Dave Crabbe expected pushups when he came to the Naval Academy. And it was just a few days into the summer initiation for newcomers when a bellowing upperclassman ordered him to the hard dormitory floor and made him muscle out 20.
Now, three years later, it's Crabbe's turn to whip plebes into shape. But he has been dishing out a different sort of discipline. Instead of push-ups, he recently asked a group of erring plebes to write an essay on being an American.
"The end result was that people were looking into themselves," he says. Some even cried.
A new mood is taking root at the Naval Academy, where the fraternity-house-style harassment that spawned the country's first anti-hazing law has given way to a climate of civility, polished manners and a sensitivity to frayed teen-age feelings.
The latest tradition tossed overboard is the "spot correction" - the use of push-ups and sit-ups as instant punishment for a minor rules violation. The practice, famous for the phrase "Drop and give me 20," has been written off as a relic worthy of joining the cat-o'-nine-tails in the graveyard of Navy disciplinary tools.
Another word academy visitors won't hear this summer is kill. When the new commandant, Col. John Allen, overheard a plebe platoon shout it in unison a couple weeks ago, he ordered the word purged from their vocabulary. He said it was too early in their careers to think about the "kill piece" of military training.
"What we've done is we've removed the cruelty," says the school's spokesman, Cmdr. Bill Spann. "We've learned over the years that you do not need to be cruel in order to produce a combat-ready warrior."
`Treated very fairly'
The academy has already dismissed four upperclassmen from plebe-training jobs this month after a plebe complained about being screamed at and scolded too harshly.
Allen, a tough-talking Marine who scrapped the spot correction this summer, says that preparing the next generation of naval officers for combat should not cross the line into humiliation. He wants upperclassmen to lead by example, not fear.
"We never want to denigrate someone, robbing them of their dignity," says Allen, whose job is comparable to dean of students at a civilian college. "We want parents to understand that when they give us their children, they will be treated very fairly."
