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In May of 1992, Guy R. “Bear” Barattieri achieved the singular distinction of graduating last in his class at West Point... “he was an American hero in every sense of the word. He was one of the most down to earth, giving individuals I ever knew, he had a love for his family that was enormous, and he wore his belief in this country on his chest like a badge of honor.”

Three years after a scandal at the Air Force Academy over the evangelizing of cadets by Christian staff and faculty members, students and staff at West Point and the Naval Academy are complaining that their schools, too, have pushed religion on cadets and midshipmen.

The U.S. Army said Friday it will immediately repair barracks at eight facilities in the wake of inspection at bases worldwide. The inspections were done the last week of April and covered nearly 150,000 barracks rooms. They found that 45 repairs needed priority attention, including new heating and cooling equipment, repainting, mold removal and other work. Army Secretary Pete Geren has said that $248 million in emergency funds has been appropriated to fix problems found during the inspections. The Army on Friday identified eight installations that will get priority attention: Fort Polk, La.; Fort Gordon, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort...

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2008 – Success on today’s and tomorrow’s battlefields requires military leaders guided by conscience who refuse to be “yes men,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a speech last night to future Army officers at the U.S. Military Academy. Gates told the cadets at West Point, N.Y., that he considers principled dissent a sign of a healthy organization, but he also encouraged loyalty among the dissenters. The Army will need leaders of “uncommon agility, resourcefulness and imagination, leaders willing and able to think and act creatively and decisively in a different kind of world and a...

BREWSTER, Mass. -- The man who had been the oldest living graduate of the United States Military Academy has died. Retired Col. Benjamin Whitehouse died at the age of 105 Wednesday at a Brewster nursing home. He suffered a stroke last month. The West Point Association of Graduates says Whitehouse graduated in 1927 and left military service in 1929. He worked in the automative industry before re-enlisting the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Whitehouse served in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany, earning two Bronze Stars, before retiring from military service in 1957. He's survived by two children,...

RAMADI, Iraq -- Spc. Gerald Bradner, 21, from Brookneal, Va., is an intelligence annalist with 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division stationed at Camp Blue Diamond. He graduated William Campbell High School in 2004 and will attend the U.S. Military Academy, better known as West Point, in August 2008. Bradner is the first person from William Campbell High School to go to West Point in more than 40 years. RAMADI, Iraq -- Spc. Gerald Bradner, 21, from Brookneal, Va., is an intelligence annalist with 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division stationed at Camp Blue Diamond....

A Day in the Life of President Bush (with photos): 12-01-07 Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island PHOTO (s) OF THE DAY ~~Cardboard cutouts of President Bush are represented on both sides of the field at the annual Army/Navy Football Game today. Army cadet Andrew Batule from Honolulu, Hawaii, cheers while standing along side a cardboard cut out of President George W. Bush during the first half of Army's NCAA college football game against Navy in Baltimore, Maryland December 1, 2007. A group of Midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy hold a cardboard cut-out of U.S. President George...

This weekend was Memorial Day weekend and today's dose is a tribute to this special weekend in honour of America's fallen heroes. Rolling Thunder made their annual trip to Washington to honour the fallen on Memorial Day Weekend including visiting the White House on Saturday. On Saturday Vice President Dick Cheney delivered the commencement speech at West Point. Today the President attended Memorial Day ceremonies at the Arlington National Cemetery. In the Green Zone in Baghdad there were the first official high level talks between the US and Iran in 27 years. Americans celebrated Memorial weekend in different ways through...

WHITE PLAINS - The mere presence of Vice President Dick Cheney does not turn West Point into a public forum and is not an "open invitation" to protesters, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. Cheney is scheduled to deliver the commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy today, and about 1,000 people had hoped to march onto the campus for an anti-war demonstration. But the Army denied permission, a federal judge in White Plains agreed, and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused on Friday to issue a preliminary injunction that would allow the march...The protesters' attorney, Stephen...

Court: Protesters Can't Enter West Point For VP's Speech POSTED: 1:11 pm EDT May 25, 2007 UPDATED: 1:13 pm EDT May 25, 2007 WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- The mere presence of Vice President Dick Cheney does not turn West Point into a public forum and is not an "open invitation" to protesters, a federal appeals court said Friday. Cheney is scheduled to deliver the commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday and about 1,000 people had hoped to march onto the campus for an anti-war demonstration. But the Army denied permission, a federal judge in White Plains agreed...

