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The Life of a Plebe at West Point
Captain Bruce Ollstein
This year the United States Military Academy at West Point enjoys
its bicentennial celebration. As the year begins Captain Bruce
Ollstein remembers his days as a plebe , a member of the Freshman
Class, his own place in the Long Gray Line and considers the impact
of West Point on the historic growth and development of our nation.
Company at the Academy
The thick steel door, standing twice my height, slammed shut
with an eerie finality. Everything seems to have an inflated,
even ominous importance when one is a plebe at West Point. Standing
just outside Cullum Hall on this windy night, I relished a rare
moment of solitude. At the United States Military Academy, one
spends virtually every minute of every day in the company of others.
Studying, sleeping, marching, showering, running, eating, training,
testing, sweating - you are never alone. A plebe 's schedule, in
particular, mandates group activity. No fourth classman can make
it alone, because many tasks, even one as mundane as delivering
upperclass laundry bundles, require the help of one's classmates.
A history of success and treachery
Architecturally, West Point is the kind of legacy that Albert
Speer might have dreamed of leaving behind. The warrior's ego
carved into thick, unmoving granite. As my eyes took it all in,
I began to understand why so many had felt compelled to voice
an opinion on what West Point should represent, or unleash some
accolade for her spirituality, tactical significance, beauty or
institutional excellence.
General Patton, Class of 1909, called West Point "a holy
place." George Washington, during the revolution, deemed
West Point "the key to the continent." Charles Dickens
said of the Academy, "It could not stand on more appropriate
ground, and any ground more beautiful can hardly be. The course
of education is severe, but well devised and manly ..." And
President Andrew Jackson stated categorically that West Point
was "the best school in the world."
Unknown to most Americans, West Point is the oldest regularly
garrisoned military post in the United States - continuously occupied
since January 20, 1778. In 1802, only two years before Napoleon
became Emperor of France, Congress established the United States
Military Academy at West Point. Annapolis, the Naval Academy,
would not appear until 1845; the Air Force Academy not until 1954.
What most Americans do know, however, is that Benedict Arnold
- the most infamous traitor in American history - tried to sell
the plans of West Point to the British for 20,000 pounds sterling
and a commission in the British Army.
Marching orders and Academic lessons
I stared at The Plain as I continued my solitary walk. On this
very parade ground Baron Von Steuben had drilled American Forces
in preparation for the seizure of Stony Point. Just hours ago,
I had marched in a parade on the same field.
Marching is a big part of West Point's public persona, but academics
are the top priority. West Point is the nation's first engineering
school. It was the only engineering school in the United States
for nearly 20 years. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was not
founded until 1824 and graduated its first class of civil engineers,
four men, in 1835. Many of Rensselaer's textbooks originated at
West Point. It was not until 1847 that engineering programs were
established at Harvard (the Lawrence Scientific School) and Yale
(the Sheffield Scientific School), and when they were, both were
established and run by West Pointers.
Illustrious Alumni
I glanced back at Doubleday Field, named after the West Pointer
sometimes credited with inventing the sport of baseball. He also
had fired the first return shot from Fort Sumter in 1861 and fought
at Gettysburg. Just one more of so many graduates serving as role
models for those of us in newly issued gray.
Lieutenant General Dave Palmer, former Superintendent, was fond
of the phrase, "Much of the history we teach is made by those
we taught." But it was President Theodore Roosevelt who pulled
no punches at the Academy's centennial celebration when he said,
"This institution has completed its first hundred years of
life. During that century, no other institution in the land has
contributed so many names as West Point has to the honor roll
of the Nation's greatest citizens."
President Roosevelt would witness only a small part of the legacy
that was West Point. Academy officers would achieve prominence
for many years to come.
One feels somewhat strange being associated with this group.
It has a way of creating enormous, possibly unrealistic, expectations.
I went back in memory, trying to take measure of all the leaders
who had left footprints on the path I now walked. It wasn't difficult;
as plebe s we are required to memorize the legacies of many of
those who preceded us.
The military leaders were the first to come to mind. In the Civil
War there were 60 significant battles. Fifty-five of them were
commanded on both sides by West Pointers; the remaining five had
a "grad" commanding one of the sides. The Union forces
utilized Grant, Sherman, Meade and Sheridan, to name a few. The
South claimed Robert E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson, J.E.B.
Stuart, and Braxton Bragg among their many. Jefferson Davis, President
of the Confederate States of America, was West Point Class of
1828.
West Point and Two World Wars
During World War I, 34 of the 38 corps and division commanders
in France between 1917 and 1918 were West Pointers. General Pershing,
Class of 1886, commanded the American Expeditionary Forces.
World War II dubbed West Point's Class of 1915 the "Class
the Stars Fell On." Fifty-nine out of 164 graduates would
reach brigadier general or higher. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Omar
Bradley, both from that class, would achieve five-star rank. James
Van Fleet would later become Commanding General of the Eighth
U.S. Army in Korea. Of the five men ever to hold the rank of five-star
general - Arnold, Bradley, Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Marshall
- four had been West Pointers (Marshall was V.M.I.). MacArthur
went on to become the most decorated soldier in American history.
His 59 decorations, 16 oak leaf clusters, and 18 campaign stars
included America's highest award, the Medal of Honor.
