The West Point Experience
NEIRAD enilno edition
Feel nervous about an upcoming test? Feel anxious about getting into the right college? Or how about someone who feels trepidation about completing a mission in Iraq as a platoon leader who is responsible for getting all of his soldiers back safely while obeying the orders of those higher up in the chain of command while maintaining good relations with the locals?
The big difference between the United States Military Academy (West Point) in West Point N.Y. and a traditional college is the level of anxiety and stress cadets face. The summer before Plebe (freshman) year at West Point, every new freshman has to complete six weeks of Beast Barracks starting on June 28 while everyone else was off enjoying their last summer before college.
I had heard stories of R-Day, the first day of Beast, when the incoming class of innocent human beings is turned into an undistinguishable mass of obedient, uniform, shaved headed cadets. I had heard that it was the worst day ever. This infamous day turned out to be the worst day of my life up to that point, but it wasn’t that bad compared to the rest of Beast.
Yes, it was the longest day ever. For me it was also the most stressful day ever and the worst day ever. Having to cup my hands, walk along the walls, and always look straight ahead did not go too well with me, and I constantly heard upperclassmen saying something along the lines of “stop looking around new cadet this is not summer camp.”
And after R-Day, Beast never seemed to end. We had no free time during the day, and the only time in the day we could look forward to was the 15 minutes a day right before lights out when we could read and write letters.
After six weeks of waking up at 5 am; ruck marching with a 50-pound-pack; marching around everywhere with a CamelBak and a rifle were just a few of the experiences during that grueling six weeks.
The school year was a welcome relief despite the fact that classes here are more demanding than classes I had at DHS. Cadet life during the school year probably seems tedious compared to normal college life. As Plebes our rooms get inspected every week, we have weekly uniform inspections, we are punished for being late to class, we have to be at 6:50am morning formation and 7am breakfast during the week, and we can only leave West Point two weekends per semester.
As for academics, we don’t get to choose any classes for Plebe year, and we don’t declare our majors until Yuk year (sophomore), so doing a big load of homework for a class that I don’t like can be pretty taxing. Right now I’m taking seven classes: Math Modeling and Differential Equations, Introduction to Warfighting, Fundamentals of Personal Fitness, Literature, Latin American History, General Psychology, and General Chemistry II.
We also have to stay physically fit because there is an APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) every semester, and if you fail twice in a row you get kicked out of the Academy. The APFT consists of three events, the pushup, sit-up, and two-mile run. And all of our academic, physical, and military activities are graded and combined into a cumulative GPA which determines our class rank. We get to choose our branches in the Army based on our class rank, and all of the branches have limited spots. Some of the most popular branches are Military Intelligence, Corps of Engineers, and Aviation, all of which usually run out before 500. There is also usually a lot of interest in Armor and Infantry but there are a lot of spots for these branches and so they usually run out pretty late. The branch that gets the least interest is probably the Chemical Corps.
While cadet life may seem stressful, it’s not as stressful as one may think. After all the experience of Beast, the little things that happen during the school year that sound ridiculous like cupping our hands, walking along the walls, not talking outside, and having our room inspected, have been internalized we don’t think twice before doing them.
Compare my level of stress right now to the stress level of a normal college kid and I don’t think it would be much different. At West Point, we learn to deal with the pressure or we fail, and the best way to deal with stress is to just get rid of it entirely. Sure, I haven’t gotten rid of it entirely, that’s pretty hard to do, but I’m a lot less worried about being corrected by someone for doing something wrong after being corrected every day for six weeks straight. It’s a fact of West Point life, that no one will get through without messing up at some point, and while it’s important to be competent and not make mistakes, it’s just as important to be able to take responsibility for mistakes that have been made.
I get asked this question all the time, “Do you like being at West Point?” The answer is, no! No one really likes it, but we drive on. I get too little sleep; too little freedom; and too much homework to be able to enjoy this place. But am I glad that I’m here? Yes. Because I would rather be a little stressed out right now than be stressing out when I’m a platoon leader in charge of the lives of 40 soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan or Iran or North Korea or wherever we decide to go.
Sean Gill is a Class of 2010 DHS graduate
Random facts:
1375 new Cadets entered the academy on June 28, 2010, after one semester there are 1287 cadets left in the Class of 2014.
Girls account for approximately 20 percent of the cadet population.
There is a five-year-active duty and three-year reserves commitment in the Army after graduation.
Freshmen are called Plebes, sophomores are called Yuks, juniors are called Cows, and seniors are called Firsties.
There are two people from Darien currently at West Point, myself and Firstie Christian Stauffer.
There are three people from Fairfield County that go to West Point from the Class of 2014.