WEST POINT, N.Y., April 26, 2007 – It seemed very much like the passing of the torch as Marine Gen. Peter Pace spoke to the U.S. Military Academy Class of 2007 here yesterday. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace speaks to cadets of the U.S. Military Academy Class of 2007 in West Point, N.Y., April 25, 2007. Defense Dept. photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Pace probably will be the last chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with combat experience from Vietnam. He spoke to cadets...

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) _ Muslims at the U.S. Military Academy numbered just two in 2001. This year, there are 32. Now West Point has opened its first space dedicated to Muslims, a worship hall complete with a pulpit facing Mecca. The space officially opened Thursday. "I knew the Army had a policy of religious tolerance, but I didn't know it was to this extent," said first-year Cadet Ahmed Moomin, 20, from the Maldives. Until now, Friday prayers were held in an increasingly crowded first-floor office, said Imam Asadullah, the academy's Muslim cleric. The number of Muslim cadets jumped by...

CANANDAIGUA — Charlie Sauter won't have much of a summer vacation next year. And that suits the Canandaigua Academy senior just fine. Sauter is scheduled to graduate from CA next June 23. Two days later, he will report to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A member of the football, skiing and lacrosse teams at CA, Sauter was granted early acceptance earlier this month as the first official member of the Army Class of 2011.

(AgapePress) - A conservative military watchdog says she intends to question West Point Military Academy officials about why a former cadet was given an award for a thesis objecting to the U.S. military's ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces. Second Lieutenant Alexander Raggio describes himself as the straightest guy imaginable; but in his senior thesis at West Point Academy, he argued that the military's policy banning homosexuals from service is not only wrong but harmful to America's armed services. For his controversial paper, the then-senior cadet received an award from the Academy's English Department. This incident has led...

The U.S. Military Academy is welcoming its first cadet from Iraq, a 19-year-old who wants serve his country's army after witnessing violence in Baghdad. Incoming Cadet Jameel acknowledged Thursday that attending West Point posed potential dangers to him and his family in Iraq. But he said it was worth it for a chance to serve at the school, which he called "the best military academy in the world." Jameel was interviewed on the condition his first name be withheld and no pictures were allowed. West Point officials said the conditions were set by the U.S. Army to provide security for...

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2006 – Growing up "green" with a pair of Army parents and moving around the world influenced a West Point cadet's decision to give military life a whirl. Cadet Sgt. Philip S. Bucci, a second-generation West Pointer, said his military parents influenced his decision to attend the academy. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "Dad graduated from West Point in 1977, and Mom was an Army nurse," recalled Cadet Sgt. Philip S. Bucci, who has just completed his second year at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. "I've always...

C-SPAN aired a repeat appearance of Mr. Chumpsky at West Point Military Academy April 20. Chomsky was evidently invited by a gushing West Point philosophy professor, Robert Tully, who had such reverence for Noam that I wondered why my tax dollars were supporting such an America hater as Chomsky as well as the salary for the leftist professor at West Point. The young, impressionable cadets offered Chomsky a little bit extra applause and a gift at the end of his address. The speech seemed shorter than the overly ingratiating introduction given by the anti-military West Point professor Tully. Chomsky blasted...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 1, 2006) – Comparing the Global War on Terror to the Cold War, President George W. Bush told 861 U.S. Military Academy graduates May 27 that they will face a more elusive enemy – global terrorists. Comparing the years after World War II to the years following 9/11, he said the dedication of President Harry S. Truman helped the U.S. build a stronghold against its challenges. “By the actions he took, the institutions he built, the alliances he forged and the doctrines he set down, President Truman laid the foundation of America’s victory in the...

BOSTON -- Two local high school students have earned scholarships to West Point, but when it comes to awards night at their school the military is not invited. Some said it's a big disservice to those who are ready to serve their country. Newscenter Five's Sean Kelly reported that the principal of King Phillip Regional High School in Wrentham, Mass., told the U.S. Army it would not be welcome at a scholarship banquet that will be held to honor two graduates who have received scholarships to West Point Military Academy.

Noam Chomsky: Failed States: The Abuse Of Power and the Assault on Democracy 11:00PM CSPAN2 60mins. In an appearance at West Point, MIT professor Noam Chomsky ("Failed States") talks with cadets about war theory and the invasion of Iraq.

