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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I see this as hazing. I think leaders should stop it. Or, inevitably, someone will be paralyzed or die from this "tradition." I'll bet they'll stop after that.
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The latest casualty report lists 30 injured - 24 w/ concussions. Sounds like a tradition (end of Plebe Summer?) that has degenerated into a non-supervised melee. Should those who knowing "weaponized a pillow" (I never thought I'd ever say that) be expelled? No. Disciplined? Absolutely. There's a part of me that would throw out the "boys will be boys" defense. But, at the end of the day, they need to be made aware that a lapse in judgment has consequence. Find out who did what... and have 'em run windsprints 'til the last injured youngster has been restored to full duty & health. No reason to burn a career. This should be a learning point --especially for those about to be commissioned.
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Lt Col (Join to see)
Capt Mark Strobl
I have to agree with the Staff Sgt and Senior Chief. I don't see encouraging your subordinates to beat the living shit out of each other, resulting in these injuries a mistake. Yes, careers do need to end for the ones directly responsible for antagonizing this behavior. Its an officer evaluation environment. Even in ROTC this would not be acceptable. I am pretty sure that when I was the spring 02 semester cadet commander, that if I encouraged my flights to kick crap each other I would have been removed from program with prejudice, meaning I would be barred from federal commissioned service. Hell, even in the civilian university environment, if this was a fraternity stunt that got out of hand. You can most certainly count on the students involved being expelled from the university and removed from their chapter rolls.
In AFROTC I have seen O-6's get early retirements for letting hazing get out of control at our summer field training for even more milder incidents. Such as one camp where the Cadets in charge (CTA's) had the trainees in the push up position in 110 degree heat in San Antonio (Lackland AFB) which resulted in people getting second and third degree burns on their hands. Many of commissioned staff were given LOR's. The CTA's directly responsible were dis-enrolled. I am glad that happened, knowing that I did not serve with these scumbags in the future.
Absolutely, some heads need to roll for this. I am not saying that they all get jail time and dismissed from service. The ones directly in charge of inciting the assaults. Kick them out. The ones who knew about it but said nothing get honor violations and honor tours. Any active duty staff tac officer type that was privy this was going to happen, get reprimands and are relieved from duty at the academy. Then it becomes a real learning lesson that there are real consequences to your actions when they cross the line.
Being that the service academies laud themselves for being these institutions with the highest standards of training and conduct, with their honor codes and other strict rules regulations. Sometimes the punishments are severe for these events. Otherwise, get rid all the honor codes and all of the other pomp and circumstance. Because those will be nothing more than a big facade.
I have to agree with the Staff Sgt and Senior Chief. I don't see encouraging your subordinates to beat the living shit out of each other, resulting in these injuries a mistake. Yes, careers do need to end for the ones directly responsible for antagonizing this behavior. Its an officer evaluation environment. Even in ROTC this would not be acceptable. I am pretty sure that when I was the spring 02 semester cadet commander, that if I encouraged my flights to kick crap each other I would have been removed from program with prejudice, meaning I would be barred from federal commissioned service. Hell, even in the civilian university environment, if this was a fraternity stunt that got out of hand. You can most certainly count on the students involved being expelled from the university and removed from their chapter rolls.
In AFROTC I have seen O-6's get early retirements for letting hazing get out of control at our summer field training for even more milder incidents. Such as one camp where the Cadets in charge (CTA's) had the trainees in the push up position in 110 degree heat in San Antonio (Lackland AFB) which resulted in people getting second and third degree burns on their hands. Many of commissioned staff were given LOR's. The CTA's directly responsible were dis-enrolled. I am glad that happened, knowing that I did not serve with these scumbags in the future.
Absolutely, some heads need to roll for this. I am not saying that they all get jail time and dismissed from service. The ones directly in charge of inciting the assaults. Kick them out. The ones who knew about it but said nothing get honor violations and honor tours. Any active duty staff tac officer type that was privy this was going to happen, get reprimands and are relieved from duty at the academy. Then it becomes a real learning lesson that there are real consequences to your actions when they cross the line.
