News from a new cadet.

robinhood17

USMA Cadet
5-Year Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
210
Hi everyone,
At the ice cream social and thought I would check in.

Things are different than last year, that is for sure. Some things:

-We are required to do table duties
-yes, they stress water and breaks because of heat cat 5
-There have been at least 50 drop outs, and 2 turn backs last time we heard
-gas chamber went well

Honestly, it depends on your squad leader and company for the level of difficulty. Even though they say you can't yell outside or smoke, it still happens. To a lot of the new cadets,this is the hardest thing they have done..but they know no difference, if that makes sense.

Overall it's tough but rewarding, its fun at times, and serious at others. I'm extremely happy to be here, and so grateful as well.

For the parents:
please send baby wipes! Second detail is in the field a lot and those help.
We all help each other here, and the transformation into a team is easily seen. Insight on the class motto:
most voted for:
With Honor We Lead.
Thank you to everyone on this forum.
 
Though this grammatical error is not egregious, let's always try to correctly spell military ranks. Sergeant
 
Though this grammatical error is not egregious, let's always try to correctly spell military ranks. Sergeant

Good thing Mellowgator isn't Ali G., who would have said: "Is you her sargent?"

Also, "egregious" being a fifty cent word that should be used only on special occasions (e.g., a drunken brawl), it's not necessary to say something is not egregious if it is in fact not egregious.
 
Sticking Together

Stephanie 2012: Thanks for the update. Stay strong; it sounds like you are doing well. Make sure you support your squad members. Sticking together through it all will help everyone succeed!
 
It's disappointing to know that at least 50 cadets have already dropped out. Im sure I am speaking for a lot of other candidates when I say tht those spots could have gone to more dedicated, motivated, and deserving candidates that did not receive an appointment. You win some, you lose some.
 
It's disappointing to know that at least 50 cadets have already dropped out. Im sure I am speaking for a lot of other candidates when I say tht those spots could have gone to more dedicated, motivated, and deserving candidates that did not receive an appointment. You win some, you lose some.

Hear, hear!
 
It's disappointing to know that at least 50 cadets have already dropped out. Im sure I am speaking for a lot of other candidates when I say tht those spots could have gone to more dedicated, motivated, and deserving candidates that did not receive an appointment. You win some, you lose some.

You have no idea who those people were, why they quit, or whether anyone else would've done any better.
 
You have no idea who those people were, why they quit, or whether anyone else would've done any better.

Agree with Scout.

To say that those candidates weren't dedicated, motivated or deserving is pretty judgmental and insensitive. None of us know any of those 50 individual's situations. Until you've been to Beast and walked in their shoes, let's reserve judgment.
 
Agree with Scout.

To say that those candidates weren't dedicated, motivated or deserving is pretty judgmental and insensitive. None of us know any of those 50 individual's situations. Until you've been to Beast and walked in their shoes, let's reserve judgment.

Sorry wasn't it Scout that said .... and I qoute

"If you want to boil it down to simple math: garbage in, garbage out. We increasingly get garbage in. And as I've said before, it's perpetuated by generals and colonels for whom war-fighting has been supplanted by careerism in the steady climb to their headline jobs (sorry Bullet, but that's how the warfighters of this generation view your generation, and I'm far from the first person to say so, and I doubt I'll be the last)."
 
^^^ wow, just wow. First, the reported withdrawal numbers are not as high as originally quoted; second, there is expected attrition - without it, acceptances would be lower and it is unlikely that you would have had a spot either way (if fewer acceptances are offered because of lower attrition and you were below the cutoff, unlikely there would have been a spot for you) ... I could go on, but compassion rules the day.
 
^^^ wow, just wow. First, the reported withdrawal numbers are not as high as originally quoted; second, there is expected attrition - without it, acceptances would be lower and it is unlikely that you would have had a spot either way (if fewer acceptances are offered because of lower attrition and you were below the cutoff, unlikely there would have been a spot for you) ... I could go on, but compassion rules the day.


Well said, exactly what I was thinking.
 
Sorry wasn't it Scout that said .... and I qoute

"If you want to boil it down to simple math: garbage in, garbage out. We increasingly get garbage in. And as I've said before, it's perpetuated by generals and colonels for whom war-fighting has been supplanted by careerism in the steady climb to their headline jobs (sorry Bullet, but that's how the warfighters of this generation view your generation, and I'm far from the first person to say so, and I doubt I'll be the last)."

Still, it depends on.

I know of a highly qualified Army officer that quit West Point after Beast. His rational was that West Point wasn't what he expected. He did ROTC and is having a great Army career. Hindsight, he believes he made a mistake - youth indiscretion.

Whoever quit because Beast was too hard, yeah I might agree that "garbage in, garbage out."
 
Sorry wasn't it Scout that said .... and I qoute

"If you want to boil it down to simple math: garbage in, garbage out. We increasingly get garbage in. And as I've said before, it's perpetuated by generals and colonels for whom war-fighting has been supplanted by careerism in the steady climb to their headline jobs (sorry Bullet, but that's how the warfighters of this generation view your generation, and I'm far from the first person to say so, and I doubt I'll be the last)."

That's a wonderful job of taking completely different discussion (one about the quality of your average recruit, not about WP), removing the context, and pretending it compares. When West Point drops the standard for incoming cadets to a point where they accept almost anyone, including those who are obese, lack a HS diploma, and cannot pass a basic fitness exam, you'll have a point. But the fact is quite the opposite. West Point and the other SAs are accepting candidates who meet the most encompassing and rigoruous standards in the Academies' histories.