President George W Bush has likened the US "war on terror" to the Cold War fight against communism after World War II, at a military graduation ceremony. Speaking to cadets at West Point military academy in New York state, Mr Bush said the US would not rest until the threat of terror had been removed. The 861 new graduates must fight a war against terror that knew no boundaries, the president told them. "The war began on my watch but it's going to end on your watch," he said. In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Bush talked of his aim of...

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: President and Mrs. Bush and their long-time friends, former Commerce Secretary Don Evans and his wife, are spending Memorial Day weekend together at Camp David. There is speculation in the media that the President may ask Mr. Evans to become the next Treasury Secretary. Today, the President traveled to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, to give the commencement address to the Corps of Cadets. SCHEDULE UPDATE: NOTE -- so far, new Press Secretary Tony Snow has not been annoucing the Week Ahead in his press briefings. Scott McClellan has stopped...

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2006 – America will take the fight against terrorism to every battlefront with an unrelenting determination that will not cease until terrorists are defeated, President Bush said today in West Point, N.Y. Cadets celebrate at the conclusion of graduation exercises at the U.S. Military Academy, May 27. Those graduating represent approximately 72 percent of the cadets who entered West Point almost four years ago. U.S. Army photo   "Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response: We will never back down; we will never give in; and we will never accept anything less than complete...

The field of battle is where your degree and commission will take you. This is the first class to arrive at West Point after the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. Each of you came here in a time of war, knowing all the risks and dangers that come with wearing our nation's uniform. And I want to thank you for your patriotism, your devotion to duty, your courageous decision to serve. America is grateful and proud of the men and women of West Point. President Bush, May 27, 2006... In this new war, we have set a clear doctrine....

FOUR DECADE5 OF SERVICE TO COUNTRY By Philip L. Bolte ‘50 The smoke from a thirteen gun solute drifted over the parade ground at Fort Myer in August of 1991, the Army Band (Pershings Own) played traditional Cavalry songs --- "Gary Owen" and "Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" --- and the Third United States Infantry (The Old Guard) passed in review. The ceremony marked the retirement of Major General William F. Ward, Jr., Chief of Army Reserve, and last member of the West Point Class of 1950 to serve on active duty. From the start, the class...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Army warned an anti-war group of former U.S. Military Academy cadets to stop using the words "West Point" in its name, saying they are trademarked. A co-founder of West Point Graduates Against the War countered Friday that his organization is simply following the cadets' code. "At West Point, we were taught that cadets do not lie, cheat or steal — and to oppose those who do," said William Cross, a 1962 West Point graduate. "We are a positive organization. We are not anti-West Point or anti-military. We are just trying to uphold what we were taught."...

West Point -- Twenty-one gay rights activists were detained at the U.S. Military Academy and issued federal citations Wednesday while protesting the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The academy was their last stop on a cross-country tour of 20 conservative Christian and military colleges that protest organizers say discriminate against gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Members of the protest group Soulforce Equality Riders have faced charges for protests at five of the campuses. Ten were handcuffed and charged with disorderly conduct after demonstrating April 14 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. On Wednesday, about 50...

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/13/2006) - CAIR National Board Member Dr. Ahmad Al-Akhras offered a lecture this week to more than 1000 cadets, staff and faculty at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. (SEE: http://www.usma.edu/ ) The event was part of the academy's "Diversity Lecture Series." Dr. Al-Akhras also participated in an evening session at which he was able to answer questions on a variety of issues related to Islam, Muslims and international events. CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage...

Army Womens Basketball Coach Maggie Dixon, who led the Black Knights to their First NCAA Tournament, in her first Head coaching season has died at age 28 of cardiac arrythmia.

WEST POINT, N.Y. - A cadet at the U.S. Military Academy has been charged with raping two former cadets, a West Point spokesman said Thursday in reporting the latest alleged sex assault involving a military academy. Lonnie Story, a senior from Poplar Bluff, Mo., was on leave when the alleged incidents occurred in January 2005 and October 2005, Lt. Col. Kent Cassella said. The two women had already graduated at the time. In an e-mail message to The Associated Press late Thursday, Story professed his innocence. He faces a pretrial investigation to decide whether the case should proceed to a...

