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* The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained training materials from West Point showing that cadets are being taught critical race theory
* The training materials inform cadets about their 'whiteness,' and ask them to consider what W.E.B Du Bois would think of the movie Barbershop
* The director of Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton, described the materials as 'anti-American' propaganda, and said the military was 'under attack from within'
The United States Army is teaching critical race theory to cadets at its prestigious West Point Academy, newly obtained training materials reveal.
The documents, obtained by Fox News Digital from the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, show that the Army's future leadership is being taught to acknowledge its 'whiteness' and 'privilege,' and to answer training questions through the lens of critical race theory.
Judicial Watch had to sue the US military under the Freedom of Information Act twice before the training slides were released, according to Fox News.
He said students should be informed by subject matter that may be controversial.
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended the right of West Point students to discuss race after some Republican congressmen complained that one class at the academy was recognizing critical race theory.
During a congressional budget hearing before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday with Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Minn., raised his concerns to the nation's top defense officials about a seminar class at the school entitled "Understanding Whiteness and White Rage."
WNU Editor: The U.S. military has evolved over the years as an institution that prides itself on its diversity and tolerance. During this time it has also become one of the most trusted institutions in the U.S.. So why the sudden need to now teach critical race theories at places like West Point?
More News On Gen. Mark Milley Defending The Teaching Of Critical Race Theory At West Point
WASHINGTON – More than 70 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were accused of cheating on a math exam, the worst academic scandal since the 1970s at the Army's premier training ground for officers.
Fifty-eight cadets admitted cheating on the exam, which was administered remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of them have been enrolled in a rehabilitation program and will be on probation for the remainder of their time at the academy.
Others resigned, and some face hearings that could result in their expulsion.
The scandal strikes at the heart of the academy's reputation for rectitude, espoused by its own moral code, which is literally etched in stone:
“A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
* Donald Trump arrived at West Point to address the graduating class at the U.S. Military Academy Saturday
* He said the class of 2020 come 'from every race, religion, color, and creed' but must be 'one team'
* He said the US is not 'the policeman of the world' but if 'threatened, we will never hesitate to act'
* Direct mention of Floyd or the ongoing protests across America were notably absent from his speech
* Yet he congratulated the US army for helping win the battle against 'the evil of slavery' and in the battle for civil rights - despite some West Point graduates fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War
* Trump made a dig at China over the 'invisible enemy' of the coronavirus pandemic from the 'distant land'
* Tensions between the White House and the military have escalated amid protests over Floyd's death
* Trump has clashed with several top military officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper who publicly opposed Trump's call to use active-duty troops to crack down on the demonstrations
* Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said Thursday it had been 'a mistake' for him to join Trump at the infamous St. John's Church photo op where protesters were teargassed from their paths
* The West Point ceremony was also mired in controversy after 15 West Point cadets tested positive for coronavirus after they were summoned to return so Trump could go ahead with the ceremony
* Hundreds of West Point alumni sent a letter to the graduates blasting Trump's politicization of the military
Donald Trump called for the 1,100 West Point graduates to be 'part of one team, and one family, proudly serving one American nation' during his commencement address, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to the nationwide George Floyd protests and amid his own tensions with the Pentagon over his infamous photo op in Washington DC.
The class of 2020 come 'from every race, religion, color, and creed' but must be 'one team' as they graduate into a 'crucial time in American history', Trump said.
'When times are turbulent, when the road is rough what matters most is that which is permanent, timeless, enduring and eternal.'
The president arrived to give the Commencement Address at the historic Parade Field at the US Military Academy in New York Saturday morning, regaling an impassioned speech where he skipped over any direct reference to Floyd or the ongoing civil unrest, vowed the US military will not be the 'policeman of the world' and launched a fresh attack on China over the coronavirus pandemic.
Cadets gather to participate in bouts at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. The coach said boxing allowed instructors to “take a person, put them in a fearful situation and try to see how they react.” Photo: Meredith Heuer for The Wall Street Journal
Boxing is a tradition at the U.S. Military Academy. Last year, female cadets were required to get in the ring.
WEST POINT, N.Y.—On the grass fields at the U.S. Military Academy, cadets with rifles crawl across the turf while instructors bark orders.
Inside a sweaty gym here, a plebe, or first-year cadet, is working on her left hook.
All 4,000-plus cadets at West Point are held to strict academic standards and are expected, at all times, to behave in a manner befitting future officers in the U.S. Army.
