Posted on Sep 4, 2015
Should charges be leveled at West Point Cadets who knowingly injured other Cadets in a Weaponized Pillow fight?
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The aftermath of this "pillow fight" left 30 injured, 2 medically removed, 3 broken arms, 1 broken leg, 1 broken neck, numerous with missing teeth and 24 concussions.
Cadets knowingly beat and seriously injured other Cadets in a yearly pillow fight event. The actions of those who weaponized (don't laugh) their pillows with the intent of harming other Cadets in the yearly fight are being investigated.
It's disturbing that this was observed by upper classmen and allowed to continue and that staff knew of it's occurrence and did not oversee or stop it from occurring. There is failure on multiple levels.
I'm sure it's seen as a right of passage at West Point but I can't get around the fact that they were intentionally seriously injuring their own comrades. It's obvious that the goal was to injure and be injured given the Upper classmen telling the plebs, to wear their body armor and kevlar helmets. If this had happened in a Unit, charges would be filed and heads would roll.
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From: NY Times
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.
Though talk about the brawl on Aug. 20 had circulated on social media, West Point did not confirm it to The New York Times until Thursday.
Colonel Kasker said the annual fight is organized by first-year students as a way to build camaraderie after the summer program that prepares them for the rigors of plebe year.
Upperclassmen overseeing freshmen “allowed the spirit activity to occur out of the desire to enhance the spirit of the class,” Colonel Kasker said, adding that those upperclassmen took “mitigating measures” to prevent injury, including requiring cadets to wear helmets.
But video shows that many of the cadets did not wear helmets. Cadets said that in at least a few cases helmets became weapons stuffed into pillowcases.
“West Point applauds the cadets’ desire to build esprit and regrets the injuries to our cadets,” Colonel Kasker said. “We are conducting appropriate investigations into the causes of the injuries.”
So far no cadets have been punished, and the academy has no plans to end the annual tradition. Colonel Kasker said commanders were not available for comment on Friday.
Video of the fight posted online showed crowds of cadets, some wearing body armor as well as helmets, surging together in a central quad, their yells echoing off the stone walls of the surrounding barracks.
As the first-year cadets collided into a boil of white pillows, pummeling one another in the fading light, Army-issued glow sticks flew through the air and an impromptu cavalry of riders in laundry carts dashed in, cushions swinging. At one point, a smoke grenade appeared to go off.
Photos posted later on Twitter show plebes, as freshmen are called, with bloody faces and bloody pillows, and at least one person being loaded into an ambulance.
“My plebe was knocked unconscious and immediately began fighting when he came to,” an unnamed upperclassman, who was apparently observing from the sidelines, wrote on the social media forum Yik Yak. “I was so proud I could cry.”
As the battle continued, cadets clustered around at least two classmates who had fallen, apparently unable to get up. Others stumbled to a medical area set up beside the fracas.
“4 concussions, 1 broken leg, 2 broken arms, 1 dislocated shoulder, and several broken ribs. That’s one hell of a pillow fight. #USMA19,” one freshman posted on Twitter, echoing many who seemed to see the injuries as a point of pride.
As the scope of injuries became clear, cadets said in interviews, West Point staff members went door to door in the barracks giving quick concussion checks.
In interviews, cadets said they saw the fight as a chance to have fun after seven weeks of basic training in which they were not supposed to speak to one another. It was also a chance to show grit.
“If you don’t come back with a bloody nose,” a male first-year cadet said his upperclassman commander told him, “you didn’t try hard enough.”
West Point pillow fights have existed since at least 1897, according to testimony in a 1901 congressional inquiry on hazing at the school, but there have been no other reports over the decades of injury until recently.
In 2012, a cadet put a lockbox in a pillowcase, injuring others, and in response, the 2013 fight was canceled, cadets said.
Similar violence has occurred at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs during ceremonial warfare traditions in recent years.
During the first winter storm of the year, Air Force freshmen try to throw their cadet leaders into the snow. But in 2012 the snowball fight turned into a brawl, and 27 cadets were treated for concussions, cuts, broken bones and a bite wound.
The Air Force did not punish any cadets at the time, choosing to treat the episode as what a spokesman called “a teachable moment.”
West Point cadets had mixed reactions to the injuries this year. Some saw them as a rite of passage in a school known for being tough; others saw a lack of judgment and restraint.
“At first the body count, people were joking about it,” a female first-year cadet said. “My friends were really excited. And right after, when we learned how many people had gotten hurt, everyone felt totally hard-core. I know it looks weird from the outside, but it really bonds us.”
But when she saw a male cadet being loaded into an ambulance outside her dorm room, she began to have second thoughts.
“If you are an officer, you are supposed to make good decisions and follow the rules. You are supposed to mediate when everyone wants to go out and kill everyone,” she said. “The goal was to have fun, and it ended up some guys just chose to hurt people.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/us/at-west-point-annual-pillow-fight-becomes-weaponized.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=0
Cadets knowingly beat and seriously injured other Cadets in a yearly pillow fight event. The actions of those who weaponized (don't laugh) their pillows with the intent of harming other Cadets in the yearly fight are being investigated.