...There is a special reason why you, the future leaders of the United States Army, need to be philosophically armed today. You are the target of a special attack by the Kantian-Hegelian-collectivist establishment that dominates our cultural institutions at present. You are the army of the last semi-free country left on earth, yet you are accused of being a tool of imperialism--and "imperialism" is the name given to the foreign policy of this country, which has never engaged in military conquest and has never profited from the two world wars, which she did not initiate, but entered and won. (It...

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) - Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam during a major escalation of the war, was buried Saturday at the U.S. Military Academy, where he was once superintendent. The World War II combat veteran died Monday at the age of 91 of natural causes at the South Carolina retirement home where he lived with his wife, Katherine. "He left his mark in history," a chaplain, Lt. Col. John J. Cook, said in a graveside eulogy. "The season of war is gone ... Now he'll enter a season of rest." Following a private chapel service...

WEST POINT, N.Y. (Army News Service, June 24. 2005) -- The first Afghan native to attend the U.S. Military Academy is scheduled to report for duty at West Point June 27. Shoaib Yosoufzai, one of 21 international cadets accepted as a member of the Class of 2009, comes from Laghman providence in Eastern Afghanistan. Yosoufzai spent two years at Kabul University learning civil engineering. Continuing in the engineering field and gaining a strong military background are two of the reasons he wanted to come to West Point. “I wanted a military career and the U.S. Military Academy has a very...

COLPO TO BECOME CHIEF OF STAFF AT WEST POINT – COL MIKE “NO COMBAT” COLPO (THE “CHAIRBORNE” RANGER) INFANTRY OFFICER DOESN’T GO INTO HARM’S WAY IN GRENADA, PANAMA, SOMALIA, KOSOVO, BOSNIA, GULF WAR, IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN – ALSO MANAGED TO AVOID OVERSEAS DUTY DURING 27 YEARS IN THE STATES WHILE OTHER WEST POINT GRADS FOUGHT AND DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY COLPO HUNTOON’S “RIGHT-HAND MAN” DURING SHAMEFUL GEN. BRADLEY AIDE “GUN GRAB” AT TROUBLED CARLISLE BARRACKS “You’re kidding me. This is a joke, right?” said one senior officer at Ft. Bragg when we told him COL Mike “NO COMBAT” Colpo was...

SIERRA VISTA - Buena High School graduate Sean Storey will be among 242 young people who will receive the Congressional Award Gold Medal during a ceremony Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington D.C. The award is the highest honor bestowed upon young people by the U.S. Congress, according to an announcement from the Congressional Award Foundation. Storey, 17, the son of Christopher and Syretha Storey, is one of three award recipients from Arizona. The Congressional Award is a public-private partnership created by Congress in 1979 to provide a unique opportunity for young people ages...

WEST POINT, N.Y. - When Adam Sasso arrived at the U.S. Military Academy in the summer of 2001, he expected to find intense challenges, close friendships and rigorous academics. But he was pleasantly surprised to also find at the army's elite college a Jewish community he describes as "very committed." There are fewer than 90 Jews in West Point's 4,000-person student body, but they constitute a particularly tight-knit and active group: Jewish cadets gather for Friday night services, perform with a Hebrew choir and attend parties sponsored by the campus Hillel chapter. Moreover, students, alumni and Jewish staff say that...

It's Thursday night at the Firstie Club, West Point's campus bar for seniors, and the cadets' dress code is college casual. For once, the shoes aren't shiny, nobody's wearing a hat with a plume. Instead, they're in flip-flops, board shorts or jeans, baseball hats or visors, bead necklaces purchased on spring break. But still they give themselves away at every turn. They're like undercover cops infiltrating a frat party. Their shoulders are a bit too square. They don't slouch. They plow efficiently through dishes of peanuts, eyes darting about the room, scanning for friends as they would targets on the...

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Graduating U.S. Military Academy cadets - who came here just weeks before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - were told Saturday they were a special group forged by historic events. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the class "one of the few since the early days of the Vietnam War who came to West Point in peace time, saw the nation transition to war and chose to stay, knowing you would raise your right hand and take an oath and swear to defend the constitution of a nation that was still...

"Duty,Honor,Country"General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's Address at West Point, May 12,1962 (click to listen)

Pace Passes Along Combat Lessons to West Point Cadets By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, April 28, 2005 – You could hear a pin drop as Marine Gen. Peter Pace told cadets at the U.S. Military Academy here about his experiences during the Vietnam War. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with cadets before dinner at the U.S. Military Academy dining facility, West Point, N.Y., on April 27. He visited the academy to share advice and lessons he learned while in combat. Photo by Staff Sgt D. Myles Cullen, USAF Pace,...

