Officer 2nd Class	Sergeant	Sergeant/Special 5	Staff Sergeant
E-6	Petty Officer 1st Class	Staff Sergeant	Staff Sergeant/Special 6	Technical Sergeant
E-7	Chief Petty Officer	Gunnery Sergeant	Sergeant 1st Class	Master Sergeant
E-8	Senior Chief Petty Officer	1st Sergeant Master Sergeant	First Sergeant Master Sergeant	Senior Master Sergeant
E-9	Master Chief Petty Officer	Sergeant Major Master Gunnery Sergeant	Sergeant Major Command Sergeant Major	Chief Master Sergeant
	Warrant Officer (W-2)	Warrant Officer (W-1) Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-2)	Warrant Officer (W-1) Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-2)	None	Warrant Officer (W-2)
	Chief Warrant Officer (W-3, W-4)	Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-3, CWO-4)	Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-3, CWO-4)	None	Chief Warrant Officer (W-3, W-4)
O-1	Ensign	Second Lieutenant	Second Lieutenant	Second Lieutenant	Ensign
O-2	Lieutenant Junior Grade	First Lieutenant	First Lieutenant	First Lieutenant	Lieutenant Junior Grade
O-3	Lieutenant	Captain	Captain	Captain	Lieutenant
O-4	Lieutenant Commander	Major	Major	Major	Lieutenant Commander
O-5	Commander	Lieutenant Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Commander
O-6	Captain	Colonel	Colonel	Colonel	Captain
O-7	Rear Admiral (Lower Half)	Brigadier General	Brigadier General	Brigadier General	Rear Admiral (Lower Half)
O-8	Rear Admiral (Upper Half)	Major General	Major General	Major General	Rear Admiral (Upper Half)
O-9	Vice Admiral	Lieutenant General	Lieutenant General	Lieutenant General	Vice Admiral
O-10	Admiral	General	General	General	Admiral
O-11	Fleet Admiral	None	General of the Army	General of the Air Force	None

1. To take charge of this post and all government property in view.

2. To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert, and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing.

3. To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.

4. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guard house than my own.

5. To quit my post only when properly relieved.

6. To receive, obey, and pass on to the sentry who relieves me, all orders from the commanding officer, officer of the day, and officers and noncommissioned officers of the guard only.

7. To talk to no one except in the line of duty.

8. To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.

9. To call the petty officer of the watch/corporal of the guard in any case not covered by instructions.

10. To salute all officers and all colors and all standards not cased.

11. To be especially watchful at night, and during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.

Now, colleges from sea to sea
May sing of colors true;
But who has the better right than we
To hoist a symbol hue?
For sailors in battle fair,
Since fighting days of old,
Have proved the sailors right to wear
The Navy Blue and Gold

Anchor's aweigh, my boys, anchor's aweigh.
Farewell to college joys, we sail at the break of day
Through our last night on shore, drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more, here's wishing you a happy voyage home.

All me bloomin' life, sir! Me mother was a mermaid, me father was King Neptune. I was born on the crest of a wave and rocked in the cradle of the deep. Seaweed and barnacles are me clothes. Every tooth in me head is a marlinspike; the hair on me head is hemp. Every bone in me body is spar, and when I spits, I spits tar! I'se hard, I is, I am, I are?

Sir, sir is subservient word surviving from the surly days of old Serbia, when certain serfs, too ignorant to remember their lord's names, yet too servile to blaspheme them, circumvented the situation by surrogating the subservient word sir, by which I now belatedly address a certain senior cirroped who correctly surmised that I was syrupy enough to say sir after every word I said, sir.

Sir, she walks, she talks, she's full of chalk. The lacteal fluid from the female of bovine species is highly prolific to the (approx. number of glasses of milk remaining in cartons) nth degree.

Sir, I am greatly embarrassed and deeply humiliated that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond my control, the inner workings and hidden mechanisms of my chronometer are in such inaccord with the great sidereal movement with which time is generally reckoned that I cannot with any degree of accuracy state the correct time, sir. But without fear of being too greatly in error, I will state that it is about _____ minutes, _____ seconds, and _____ ticks past _____ bells.

It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doers of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither viectory or defeat. ---Theodore Roosevelt