West Point: An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the CadetRichardson, Robert C. (Robert Charlwood)
History
West Point: An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the Cadet
Richardson, Robert C. (Robert Charlwood)
United States Military Academy
After the Corps has been given the maximum of military training for any
one year, a week’s practice march is held as a climax to the intensive
work of the summer camp. With band playing and with all the panoply
of war the cadets march down to the ferry to cross to the other side
of the Hudson. For the next six days they march and maneuver through
the beautiful country in the neighborhood of West Point. Every day
camp is established at a new point and a problem worked out on the
march from one place to the other. All branches of the Service are
represented. The main body of the Corps go as Infantry, but the First
Class make up the Cavalry and Field Artillery. The “hike” is a valuable
experience for the cadets. They learn what it means to be a “doughboy”
and carry a pack on one’s back through the sweltering heat and the dust
of the road. They appreciate how tired the Cavalryman and the Field
Artilleryman are when they throw themselves down in their pup tents
after the labors of the day. Their understanding of real soldiering
is broadened and their sympathy for the duties that enlisted men have
to perform, awakened. They return to the Post, footsore and weary,
prepared to take up their studies in barracks and continue their
military training in the limited time after recitations.
During the entire year all military instruction ceases at six o’clock
in the evening. Military methods are, however, inextricably woven into
every part of the cadet life in addition to what might be called purely
military training. All during the evening study period, for example,
a certain number of cadets are on guard in the hall of the divisions
to prevent the cadets from visiting in each other’s rooms, and to
preserve the utmost silence in the barracks. The only noise that can be
heard is the tread of the sentinel who walks back and forth wrapped in
his own thoughts that occasionally are interrupted by the Corporal of
the Guard sticking his head in at the door and saying:
“All right on your post?”
“All right, sir,” answers the sentinel, who as soon as his superior
disappears replunges into his reverie until time for his relief.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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