Reply to National Service/Military Academies?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "National Service/Military Academies?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We visited my nephew at West Point in the fall.  He is a freshman (Plebe).  We took him out to lunch.  He was like a zombie with the always laughing always smiling lovely boy I have known for 18 years seemingly erased.  Maybe it's just the shell shock of the first year.  Or maybe that's part of the process of tearing down/building up?  Regardless it was very jarring to me.[/quote]
If you took a Plebe out to lunch, of course he was different. First, any freshman, anywhere, is going to act differently: it doesn’t matter if they are at an academy or IU. That’s just part of separating from their previous life. At the academies, the cadets / mids are challenged each day academically, physically, emotionally. West Point is a relentlessly demanding environment. You (and I) never experienced that level of stress. And the imposition of that stress—stress that is intentionally placed on the cadets in order to turn out highly educated, disciplined leaders, is imposed most acutely plebe year. Ike was probably a bit of a zombie from time to time his plebe year, too. But he ended up doing pretty well for himself.
Hint: Write him cards and letters or text him. Keep in touch. Reinforce that you are proud of him. And when you write, end everything with:
Beat Navy!

[/quote]

+1
DH always said it’s a great place to be “from” but it’s a tough four years. Immature 18 year old brains being trained to make life or death decisions is tough stuff. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics