Welcome back to the Deep Dive, where we turn
your stack of sources into immediate, actionable
insight. Today, we are undertaking a deep dive
into an institution whose influence stretches
from, well, the Revolutionary War trenches all
the way to the modern halls of corporate power.
We are talking about the United States Military
Academy. You know it simply as West Point. And
we're going to unpack why this place, which you
might just see as a high discipline military
training ground, is actually, I mean, it's an
enduring 223 year old educational model that
profoundly shaped the physical landscape, the
political DNA, and even the very structure of
American higher education. It's so much more
than just soldiers. Oh, absolutely. It's a story
about engineers. educators and leaders. And that's
the mission for you, the listener today. We want
to move beyond that popular image of, you know,
marching parades and rigid honor codes. Right.
We want to provide a quick but really comprehensive
understanding of West Point's history, its unique
curriculum, what they call the four pillars,
and the massive enduring influence of the Long
Gray Line. And let's ground ourselves, literally,
because the physical location is the foundation
of everything. West Point is situated on this
incredible strategic high ground, overlooking
a critical bend in the Hudson River. It's about
50 miles north of New York City. And that geography
is the whole reason the Academy exists at all,
isn't it? It is the only reason. The facts are
just. They're impressive. It was officially established
by the Military Peace Establishment Act on March
16, 1802. That makes it the oldest of the five
American service academies. And its motto is,
well, it's three simple, powerful words. Duty,
honor, country. Exactly. And that motto drives
its entire dual identity. They are, of course,
educating cadets for service as commissioned
officers in the U .S. Army, yes. But they are
also granting a comprehensive, fully accredited
Bachelor of Science degree. And here's the big
picture nugget that, for me, immediately reframes
how you should view this institution. When West
Point was founded, America desperately needed
infrastructure. you know, building a nation from
scratch. Right. Roads, canals, bridges, everything.
So West Point wasn't just a military school.
It was the first American college to have an
accredited civil engineering program. And that
fact is so key. For decades, its curriculum and
its incredibly rigorous standards set the absolute
benchmark for American technical education. So
if you wanted to learn civil engineering in,
say, 1820. You either went to West Point or you
learned from a West Point graduate. That was
pretty much it. And that massive, often overlooked
civilian influence is where we need to start.
Okay, let's unpack that historical journey then.
We can't understand the academy without first
understanding why the Army staked its claim on
that particular spot on the Hudson. The site's
military importance dates back to the very, very
start of the American Revolution. The Continental
Army occupied West Point on January 27th, 1778.
And that date is important. It makes it the oldest
continuously operating army post in the entire
United States. It does. And the necessity was.
It was acute. The British strategy was brutally
simple. sail the powerful Royal Navy fleet up
the Hudson River, which is the main artery connecting
the northern colonies, and split the entire colonial
effort in two. Just cut New England off from
everyone else. Isolate them and choke the revolution
out. West Point was the perfect counter to that.
The high cliffs gave American artillery total
control over that S -curve in the river. But
they needed more than just cannons, right? They
needed a physical barrier. They did. To make
that defense absolute, they built the great Hudson
River Chain. And this was an astonishing feat
of engineering for the time. We're talking about
a 1 ,700 -foot -long chain weighing 65 tons.
65 tons. Stretched across the entire river on
these large wooden rafts, anchored to the shore.
It was the physical barrier, the literal chain.
that prevented the Royal Navy from ever sailing
north. That's a staggering detail. A chain built
to hold back an entire naval fleet. And right
here, this is where we encounter the dark side
of that revolutionary history. Indeed. The fortifications
at West Point were, for a brief time, named for
Arnold. After Benedict Arnold. Yes, before the
commander, Benedict Arnold, famously attempted
to hand the entire position, the absolute key
to the northern colonies, over to the British
in exchange for a huge financial reward and a
general's commission. The ultimate betrayal.
It was devastating. After his act of treason
was exposed in 1780, the army immediately changed
the name of the fortifications to Fort Clinton.
They were essentially trying to erase his memory
from that sacred ground. And that attempt to
sell the crown jewel of the revolution, it just
underscores how vital that high ground at West
Point truly was. Exactly. And, you know, while
the site was secure, the post -revolutionary
vision for an officer school was, well, it was
chaotic. The formal establishment in 1802 was
really slow to gain traction. What do you mean
by chaotic? I mean, we're talking about an early
student body where ages ranged from 10 to 37.
There was no standardized course of study. A
cadet might study for six months or six years.
