"I kind of went into the whole situation thinking that fru-fru liberal arts majors who read books that I usually pretend to read for Western civilization class and weave baskets and read poetry couldn't possibly have it as hard, academically, as what I was doing," he wrote in an e-mail to a reporter as he reminisced about his experiences.
Devin had only weekends and Tuesday nights off, and he had to be back at midnight or 1 a.m., a policy known as Cinderella liberty, so most dates were spent eating pizza and watching "The Simpsons" at the academy's Dahlgren Hall.
Naval Academy graduate David Buck's fiancee, Rachel Hall, a St. John's College student, started joint seminars to bring the campuses together.
(Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)
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He left town for Pensacola, Fla., after his graduation in 2003. She followed last month, after hers. They wed on New Year's Day.
The two schools have always fostered a David-and-Goliath competitiveness. One year, over a meal, a Mid bet a Johnnie that his school could not beat the academy at any sport. The St. John's student thought of one: croquet. So began the Annapolis Cup, an annual cross-campus croquet challenge now in its 23rd year. St. John's, a campus known for spontaneous croquet matches, usually wins.
That was the most notable meeting of Johnnies and Mids until January 2003, when 30 students from each school held a seminar on Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." That seminar, and three since, was organized by Rachel Hall, now a St. John's senior. She is also the fiancee of David Buck, a Mid who graduated last year. They will marry May 14.
Rachel and David are Mormons. They met through church two years ago. Rachel said she started the joint seminars to show her classmates "that the Mids are philosophical, and they can have a discussion, and they're not just guys in uniform."
Michael and Laura Moore, the Milton, Fla., couple, didn't start out with any preconceived notions about each other. They knew each other before college, growing up in Austin. Both were home-schooled.
Laura's friends grew accustomed to seeing the Mid around on weekends, when he could wear civilian clothes, although his crew cut still betrayed him as an outsider. What surprised her, she said, was the reaction of some women at St. John's.
"I remember one girl, sophomore year, I think, said, 'You're dating a Middy?' And I said 'Yeah.' And she said, 'Wow, he must be an awesome guy, because there are so many great guys here.' It's like leaving the cult."
