A Berkshire man with a taste for maple is off for a getaway in Vegas, while a Swanton son is planning a fairytale wedding and honeymoon in Hawaii. Both are graduating from the prestigious United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and have a month to burn.
“The biggest thing I’ve taken away is that in this world, you’re required to take care of yourself,” said Swanton native Leif Mitchinson. “The military is a great teacher … When you get out to your squadron, not many people are going to hold your hand. It’s a matter of repetition, effort, and being willing to work for it.”
Evan Doe, of Berkshire, grew up inspired by his military family. His father attended Norwich University and served in the Air Force, while his uncle enlisted in the Navy.
While at Enosburg Falls High School, Doe said he was inspired by a student teacher and naval graduate that came to his class.
The teacher ended up advising Doe to attend the summer STEM and seminar through the naval academy, and the experiences sealed the deal: after an additional year of the Reserve Officers Training Corps while in high school, Doe was accepted to the academy.
Mitchinson’s route was slightly different. After graduating from Missisquoi Valley Union High School, he tried out one year at Lyndon State University, now Northern Vermont University.
But college life didn’t stick.
“I wanted to go have an adventure,” Mitchinson said. “And college debt isn’t necessarily fun … I wanted to go see the world and serve my country, to be a part of something bigger.”
Before applying to the naval academy, Mitchinson enlisted in the Navy and served three years. He has been deployed both to Bahrain and Okinawa, Japan.
“It was the ride of a lifetime,” Mitchinson said. “I fell in love with the service, so I put in an officer package. I was picked up a month or two after I returned from Japan.”
It was off to plebe school for the two Vermonters after that, and for many it isn’t the 5 a.m. workouts and lack of good coffee that were the most formidable obstacles.
“I’d been out of college for three years,” Mitchinson said. “And now I’m going into Calc 1, Chem 1, and I never even took pre-calc. I had the book thrown at me.”
Once the initial year was over though, both Vermonters said they found it easier to fall in line, taking every opportunity to advance their skills, strengthen their leadership, and help new students become acclimated.
“They have to show up knowing the mission of the naval academy,” Doe said. “We teach them military customs, like how to greet officers, how to greet the people who are in charge of you, how to manage their time, wear uniforms, being a professional, how to deal with stress. How to deal with it successfully. How to be productive.”
Through the intensity of their training and the rigor of their studies, both men successfully emerged from the fortress of Annapolis with their exams passed, ready for their next course of training with high hopes for placement.
Mitchinson met his fiancee Cammy Rouser during a summer training, and after proposing in October the two will be married on June 6 in Winthrop, Washington.
And after a blissful honeymoon on the Big Island, the Mitchinsons together will be taking a different flight into their future as naval pilots in Pensacola, Florida, where Leif said he hopes to eventually learn to fly reconnaissance aircrafts similar to the Boeing P-8 Poseidon.
Doe, on the other hand, is diving deep. After living it up with some friends in Vegas, Doe is headed to Charleston, South Carolina to study in naval nuclear power training command, required for anyone who hopes to serve on submarines or aircraft carriers, which are all nuclear-powered.
“The submarine community is one of the most important communities that the Navy has,” Doe said. “They’re highest priority because they carry some of our nuclear arsenal. The crew size is smaller and more tight-knit. Strategic deterrence is their mission.”
With mountain blood in their veins and diplomas in hand, both dream of traveling far and wide to see as much of the world as they can, especially the countries of Europe and for Doe, Japan.
“Any travel the government is going to give you for free,” Mitchinson said.
Mitchinson said he plans to retire in the Navy after several decades of service to a place on the west coast, to a place and a people that he said he and his fiancee have fallen in love with.
But perhaps not so, for Doe.
“Berkshire will always be my home,” Doe said.
On his desk in his submarine, Doe is insistent that a bottle of Vermont’s liquid gold will always travel with him.
“They only have the fake stuff here,” Doe said. “They have a vague understanding that it comes from some type of vegetation … they have no idea that you have to boil it down. They just look at you in a state of confusion.”