It really wasn't a school. It was barely a training
camp. It sounds completely unstable. So when
was the turning point? When did West Point truly
become West Point? That didn't happen until 1817
with the arrival of Colonel Sylvanus Thayer.
He is, and rightly so, known as the father of
the military academy. He didn't just tweak the
system, did he? Oh, no. He revolutionized it.
He had traveled extensively in Europe and was
deeply impressed by the French model, specifically
the École Polytechnique. Which was basically
the premier scientific and engineering school
in the world at the time. The absolute best.
And Thayer decided to transplant its rigor, its
curriculum, and its disciplinary structure directly
to the banks of the Hudson River. So what did
the Thayer revolution mean? mean in practice
for the cadets on the ground. It meant the abolition
of that chaotic ad hoc learning. He instituted
strict disciplinary standards. He set a four
-year standardized course of academic study that
was incredibly heavy on math and science. And
maybe most importantly, he made honorable conduct
the absolute centerpiece of the entire experience.
And that is what gave birth to the engineering
era. It is. For the next five decades, basically
the first half of the 19th century West Point
graduates became the nation's primary. Well,
its construction workers. They were the bulk
of the talent that engineered the nation's initial
railway lines, mapped its harbors, built its
bridges, and surveyed the roads for Weston expansion.
It's just hard to overstate the civilian impact.
I mean, until Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
was established in 1824, West Point was pretty
much the only engineering school in the country.
And its influence wasn't subtle. Its curriculum,
its textbooks, its whole approach to instruction
significantly influenced every single American
engineering school that was established before
the Civil War. They literally wrote the book
on how America would build itself. But the ultimate
validation of this kind of rigorous training,
I mean, it had to come through conflict, right?
It had to. And the first major test was the Mexican
-American War. This is where it gets really interesting
because that conflict served as a proving ground
for the academy's graduates. It really did. Of
the 523 graduates who served, an astonishing
452 received battlefield promotions or awards
for bravery. The training absolutely held up
under fire. And it's where history's biggest
names. really cut their teeth exactly future
civil war commanders like ulysses s grant and
robert e lee who actually later returned to serve
as the academy superintendent from 1852 to 1855
they first distinguished themselves during the
campaigns in mexico so there was this shared
experience a shared training a shared competence
that was just unmistakable yes but that shared
competency led to what has to be the most devastating
irony in the academy's history the civil war
divide it was catastrophic for the alumni body
it tore friendships and loyalties completely
apart. But at the same time, it served as the
strongest possible testament to West Point's
successful training model. Oh, so? Because nearly
every single general officer of note on both
sides was a West Point graduate. The statistics
on that are just stunning. 294 graduates served
as general officers for the Union, and 151 served
as general officers for the Confederacy. And
think about the common thread here. A West Point
graduate commanded forces on one or both sides
in all 60 major battles of the war. Every single
one. That fact speaks volumes. The Civil War
wasn't just a conflict between states. It was
a conflict fought largely by men who were educated
under the Thayer system, using the same mathematical
principles for artillery, the same engineering
principles for logistics and fortification. Their
training determined the course of the war. So
following that agonizing divide, the Academy
faced huge internal challenges. I imagine just
reintegrating cadets from former Confederate
states was a nightmare. A huge challenge. But
the biggest challenge was social integration.
Right. 1870 was a key date. With the admission
of the first black cadet, James Webster Smith.
Yes. And his time there was incredibly difficult.
He endured just awful, harsh treatment, which
sadly was often racially motivated. And he was
ultimately dismissed for academic deficiency
in 1874 under circumstances that many historians
now consider really controversial. But the progress,
though painful, it did continue. It did. Henry
O. Flipper of Georgia became the first black
graduate in 1877. But at the same time, the internal
culture of the academy was, well, it was hardening.
After the Civil War, hazing, which had been less
formalized before, took on a much harsher tone.
What was that? Well, you saw veterans returning
to the academy as officers or instructors who
viewed hazing not as simple horseplay, but as
a necessary disciplinary tool, a way to weed
out the unfit and force immediate obedience on
new cadets. And that harsh practice eventually
blew up into the national spotlight. It did in
1900 with the death of cadet Oscar L. Booz. That
ignited congressional hearings into the academy's
culture. Even a young Douglas MacArthur, who
was a cadet at the time, he testified during
those investigations. And when MacArthur later
came back as superintendent in 1919, he specifically
tried to curb hazing, right? He did. He assigned
Army surgeons to run the freshmen's summer training,
trying to professionalize what had become an
amateur and often brutal tradition among the
upperclassmen. OK, so before MacArthur's time
as superintendent, there was another pivotal
period. one that's often discussed in military
history circles. The graduating classes between
1900 and 1915. Ah, yes, especially the class
of 1915. They are famously known as the class
the stars fell on. And for good reason. This
cohort produced a simply remarkable density of
leadership talent, right on the cusp of America's
entry onto the world stage in World War I. 59
of the 164 graduates became general officers.
