USNA midshipman returning to Upper Township to promote service
SEAVILLE — Midshipman 1st Class Brian Furey, a senior at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., will soon be back in southern New Jersey to promote the service through sharing his experiences.
Furey has been selected for participation in Operation Information, which allows USNA midshipmen to return to their hometown area over Thanksgiving break to spread the word about the academy “and hopefully make an impression that will bring interest to prospective students or others,” Furey said.
The 2020 graduate of St. Augustine Preparatory School and 2016 graduate of Upper Township Middle School will be speaking to students at Ocean City High School at noon Monday, Nov. 20, as well as at St. Augustine the same day.
“Sir, I’m really excited. It’s been a dream come true to attend the academy, and to do this in my hometown is a special opportunity to have and maybe inspire younger generations who may not know about the academy,” Furey said during a telephone interview last week following baseball practice.
Furey said growing up in Upper Township allowed him a lot of time to be close with his brother and parents, saying they have a tight-knit family. His father Joseph Furey served in the FBI for 35 years and his mother Christine Furey is a speech pathologist for the Lower Cape May Regional School District. His brother, CJ, is a freshman pitcher on the Villanova University baseball team.
Furey said he chose to enter the service because of “how I was raised.”
“I’ve always held service close to my heart, whether giving back to the community or the church,” he said. “How I grew up, I knew I wanted to do something more with my life.”
He said he was recruited for baseball and “found home in Annapolis. It was where I wanted to be and give back to my country.”
Furey said his time at the USNA has been “an unbelievable experience,” affording him the opportunity to travel all over the world, and that Operation Information provides him a chance “to come back to South Jersey and open people’s eyes to service academies.”
During summer training blocks, he was stationed on ships in San Diego and Hawaii, and got the opportunity to serve aboard a ship traveling from Japan to Australia over 12 days.
Furey grew up in Strathmere, participating in Upper Township Little League, Upper Township Travel Basketball and Atlantic Shore baseball teams.
As a baseball player, Furey helped St. Augustine win the Non-Public Group A state title in 2018 and become runner-up in 2019, as well as the Cape-Atlantic League championship in 2018 and 2019.
He is a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society. He was named to the Dean’s List each of his four years and is a four-time Fabietti Scholarship recipient.
Furey’s typical day starts with a fitness regimen at 5:30 a.m. before breakfast; class instruction from 8 a.m. to noon, when midshipmen march in formation into the mess hall; more class instruction from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.; baseball practice from 3:30 to 7 p.m.; dinner in the dining hall; and “the rest of the day is homework. There’s not too much free time, but once in the routine it’s pretty nice.”
According to information from the USNA, Furey was inducted into the Class of 2024 on July 2, 2020, when he began several challenging weeks of basic midshipman training as part of Plebe Year. In that year, the Naval Academy received more than 16,000 applications for the Class of 2024.
Approximately 1,200 candidates are selected each year for the freshman class, and each student is required to participate in Plebe Summer.
The pressure and rigor of Plebe Summer is carefully designed to help plebes prepare for their first academic year at the Naval Academy and the four years of challenge that awaits them.
During this time, plebes have no access to television, movies, the internet, music or telephones. They are permitted to make only three calls during Plebe Summer. Other daily training sessions involve moral, mental, physical and professional development as well as team-building skills.
Activities include swimming; martial arts; basic rock climbing; and obstacle, endurance and confidence courses designed to develop physical, mental and team-building skills.
Forty hours are devoted to the instruction of infantry drill and five formal parades. As the summer progresses, the new midshipmen rapidly assimilate basic skills in seamanship, navigation, damage control, sailing and handling yard patrol craft. Plebes also learn infantry drills and how to shoot pistols and rifles.
Founded in 1985, the U.S. Naval Academy today is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service.
More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen. U.S. News and World Reports has recognized the Naval Academy as a top five undergraduate engineering school and a top 20 best liberal arts college.
Midshipmen learn from military and civilian instructors and participate in intercollegiate varsity sports and extracurricular activities. They also study subjects such as leadership, ethics, small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering and weapons, and military law.
Upon graduation, midshipmen earn a bachelor’s degree in a choice of 25 different subject majors and go on to serve at least five years as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.
Furey is a squad leader in his Company 30, is a varsity athlete on the baseball team and is scheduled to be commissioned May 24, 2024.
Furey will serve his five years as either a naval flight officer or in surface warfare. He made his request, which the academy is expected to confirm Nov. 16.
He said a naval flight officer handles the weapons and navigation from the back seat of a fighter jet — “my eyes did not qualify me for pilot but qualified me to get in the back.” If assigned that duty, he would head to aviation flight school in Pensacola, Fla.
His other choice would lead him to be assigned to a ship in port in the U.S. or elsewhere.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff