Blue Angels may end up being cut

12/1/2011: With Congress taking a hard look at federal programs, particularly within the Defense Department's $926 billion annual budget, Annapolitans may not get another chance to see the Commissioning Week performance. Questions were raised about the effectiveness of the $37 million spent annually for the Blue Angels, whose mission is to enhance recruiting for the Navy and Marines. Although the Blue Angels take up a small fraction of the Defense Department's budget, critics have argued that plenty of smaller programs will have to be eliminated to reduce spending. Full story

Class of 2012 receive service assignments

12/3/2011: The Class of 2012 received their service assignments on November 30. Midshipmen who will commission as surface warfare officers will receive their ship assignments Feb. 2, 2012. Midshipmen assigned to other communities are in the process of receiving their orders for follow-on training dates.

Assignments are based on specific requirements provided by the Department of the Navy leadership. Although personal desires are strongly considered, community assignments are ultimately based on requirements set forth by the Navy and Marine Corps. The Naval Academy endeavors to match personal preferences with aptitude and ability, placing midshipmen in the community best suited to their strengths. Ninety-five percent were assigned to the first or second choice career assignment.

Specific career assignments for the Class of 2012, as of Nov. 29, include (numbers are subject to change for various reasons including unforeseen medical issues):

Army-Navy blood donation challenge

12/5//2011: The national capital region will compete in a Blood Donor Challenge through Dec. 9 for a chance to win bragging rights and the 2011 trophy for most units of blood collected for the Armed Services Blood Program, the official blood program of the United States military. Over the years, the Army-Navy game has come to embody the spirit of the longstanding rivalry between the two services, but this year the rivalry will have another element to it when the "tradition of challenge meets the challenge of life." Full story

Army, Navy prefer to ignore Mids' winning streak

12/6/2011: Army head coach Rich Ellerson feigned surprise when a television reporter asked him on camera about Navy's current nine game winning streak in the service academy series. "Nine games? You're kidding me! I hadn't heard that," Ellerson said in jest. Actually, Ellerson and his three captains heard about the losing streak a lot Wednesday during the annual press conference to promote the Army-Navy game. It marks the most consecutive wins by either team in the storied history of the series. Full story

Fierce rivals Army-Navy bring road to new gridiron

12/7/2011: The Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen, one of the fiercest rivalries in all of college sports, will rumble on to FedEx Field Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2:30 p.m. (EST), as CBS cameras roll on every detail. This is the first time they've met in Washington, D.C., area, making it the 16th venue to host the event. Although this is the 112th time the two service academies will meet, Navy has won the last nine meetings, the longest winning streak by either team in series history. Full story

Dobbs keeping his options open

12/12/2011: Ricky Dobbs still plans to become president of the United States, still dreams of possibly playing professional football and is still giving back to the community every chance he gets. Navy's gregarious, magnanimous and charismatic football quarterback was back in Annapolis during a break between billets. After graduation and basket leave, he reported to the Naval Academy Prep School (NAPS) in mid July to serve a four-month stint as an assistant coach with the football program. Full story

Kenosha player of the year earns potential USNA offer

12/13/2011: In the classroom, Kenosha Tremper senior Toneo Gulley has earned a 3.8 grade-point average. On the football field, he also got straights As, earning all-state recognition from the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association on offense and defense as a junior and senior. He also earned a (potential) offer of appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. And on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's all-area team, Gulley is at the top of his class. Full story

Stiff competition for academy's class of 2016

12/14/2011: Annapolis is gearing up for a competitive admissions season. While the size of the next freshman class is contracting, the number of applicants is set to break records. With 18,651 applicants as of November 29, the academy is seven percent above last year's figure, per the academy's dean of admissions. The size of the freshman class will drop by 30 slots to 1,190. Full story

USNA Glee Club to perform in Washington

12/15/2011: The United States Glee Club will be performing during the nationwide broadcast of Christmas in Washington in the 30th anniversary of the event benefiting the Children's National Medical Center. It will air on Friday, December 16 at 7 p.m. CST on TNT. The glee club will be performing I'll be home for Christmas as well as Silent Night and O Holy Night with other choirs.