59. That's an exceptionally high percentage.
It's incredible. And this includes iconic five
-star figures like Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar
Bradley. It's almost as if fate put all those
eggs in one basket right when they were needed
for the global conflicts to come. It's an amazing
historical confluence. So now that we understand
the historical model, the engineering foundation,
the Thayer rigor, and the validation through
war, let's look at how that structure endures
in the modern academy. The administrative structure
is a fascinating paradox. It's built like an
elite university, but it functions under a strict
military chain of command. At the top is the
superintendent. Right. A three -star general,
a lieutenant general. They act as the university
president or chancellor, but they report directly
to the army chief of staff. So that ensures that
even though it's an academic institution, its
mission and accountability are directly linked
to the highest levels of the U .S. Army. Precisely.
And you have two other general officers who manage
the daily operations, creating this kind of military
triumvirate. You have the commandant of cadets.
A brigadier general who is essentially the dean
of students. He's responsible for all the military
training, the discipline, the overall quality
of life for the Corps. And then you have the
dean of the academic board. Also brigadier general.
who functions as the provost, managing the entire
academic curriculum and the faculty. And what's
unique about the academic leadership is the academic
board itself. It's composed of 13 tenured colonels
who are the department heads. They hold the special
title Professors USMA or PSMA. And that PSMA
status is unique, isn't it? Very. These are tenured
officers, they are colonels, many with doctorates
who teach for decades. This blend ensures that
the academic curriculum remains grounded in the
practical, long -term needs of the Army. It prevents
the academic priorities from floating too far
into purely theoretical research. That rigor
starts immediately with the admissions process,
which is famously a two -tiered hurdle. The first
tier is just meeting the high basic requirements.
Candidates have to be between 17 and 23 years
old, unmarried, no legal dependents. And academically,
the expectation is stellar. 68 % of accepted
candidates rank in the top fifth of their high
school class. And of course, they have to pass
the candidate fitness assessment, a demanding
physical test. But the true gatekeeper is that
second tier. The nomination. You have to apply
directly to USMA and secure a nomination, usually
from a member of Congress, a representative or
a senator. And that nomination process itself
is competitive even before you get to West Point's
acceptance criteria. Absolutely. It involves
writing essays, getting recommendations, and
going through a formal interview with the nominating
official or their local board. You can also get
a nomination from the vice president or the president,
but those slots are extremely limited. So it's
intensely selective. For the class of 2024, the
acceptance rate was 7 .74%. That's comparable
to many of the nation's most elite civilian universities.
And they want you for four full years no matter
what. That's a non -negotiable point, right?
West Point does not accept transfers. Nope. If
you have two years of college experience, you
still enter as a fourth -class cadet, a plebe,
and you have to complete the entire four -year
program. They are buying into the holistic development
of the whole person, not just racking up academic
credits. We should also touch on the preparatory
school path, USMPS. That's a crucial safety valve,
isn't it? It is. If a candidate is highly desired
but maybe isn't quite ready academically, perhaps
they need a stronger foundation in math or science,
they might get an offer to attend the U .S. Military
Academy Preparatory School for a year. So USMPS
provides that specialized academic leadership
and physical prep. Exactly. It's a chance for
a candidate to prove they can handle the academic
load before being officially appointed to the
academy the following year. It really expands
the talent pool and helps ensure a diversity
of backgrounds. Okay, moving from the people
to the place itself. When you walk onto the campus,
you are walking into a living museum. You really
are. The Academy area, including those original
Revolutionary War Fort ruins, was rightfully
declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
And the architecture is just so distinctive.
It's defined by that massive construction project
started in 1902. They chose the neo -Gothic style,
built almost entirely from locally sourced granite,
which gives it that striking gray and black hue,
the source of the name the Long Gray Line. The
Cadet Chapel is the masterpiece of that. Oh,
absolutely. Completed in 1910. It looks like
a medieval cathedral that's been dedicated to
duty. And at the center of all this is the plane,
the massive central parade ground. And that's
where you find the monuments to West Point's
heroes. Right. The Washington Monument, the Thayer
Monument, and of course, monuments to those.
class of 1915 legends, Eisenhower and MacArthur.