They also have to learn how to box.
Since early in the last century, following a suggestion by President Theodore Roosevelt, boxing has been taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Last year, for the first time since female cadets were admitted in 1976, boxing classes became mandatory for cadets of both sexes.
WNU Editor:I know that women can take a punch .... and they sure as hell can deliver one if they want to. But I would never make it in West Point. Hitting a girl/women is a big no-no in my book .... you just do not do it.
U.S. Military Academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. has an important message for active-duty service members and veterans outraged over the viral photos of a communist West Point graduate that circulated in September: Yes, we’re taking this seriously.
In an Oct. 11 letter to the members of the USMA community, Caslen stated that 2nd Lt. Spenser Rapone — the Afghanistan combat infantry veteran and West Point grad captured with a Che Guevara shirt under his dress uniform and a “Communism Will Win” sign under his cover — is currently subject to two ongoing investigations by both West Point and his commanders with the 10th Mountain Division for what Army Times characterized as “subversive political views.”
WNU Editor: I mentioned this story this evening to one of my cousins who was a paratrooper in the Soviet military in the 1980s (he served two tours in Afghanistan). He thought I was pulling his keg. This is what happens when the culture and the ideals that made America great are under constant attack .... over time something else replaces it. In the case of Spenser Rapone .... he has embraced Communism .... without appreciating its destructive history and the great pain that this ideology has brought to hundreds of millions of people over the years.
The U.S. Military Academy released a statement Tuesday after a recent graduate posted photos of himself with pro-communist messages hidden under his uniform and dress cap while still a cadet.
The photos, posted by 2nd Lt. Spenser Rapone, show the then-cadet posing with a Che Guevara t-shirt under his uniform and “communism will win” written under his cap at his graduation from the academy in May.
“Second Lieutenant Rapone‘s actions in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military Academy or the U.S. Army,” the statement from West Point said.
WNU Editor: If he was wearing a T-shirt with Hitler on it or if he wrote that "Nationalism Socialism will win" .... the uproar would be so intense he would be ostracized and turfed out of the military ASAP. But here is an easy prediction .... supporting communism at West Point will only give you publicity and some mild criticism. I have said this many times before .... but quoting an observation my father made a long time ago (a former Soviet military officer during the Second World War and a former member of the Soviet Communist Party) .... "there are far more communists in America that in the former Soviet Union".
More News On A West Point Graduates Open Support Of Communism
U.S. Military Academy officials said Wednesday they have banned the annual pillow fight by first-year cadets after a bloody clash between "plebes" this summer at West Point left 30 injured, including 24 diagnosed with concussions.
Officials said they are also pursuing actions against many of those involved in the Aug. 20 fracas.
First-year students, or "plebes," organize the annual fight to help the group bond after a summer of intense training.
When graduates of West Point’s Class of 2016 go into their years of service as officers of the Army, they will be wearing something no other cadets have worn before — class rings that include steel from the World Trade Center.
It hasn’t received mention in the press. But it was movingly noted Friday in the introduction of the commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. John Thomson III, at the military academy’s annual ring memorial ceremony.
What a cure for the cynicism of a cynical age. It’s at the ring ceremony that seniors — known as “firsties” — get their rings, which become a physical link between future officers and the West Point graduates who went before.
For generations, freshmen cadets at the United States Military Academy have marked the end of a grueling summer of training with a huge nighttime pillow fight that is billed as a harmless way to blow off steam and build class spirit.
But this year the fight on the West Point, N.Y., campus turned bloody as some cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects, thought to be helmets, that split lips, broke at least one bone, dislocated shoulders and knocked cadets unconscious. The brawl at the publicly funded academy, where many of the Army’s top leaders are trained, left 30 cadets injured, including 24 with concussions, according to West Point.
In interviews, cadets who asked that their names not be used for fear of repercussions in West Point’s strictly controlled culture, said the fight had left one cadet with a broken leg and dislocated shoulders in others. One cadet was knocked unconscious and taken away in an ambulance and had not returned to school, they said. But a spokesman for the academy, Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker, said all cadets had returned to duty.
WNU Editor: Helmets and body armour .... broken bones, broken neck, missing teeth, blood and concussions .... that is not a pillow fight.
