That's especially true if you turn off the "autoskipper" and start controlling your sails yourself. Naval Action beautifully captures the relationship between the wind and a ship's sails, but also the finicky, sometimes counterintuitive handling of sailing ships and how difficult it can be to precisely control them. Even in an early state, Naval Action's simple PvE and PvP battles already confirm that it's one of the first games that manages to do justice to both the violence and the grace of sail-powered combat. "Correct tacking, boxhauling, tracking shots, yard control: we made all those mechanics realistic, but fun and useful in combat. Note: Travel accommodations for Army Navy Game coverage by Military Times were provided by USAA, a military-focused insurance company."It is easy to stand on the shoulders of giants, but in our case most of the mechanics we did are innovations-they were never done this way before," he says. They sing together, celebrate together, cry together then the next day end up fighting and defending this country together with their brothers-in-arms. They leave it all on the field, absolutely fight to the bitter end to win it. Short of a bowl game, quite often the Army Navy Game is the culmination of their football career. It’s especially important when you understand what these young men who play this game are going to do after this game. Q: Why should servicemembers who didn’t attend the academies or the general public care about this game?Ī: The Army Navy Game is America’s game. Naval Academy’s first formal parade of the 2021 football season. James Caldwell Jr., director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, and Class of 1981, reviews the U.S. Sean Buck, 63rd Superintendent of the US Naval Academy and Col J.P McDonough, 89th Commandant of Midshipman along with Adm. I’m more excited to watch now as the superintendent than I’ve ever been.ĪNNAPOLIS, Md. I didn’t really pay that much attention to those details as a midshipman. I didn’t know about all of the customs, such as going out to the middle of the field with the commander-in-chief for the coin toss. (That was the same score as Buck’s plebe year.) I didn’t know how electric it is in emotion and passion in the team’s locker room. Navy went 11-2, 6-0 at home and beat Army 31-7. Q: What has been your experience around the game since becoming the superintendent?Ī: The first fall in 2019 was a remarkably successful football season. One time on a mission as a navigator in charge of communications I dialed up an HF radio frequency for the crew to hear periodic updates of the game. I definitely watched them from whatever geographic location I was at - even airborne flying. Once the Army Navy Game is in your spirit, in your DNA, you drop what you’re doing wherever you are in the world and also make a really concerted effort to go back also periodically to the game.
The team’s record while I was a student was 3-0-1.Ī: While I was commissioned, I attended the game in person four or five times with friends, classmates. Being able to march on the field and enjoy that, the respect and honor from the city of Philadelphia, it was just kind of one of those things that re-validated my decision to attend USNA. All of the hijinks, pep rallies, the level of emotion. During the lead up to the game, which used to be played during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we were not allowed to go home, it was nothing but good, exciting fun. Q: What was your first game like as a midshipman?Ī: It continued to be awe-inspiring for me as a plebe (freshman) in 1979. He became a naval aviator, served 30 years and retired at the rank of captain. My father graduated from the USNA class of 1948A, it was the last of the divided short classes out of World War II, where midshipmen would complete their studies in three years instead of four. A: My dad took me to my first Army Navy Game in Philadelphia when I was 8 years old in 1968.