And there's also the General John Sedgwick Monument,
which, as we'll discuss later, holds a wonderful,
strange tradition. The history continues right
into the West Point Cemetery. It feels like a
truly sacred space. It is. It's the final resting
place for icons like George Armstrong Custer
and Winfield Scott. It's also home to 18 Medal
of Honor recipients and, critically, holds the
graves of recent graduates who gave their lives
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tying the Academy's
long history directly to the present. Exactly.
And to really understand the weight of that history,
you have to visit the West Point Museum. It's
the oldest military museum in the country. And
it's more than just Army gear. The collection
tells the story of America's involvement in global
conflict. I love that collection. And instead
of just listing artifacts, let's focus on two
specific ones that tell a story. You have George
Washington's pistols, which represent the founding
of the army and the struggle for independence.
And then you skip forward 150 years and you find
Adolf Hitler's gold -plated Lilliput pistol and
Hermann Goering's captured dagger. Wow. And that
contrasts from the revolutionary fight for freedom
to the capture of the instruments. of fascism,
it shows that West Point acts as the institutional
memory for America's moral and physical defense
across two centuries. That's a fascinating synthesis.
It really emphasizes their role as curators of
American military history. Now let's move to
the heart of the cadet experience, those four
pillars that define their education and separate
it from a traditional college. The academic education
is the first pillar, and it is defined by a commitment
to the Bachelor of Science degree, no matter
what your chosen major is. This means the curriculum
is highly structured. Cadets have to take 31
core courses that are perfectly balanced between
the arts and the sciences. That balance is completely
non -negotiable. You have 45 majors available,
everything from foreign languages and history
to mechanical engineering and management information
systems. But that core curriculum is the great
equalizer. Cadets don't even declare their majors
until the spring of their freshman year. But
even after you declare, say, history, you are
still taking advanced courses in calculus, physics,
chemistry, constitutional law, economics, and
information technology. Exactly. It forces a
technical competency onto the humanities students,
and it forces a political and historical context
onto the engineering students. The goal is to
produce well -rounded analytical leaders, not
narrow specialists. That's the whole belief.
A lieutenant needs to understand both the mechanics
of logistics, which is engineering, and the political
context of the battlefield, which is history
and law. And the method of teaching this incredibly
dense curriculum is the famous Thayer method.
This seems to be the core difference between
West Point and a big university lecture hall.
It is. The Thayer method is simple in concept,
but it's brutal in execution. It involves mandatory
preparation, daily homework, and small classes,
usually fewer than 18 students. And the professor
doesn't deliver a lecture? No. The student is
responsible for reading the material before class
and preparing to teach or apply the concept themselves.
So you show up ready to synthesize, not just
absorb. The class time is spent with the professor
leading collaborative discussion, solving problems
on the board, and challenging the cadets to immediately
apply the concepts. It demands constant, relentless
preparedness. You cannot hide in the back of
the room. And that standard is reflected in the
faculty. The mix is intentional. 75 % military
officers. often with graduate degrees, and 25
% civilian professors with PhDs. Right. This
provides practical grounding from the officers
and deep scholarly continuity from the civilian
staff. It's a really effective blend. Now, all
of these elements, academic performance, military
leadership, physical fitness, they get combined
into the overall class rank calculation. Yes,
and that rank is absolutely critical. It determines
what Army branch you are allowed to enter, infantry,
aviation, engineering, and so on, and where you
will be assigned. So what's the formula? How
is it weighted? It's strict. 55 % academic performance,
30 % military leadership performance, and 15
% physical fitness and athletic performance.
It is a genuine, holistic evaluation of the whole
person. So while academics are the most weighted
factor, leadership and physical readiness are
absolutely essential. You can't just be a bookworm.
Which brings us to the second pillar. Military
training and development. This is the ultimate
goal, right? Commissioning every graduate as
a second lieutenant in the U .S. Army. The transition
from civilian applicant to cadet is notoriously
abrupt. It starts on reception day, or our day.
That's the day the entering freshmen, the new
cadets, begin cadet basic training. And it's
universally called beast barracks, or just beast.
