Did you know that the United States Military Academy was established on March 16, 1802?

2016-03-16T19:57:45-04:00

Disclaimer: I graduated with the USMA Class of 1980.
The United States Military Academy–the first military school in the United States–is founded by Congress for the purpose of educating and training young men in the theory and practice of military science. Located at West Point, New York, the U.S. Military Academy is often simply known as West Point. Located on bank of New York’s Hudson River.

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Mar 16 at 2016 8:07 PM

2016-03-16T20:07:07-04:00

LTC Stephen F. thanks for the post, I love that academy and trained Cadets at Range 3C with the M18 Claymore Mine/M203 Grenade Launcher 1994-1995(summer camp).
President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy in 1802. He took this action after ensuring that those attending the Academy would be representative of a democratic society.
http://www.usma.edu/wphistory/SitePages/Home.aspx

West Point History - Home

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Response by LTC Stephen F. made Mar 16 at 2016 8:08 PM

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In 1976 the first women arrived as cadets in the class of 1980. I was part of that class which changed the tradition of USMA, West Point being limited to men. We also broke with tradition because our First Captain was a black cadet who is currently General Vince Brooks.
Here are a few pictures from my graduation from USMA on May 28, 1980.
COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. MAJ David Wallace CPT L S CPT Private RallyPoint Member CW5 Private RallyPoint Member SGM Mikel Dawson CSM Michael J. Uhlig SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT [~SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSgt Private RallyPoint Member SSgt Robert Marx SSG Leo Bell SGT Forrest Stewart SGT Robert Hawks SPC Private RallyPoint Member SrA Christopher Wright SGT Randal Groover PO3 Steven Sherrill

Response by SGT John " Mac " McConnell made Mar 16 at 2016 8:29 PM

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No, I did not know.....Thanks for sharing LTC Stephen F.

Response by Alan K. made Mar 16 at 2016 8:43 PM

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Sure did....

Response by SGT Forrest Stewart made Mar 16 at 2016 8:48 PM

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Nope, didn't know this....

Response by LTC Monte Anderson made Mar 16 at 2016 9:59 PM

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Happy birthday, USMA. You don't look a day over 100.

Response by COL Charles Williams made Mar 16 at 2016 10:52 PM

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Yes, I did. By Sylvanus Thayer

Response by SSG Leo Bell made Mar 17 at 2016 1:38 AM

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Thank you for this article, West Point is a great school. The football team needs to start beating the Navy more.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Mar 17 at 2016 12:32 PM

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That is a lot of History and a lot of Heritage.

Response by MAJ Eric Andersen made Mar 17 at 2016 12:35 PM

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Pride and Excellence!

Response by CPT Gary Jugenheimer made Mar 19 at 2016 4:06 PM

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Yes, I knew that and it has a very proud and worthy tradition....

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Apr 2 at 2016 10:39 PM

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When I'd been in an army ROTC program before going USAF through OTS at lackland now at Maxwell my ROTC unit in Brooklyn and on long island spent a fair level of time training at West point with cadets. We went down the rappelling cliff were on the orienteering range and stayed in the barracks dorms and ate in the main dining hall.that was truly one!of my best memories I have obviously.

Response by LTC Tom Jones made Apr 9 at 2016 10:46 AM

2016-04-09T10:46:49-04:00

Did not know the exact date but memory (could be slightly off) tells me that it began as a very modest effort; perhaps a dozen Cadets and a not dissimilar number of faculty and staff. An early Commandant, in fact, was a Captain. Captain Partridge would later be credited with establishing our Nation's first ROTC-like program at Vermont's Norwich U.