West Point circa 1950's

cpanddj1

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Nov 13, 2012
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Got into an interesting conversation with a Major General tonight. The topic was "Was WP harder back in the 50's or now?" I'm sure you can guess what the Major General thought.

Any thoughts??
 
I don't really know a lot about WP back in the 50s, but if you want a great book to read about the class of 66, then I suggest you read The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson. A lot has changed since then, and I definitely think that WP was a hell of a lot harder then (not that it isn't extremely hard now).
 
"... the corps has..." -- is definitely a very common phrase. My DS hasn't even graduated and he already has started saying it :smile:
 
The Corps Certainly Has...

Every class, starting when your a Yearling, says that they had it harder. Of course my class had it the toughest (Saturday classes, all weekday meals mandatory, Dr. Bouncy, etc...). We were the last class to have beer all four years at Ike Hall though.
 
Based on what my DH ('83 grad) has told me, compared to what I see/hear from current cadets, I would say the "Corp has," too. Of course, I never experienced it myself, though. Unfortunately, I feel society, as a whole, "has" as well.
 
I can't speak from experience because I will be showing up for R-day this summer, but with the technological innovations since the 50-60's, it is a lot easier to do a TON of things now. One thing my generation really takes for granted is our technology. Our parents, and their parents did not have cell phones, PC's, and all the tech gear we have today. I was watching that documentary someone posted a few weeks ago (can't remember the time period maybe 70 or 80's), and they talked about the kid getting a gold card (or something like that), which allowed him to use USMA's computer whenever he wanted. Notice I said computer, not computers. Haha, I am just saying, we have it a lot easier with that sort of thing nowadays. I think the overall experience may be tough, but our generation definitely has some serious advantages.

In the end, I have heard horror stories (not really, but the tough stories from Beast and all that) from the old and the young, and a lot of it sounded the same. A few things have changed, but USMA is BIG on tradition and history, so they like to keep things the same if possible. Just a kid's opinion: I think, even though we may not want to admit it, that we have it just a little easier. haha
 
Just a little thought provocation:

Would an officer commissioned in the 1950's with their "harder" USMA experience be successful in 2014 compared to this year's graduates?
 
Leaders

Generally, I think a leader will be successful no matter the environment (as long as you don't stick a infantry guy in an F16 with no training sort of scenario).
 
Generally, I think a leader will be successful no matter the environment (as long as you don't stick a infantry guy in an F16 with no training sort of scenario).

Assuming leadership is a static quality that has no relation to the experience and cultures of those that are led (All-Volunteer Army, different societal norms, etc) or to meeting the expectation and needs of superiors (maintaining a certain command climate, removing toxic leadership, etc).

If that were the case, then there would be no need for USMA or the ROTC classes, we could just recruit straight college graduates like every other business out there.

The point of USMA and ROTC is to develop the leaders required for the current and future Army; hardness is irrelevant outside a friendly rivalry between classes.
 
As a member of the class of '83 with a cadet in the class of 2015, I say the Corps has (and hasn't). Today there is more officer and NCO supervision. That's different. Meals are more relaxed. Fitness standards also seem to be higher.

Each generation will have it's own challenges. Overall I think today's cadets can get more out of the West Point experience.

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"... the corps has..." -- is definitely a very common phrase. My DS hasn't even graduated and he already has started saying it :smile:

My Plebe already says it.

There are parts of the tradition that are no longer accepted, but those "rituals" or experiences are part of why he wanted to go to West Point.

It's a balancing act between discretion/ political correctness/ and what is military training or not. I get that. WP needs to not forget where it came from, so to speak, as well. It has been fairly decent at what it does...:thumb:
 
A lot of grads I talk to say they probably wouldn't have gotten in with today's standards. Not saying west point has gotten easier, but maybe the corps is getting stronger with time.

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I can't speak from experience because I will be showing up for R-day this summer, but with the technological innovations since the 50-60's, it is a lot easier to do a TON of things now. One thing my generation really takes for granted is our technology. Our parents, and their parents did not have cell phones, PC's, and all the tech gear we have today. I was watching that documentary someone posted a few weeks ago (can't remember the time period maybe 70 or 80's), and they talked about the kid getting a gold card (or something like that), which allowed him to use USMA's computer whenever he wanted. Notice I said computer, not computers. Haha, I am just saying, we have it a lot easier with that sort of thing nowadays. I think the overall experience may be tough, but our generation definitely has some serious advantages.

That also means we are required to do much more with said technology. Ask the class of 55 how much online homework they had, or how long the longest paper they were expected to write was.

All this technology also makes it much harder to escape :cool: Back in the day, I'd imagine it was much harder to send last minute taskings out to the company. Email leadership wasn't a thing because email wasn't a thing.
 
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