And for anyone listening who hasn't experienced
it, this is often the most intense and difficult
period of a cadet's life. It's a relentless seven
-week immersion. They are strict of their civilian
identity, taught fundamental soldier skills,
subjected to intense physical training, and introduced
to military discipline and the honor code. It's
designed to be a crucible that welds the class
together. And that rigor continues throughout
the summers. The second summer is dedicated to
cadet field training. Or CFT. Right, held at
Camp Buckner, focusing on more advanced field
craft, marksmanship, and platoon -level operations.
And later summers offer more specialized opportunities.
They do. Cadets might be selected to serve as
instructors for the younger classes, which is
a huge leadership opportunity. Or they could
serve with active Army units anywhere in the
world, getting a real taste of the operating
force. Or they can attend some of the Army's
most demanding schools. Like Airborne, to jump
out of planes, air assault, to repel from helicopters.
or specialized courses like SAPR for combat engineering
or Pathfinder for navigation and insertion. These
are critical experiences for developing junior
officers. And overseeing all of this training
are active duty captains or majors who serve
as company tactical officers, the TAC officers.
TAC officers are crucial. They are the daily
mentors, the disciplinarians, the teachers of
character. And they are assisted by active duty
senior non -commissioned officers, the TAC and
SUES. They represent the reality of the active
army, ensuring the training is relevant and the
discipline is maintained to the highest standard.
Okay, now on to the third pillar, the physical
education dimension. And this is not just, you
know, a gym membership. It is a mandatory core
part of the curriculum. Absolutely. The program
is run by the Department of Physical Education,
or DPE, and the head of DPE still holds the historic
and wonderful title of the Master of the Sword.
I love that. A throwback to the days when swordsmanship
was a core part of an officer's training. It
is. And every cadet must take specific, mandatory
physical courses that reflect the unique demands
of military service. This includes things like
military movement, which is essentially applied
gymnastics for navigating obstacles, boxing,
survival swimming, and advanced combatives. And
beyond the courses, they have to pass the Army
Physical Fitness Test twice a year. Just like
every soldier in the force. But the defining
physical challenge, the one that makes every
cadet nervous, is the annual indoor obstacle
course test, the I -O -C -T. The I -O -C -T has
been administered in Hays Gymnasium since 1944.
It is a true measure of functional military fitness,
not just endurance or strength, but agility and
coordination under pressure. It's a terrifying
sprint through a series of obstacles. You're
navigating cargo nets, climbing ropes to the
ceiling, scaling 20 -foot walls, performing low
crawls, and jumping over various barriers. So
it tests the ability to rapidly overcome physical
challenges in sequence and failure. Failure means
remedial training and the potential loss of privileges
or even separation from the academy. It's a huge
deal. And the importance of this pillar is emphasized
by the required participation in athletics. Every
single cadet, every semester, has to participate
in an intercollegiate, club, or intramural sport.
And this is tied directly to General MacArthur's
famous quote. Upon the fields of friendly strife
are sown the seeds that, upon other fields on
other days, will bear the fruits of victory.
The final and arguably the most important pillar
is moral and ethical training. And this hinges
entirely on the Academy's motto and its code.
The Cadet Honor Code is famous for its simple
but absolute terms. A cadet will not lie, cheat,
steal, or tolerate those who do. That final clause?
or tolerate those who do, that's what makes the
code so demanding. It is. It forces the cadet
to choose between friendship and integrity. Ignoring
an honor violation is itself a violation of the
code. It creates an environment of intense self
-policing. But violating the code can lead to
severe punishment, including turning back, which
means you have to repeat an academic year or
outright separation from the academy. And here
is what we have to exercise some critical thinking.
If duty, honor, country, and the honor code are
the absolute foundation, how does an institution
survive two massive, high -profile cheating scandals?
That's a legitimate and very challenging question.
The most dramatic example was the 1976 scandal
involving 151 junior cadets, primarily in an
electrical engineering course. Right. They were
all expelled, although many were later offered
a chance to re -enroll after a period of service.
And it happened again in 2020. with over 70 cadets
accused of cheating on remote exams during the
COVID -19 pandemic. And while the circumstances
change remote learning versus in -person, the
fact that systemic cheating can occur suggests
that the immense pressure cooker culture might
at times overwhelm the ethical framework. It
seems to underscore that constant tension between
the desire to succeed in an intensely competitive
environment and the ethical standard required
for leadership. And historically, there was an
unofficial social sanction for violations known
as silencing. Tell us about that. Silencing was
this, this painful mechanism where cadets accused
of violating the code were just completely shunned.