Being that the service academies laud themselves for being these institutions with the highest standards of training and conduct, with their honor codes and other strict rules regulations. Sometimes the punishments are severe for these events. Otherwise, get rid all the honor codes and all of the other pomp and circumstance. Because those will be nothing more than a big facade.
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Capt Mark Strobl
Violent West Point Pillow Fight Under Investigation
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is investigating an annual pillow fight at the school that turned bloody and left 30 cadets injured, most of them with concussions.The school’s superintendent says appropriate action will be taken once an investigation by military police is concluded.The...
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If that is to be the next batch of officers then we are all in trouble. West Point used to stand for a lot of pride and honor I guess that has been removed.
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I will freely admit to some really stupid, but fun training events.
-Soccer with 40 men to a side and 11 balls on the field and sleeping bags in pillow cases as "bludgens." (I knew well enough to have NCO's inspect every pillow case.)
-Basket ball in swim fins and boxing gloves, (no punching - just makes ball handling difficult)
-Bull in the ring (bastardized sumo wrestling) with two squads in the ring at the start
-Ring Boss (6 ft circle, two Marines with Boxing gloves, mouth pieces, and padded headgear) 1st Marine with 2 minutes accumulated time with one or more feet in the ring wins
-Rope boss (2 Marines with boxing gloves, mouthpieces, and padded headgear boxing across a taught rope.
I had two broken fingers and one split lip in 4.5 years of combined command time.
The West Point incident is what happens when leaders forget they are military leaders, and start using subordinates for entertainment.
-Soccer with 40 men to a side and 11 balls on the field and sleeping bags in pillow cases as "bludgens." (I knew well enough to have NCO's inspect every pillow case.)
-Basket ball in swim fins and boxing gloves, (no punching - just makes ball handling difficult)
-Bull in the ring (bastardized sumo wrestling) with two squads in the ring at the start
-Ring Boss (6 ft circle, two Marines with Boxing gloves, mouth pieces, and padded headgear) 1st Marine with 2 minutes accumulated time with one or more feet in the ring wins
-Rope boss (2 Marines with boxing gloves, mouthpieces, and padded headgear boxing across a taught rope.
I had two broken fingers and one split lip in 4.5 years of combined command time.
The West Point incident is what happens when leaders forget they are military leaders, and start using subordinates for entertainment.
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Simply speaking, these are bunch of kids that are suppose to be our next military leaders really! Yes, there should be charges brought against those that participated and honor violations charged to those that knew of this practice. Look at all these colleges having problems with the hazing and kids getting injured and in extreme cases killed. They aren't kids any more, grow up and be responsible. I never in my entire life thought of hazing as a right of passage for anything, that is a practice that needs to be eradicated before we lost more young folks those could of or might of been great leaders or contributors in our society. Damn shame really!!
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Maj John Bell
I agree that there needs to be some charges, probably some dismissals, but I'm not sure how any of this would constitute an honor violation. Some argument could be made that it is cheating, but I'm not sure that a military court would go that way based on the West Point definition of cheating.
"A violation of cheating would occur if a Cadet fraudulently acted out of self-interest or assisted another to do so with the intent to gain or to give an unfair advantage. Cheating includes such acts as plagiarism (presenting someone else's ideas, words, data, or work as one's own without documentation), misrepresentation (failing to document the assistance of another in the preparation, revision, or proofreading of an assignment), and using unauthorized notes."
"A violation of cheating would occur if a Cadet fraudulently acted out of self-interest or assisted another to do so with the intent to gain or to give an unfair advantage. Cheating includes such acts as plagiarism (presenting someone else's ideas, words, data, or work as one's own without documentation), misrepresentation (failing to document the assistance of another in the preparation, revision, or proofreading of an assignment), and using unauthorized notes."
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Yes. If I got a Art15 for a speeding ticket, then these putzes, who assaulted & hurt others, & are to be officers, need to be held to very high standards. This is unacceptable behavior. Fry their asses....
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