Now, what the academies DO with those kids after they get them is a separate topic we can debate ad nauseum. But the fact remains that USMA has a huge pool from which to select the best. They do a fine job of that, and I don't think anyone here has anything but personal reasons to feel otherwise.

We get it, RockyB. You have an ax to grind because your kid wasn't accepted. Your continual bashing of anyone and anything you think prevented your progeny from becoming a cadet is pretty old already and makes me wonder why you're still hanging around here. Is it just to kvetch?
 
That's a wonderful job of taking completely different discussion (one about the quality of your average recruit, not about WP), removing the context, and pretending it compares. When West Point drops the standard for incoming cadets to a point where they accept almost anyone, including those who are obese, lack a HS diploma, and cannot pass a basic fitness exam, you'll have a point. But the fact is quite the opposite. West Point and the other SAs are accepting candidates who meet the most encompassing and rigoruous standards in the Academies' histories.

Now, what the academies DO with those kids after they get them is a separate topic we can debate ad nauseum. But the fact remains that USMA has a huge pool from which to select the best. They do a fine job of that, and I don't think anyone here has anything but personal reasons to feel otherwise.

We get it, RockyB. You have an ax to grind because your kid wasn't accepted. Your continual bashing of anyone and anything you think prevented your progeny from becoming a cadet is pretty old already and makes me wonder why you're still hanging around here. Is it just to kvetch?

You only wish this was about "your kid not getting accepted" as that gives you an easy deflection from the facts. The point of adding your quote (whether on point or not) is to show how quick you are to critize your average recruit, then jump on CADETS comments with respect to recent appointments that couldn't cut BEAST. If you could only be consistent in allowing others to share their opinions as you expect others to do with your ramblings.
 
You only wish this was about "your kid not getting accepted" as that gives you an easy deflection from the facts. The point of adding your quote (whether on point or not) is to show how quick you are to critize your average recruit, then jump on CADETS comments with respect to recent appointments that couldn't cut BEAST. If you could only be consistent in allowing others to share their opinions as you expect others to do with your ramblings.

Again, your sour grapes antics are well known in this forum. You can backpedal and pretend that isn't the case, but a quick search of your posts makes it pretty clear for everyone.

I'm not sure exactly what your metric of "quick to criticize" the average recruit is. I mean, I'm only in my 9th year of doing this job, so I suppose that's "quick" in geological terms, but I've been to the county fair a few times in this line of work.

As usual, you don't actually know what you're talking about. CadetMoore isn't a cadet at all. CadetMoore is a candidate who wasn't accepted, and the post was a criticism of those who were accepted and a thinly-veiled complaint that West Point is wasting slots on people other than him/her (people who aren't "motivated" enough). So, no, I wasn't telling a cadet (who might actually have some knowledge of Beast or why these folks might've quit) not to share his opinion. I was telling someone who didn't make the cut that he/she has no credibility to complain about the attrition of those who did make the cut or why they decided to disenroll. I would tell the same thing to Joe Civilian who never dared to serve that he/she has no place to complain about soldier/sailor/airman/Marine recruits who don't cut it and are dropped.

My position, as many will tell you, remains fixed as it always has: if you don't have any experience, you're better off not saying anything.
 
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QUOTE=RockyB;263673]You only wish this was about "your kid not getting accepted" as that gives you an easy deflection from the facts. The point of adding your quote (whether on point or not) is to show how quick you are to critize your average recruit, then jump on CADETS comments with respect to recent appointments that couldn't cut BEAST. If you could only be consistent in allowing others to share their opinions as you expect others to do with your ramblings.

Again, your sour grapes antics are well known in this forum. You can backpedal and pretend that isn't the case, but a quick search of your posts makes it pretty clear for everyone.

I'm not sure exactly what your metric of "quick to criticize" the average recruit is. I mean, I'm only in my 9th year of doing this job, so I suppose that's "quick" in geological terms, but I've been to the county fair a few times in this line of work.

As usual, you don't actually know what you're talking about. CadetMoore isn't a cadet at all. CadetMoore is a candidate who wasn't accepted, and the post was a criticism of those who were accepted and a thinly-veiled complaint that West Point is wasting slots on people other than him/her (people who aren't "motivated" enough). So, no, I wasn't telling a cadet (who might actually have some knowledge of Beast or why these folks might've quit) not to share his opinion. I was telling someone who didn't make the cut that he/she has no credibility to complain about the attrition of those who did make the cut or why they decided to disenroll. I would tell the same thing to Joe Civilian who never dared to serve that he/she has no place to complain about soldier/sailor/airman/Marine recruits who don't cut it and are dropped.

My position, as many will tell you, remains fixed as it always has: if you don't have any experience, you're better off not saying anything.[/QUOTE]


Here you go again... I never said CadetMoore was an actual cadet...... I only referred to his remark and referenced "CADET" as I could not recall his exact posting ID. Of course its your position that eliminates others opinions. That makes it so much easier for you to pass down your judgements.
 
Here you go again... I never said CadetMoore was an actual cadet...... I only referred to his remark and referenced "CADET" as I could not recall his exact posting ID.

Riiiiiiiiight. I'm sure that's it.
 
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