The entire Corps refused to speak to them or
even acknowledge their existence. It was a form
of peer social execution. And that was eventually
banned. Yes. It was deeply divisive and came
under heavy national scrutiny, which led the
Academy to finally ban the practice in 1973.
These challenges really highlight that while
the pillars are foundational, the pressure of
maintaining that high standard is perpetual.
Let's move now to how cadets actually live their
lives within this demanding framework and the
unique traditions that define the Corps. The
official terminology for the student body is
the United States Corps of Cadets. It's organized
into a military brigade led by the first captain,
who's the senior ranking cadet and the commander
of the entire corps. And the classes are officially
categorized as fourth, third, second and first
class. But the colloquial nicknames are much
more descriptive and and fun. Fourth classmen,
the freshmen, are known as plebes. It's a term
derived from the Latin plebeian, meaning common
citizen. Third classmen, the sophomores, are
yearlings or yucks. Second classmen, the juniors,
are affectionately, or maybe ironically, known
as cows. And the third classmen, the seniors,
are simply firsties. Okay, the nickname cows
is particularly interesting. What's the origin
of that? Well, the most widely accepted theory
traces back to the tradition of leave. Cadets
historically had no leave whatsoever until the
end of their third class, their sophomore year.
That's when they were finally granted a long
summer furlough. So their return as second classmen,
as juniors, was heralded by the older cadets
as the cows coming home. A return to the fold
after being out in the pasture of civilian life.
Exactly. It marks our transition from the restricted
early years to the greater freedoms of the upper
class. And the organizational structure mirrors
the army. The brigade is broken down into four
regiments, then battalions, then companies, identified
by letter in number A1, B2, H3, and so on. And
all the leadership positions, right down to platoon
leader, are held by first class cadets. Now for
the plebes. The foundation of their entire existence
is a little book called Bugle Notes. Ah, the
Plebe Bible. It's this dense, manual -sized collection
of every single piece of knowledge a fourth classman
is expected to know instantly. Songs, traditions,
historical facts about the academy, the army,
and, critically, the rivalry with Navy. But it's
not just fixed information, is it? Plebes have
to memorize daily shifting knowledge. They do.
And this includes the running countdown to major
academy events, which they call the days, the
day's entire mess hall menu, and perhaps most
bizarrely, the lead stories in The New York Times.
Why The New York Times? The expectation of absolute,
immediate, factual recall, even about outside
events, is a constant tool used to impose mental
pressure and discipline. It forces them to be
aware of the world they'll soon be leading in.
This intense pressure cooker environment is soft.
or at least ritualized by traditions that bind
them to the long gray line. Let's start with
the class ring. West Point actually started the
collegiate tradition of the class ring with the
class of 1835. The design is standardized. You
have the academy crest on one side, the class
crest on the other, but the center stone can
be individualized. And when the senior class
receives their rings during ring weekend, there's
a charming, if mandatory, interaction with the
plebes. Yes. The freshmen will surround the seniors
and ask permission to touch the ring, but only
after reciting the required and often goofy poem
known as the ring poop. But the ring tradition
has a deeper connection to history through the
Memorial Class Ring Donor Program, which was
established in 2002. It's a wonderful program.
Alumni or their families donate their rings,
and that gold is melted and merged, infusing
a portion of it into the new, firsty rings. Just
think about the symbolism of that. Every single
new ring literally contains atoms of gold from
previous classes. Every cadet who graduates is
wearing the physical legacy of the long gray
line. Another critical piece of institutional
identity is the column number. It's assigned
sequentially to every graduate since the very
first, Joseph Gardner Swift, who is column number
one, graduating in October 1802. General George
W. Cullum started this chronological numbering
system in 1850, not just for identification,
but to chronicle the biographies of all graduates.
