Here's (a long) one...shared with love from the files of the West Point Moms.
TO: Any Plebe considering leaving West Point at this time
Consider carefully *why* you are leaving:
1. Is it because you have seen the Army, some elements of its life and people, and decided that it is not the *life* you want?
2. Is it because you have seen the inside of West Point, the walls, the System, the "atmosphere," and decided that that is not the *college* you want?
3. Is it because you have seen the men and women who are the Upper Classes, and decided they are not the *associations* you want?
4. Is it because life is miserable, you are miserable, West Point is miserable, the people are miserable, the Yearlings (as apart from people) are miserable, the snow is miserable, the classes are miserable, reveille is miserable, marching is miserable, training is miserable, the sky is miserable.....?
Been there.
Done that.
So has everyone else who has gone before you.
OK. Now listen up. You may quit for any of the reasons 1-3 if you have answered them honestly and dispassionately; if you have *really* looked at what you want in life,... and the Army, its school, and its people are not for you. Know that *most* people who finally leave West Point see these as good and valid reasons. They are. ... And no one will ever think any less of you if you decide to make a success in a different direction of life. That's part of growing up. Part of becoming an adult.
But Number 4 isn't a good reason. At least not an adult reason. At least not yet.
NO ONE has ever gone through West Point without serious thoughts of quitting. That's what the first year is for. If you WEREN'T thinking of resigning, the Academy has at least partially failed in testing your hopes, your dreams, your upbringing, ...you. You are in a dark fog now, a fog known by every other cadet--Plebe and upper-class alike, both present and prior classes, every graduate and non-graduate. It is after Christmas, Christmas Leave, and before Spring. It is Gloom Period.
Don't even think of a rational decision now. You're more than halfway to Recognition, to Yearling status, to having *Beat Them At Their Own Game.*
What you're *not,* is finished with... - An academic year that you can transfer - Building the ability to hold your head up to say "I finished everything they could throw at me" - The test of your life to date
You STAY until the end of the year. You stay four months. You stay through Spring, and then May.
Then your options are anything you want. Do anything any earlier and you will always wonder "....What if?" And ask yourself, "If only...." And you will have wasted the most valuable year of your life. For you will have quit in the middle of the Lesson, ...the middle of finding out who you are.
What you should never NEVER do, however,...is stay for your family,...your Mother, Father, brothers, sisters,...uncles, grandparents, ...or anyone else who thinks they have the right to ask you to remain at West Point.
No one has that right. That right, that choice, that decision is yours alone.
West Point is only for those who live the life, walk the walk, dream the dream. And sometimes that takes time.
Take that time.
Never quit until you've beat the system.
Then your life's your own, and no one can ever take it from you.
Mike Havey`68
