Page 128 - Wish Stream Year of 2019

emy bases a cadet’s leadership experience as a development of all four pillars of performance: academics, character, physical, and military.
Most graduates are commissioned as second lieutenants in the US Army. Foreign cadets are commissioned into the armies of their home countries. Since 1959, cadets have also been eli- gible for an interservice commission, a commis- sion in one of the other armed services, provided they meet that service’s eligibility standards. Most years, a very small number of cadets do this.
West Point provides fewer than one third of new officers for the active army. Other sources for commissions in the active army, as well as in the Reserve, are attendance at a State-supported Senior Military College (e.g. Vir-
General; the other two by Brigadier Generals. Also, directly under the Superintendent are the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, the Garrison Commander and the Director of Admissions.
During the four-year course, military and physi- cal training, the competitive sports programme and academic work are intermeshed through- out. Sports available to cadets include base- ball, (American) football, rugby, basketball, (ice) hockey, soccer, swimming, cross country and track, lacrosse and tennis. The Academy fields a total of 28 men’s and women’s National Colle- giate Athletic Association (NCAA) sports teams.
ginia Military Institute in Lexing-
ton, Virginia – known as the ‘West
Point of the South’), enrolment in
a university with Reserve Officer
Training Corps (ROTC) pro-
gramme or attendance at Officer
Candidate School (OCS) after
College. However, probably few
would argue against West Point being the most prestigious entry to the US Army officer corps! Although West Point remains mostly white and male, there are concerted efforts to diversify the ‘Long Gray Line’. In the Class of 2019, a record number of 34 black women graduated. In total, 223 women graduated in that Class, also the largest number ever.
Directly under the Superintendent are the Com- mandant of Cadets (who commands the Corps of Cadets) and the Dean of the Academic Board (who oversees the academic side of the Academy). All three posts are military ones, the Superintendent post being held by a Lieutenant
Black Women West Point Graduates of the Class of 2019 (Cadet Halie H Pound/US Army)
Cadets are not referred to as freshmen, sopho- mores, juniors, or seniors, as in most American universities. Traditionally they are called fourth-class, third-class, sec- ond-class, and first-class cadets. Colloquially, freshmen are plebes, sophomores are yearlings or yuks, juniors are cows, and seniors are first- ies. Reception Day for a fourth-class cadet marks the start of Cadet Basic Training (CBT) known colloquially as Beast Barracks. These new cadets are only for- mally accepted into the Corps of Cadets at the successful end of this six-week training. Like Sandhurst cadets, West Point cadets usually consider CBT as the most difficult part of the course because of the abrupt transition from civilian to military life! There is a complex and well-established cadet hierarchy within the Corps of Cadets, with its own unique rank structure, and with cadets having increasing responsibilities as they gain seniority, including some supervision
and training of more junior cadets.
The student population is currently around 4,400 cadets with around 20% being female. All cadets
West Point Class of 2023 arrive for CBT (Beast Barracks) (Michelle Eberhart/US Army)
West Point provides fewer than one third of new officers for the active army.
126 HISTORICAL