Today we are pushing past 65 ,000 alumni identified
by a number. The weight of the Cullum number
must be immense. Oh, it is. When you are standing
in a formation and they list graduates by their
number, you realize you are merely the latest
in a line that stretches back to the post -revolutionary
era. You aren't just a soldier. You are column
number 64 ,500. But not every tradition is about
formalized identification in gold. Some lean
heavily into pure legend and superstition, which
brings us back to the monument we mentioned earlier,
Sedgwick Spurs. This is truly one of the most
delightful aspects of West Point culture. The
monument to the Union Civil War general, John
Sedgwick, stands prominently on the plane. And
the legend states that if a cadet is dangerously
close to failing a critical exam, a term paper,
or a final, they have one last resort. On the
night before the final, they have to don their
full -dress parade uniform, the official high
-collar buttoned -up gray uniform. and visit
the statue at the stroke of midnight and then
they have to spin the rowels of the statue's
bronze spurs and then comes the desperate rush
They must run back to the barracks as fast as
possible. Because the legend dictates that if
Sedgwick's ghost doesn't catch them, the cadet
passes the exam. It's a wonderful example of
chaos in a world of order. It perfectly captures
the paradox. An institution defined by ironclad
rules and honor secretly tolerates, even celebrates,
the tradition of a cadet breaking curfew and
sprinting from a ghost, all while wearing the
most formal uniform just for the sake of survival.
A tradition tied directly to the intense Navy
rivalry is the goat engineer game. Right. This
intramural football game has been played since
1907 as a key lead up to the official Army -Navy
football game. It pits the goats, the bottom
half of the senior class academically, against
the engineers, the top half. And the stakes are
purely superstitious. The legend dictates that
if the goats win the intramural game, Army beats
Navy in the main event. Given the extreme pressure
to perform academically, The goats must relish
the chance to succeed where the engineers have
failed, even if it's just for bragging rights.
Oh, I'm sure they do. Now, when cadets do break
those regulations, like curfew or a minor uniform
infraction, they face a distinctive form of punishment
known simply as walking the area. Officially
called punishment tours or hours. Yeah. This
is a highly visible, grueling punishment. It
is. It involves walking back and forth, often
for hours on end during their free time, like
on weekends in the central area of the barracks
courtyard, wearing their full dress gray uniform
and carrying a rifle. arms. Being late to class
might get you two hours, but serious infractions
can easily accumulate 60 to 80 hours. Cadets
who frequently get in trouble are often called
area birds. And the truly unfortunate ones, those
who accumulate over 100 total hours in their
career, are known as century men. It is a physically
and mentally exhausting spectacle designed to
use public visibility to reinforce discipline.
Before we discuss the legacy of those who walked
the area. We really have to acknowledge the profound
social changes that redefined the core in the
late 20th and early 21st centuries. The 1970s
marked the end of the all -male tradition. Following
a congressional amendment to the Defense Authorization
Bill, West Point admitted its first 119 women
in 1976. They graduated with the class of 1980.
And that integration has permanently changed
the face of the academy. Today, women make up
about 20 % of new entrants, and this inclusion
has led to significant diversity in leadership
roles, which is a powerful message to the nation.
Absolutely. The first African -American led the
Corps of Cadets as first captain in 1979. The
first woman held that senior rank in 1989. And
more recently, in 2017, Simone Askew became the
first African -American woman to hold the rank
of first captain, commanding the entire brigade.
And furthermore, after the lifting of the controversial
Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in 2011, the Academy
began actively admitting and retaining openly
gay cadets. Yes. And that led to the formation
of the Spectrum. Gay -Straight Alliance group.
By 2015, Spectrum had 40 cadet members and two
faculty advisors, creating a supportive environment
that was just unimaginable decades prior. The
Academy has clearly navigated and adapted to
societal changes while fiercely maintaining its
core military structure. It has, which brings
us to the most visible aspect of West Point for
many Americans, the famous Army athletics and
the true extent of the Long Gray Line legacy.
The athletic pillar is essential to West Point
culture. driven directly by MacArthur's belief
in the value of competitive strife. Which is
why every cadet, regardless of academic focus,
must participate in a sport intercollegiate club
or intramural every single semester. The famous
nickname is the Black Knights, shortened from
Black Knights of the Hudson, which references
the granite buildings and the gray uniforms.
And their mascot is the mule, symbolizing the
traditional strength and perseverance required
of the Army. The chief rivalry, of course, is
the U .S. Naval Academy. It permeates the daily
life of a plebe who has to greet upperclassmen
and faculty with the phrase, beat Navy. They
even have a physical manifestation of that rivalry.
The tunnel running under Washington Road is officially
named the Beat Navy Tunnel. They compete against
both Navy and the Air Force Academy for the Commander
-in -Chief's Trophy, which is a source of intense
inter -service pride. Historically, Army football
was absolutely dominant. Under legendary coach
Earl Blake in the mid -20th century, they were
a national powerhouse. Oh, completely. They won
three consecutive national championships from
1944 to 1946, and they produced three Heisman
Trophy winners, Doc Blanchard, Glenn Davis, and
Pete Dawkins. The Army -Navy game remains a monumental
tradition, played as the final regular season
division I -College football game, often hosted
in a major metropolitan stadium. And the rivalry
is palpable. Navy holds the longest winning streak
at 14 consecutive victories, which was finally
broken by Army in 2016. Beyond football, Army
maintains a strong presence in the NCAA Division
I Patriot League. Their men's lacrosse team is
historically strong, with eight national championships.
