The Life of a USMA Plebe

[Chockstock]

America's Finest, I thank you for keeping it real. I have read Chockstock's posts and I would guess that there are many out there with the same questions. Chock is just the one asking the tough questions and he should be commended for his inquiries. However, WP or any SA, or military life in general is no picnic. If anyone out there is worried abour beauty sleep, as they say in Joy-z, "feggitabahdit." I also heard some #*&@ about army regs and minimum sleep for troops...never saw that reg implemented. In a field environment you will get very little sleep and probably not eat regularly unless you're in a rear unit. So it's not just four years at WP it's 5 more in an even more intense world...and yes, you will be deployed and probably within 18 months. You will be in command of people, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, people with moms and dads back home and your job will be to complete your missions and provide for the health and welfare of your troops. So life at West Point is only the half of it. You will need to think beyond WP because the army has your butt for 5 years and life as an army officer is a very real and very dangerous job. I am not trying to scare anyone, just enlighten with a strong sense of reality. Believe me, I saw guys in basic training who freaked out when they found out we had to sleep on the ground during FTX. What did they think they were getting into anyway? However, by attending WP you will be trained and ready to lead. The question is, do you want to lead?

Thanks

"feggitabahdit." Took me a moment to figure this one out

Haha...beauty sleep...yeaaah when it comes to sleep in the military, I might be in for some trouble.

I have some follow up questions on your post...

1. Aren't cadets deployed immediately? I had this notion that upon graduation, cadets were almost immediately shipped off somewhere

2. How many cadets are deployed to an actual combat zone?

3. Does your MAJOR, not your branch of choice, have any effect on where you get deployed?


Not sure if that last question was rhetoric or not, but to answer it, yes. As long as I know what I'm doing and as long as I'm prepared and cut out for it, which I hope West Point does a good job of

 

[11BRAVO]

1. Aren't cadets deployed immediately? I had this notion that upon graduation, cadets were almost immediately shipped off somewhere

2. How many cadets are deployed to an actual combat zone?

3. Does your MAJOR, not your branch of choice, have any effect on where you get deployed?


Not sure if that last question was rhetoric or not, but to answer it, yes. As long as I know what I'm doing and as long as I'm prepared and cut out for it, which I hope West Point does a good job of

Cadets are no longer cadets after they're commissioned. Infantry 2LT's would typically go to IOBC at Fort Benning before being deployed and/or shortly after commissioning. You'll probably be in school for a year after commission and then most likely deployed. The army needs virtually all types of career fields to support the battlefield. You will find a few jobs, like Chinese linguist, that are located in one or two places in the world but for the most part you will have finance, medical, transpo, legal, you name it in Iraq and Afghan.

 

[WAMom68]

Thanks

"feggitabahdit." Took me a moment to figure this one out

Haha...beauty sleep...yeaaah when it comes to sleep in the military, I might be in for some trouble.

I have some follow up questions on your post...

1. Aren't cadets deployed immediately? I had this notion that upon graduation, cadets were almost immediately shipped off somewhere

2. How many cadets are deployed to an actual combat zone?

3. Does your MAJOR, not your branch of choice, have any effect on where you get deployed?


Not sure if that last question was rhetoric or not, but to answer it, yes. As long as I know what I'm doing and as long as I'm prepared and cut out for it, which I hope West Point does a good job of

Cadets aren't deployed but 2LT's can be. Depending upon your branch you will be in training 9-12 months after you graduate. After that you could be deployed - depends upon what unit you end up in.

As 11BRAVO said, unless you have a very specific major it will not affect if, or where, you are deployed.

 

[Chockstock]

Cadets aren't deployed but 2LT's can be. Depending upon your branch you will be in training 9-12 months after you graduate. After that you could be deployed - depends upon what unit you end up in.

As 11BRAVO said, unless you have a very specific major it will not affect if, or where, you are deployed.

Oh wooooooow I never knew that! That sounds like fun...I always thought that 2Lts were commissioned almost immediately. So, would it be fair to say that you are in the Army for 6 years and not 5?

Do you know some locations where graduated cadets get further training?

And, do you know if you can choose where you can get the additional training?

What do they teach you anyway?

 

[marciemi]

2LT's ARE commissioned at graduation. They just undergo additional (usually branch specific) training before actually going to a unit. The time spent doing this would count as part of your five years. I graduated in late May and didn't get to my new unit until mid-April (doing Officer Basic, Airborne School and Rigger School in the interim).

If you know what branch you're interested in, you could do a quick Google search to see where the branch headquarters/OBC course would be. I know some have changed since I was there but for example Infantry was at Ft. Benning, GA, I was Quartermaster at Ft. Lee, VA, my husband was Transportation at Ft. Eustis, VA. That course was about 4 months long then - not sure any more. Your choice of branch would determine where that training would be done. Additional training like Airborne school would of course be where the school was located. So no, you really don't get a choice of where to do the training.