Officials: Midshipmen to be court-martialed

12/16/2011: Evidence against a midshipman charged with raping a classmate was strong enough to warrant a court-martial, Naval Academy officials said Tuesday. In November, a female midshipman accused Midshipman 1st Class Matthew Cook of raping her during a 2010 summer assignment at the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island. Full story

Professor says academy overstates applicants

12/17/2011: The Naval Academy is artificially inflating its number of applicants to boost its status among other colleges, according to Bruce Fleming, an academy English professor and frequent critic of the school's admission process, who based his accusations on the school's own documents. Specifically, the academy counts as "applicants" people who have not completed an application but have shown an interest through other means, such as applying to the school's weeklong Summer Seminar or beginning an online application. Full story

Latest acceptance rate data not inflated, US Naval Academy says

12/18/2011: A recent article in the Navy Times, titled "Professor says academy overstates applicants," claimed that the U.S. Naval Academy "is artificially inflating its number of applicants to boost its status among other colleges, according to an academy professor who based is accusations on the school's own documents." After hearing those allegations, U.S. News & World Report and the other Common Data Set (CDS) publishers contacted the U.S. Naval Academy directly to find out if, when providing its number of applications, the Naval Academy was using the common Data Set definition standard, which stipulates that only students who complete fully actionable applications (meaning the student has supplied enough information so the school can make an admissions decision) should be included in the calculation of the total number of applications. Read more

Realities of war and football in documentary on Army-Navy rivalry

12/19/2011: Navy beat Army for the 10th straight year last Saturday, 27-21, but CBS's broadcast will not be the last word on the Midshipmen's victory. Instead, footage from nine video cameras stationed at FedEx Field will form a major part of a new documentary, A Game of Honor (Showtime, Dec. 21 at 10 p.m.), that explores how players balance football with military commitments. A documentary about the Army-Navy rivalry, which is 112 games old, is an innately patriotic concept. Full story

Mids college 15,000 pounds of food for community

12/20/2011: The Naval Academy Brigade of Midshipmen contributed more than 15,000 pounds of non-perishable food to the Harvest for the Hungry food drive that ended Nov. 30. Full story

Naval Academy launches smartphone app

12/21/2011: A new Naval Academy application for both Apple and Android smartphones is available. The app includes YouTube videos and photo albums, Navy sports schedules and scores, top stories about alumni and the academy, a calendar of events and activities and a searchable Yard map. More information

Coolest chant in the country began at Navy

12/22/2011: "I believe that we will win" is becoming a staple at many sporting events, particularly basketball. Little do these college lemmings know that they are just following the lead of some midshipmen who apparently started the chant at a lacrosse game. According to a Dec. 6, 2003 story in the Washington Post, the chant originated at a Navy football game, when Navy - one of their first promising seasons in decades - was trailing No. 25-ranked Air Force 28-25 in the final minutes. Sources say a group of navy lacrosse players started the ruckus, though you can't be sure because urban legends are quickly springing up. Full story

NCTAMS LANT brings Christmas to its sailors serving on IA

12/24/2011: Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic (NCTAMS LANT) Sailors and civilian personnel spent Dec. 15 packing Christmas cheer to send to its people deployed on Individual Augmentee assignments. NCTAMS LANT officers, Sailors, and civilian personnel have coordinated and supported many programs this year to bring the spirit of peace and joy to military and civilian families, collecting food donations for those in need to be able to have a good meal during the holidays; collecting presents for the children; and collecting non-perishable food items, supplies, and money for those who will not be home for this holiday season because they are "standing the watch" overseas protecting our rights to freedom. Full story

'Twas the Night Before Christmas - Sub Style

12/25/2011: The YouTube video of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - Submarine Style features several service members from around the globe, including submariners past, present and future at the U.S. Naval Academy. Watch video

Giving Tree Angles donate gifts for 1,100 local children

12/26/2011: Midshipmen, faculty and staff aboard the U.S. Naval Academy helped make a brighter holiday this year for many local children during their annual Giving Tree project which ended Dec. 12. The team of midshipmen from 6th Company who organized the event, collected gifts for approximately 1,100 children - 400 more than last year - to be distributed to underprivileged families in the Annapolis area. Gifts ranged from musical instruments to clothes, to a number of bicycles and scooters, with an estimated total value of more than $50,000. Full story

NMCPHC brings holiday cheer to local area school

Air Force finds perfect match in Military Bowl

12/28/2011: At the start of the college football season, the Military Bowl had commitments from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Naval Academy and a deal with Conference USA should the midshipmen fall short of bowl eligibility. As the end of the season, the bowl has exactly zero teams from the ACC or C-USA, and Navy won't be playing anywhere after this weekend. Yet, somehow, everybody's happy. Full story 

Academy sex assaults see sizable increase

12/29/2011: Reports of sexual assault at three of the nation's military academies have increased by more than 58 percent, according to the Defense Department. The annual report on sexual harassment for the Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy and the Air Force Academy for the 2010-2011 academic year, released Tuesday, said there were 65 assaults at the service academies, up from 41 in the prior year. Full story

Naval Academy pushes for cybersecurity center

12/31/2011: The Naval Academy is lobbying to build a Cyber Security Studies center that would be secure enough to allow midshipmen to study classified information on the school's grounds. As the academy pushes for funding, more plans should be released this month for a freestanding building on the Yard. Full story