And here's a fantastic piece of trivia that shows
the broader coaching influence. The legendary
NCAA winningest coach Bob Knight began his head
coaching career at Army. I did not know that.
Former players and assistants there, a man named
Mike Kraszewski, famously coached Army before
moving on to Duke, where he became one of the
most successful college basketball coaches of
all time. The Long Gray Line trains leaders across
every field. And that takes us from the playing
fields to the boardrooms and command centers.
The true legacy of the Long Gray Line. The Academy
has, surprisingly, gained a recent reputation
as a CEO factory. And this is due to the sheer
number of alumni who have achieved major success
in the business world, translating that structured,
high -stakes military training directly into
corporate leadership. Think about the names.
Jim Kimsey, a co -founder of AOL, Alex Gorski,
former CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Bob McDonald,
former CEO of Procter & Gamble. The Skills West
Point instills structured risk assessment, mission
focus, resource allocation, and maintaining composure
under intense stress are highly valued at the
top tiers of business. But their military and
political legacy remains the most defining. We've
already mentioned the Civil War impact, but this
lineage includes two U .S. presidents, Ulysses
S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower. plus Confederate
President Jefferson Davis. In the modern era,
the graduates have shaped nearly every major
American conflict. The commanders who oversaw
operations in the Middle East and globally, from
Norman Schwarzkopf in the Gulf War to David Petraeus,
Raymond Odierno, and the current Secretary of
Defense, Lloyd Austin, they are all products
of the system. And their influence is truly global.
The Long Gray Line has produced four foreign
heads of state or government. That's right, including
former presidents of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and
the Philippines, and currently the prime minister
of Cambodia, Hun Mene. And furthermore, academically,
they stand tall against the best civilian institutions.
Despite being a service academy, West Point ranks
highly among American universities for recipients
of prestigious scholarships. They rank fifth
for Rhodes Scholarships, seventh for Marshall
Scholarships, and fourth for Hertz Fellowships.
This shows they are producing scholars, thinkers,
and future innovators, not just warriors. So
if we synthesize all the pieces, the history,
the Thayer method, the relentless curriculum,
and the global legacy, what do we tell the listener
about the nature of West Point today? What we've
unpacked today is the enduring paradox of West
Point. It's a highly specialized institution
dedicated to creating military leaders, yet it
achieves this through a broad, balanced, and
uncompromising bachelor's science education that's
rooted in the engineering principles of the 19th
century and the liberal arts of the 21st. Its
centuries -long success really lies in its ability
to adapt, integrating women, changing curricula,
navigating scandals, while fiercely upholding
fundamental traditions like the column number,
the honor code, and the rigorous four pillars
of development. And that holistic approach is
recognized today. The Academy is consistently
ranked in the top 10 in the 2025 edition of Best
Colleges in National Liberal Arts Colleges by
U .S. News. Its dual identity is not a weakness.
It is the source of its strength. I think the
History Department's unofficial motto perfectly
encapsulates the scope of its impact on the world.
Much of the history we teach was made by people
we taught. It's a powerful realization. You should
reflect on how this 223 -year -old institution,
with its unique blend of academic rigor, physical
stress, and strict moral codes, continues to
mold leaders who shape domestic and international
affairs every single day. And as a final provocative
thought for you to chew on? Remember the story
of Sedgwick Spurs. We described a place where
honor is absolute, where discipline is enforced
by century men walking the area, and where failure
is not tolerated. Yet they maintain a celebrated,
shared legend. A secret ritual involving a ghost
in a full -dress uniform to grant failing students
a sliver of hope and a chance to cope with that
impossible pressure. It suggests that even the
most rule -bound institutions understand the
human need for tradition, superstition, and a
tiny act of defiant hope to overcome impossible
odds. So what other seemingly rigid structures
in our modern world rely on centuries -old legends
or even unofficial superstitions to help their
people maintain sanity and perform under duress?
Something to think about the next time you hear
those three words. Duty, honor, country. We'll
catch you next time for the next Deep Dive.