 Twenty-four hours away from graduation and the gold bars of a second lieutenant. I don't know about the other men, but I was thinking back over the past four years as a cadet. How fast they'd gone by, how wonderful they'd been. Funny thing is, I never wanted to be a cadet in the first place. I mean, I didn't grow up with the idea of going to the military academy like a lot of others. In fact, even when I was in high school, I didn't know where I was going. Who knows what might have happened if a bunch of us hadn't gotten together for a coke that day. I don't know. All right, you guys. Let's get up here for the folks this evening. He is. Forty bucks for two new tires. That car is running. You gotta watch that. What a money on that. Well, well, you know, Walt is calling in the Ivy League. Why not? Well, I don't know where I was going to college. Who knows what might have happened if a bunch of us hadn't gotten together for a coke that day. Why not? Dad said you can't beat them for liberal arts education. I'm for prestige. What about you, Doug? Where are you headed? I don't know yet. Hey, old buddy, I thought you were coming to state with us. Yeah, well, I mean, I might, but I want to take a look around first. I might not, and they got a great engineering school up there at State University. Yeah, but not like Caltech or MIT. You know, I couldn't make it with my marks, but you ought to consider the military academy, Doug. Me? Oh, sure. Are you kidding? Not that place. They like you up for four years. Yeah, who needs that military? Now, come on, you guys. You can get a darn good liberal education at the military academy. Yeah, but you still need polls to get in there. I didn't even think about West Point again. Until a couple of weeks later, when our college counselor also suggested it. I told him what the others had said. The military academy was a place where they locked you up for four years. You've got the wrong impression of the military academy, Doug. I know, because I just visited there with a group of secondary school counselors. It's an up-to-date educational institution, and I don't mean just new buildings and facilities. I mean the whole academic program. That place is still pretty big on engineering, though, isn't it, Mr. Kelsen? No. Of course, there's extensive coverage of the sciences. Nuclear energy, electronics, rocket propulsion, aeronautics, you name it. But there's also more emphasis on non-technical subjects. History, economics, international relations, languages. That's because the academy graduate today could just as well find himself sitting around a diplomatic conference table. Or in charge of a nuclear energy plant, as in command of troops. Or he could be attending civilian graduate school. Three fourths of the graduates do, you know. Three fourths. Here's the military academy catalog and a profile of the class that entered last year. Why don't you look them over? Well, thank you, Mr. Kelsen, but I'm really not interested. That's too bad, Doug, because you have the right combination for the academy. Good marks, athletic skills, leadership ability. Of course, you might not be able to qualify. The competition is pretty stiff. Maybe you'd better think in terms of some other college. Well, I'll just look this over, Mr. Kelsen. That night I studied the academy catalog. What surprised me was the variety of courses. Quantum mechanics, Shakespeare, management engineering, political philosophy, linear algebra and programming. There were over a hundred electives to choose from. I was also impressed by the background of the faculty and by the academy's program and the computer sciences and the use of educational TV. I decided to prove to Mr. Kelsen that I could get into the academy. So I applied to my congressman for a nomination. He asked me to send my school record to a civilian selection board, which then interviewed me. I guess I did all right, but the congressman wrote and said that he took the board's recommendation and would nominate me for an appointment to the military academy. During my senior year in high school, I was notified to take the three-part qualification exam, medical, physical aptitude and college board tests. Even if I did qualify, I still wasn't sure I wanted to go. I knew of a fine athletic program and that interested me, but, well, I just have to wait and see. Then one day my letter of appointment came. And you can guess how the folks acted. You'd have thought I'd been elected president or something. I knew I'd miss my friends if I accepted. Still, it felt good to be picked to qualify for a college with such high standards. Dillard! Hi, Mr. Kelsen. Congratulations. I just heard the news. Well, thank you, sir, but I'm still not sure whether I'm going to accept. Really? I'm surprised it's quite an honor to be appointed to the military academy. I know, sir, but there are a couple other colleges that I want to consider. Well, yes, of course, but then if you do go elsewhere, you'll never really know if you could have lived up to the academy standard, will you? I knew that Mr. Kelsen was challenging me. Well, I never could resist a challenge. The first day is a plea. I'll never forget. I guess no graduate ever does. I sure had a lot to learn about the academy, even though I'd been there on sightseeing trips. End-to-army, football, and hockey games. West Point is open to the public. Anybody can drive right in. But I sure had no idea what life was going to be like as a cadet. But that hair is atrocious. Now, we're going to make a cadet out of you. Although it's officially termed New Cadet Barracks, we plebe soon learned why everyone calls this introduction to cadet life, Beast Barracks. Give me MacArthur's message. Sir, General