West Point Tradition Builds Military Leaders
Published Apr 15, 2006
The long nave of West Point’s Cadet Chapel is lined with historic American flags along with U.S. Army regimental flags.
Separating the history of West Point from America’s emergence as a nation would be more difficult than scaling the military academy’s fortifications undetected.
In 1778, George Washington chose the site of today’s U.S. Military Academy – 50 miles north of New York City – for its strategic importance and its impregnable position high above the Hudson River.
It continues today as America’s oldest continuously occupied military post and the premier preparer of military leaders.
Rigorous academic, physical and military training has produced such stalwarts as Ulysses Grant, Stonewall Jackson and George Patton.
“Our objective is not to have individuals be well-educated and go out and make a lot of money,” says Steve Grove, the academy’s historian. “The specific assignment – the reason the mission exists – is for the national defense. We’re looking for character development and we’re looking for people who are going to serve.”
To that end, admission is highly competitive: Only one of 10 high school students who apply is chosen for the freshman class of 1,200 cadets.
“Seventy-five percent of these cadets come by way of a Congressional nomination,” says Capt. Jesus Terrones, who works in West Point’s admission office. “The other 25 percent comes by way of presidential or service-connected nominations.”
Though the national defense mission has remained steadfast, the West Point education has evolved, keeping up with the ever-changing demands of the contemporary Army.
An early superintendent, Col. Sylvanus Thayer, set many of the discipline and honor standards by which cadets live today. His tenure from 1817-1833 distinguished him as the “Father of the Military Academy” and he established civil engineering as the foundation of the West Point education. Graduates developed most of the nation’s early transportation system in the 19th century.
By the early 20th century, though, other engineering schools existed and the need for diversification was recognized by another famed superintendent, Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
“There was a feeling as we entered the 20th century that we needed to broaden and diversify the curriculum to better prepare the cadets for the outside world,” Grove says, citing MacArthur’s emphasis on economics, sciences and current affairs. “Now, it’s really balanced. The cadets really are getting a very diversified and challenging program. If you look at the caliber of courses the cadets are taking, it’s one of the most challenging in the country.”
MacArthur also formalized the academy’s honor code with review committees and coined the concept “Every cadet an athlete,” which led to every student taking part in intramural or intercollegiate sports each semester.
Foreign languages are required, and cadets go through summer training that exposes them to the real military world, learning how to communicate with people in indigenous cultures and training their senses to detect IEDs, such as the homemade bombs encountered in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Back at the academy, traditions of all kinds endure. Cadets in 1835 created the school ring tradition now popular at every campus in the country, and they continue it with a Ring Weekend. Fall weekends find cadets marching on the parade grounds before football games, with the annual Army-Navy game in Philadelphia the pinnacle of competition.
But visiting the U.S. Military Academy is not the simpler experience it was before 9/11. Photo IDs and advance preparations are needed to visit the campus. The American public, though, and international tourists still flock to the embattlements that helped establish the United States perhaps more than any other installation.
“It’s a spectacularly beautiful spot,” Grove says. “We’ve got the mountains, the curving river – just a lovely view. And then, of course, seeing bright shining people and the traditional buildings. In kind of an austere way, it’s a lovely place.”
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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