It's disturbing that this was observed by upper classmen and allowed to continue and that staff knew of it's occurrence and did not oversee or stop it from occurring. There is failure on multiple levels.
I'm sure it's seen as a right of passage at West Point but I can't get around the fact that they were intentionally seriously injuring their own comrades. It's obvious that the goal was to injure and be injured given the Upper classmen telling the plebs, to wear their body armor and kevlar helmets. If this had happened in a Unit, charges would be filed and heads would roll.
--
From: NY Times
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.
Though talk about the brawl on Aug. 20 had circulated on social media, West Point did not confirm it to The New York Times until Thursday.
Colonel Kasker said the annual fight is organized by first-year students as a way to build camaraderie after the summer program that prepares them for the rigors of plebe year.
Upperclassmen overseeing freshmen “allowed the spirit activity to occur out of the desire to enhance the spirit of the class,” Colonel Kasker said, adding that those upperclassmen took “mitigating measures” to prevent injury, including requiring cadets to wear helmets.
But video shows that many of the cadets did not wear helmets. Cadets said that in at least a few cases helmets became weapons stuffed into pillowcases.
“West Point applauds the cadets’ desire to build esprit and regrets the injuries to our cadets,” Colonel Kasker said. “We are conducting appropriate investigations into the causes of the injuries.”
So far no cadets have been punished, and the academy has no plans to end the annual tradition. Colonel Kasker said commanders were not available for comment on Friday.
Video of the fight posted online showed crowds of cadets, some wearing body armor as well as helmets, surging together in a central quad, their yells echoing off the stone walls of the surrounding barracks.
As the first-year cadets collided into a boil of white pillows, pummeling one another in the fading light, Army-issued glow sticks flew through the air and an impromptu cavalry of riders in laundry carts dashed in, cushions swinging. At one point, a smoke grenade appeared to go off.
Photos posted later on Twitter show plebes, as freshmen are called, with bloody faces and bloody pillows, and at least one person being loaded into an ambulance.
“My plebe was knocked unconscious and immediately began fighting when he came to,” an unnamed upperclassman, who was apparently observing from the sidelines, wrote on the social media forum Yik Yak. “I was so proud I could cry.”
As the battle continued, cadets clustered around at least two classmates who had fallen, apparently unable to get up. Others stumbled to a medical area set up beside the fracas.
“4 concussions, 1 broken leg, 2 broken arms, 1 dislocated shoulder, and several broken ribs. That’s one hell of a pillow fight. #USMA19,” one freshman posted on Twitter, echoing many who seemed to see the injuries as a point of pride.
As the scope of injuries became clear, cadets said in interviews, West Point staff members went door to door in the barracks giving quick concussion checks.
In interviews, cadets said they saw the fight as a chance to have fun after seven weeks of basic training in which they were not supposed to speak to one another. It was also a chance to show grit.
“If you don’t come back with a bloody nose,” a male first-year cadet said his upperclassman commander told him, “you didn’t try hard enough.”
West Point pillow fights have existed since at least 1897, according to testimony in a 1901 congressional inquiry on hazing at the school, but there have been no other reports over the decades of injury until recently.
In 2012, a cadet put a lockbox in a pillowcase, injuring others, and in response, the 2013 fight was canceled, cadets said.
Similar violence has occurred at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs during ceremonial warfare traditions in recent years.
During the first winter storm of the year, Air Force freshmen try to throw their cadet leaders into the snow. But in 2012 the snowball fight turned into a brawl, and 27 cadets were treated for concussions, cuts, broken bones and a bite wound.
The Air Force did not punish any cadets at the time, choosing to treat the episode as what a spokesman called “a teachable moment.”
West Point cadets had mixed reactions to the injuries this year. Some saw them as a rite of passage in a school known for being tough; others saw a lack of judgment and restraint.
“At first the body count, people were joking about it,” a female first-year cadet said. “My friends were really excited. And right after, when we learned how many people had gotten hurt, everyone felt totally hard-core. I know it looks weird from the outside, but it really bonds us.”
But when she saw a male cadet being loaded into an ambulance outside her dorm room, she began to have second thoughts.
“If you are an officer, you are supposed to make good decisions and follow the rules. You are supposed to mediate when everyone wants to go out and kill everyone,” she said. “The goal was to have fun, and it ended up some guys just chose to hurt people.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/05/us/at-west-point-annual-pillow-fight-becomes-weaponized.html?smid=tw-bna&_r=0
Posted in these groups: 
United States Military Academy (USMA West Point)
United States Military Academy (USMA West Point)
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 108
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There should absolutely be some people headed to the House after this Cluster F***. This is the kind of indiscipline that is completely unacceptable. There should be leadership and Cadets getting disciplined. These are supposedly going to be our leaders. West Point has some serious issues beyond this pillow fight. This is just a glimpse at possible deeper issues within the leadership influences and structure.
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And we are allowing these cadets to join our ranks - Are you kidding me?!?!?!?! Just think, I turned down an opportunity to attend this institution of higher learning. After basic training 1985, I think I would have beat the S**t out of my upper classmates for being stupid!
