Intensely Human Study of West Point

Army, Sep 2003 by Burke, Mike

Preparing Young People for Service Intensely Human Study of West Point Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point. David Lipsky. Houghton Mifflin. 317 pages; photographs; $25.

This book, the latest, best and I hope the last of its kind, is the result of the four-plus years David Lipsky spent with two cadet companies at the U.S. Military Academy. Originally conceived as a Rolling Stone piece, the work evolved into its present form after the author apparently found West Point far more complex and exciting than he had expected. To his great credit, he follows several of his subjects into their post-West Point lives to see what effects the Academy has had on them.

Some full disclosure is in order here. I was interviewed by the writer (though I do not think I appear in this book in any way), served with most of the people mentioned, and taught many of the cadets. In a way, this book holds a mirror up to my own experiences, and I can say with some confidence that it is about 90 percent accurate.

A gifted writer, Lipsky presents the "official" side of things by providing interviews with those concerned with the theory of cadet leader development. We also meet a diverse group of cadets, officers and NCOs-I am particularly impressed with his portraits of three tactical officers and one tactical NCO-who put those theories into practice, by and large successfully.

His key insight is that the cadets are college students and, at least at first, carry the same baggage as their peers at other colleges. What happens to the cadets over time, however, is what we hope: by and large, they turn slowly but inexorably into Army officers, with the kinds of values and attitudes we expect. This is not easy, certainly. Cadets resign, are dismissed, fail physical fitness tests, are injured. Not everyone succeeds, though most of those depicted do (about 80 percent of an entering class will graduate).

Lipsky calls West Point an "irony-free zone ... an immense relief for human beings: a relief not to have to worry about sounding foolish." He points out that "cadets are happier than students almost anywhere else. ... They seem mentally fit, mentally scrubbed; I've never seen less depressed kids."

The cadets themselves bear this out. He quotes one as saying, "It's just an incredible release to be able to talk about what actually matters to you in life-how you feel about important things-and be supported. You're not worried about projecting the right image ... Here we have such a close bond-we're all in the same profession and might have our lives depend on each other. It's a total release."

Of course, cadets do have to project the right image, the preferred one being "huah." How they get there and what that Army neologism means to them-and to West Point-is the real story here.

Four people, two cadets and two officers, form Lipsky's narrative backbone. George Rash goes from hapless plebe to semihapless graduate, having passed through several failed physical fitness tests, an honor hearing and poor grades in military development. Reid Finn travels a complex and inspiring arc from football recruit to standout Sandhurst military competition squad leader. Rash's story is one about determination, about doing one's best, but it also illustrates how relatively easy it is to graduate by simply surviving all four years. Finn's, on the other hand, shows what West Point does well, taking apathetic and uncommitted young people and developing them into talented, capable officers, sometimes in spite of themselves.

The two officers, likewise, represent different visions of military service. Col. Joe Adamczyk, the brigade tactical officer, follows exacting rules exactly. His methods are, on one level, impersonal, detailed, precise, aimed at getting cadets to render proper conduct automatically. The other, Lt. Col. Hank Keirsey, director of military training, inspires through personal example and exhortation. His vision is almost exactly opposed: it is deeply personal, colorful, more concerned with results than process, and, well, felt and lived rather than simply practiced.

The cadets are understandably drawn more to Keirsey than Adamczyk, but the book points out that Keirsey's way is dangerous. One of his officers makes a PowerPoint slide that calumniates cadets who do not select combat arms branches and Keirsey takes the heat, eventually having to retire in semidisgrace. Adamczyk retires, too, but after completing all but five months of a 30-year career, and goes on to success at another military college.

These four disparate experiences illuminate the real, human complexities of the Military Academy. Though Finn exemplifies West Point working at its most inspired, Rash suggests that this magic is not universal. Keirsey and Adamczyk-both Infantry, both "huah" in their own way-show the difficulty of preparing combat leaders in a highly self-referential, peacetime environment. In a way, the contrast between the two men illustrates exactly the great dichotomy at West Point's heart. Does it produce great captains in battle? Or does it create those who prefer, as one officer puts it, to "color within the lines"?