If you had any misconceptions, this is not the official CMA webpage, but it will be your best friend in years to come, not only because it's helpful but because we poke fun at all the stuff that you hate about being a cadet. At right are some terms that will be very valuable to you hear at the academy, get to know them, you'll hear them a lot. For more, check out the Glossary of Terms.

     So you've probably got some questions having just arrived. If you want to know where something is or how to do something, you've come to the right place. Answering those questions is exactly what this site was designed for. If you've got a question, check out the FAQs. If you need Uniform or Grooming advice, check out the Campus Life section. If you need some light humor, well, there's the Joe Show I guess.

-Mess Deck - the cafeteria where you go to eat the slop they serve day and night

-Cover - fancy reg-talk for a hat

-Bulkhead - a wall on a ship

-Bow - the pointy end of the ship, the front

-House - the name for the accomodation block on a ship

-Fore - a direction or adjective describing location as being ahead or "forward of" something else

-Aft - a direction or adjective describing location as being to the rear or behind something else

-Port - standing on the ship and looking toward the bow, it's the left side of the ship

-Starboard - standing on the ship and looking toward the bow, it's the right side of the ship

-Stern - back end of the ship

-Transom - after side of the stern; the exterior bulkhead facing astern

-Fantail - open deck on the main deck astern of the house

-Quarterdeck - the deck outside of the house near the gangway. On the TSGB, as soon as you step off of the gangway, that open deck is the Quarterdeck