MacArthur's message. For the Far East, I send you one single thought, one small idea, written in red on every beachhead from Australia to Tokyo. There is no substitute for victory. The commander of the New Cadet Battalion is the king of the beasts. He and his staff have the responsibility of making cadets out of civilians, and they take their jobs seriously. Under the supervision of the tactical officers, the cadet's detail provides basic military training, which includes plenty of marching and drilling, PT, and a taste of soldiering in the field using modern combat weapons. They also make sure that new plebes become familiar with the standards of the Corps of Cadets, and with the Cadet Honor Code. The Honor Code was established according to the precepts laid down by Colonel Sylvain Slair, father of the Academy. It means simply that a cadet shall not lie, cheat, or steal, nor condone anyone who does. Rigid adherence to an Honor Code and system may seem harsh, especially when the Cadet Honor Committee has to recommend that a cadet be dismissed from the Corps. But on the battlefield, integrity is a life-and-death matter. The officer's word must be relied upon without question. There were times that first summer when I didn't think I was going to make it, especially when I heard from my buddy on vacation. But whenever I felt like quitting, I said to myself, try one more day. If thousands of others could make it, you can too. And I did. At the end of August, we were formally presented to the Corps. We were no longer new cadets. We were members of the Corps. As we marched along the plane, I felt proud. I knew I had met the Academy's first challenge. That fall, when the academic program started, I began to feel as though I was going to college at last. The aim of the Military Academy today is to give you a general education in both the arts and sciences, along with a broad military education. During the school year, 1% of the time is spent in academics and 20% in military training. Dear Mr. Gilson, sorry I didn't write you sooner. You were right about the academic pace here. It's plenty tough. Take plebe math, for example. So far we have covered vector analytic geometry, much of calculus and linear programming. Now we are into differential equations. Mr. Bell will have you discuss your board first, please. Yes, sir. Under the system established by Colonel Sylvainis Thayer, classes at the Academy are small, of the seminar type. Just a minute, Mr. Bell, what is Kepler's second law? Sir, the radius vector from the Sun to a planet sweeps out in equal area. Classroom participation is stressed, and there are frequent quizzes. As a result, each cadet receives a maximum of individual attention from his instructor and learns to think on his feet. That's right, Mr. Kaiser, thank you. My marks that fall average 2.7, out of a possible 3.0. This was pretty good, considering I was competing with some of the sharpest men in the country. Before I knew it, it was Christmas time. Here you go, sir, basis. Top tenor. Very. Second tenor. I was glad Academy policy had changed, so that now Plebe's too got Christmas leave. We worked long and hard for six months, and we were ready for a break. It was great to be home. When I got back, I was a few hours early, so I took a walk around. The point is our nation's oldest, continuously occupied military post, with links to the past as solid evidence of the past. The links to the past as solid as the links of the great change General Washington used to block the Hudson River to British shipping. Team two, it has been the home of the United States Military Academy and the birthplace of the Long Grey Long. It was a busy one. There never seemed to be time enough for all we had to do, but you learn to live with the routine of the Military Academy, and you learn to handle the academic work. We're going to go to the New Orleans Library, and someone to study with on a weekend afternoon. That's always something that surprises people. That the Academy is co-ed on weekends, just like a lot of other colleges. They like the passing ways to get through this place. Take it easy. What are we going to be? English professors or soldiers? We're going to be officers who have to know how to communicate with our troops. We really got to hand it to you, Doug. You really got this place figured out. That's Arthur, a rising tower. I'm just here for an education. Period. That's all? Sure, that's all. Come on, old buddy. Let's solve this problem. I had things all figured out. At least I thought I did. Until that summer, when we took our field training in the hills near West Point, when I was writing home, it suddenly struck me. particularly our recondo training, recondo, that's short for reconnaissance commando, a combination of mountaineering, hand-to-hand combat, and making like G.I. Joe, revolutionary style. At the end of recondo, we went out on a simulated ranger mission. Take it from me, you sure learn a lot about responsibility when you're the one who has to lead a patrol through enemy territory and launch a surprise attack. But it wasn't all worth it. At Camp Buckner, the cadet hostess is on duty in the summertime. I began to have more appreciation for the benefits of army life. On weekends, Buckner is almost like a summer resort. You can count on Lake Popolovo. It gets them every time. When I reported for classes that fall as a yearling, I felt far removed from the plea of the previous year. Far busier, too. What with physics, chemistry, and history added to our other subjects. The laboratory facilities were modern and continually being improved. In particular, I enjoyed our experiments. The problems our instructors had signed were challenging. Many of our instructors