TIKRIT, Iraq, April 11, 2005 – While on combat duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom here, Spc. Matthew J. Robbins learned just before Easter that he was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

I enjoyed two exceptional concerts over the recent Presidents Weekend, both of them free. One was a Big Band program of jazz by "Jelly Roll" Morton, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and other great names, during which the guest soloist, saxophonist Dave Liebman, repeatedly showed us why he's so revered as a master of his art. The second was a refreshing program of 20th-century chamber music for woodwinds by Maurice Ravel, Carl Nielsen and Györgi Ligeti, an elder statesman of the avant-garde. Both concerts took place in the picturesque setting of West Point in the Hudson River Highlands. And the superb...

Howdy fellow Freepers: I am working on a tribute of my Father for my Mother -- to celebrate my Fathers life. I have gone to the West Point website, to ask for help and have received several e-mails from those who knew my father or bunked with my dad. I should have done this long ago, but, no matter the years my heart sank at the loss of my dad. I suppose it is true, a daughter is a daughter all of her life, a son is a son until he takes on a wife. I was an only child...

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Applications are down at the nation's military academies, though administrators say the drop has been caused by factors other than any chilling effect from the war in Iraq. West Point applications were off 11 percent as of Oct. 21 compared to a year earlier. The U.S. Naval Academy posted a 20 percent drop by the same week and the U.S. Air Force Academy reported a 9 percent drop compared to early October of last year. The numbers are not final because application deadlines for the classes entering service academies in fall 2005 are still months away....

West Point terrorism test keeps paratroopers ready By Kevin Maurer Staff writer WEST POINT, N.Y. - Nine months ago, Sgt. David Davis was patrolling the streets of Baghdad for insurgents. On Tuesday, he was patrolling the walkways of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point looking for terrorists. Staff photo by David Smith Pfc. Kyle Edwards of Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, stands guard Tuesday at the Washington Gate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. About 100 paratroopers from Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, flew to the academy early Tuesday morning...

Why not go to the Labor Day Concert at West Point? Dull, right? Not really. This final outdoor concert of the season for the West Point Band will last from about 6PM until 9PM, and includes performances by our beloved Hellcats, the Jazz Knights, and the USMA Concert Band. The US Army Chorus will also perform. Now, I am no big fan of classical music, and would not drive 10 miles to see a concert, much less the 2+hrs this trip will take. Except for one thing: On the schedule is the 1812 Overture, complete with cannon and fireworks. I...

WASHINGTON - A top Pentagon official said he favors resuming training Pakistani officers in US military academies as a way of increasing US influence in the country’s armed forces and reducing that of Islamic radicals. “You don’t promote military reform in a country like Pakistan by cutting off education for Pakistani military officers here and pushing them into the one alternative, which is the Islamic extremists,” Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday. “It’s not as though if we leave them alone, nobody else will go out to recruit them,” he added. The United States...

Life not Predictable, Rumsfeld Tells New Army Officers By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press ServiceWEST POINT, N.Y., May 29, 2004 – "Life is not predictable," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the newest second lieutenants in the U.S. Army today. Rumsfeld was the graduation speaker at the U.S. Military Academy. He told the 935 graduating members of the West Point Class of 2004 that when they arrived at the academy in July 2000, they probably thought the most challenging part of being an Army officer "would involve activities like enforcing the peace in the Balkans." But terrorists turning commercial airliners...

WEST POINT, New York (Reuters) - The United States' declared war on terror is closer to the beginning than the end, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told graduates of the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday. Rumsfeld told the 2004 graduating class of 935 cadets that in the three years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, the U.S.-led coalition had "overthrown two vicious regimes and liberated 50 million people, disrupted terrorist cells across the globe and thwarted many terrorist attacks." "Yet despite our successes, we are closer to the beginning of this struggle with global insurgency than to its...

West Point Opens Doors to Afghan Applicants By U.S. Army Spc. Douglas DeMaio / Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, March 11, 2004 - For the first time, Afghan candidates may have an opportunity to attend West Point this fall.A total of 146 nations have been invited to select six nominees to apply for admission into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Out of 840 international nominees, only 10 will be chosen, with no more than two selected from any one nation.Thirteen Afghan nominees were interviewed and tested by three U.S. soldiers last month, to determine Afghanistan's six...