| Traditions | |
- : Everyone would agree that the one thing that makes West Point so special is not the facilities or the resources, but the people who work here. West Point is very rich in culture and history, but it is the people—the cadets, civilians, and officers—that make everything come alive and come together. As a cadet, your life is literally built around traditions.
- : Plebes have a rotating responsibility to announce 10, five, four, three, two, and one minute before formation, in a strictly formatted ritual known as “minutes.” This is a tough challenge when you have a class the period before noon meal formation. One young lad was hurrying back to do his duty when one of the tourii (the Latin plural of tourist, of course) asked him if he would pose with them for a picture. In a somewhat agitated state, he looked at her and said, “No lady, I got minutes!” Supposedly, she noted his name from his nametag and reported him to Main Office.
- : All cadets receive Christmas, spring, and summer leave, along with the four-day Thanksgiving break. Christmas leave is normally two weeks in length, following the completion of first semester final examinations. Spring leave is about 10 days, including the weekends. Summer leave is about three or four weeks, depending on a cadet’s military leadership training assignment. When academics begin, first classmen (seniors) get twice as many weekend leaves as second classmen (juniors). A plebe (freshman) will have only a few weekend passes. Plebes also may leave West Point for extracurricular, cultural, and athletic trips. There is also the traditional Plebe-Parent Weekend scheduled each fall. During Cadet Basic Training (six weeks long), new cadets do not have privilege periods because of the requirements of the intensive military training activities. There is a day set aside for a military family visitation, allowing new cadets a short time of relaxation. New cadets are also given time to call home on the weekend.
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| Urban Legends | |
- A lot of people think getting into West Point is political. While this is true of some, the overwhelming majority of cadets are smart, athletic students who do not come from affluent families. They are driven people who have worked extremely hard and who want to make a difference. In order to make it through West Point, you first have to make up your mind that this is what you want to do.
- Taps - According to an old urban legend, a father and son were fighting on opposite sides in the Civil War, and they met one last time on the battlefield. As the father was holding his dying son in his arms, he looked in his son’s pocket and found a melody, which is now known as ‘Taps.’ Taps was composed in July 1862 at Harrison’s Landing in Virginia, but after that, the fanciful legend parts way with reality. There was no dead son, Confederate, or otherwise; no lone bugler sounding out the dead boy’s last composition. How the call came into being was never anything more than one influential soldier deciding his unit could use a bugle call for particular occasions and setting about to come up with one.
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