News and Features

  • “Hardscrabble”—Grant: Marriage, family and failures

    Dejected, depressed and without options, former U.S. Army Capt. Ulysses Grant faced the greatest personal humiliation possible in the spring of 1860: he asked his tight-fisted, vain father, Jesse Root Grant, for a job. Grant was broke in both mind and spirit.
    “It was a wrenching experience for Grant to admit that he failed,” a biographer wrote. But it was nonetheless true. Grant had failed in everything but marriage and war; even his military career and future had floundered in despair and poor judgement.
    Resigned to the fact that his wealthy father, who owned several businesses in Kentucky, Ohio and a leather goods store in Galena, Illinois, was his only hope, he humbly solicited a position from Jesse Grant.
    His relationship with his father was not perfect, far from it. Read More

    Posted on February 7th, 2019 5:55 pm

  • West Point officers help with training, development in Niger

    Lt. Col. David Hughes, Capt. Daniel Newell and Capt. Benjamin Showman discuss leadership with faculty at the Military Academy of Niger. The West Point officers provided officer development and combatives training to the Niger faculty . Read More

    Posted on February 7th, 2019 5:01 pm

  • Tax Season has arrived at West Point, what you should know before you arrive

    West Point has seen a great deal of change in the past year. The West Point Tax Center will also include some much needed renovations.  One of the biggest changes will be the location of the center.
    The West Point Tax Center is currently operating on the fourth floor of Building 606. Hours of operation will be from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
    Additionally, instead of scheduling appointments, all patrons (except for cadet candidates) will come in person to pick up paperwork to complete.
    This paperwork will be available in Building 606 in the hallway outside of regular hours of operation for those who need this flexibility.
    After filling out the forms, patrons will meet with a tax preparer, who will review the paperwork for completeness before accepting it. Read More

    Posted on February 7th, 2019 4:04 pm

  • Melting the days away : Class of 2020 celebrates 500 nights until graduation

    Five-hundred days. In that short period of time, the U.S. Military Academy Class of 2020 cadets will receive their second lieutenant bars and officially join the Long Gray Line of West Point graduates.
    To celebrate the short time they have left at West Point, the class held the annual 500th Night Banquet and hop Jan. 26.
    “Man, 500 days. Five-hundred days to leave a lasting legacy, 500 days to boost up that GPA, 500 days to better ourselves for the Soldiers we will soon lead, 500 days to cherish the moments we have as classmates,” Class of 2020 Cadet President Joshua Phillips said. “It feels so good to know we have made it this far. Looking back and remembering that morning on June 27, 2016 when we reported to the cadet red sash, there were a lot of mixed emotions, but we took on this 47-month experience with aspirations to becoming officers in the Army and to lead America’s sons and daughters.”
    The class was joined in its celebration by guest speaker retired Gen. Read More

    Posted on January 31st, 2019 4:08 pm

  • Army Cyber Institute welcomes Reserve Soldiers

    This past weekend marked a historic event for both the Army Cyber Institute at West Point and the 335th Signal Command’s Army Reserve Cyber Operations Group, as an active duty component and a reserve element joined cyber forces for the benefit of our nation.
    The Army Cyber Institute conducts cutting edge cyber research to explore the challenges facing the Army within the cyber domain in the next five to 10 years. Those research initiatives include cyber resiliency for critical infrastructure, cyber autonomy, high frequency communication and more.
    Realizing that both units could benefit greatly from each other, the 335th SC(T) ARCOG agreed to have 10 members of the unit serve their duty with the ACI at West Point over the next couple of years. Read More

    Posted on January 31st, 2019 4:02 pm

  • USMA Cyber team wins competition in France

    The West Point Cyber Policy team won its fourth Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge competition in France, Jan. 23.
    The Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge is designed to offer students across a wide range of academic disciplines a better understanding of the policy challenges associated with cyber conflict.
    The Cyber Policy team represents five different majors: Computer Science, International Relations, Economics, Operations Research and Law.
    Preparing for the competition involved not only understanding the relevant laws, strategies and institutions of France and the European Union, but also the processes and timelines involved in using them.
    “What the cadets accomplished is tremendous and a testament to their hard work and the resources the academy and Army Cyber Institute have made available to them,” Maj. Read More

    Posted on January 31st, 2019 3:58 pm

  • Academic departments host open houses for Class of 2022

    As their second semester at the U.S. Military Academy gets into full swing, the cadets in the Class of 2022 have a very important decision to make—their major.
    The window for Plebes to select their major officially opened last week. West Point currently offers 36 majors, including data science, which is a brand-new offering. To help the Class of 2022 cadets in their decision process, each of West Point’s academic departments hosted open houses Jan. 24 where cadets could talk to faculty and upperclassmen about the majors they are interested in.
    “No matter the major you choose, it is going to help you to better understand the human dimension of war. Whether you pick something in STEM or whether you pick something in the humanities and social sciences,” Brig. Read More

    Posted on January 31st, 2019 3:57 pm

  • Bindon speaks to D.C. WP Society

    Class of 2019 Cadet and First Captain David Bindon speaks to former USMA graduates and parents at the West Point Society luncheon in Washington, D.C. Jan 23. Bindon updated grads on recent academic changes to study days, class schedule shifts, capstone projects and scholarship recipients. He also discussed the new Army fitness test to be implemented in 2020, branching and talent-based management system and increased combat arms slots, upcoming international Sandhurst competition and the Cadet Character Educational Program, and MX400, an officership class for Firsties. Read More

    Posted on January 31st, 2019 3:49 pm

  • Grant in Mexico: “One of the most unjust (wars) ever waged”

    One of the remarkable achievements Ulysses S. Grant is known for even today, are his extraordinary accounts of his life published 1885 after his death, The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, in two volumes. They are an amazing literary accomplishment but even more so, his candor, honesty and simplicity are breathtaking at times. As a young lieutenant, he formed an opinion about the Mexico-U.S. War 1846-48 that remained with him until his death and echoes down the hall as generations have come and gone.
    “For myself,” Grant wrote later about the United States war against Mexico, “I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.”
    The political, cultural and social era of the 1830s birthed a mission transcribed as Manifest Destiny, America’s expansion westward into the lands occupied by native tribes and the Republic of Mexico. Read More

    Posted on January 31st, 2019 3:48 pm

  • Tax Season coming Monday to West Point, what you should know before you arrive

    West Point has seen a great deal of change in the past year. The West Point Tax Center will also include some much needed renovations.  One of the biggest changes will be the location of the center.
    This year, the West Point Tax Center will operate on the fourth floor of Building 606 beginning Monday. Hours of operation will be from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
    Additionally, instead of scheduling appointments, all patrons (except for cadet candidates) will come in person to pick up paperwork to complete.
    This paperwork will be available in Building 606 in the hallway outside of regular hours of operation for those who need this flexibility.
    After filling out the forms, patrons will meet with a tax preparer, who will review the paperwork for completeness before accepting it. Read More

    Posted on January 31st, 2019 2:41 pm

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