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A few thoughts:
- This incident should be investigated via a 15-6.
- Based upon the findings of this investigation then appropriate actions should be taken to include but not limited to West Point cadre, upper classmen, and plebes who may have either been directly involved or observed and took no actions to stop.
- "Traditions" such as this will continue unless and until positive actions are taken to put an end to them.
- I do not recall this tradition when I was a plebe in 1988-1989.
- This incident should be investigated via a 15-6.
- Based upon the findings of this investigation then appropriate actions should be taken to include but not limited to West Point cadre, upper classmen, and plebes who may have either been directly involved or observed and took no actions to stop.
- "Traditions" such as this will continue unless and until positive actions are taken to put an end to them.
- I do not recall this tradition when I was a plebe in 1988-1989.
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CPT (Join to see)
COL Jason Smallfield, PMP, CFM, CM Sir I remembered reading the following, "West Point pillow fights have existed since at least 1897, according to testimony in a 1901 congressional inquiry on hazing at the school, but there have been no other reports over the decades of injury until recently." It is a relief to read that you do not recall this tradition during your time there. Thank you for commenting on this thread.
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LTC (Join to see)
My Dad, Class of '67 does not remember it either. Looks like the media dug up one instance back in 1897 and combined it with a few other loose incidents and called it a yearly tradition.
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This is the dumbest tradition I have ever heard of. I think these cadets should foot the combined medical bills of this incident. The taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for all the senseless injuries that occurred. Let me guess, this will also show up on their medical files for service connected disability in the future..
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Given the severity of the injuries I would like see the punishments fit the crime. If a Enlisted Soldier in any branch had a pillow fight that resulted in injury what would their punishment be?
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Traditions are one thing, this is sociopathic behavior at best, outright psychotic at worst. It does not seem like it was one student loading the pillow case to "get even" with another student. It appears from what I have read that this was an outright "how many can I take out" type of event. The sad thing is that if this is a well established tradition, it is going away. Traditions change over time, but to have a tradition taken away because someone took it beyond way too far is sad. I hope that they do file charges against the individuals responsible. Make an example out of them, and keep their tradition. Furthermore, these individuals would be the type of officers that get the people serving under them killed by their own selfish behaviors. They are not the kind of person that the Army needs leading soldiers in the field.
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An appropriate investigation must be made; as I understand, it is taking place now. The results of that investigation would determine appropriate administrative, non-judicial, or judicial actions to be taken.
The service is full of rituals, ie. crossing the date line or equator, chiefs initiation, etc. I think the rituals themselves are good for morale, but only if conducted in a safe manner. This tradition, itself isn't the issue; it was not conducted safely. In any training or recreational activity, safety comes first; you do a risk assessment, you may have a few get hurt, but the risk assessment along with a some common sense and attention to safety minimizes those mishaps. 30 injuries clearly indicates an unsafe situation, if not even intentional assault. Putting heavy things in the pillows is not safe in my book. Intentional or not, this is not what I would not want to see out of a program that trains our future officers.
The service is full of rituals, ie. crossing the date line or equator, chiefs initiation, etc. I think the rituals themselves are good for morale, but only if conducted in a safe manner. This tradition, itself isn't the issue; it was not conducted safely. In any training or recreational activity, safety comes first; you do a risk assessment, you may have a few get hurt, but the risk assessment along with a some common sense and attention to safety minimizes those mishaps. 30 injuries clearly indicates an unsafe situation, if not even intentional assault. Putting heavy things in the pillows is not safe in my book. Intentional or not, this is not what I would not want to see out of a program that trains our future officers.
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First expell, then charge all those responsible. It shows such a lack of good judgement and leadership that I would NEVER trust the care and well being of my soldiers to them.
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Yes! Absolutely! It REQUIRED that they were their helmets....not put them in the pillow cases and hit each other with them. ABSOLUTELY! and if this is how they handle their first year....MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST ALL BE KICKED TO THE CURB....they have no business being in the military.
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I can't even fathom how the thought of placing solid object inside a pillow case crossed the minds of these guys or how the rest of the cadets stood around and let it continue. Someone could have been killed. It's worrisome that eventually these young men and women will eventually be responsible for the welfare of dozens to thousands of troops. I'm aware that most institutional traditions aren't designed for malice, but they do hurt. I got promoted to PFC and a Corporal actually drove one of my chevrons into my collar bone. Sucked having the Doc yank them out with pliers but I'm sure the Cpl didn't do it on purpose, it was something that was handed down and accepted. This, this was done with intent to injure or more. I had what most folks in my first platoon considered a conservative Platoon Sgt. He put the squadoosh on any hazing. Yeah, we called him soft until he explained to us that we all went through the ultimate rite of passage in boot camp. We all earned our Eagle,Globe and Anchor. What right did we have to torture someone to allow him into something he was already a part of. He reminded us how pissy we'd get if he had us doing push-ups on hot asphalt or digging machine gun pits with a MRE spoon. Made sense to me and I carried that bit of thinking with me through my career. I don't think they should stop it, but someone needs to at least check for foreign objects before continuing this.
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