More News On The Latest "Pillow Fight" At West Point
Photo: The West Point men's rugby club, shown playing last season, was disbanded in May and some of this season's players were disciplined after an investigation. (Mike Strasser / West Point Public Affairs)
West Point Rugby Team Indefinitely Disbanded As Details Emerge Of 'Crude Sexual' Emails And 'Culture Of Disrespect Towards Women' -- Daily Mail
* 60 players punished after investigation into email chain showed lewd, inappropriate references to homosexuality, incest, and rape
* U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke at the elite military academy's May 25 convocation, where he called sexual harassment a 'debilitating, insidious, and destructive force in the American military'
The rugby team of West Point military academy has been disbanded and players disciplined over an email chain involving crude sexual references and suggesting a ‘hostile team environment or a culture of disrespect towards women.’
Players on the rugby team of the elite New York institution—a veritable assembly line into the highest echelons of the American military—shared emails that have now been deemed to be in violation of the Cadet Disciplinary Code.
Shared between the entire rugby team be several players, the emails reportedly contained rankings of a sexual nature of female cadets and other women, as well as references to rape, incest, and homosexuality.
Read more ....
More News On the Suspension of West Point's Rugby Team
At West Point, 'Goats' Are An Exclusive Bunch -- Wall Street Journal
Military Academy Honors Lowest-Ranking Cadet; Custer's Last Place
When cadet Roberto Becerra Jr. walked onstage to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2007, the entire ceremony ground to a halt as he, before a crowd of thousands, transformed into a goat.
For this achievement, Mr. Becerra received a rousing ovation and was handed an envelope stuffed with cash.
In a 210-year-old military academy bristling with traditions, "the goat" is a curious custom that one might not expect to find at a school better known for its selectivity and high standards. Yet every year, the last-ranking cadet to make it through to graduation is anointed the goat, showered with praise, given a dollar from every other fellow graduate—amounting to roughly $1,000—and granted the biggest applause at the graduation ceremony.
Read more ....
My Comment: A great story .... read it all.
Gay Graduate Appointed To West Point’s Board -- Army Times
WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Obama on Tuesday appointed an openly gay former Army officer to the U.S. Military Academy’s Board of Visitors.
Former Capt. Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton, a founding board member of OutServe, an association of actively serving gay military personnel, is also co-founder and executive director of Knights Out, an organization of gay West Point graduates. She graduated in 1980 with the first West Point class to include women.
After receiving her commission, Fulton served in the Army Signal Corps for five years in Germany. She commanded a military intelligence company and was honorably discharged.
Fulton is the first openly gay member of the academy’s board. Read more ....
My Comment: This is a political appointment .... President Obama can do what he wants to do. My only concern is that she is qualified for the job, and was not appointed because of her sexual orientation.
WEST POINT, N.Y. (Army News Service, Aug. 7, 200) - A report released Wednesday by Forbes magazine ranked the U.S. Military Academy as the top college in the country in their America's Best College review.
"Marked by an intense work ethic and drive to succeed on all fronts, the West Point undergraduate experience also allows graduates to leave without a penny of tuition loans to repay," Forbes stated in its release.
In the Forbes rating, West Point outpaced other highly-ranked schools such as Princeton (#2), Cal Tech (#3), Harvard (#5) and the U.S. Air Force Academy (#7).
Read more .... My Comment: Impressive .... what can I say but a very impressive accomplishment.
An upperclassman leads new cadets over the bridge from Thayer Hall to continue their training in military courtesy, discipline and marching on Reception Day in June at West Point .Times Herald-Record/TOM BUSHEY
From Record Online:
WEST POINT — While the volume of applications to the U.S. Military Academy is on the rise, the number of qualified contenders to choose from is shrinking.
The reason for the disparity isn't grades or test scores or extracurricular accolades. The problem is physical fitness: An increasing number of applicants are out of shape or taking potentially disqualifying medications for conditions such as asthma or attention-deficit disorder.
WEST POINT, New York - Lt. Col. Paul Owen, West Point Class of '90, came back to the academy to tell his story about Iraq. Sitting before a video camera in his dress uniform, Owen described the oppressive heat, the "moon dust" sand and a string of some 300 night raids in search of insurgents.
"We were quick," he said. "If they heard us coming, they'd flee."
Owen's recorded recollections will be transcribed and posted on the Web as part of an ambitious oral history project under way at the U.S. Military Academy's new Center for Oral History. He is among some 150 Soldiers - most West Point graduates - who have so far taped interviews destined for the Web before year's end.
Stories are being solicited from old Soldiers and those just back from deployments. They are being asked about not only what happened on the battlefield, but what was going on under their helmets, too.
I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.