also made use of the closed circuit television facilities. The creation of a new hairdo, which, while not appropriate for cadets, is certain to revolutionize hairstyles for women. Our home permanent apparatus is more commonly known as the Vandegraaff generator. In this experiment, the Vandegraaff merely demonstrates the repulsion of bodies of similar charge. In this case, the strands of hair repelling one another radially outward. Of course, we weren't always in class. There was studying to be done in the barracks, and there were more than 60 organized extracurricular activities to choose from. I worked on the class committee, and I was selected for the Cadet Choir. Along with this, we had a heavy athletic schedule. The United States Military Academy athletic program has been labeled by some experts as the best in the world. Its aim is to make every cadet an athlete. Or, in the words of President Kennedy, intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong. At West Point, every cadet undergoes a concentrated program to improve his basic physical abilities. He is also given instruction in carryover sports, sports that will help keep him in shape throughout his army career. And let's not forget the spectator sports. At the Military Academy, they're almost as strenuous as being on the team, particularly during football season. My second class summer, I served as a squad leader during New Cadet Barracks. As I worked with the New Plebes, I began to realize that it isn't enough just to be an honor student or a good athlete. By the time he graduates, every cadet has to be ready to accept the responsibilities of leadership. He has to prove himself as a cadet, as a man, and as a leader. At the start of our third year, I took on additional responsibilities as a cadet corporal. The academic program broadened out still further when, as second and first classmen, we studied military and constitutional law, history, international relations, political philosophy, economics, and military psychology and leadership. We delved into all aspects of 20th century engineering and technology, jet propulsion and aerodynamics, amplifiers, radar, micro circuitry, lasers, and solid state electronics. We studied nuclear fission and fusion and radiation detection, structural design and analysis, ballistics, rockets, advanced weapon systems, even space technology. One thing I found very interesting was the academic computer center. With the use of closed circuit TV, we were given comprehensive instruction in computer programming and operation, plus hands-on experience at the console. The idea was not to make us computer technicians, but rather to give us an understanding of the many military applications of computers. Later on, I took extra instruction and qualified for a gold card, which meant I could use the computer any time it was available on my own. It was a great help on problems. Major Parker, the officer in charge, encouraged me, and under his guidance, I undertook a special project of my own, a detailed study of the various probabilities of survival in space. It was Major Parker, more than anyone else, who made me realize that there was plenty of opportunity for scholarship and research in an army uniform. Throughout our four years at the academy, we continued our military training. We studied the art of warfare, ancient and modern. Mr. Davis. Sir, how is the paper cartridge used? The paper cartridge, all right. One requirement for the Revolutionary War soldier was that he had his own teeth. He had to bite off a portion of the cartridge and pour a powder in the pan, close the frizzing, and he would pour the remainder of the powder down the bore, followed by the From your ranks, said General MacArthur, come the great captains who hold the nation's destiny in their hands. We learned about our heritage, not only the leaders of our armies in times of war, branch, lead, Pershing, Eisenhower, Bradley, and Westmoreland, but also many of the explorers, engineers, educators, and statesmen who conquered the West and helped build this country into a great nation. During the summers, we took indoctrination trips to various branches of the army, navy, and air force. I served as a platoon leader in a regular army unit, dear mom and dad. It hardly seems possible that four years have gone by. This will be my last letter to you as a cadet. Did you tell your family you turned down graduate school? No, but I'm going to. You know, you really turned into the gun all the time. Oh, you. You were the one who wasn't going to get involved in West Point, remember? Sure, I remember. Look at you now. Italian Adjutant, you want honorable mention in that National Science Foundation competition? Yeah, with the help of the computer. You're in the top five percent of the class. Okay, okay, rub it in. You know, you should have competed for that road scholarship. Well, maybe. Jack was right. I had changed. Dad, remember I wrote you about the chance I have to go on to graduate work? I've decided, however, to take Ranger and Paratroop training and go to a troop unit first. In a couple of years, I'll have a tour of duty as a graduate student at a civilian university. Thinking back on it, I'm glad I decided to be a cadet. Four years at the Military Academy have really added up for me. Now I can see the road ahead clearly. Opportunities for many careers in the Army. I know now that this is the way I want to go. This is the way I'm going to achieve my personal goals. Not that it will be easy. What lies ahead is the biggest challenge of all. But I feel prepared. I feel equal to for along with a thousand other young men, I've met the challenge of West Point. I know this isn't the end. It's just the beginning.