
This We’ll Defend
The 50 Year, two-Way mirror
My personal perspective on West Point, obviously, is mine alone. It’s aged over 50 years since graduation and informed by 65 years of reading history as well as over 2 decades working as an Army “Futurist.” I believe West Point should focus on creating the cadre of the “military priesthood” of the U.S. Army. I know such a shift would get mixed results, but 50 years from now Americans would know the Long Gray Line is about winning America’s wars above all else.
At the recent “After Party” following our 50th Class Reunion, one of my closest classmate brothers – best man at my wedding and I at his – said he thought I was “an Army guy, but I was all right.” Made me laugh. That was his impression from when we met as Plebes. I wasn’t prior service enlisted. I was just an Army Brat who wanted to soldier.
I didn’t go to West Point as a goal. West Point was the means for me to go to Vietnam and fight as a well-trained, professional officer.
My perspective as a cadet and, now, 50 years after graduation is that the United States Military Academy should be all about the needs of the U.S. Army. Period.
I’m unsure about how well West Point is serving the Army these days. When I was teaching in the Sosh Department in the early 80s I thought the Corps was in good shape. Recovery from the big cheating scandal and making school co-educational had gone well. After I left, the civilian faculty was greatly increased, the 4th Class System was abolished, and cancerous Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Identity Politics infected the institution.
The insubordinate screed for an “Anti-Racist West Point” signed by recent grads in 2020 was a red flag. The Commie kid who was discharged soon after commissioning was another. The Superintendent’s weak response to another cheating scandal and questions about CRT makes me wonder about today’s graduates of the Long Gray Line. Cadet drug use on Spring Leave is the latest alarm.
I know the Commandants who did away with the 4th Class System. I understand their rationale – to make West Point more like the Army and leadership training more like how Officers act in the Army. It made sense, but it may suffer under more scrutiny.
West Point should be adding something to the Army that can’t be obtained anywhere else.
The Army knows how to make soldiers with “soldierization” in basic training.
The Army knows how to make officers in ROTC and OCS.
For about a century, West Point was a first tier engineer school. The Army still needs some highly specialized experts in different fields of study. The Army knows how to recruit such talent or send officers to get specialty advanced degrees.
The Army knows how to train small unit leaders and tactical excellence in specialty schools from the Artic, to Jungle, to Airborne, Air Assault, Sapper, to Scuba, etc.
The Army knows how to put up a high bar for small unit leadership in Ranger School.
So, West Point doesn’t need to copycat what the Army already does well.
I believe West Point should make two key contributions to the Army.
First, every graduate should be deeply, profoundly, personally dedicated to the Honor Code. West Pointeers must live it in the Army as integral to their identity. The integrity and trust of the Officer Corps is the mortar that holds the bricks together to make the Army an impenetrable wall. West Pointers should set the uncompromising standard for all officers.
Second, a significant majority of each graduating class should choose service of 20 years and beyond on active duty. My class was down to 50% at the 10 year mark. I know this is ambitious, but shooting for long term goals is important.
Combining the two, holistically, is needed to produce a military priesthood. The metaphor describes a hard core of serving officers who set the standards for professionalism – and duty, honor, country selfless service – with religious certainty and zeal
I know there are many serving Army officers – from every commissioning source – who’d qualify as members of the military priesthood today. I applaud them.
I’m advocating the conscious course correction for West Point to make the “military monastery” a goal.
Study and think it through. From how did Sparta make Spartans to what did West Pointers in the past bring to the Army?
I’ll wager the answer is a combination of overcoming adversity, creating a new identity, isolating from outside influences, and sharing communal experiences as a corporate body – as a Class.
Additionally, returning more Army officers to the classroom to model “Officership” while teaching academics would change the environment.
Conduct a thorough inquisition to end identity politics, CRT, and political correctness. De-politicize what should be an apolitical institution.
Ask tough questions, like should the measure of USMA’s success be the retention and graduation of cadets or the separation of cadets who are deliberately weeded out?
Be thoughtful and deliberate. Plan for the political consequences. Make West Point the first station of the Cross for the military priesthood.
And, of course, Beat Navy!