The Long Gray Line's other World War contributors included Patton,
Clark, Stilwell, and Wainwright. And I was reminded of Leslie
Groves who commanded the Manhattan Project. Half of the division
commanders in WWII were West Pointers, including Gavin '29 and
Ridgway '17 with the 82d Airborne and McAuliffe '18 with the 101st
at Bastogne.
West Point's Other Lives
West Point is so quickly associated in the mind with the uniformed
military that most forget its impact on civilian America. Putting
aside the ascendancy of Grant and Ike to the Presidency, West
Point has left few trails unexplored. Over 100 West Pointers have
been members of U.S Olympic teams, and three have won the Heisman
trophy: Glenn Davis, Felix "Doc" Blanchard, and Pete
Dawkins. Seventy have been awarded Rhodes scholarships, making
West Point the fourth ranking source of Rhodes scholars in the
nation, even though graduates were not allowed to compete until
1925.
West Point's contributions in space exploration are often overlooked.
Six of the first 30 astronauts were graduates. This group included
Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins, Apollo 11 pilots who were part of
the first manned landing on the moon. Aldrin was the second man
to walk on the moon. Frank Borman commanded a spacecraft during
the first rendezvous in space, and Ed White, who would later die
in a launch fire at Cape Kennedy, had been the first man to walk
in space.
West Point has produced 13 astronauts up to this point and always
had an intimate relationship with aviation. It all started back
in 1908, when the first man killed in an airplane was West Pointer
Thomas Selfridge, Class of '03. He had been riding with Orville
Wright, who survived the crash. During World War II, West Point
was the Air Force Academy - the Army Air Force Academy.
The Academy's zest for exploration was not limited to the air.
West Pointers led the way in westward expansion of the United
States. James Allen, Class of 1829, discovered the sources of
the Mississippi River, and Captain Bonneville, Class of 1815,
explored the Yellowstone River and the salt flats that bear his
name.
West Point engineers have played a no less important role in America's
development than her explorers. From flood control projects to
hydroelectric plants, from highways to waterways, USMA was there.
Goethals, Class of 1880, ran the building of the Panama Canal.
Green, Class of 1923, designed New York City's water supply system.
Casey, Class of 1852, helped build the Library of Congress. Meigs,
Class of 1836, built the wings and dome of the Capital in Washington,
D.C. and Humphreys and Abbot, both "grads," designed
the locks and hydraulics on the Mississippi River.
More recently, Major General William E. Potter, Class of 1928,
was the engineer in charge of building Disney World in Orlando,
Florida, and James B. Endler, Class of 1953, was the engineer
who coordinated the building of the Epcot Center.
Poe and Whistler's West Point
Ironically, two of the most famous West Pointers never obtained
their degrees - Edgar Allen Poe and James Abbot McNeill Whistler.
Poe, arguably the greatest American lyric poet, was a cadet from
1830-1831. At Superintendent Thayer's prompting, Poe sold subscriptions
to his fellow cadets to help finance the publishing of his third
book of poetry. He dedicated the book to the United States Corps
of Cadets. Poe later was expelled for "gross neglect of duty."
Whistler, the famous American artist, whose father was Class
of '18 and inventor of the locomotive whistle, enjoyed only his
engineering drawing class. Required to draw a bridge, he drew
three boys relaxing on it. Reprimanded, he drew the boys on the
river bank. After a final admonishment, he drew three tiny gravestones
on the grass near the bridge. He was dismissed for conduct and
chemistry after three years. At West Point, no one disobeys orders
with impunity.
The Pride of a modern Plebe
I approach Battle Monument, the largest shaft of polished, turned
granite in the Western Hemisphere - dedicated to the soldiers
of the Regular Army killed in the Civil War. Inscribed on various
sections of the monument are 2,230 names, representing only a
minuscule portion of the total war dead. Death is all around you
at West Point.
Cullum Memorial Hall, where I had spent most of the evening,
was a building dedicated to death and sacrifice. The names of
deceased West Pointers line the interior walls of that unique
building. There is little room left for memorialization. Every
inch of hallway, every wall from top to bottom, every staircase,
even some of the bathrooms, were covered with portraits and brass
plaques honoring the dead. The main ballroom displayed the names
of bloody battles from the War of 1812 to the Spanish American
War, with emphasis on the Civil War - Chancellorsville, Antietam,
Shiloh, Vicksburg.
I glanced at the trophy cannon, positioned all over Trophy Point,
and then forward to the statue of MacArthur by the barracks.
History is everything. It makes up most of the plebe poop, and
it defines the Academy's image of itself. I silently recited the
last verse of the Corps, a song that all plebe s were required
to commit to memory:
"The long gray line of us stretches
Through the years of a century told,
And the last man feels to his marrow
The grip of the far off hold.
Grip hands with us now, though we see not,
Grip hands with us, strengthen our hearts -
As the long line stiffens and straightens
With the thrill that your presence imparts.
Grip hands - though it be from the shadows -
While we swear, as you did of yore,
Of living, or dying, to honor
The Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps!"
As I turned toward the barracks entrance, I sensed the feeling
of intense pride that all West Pointers know at one moment in
time. But I had only to encounter one upperclassman before the
day-to-day regimen reminded me once again of my plebe ian status
in our nation's honor roll.
