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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First and foremost, I don't condone what happened. In any way. This is not the last time in this post I say it, but it got out of hand. However, for those not having attended USMA, you have to look at it a little differently. I did not attend, however, my Father did attend (class of '67) and he shared some insight into these incidents, along with informing me he had no recollection of pillow fights happening while he was there.
This is not the first time something like this has happened. Read this excerpt from The Long Gray Line starting on page 87. My Father was actually there for this . Tables stacked four or five high, broken arm, etc. etc. I imagine to the outside this all looks horrible. And this recent incident got out of hand. A broken neck is no laughing matter, and in the past the cadre knew when to stop something when it was time to stop.
However, for those that attend USMA, such as my father, its these things that they remember over all others. Again though, this current incident got out of hand and someone should have put a stop to it.
My Father shared with me a more detailed account of this incident. A mess hall cook broke his hand (or leg) slipping on butter. The stained glass in the mess hall was shattered when the canon toted into the hall went off.
https://books.google.com/books?id=g5F8ssmFdZsC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=west+point+1966+table+stacking&source=bl&ots=v9ULB80E0q&sig=CgqZfTs0x98Bk2Mm-2_pKNwULlU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIvYi6gM7sxwIVxYwNCh2t7gw7#v=onepage&q=west%20point%201966%20table%20stacking&f=false
This is not the first time something like this has happened. Read this excerpt from The Long Gray Line starting on page 87. My Father was actually there for this . Tables stacked four or five high, broken arm, etc. etc. I imagine to the outside this all looks horrible. And this recent incident got out of hand. A broken neck is no laughing matter, and in the past the cadre knew when to stop something when it was time to stop.
However, for those that attend USMA, such as my father, its these things that they remember over all others. Again though, this current incident got out of hand and someone should have put a stop to it.
My Father shared with me a more detailed account of this incident. A mess hall cook broke his hand (or leg) slipping on butter. The stained glass in the mess hall was shattered when the canon toted into the hall went off.
https://books.google.com/books?id=g5F8ssmFdZsC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=west+point+1966+table+stacking&source=bl&ots=v9ULB80E0q&sig=CgqZfTs0x98Bk2Mm-2_pKNwULlU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIvYi6gM7sxwIVxYwNCh2t7gw7#v=onepage&q=west%20point%201966%20table%20stacking&f=false
The first trade paperback edition of the New York Times best-seller about West Point's Class of 1966, by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rick Atkinson.This is the story of the twenty-five-year adventure of the generation of officers who fought in Vietnam. With novelistic detail, Atkinson tells the story of West Point's Class of 1966 primarily through the experiences of three classmates and the women they loved--from the boisterous cadet...
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An "Annual Pillow Fight"?? What kind of Mickey Mouse shit is this for an Army to be doing??
I can hear the Marines now..(because I was one)...."While the Army is off having pillow fights...."
I can hear the Marines now..(because I was one)...."While the Army is off having pillow fights...."
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Totally unacceptable, heads should roll from the cadets through the staff!
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That picture looks like me after my Spur Ride with 11th ACR. I also got pissed on low crawling through the mud pit under the tangle foot obstacle. Different times. Mucking the stables meant you left the stables COVERED in horse dookey. Of course if we all just handed us spurs, where would be the fun and camaraderie in that? I think I was the last generation to "go behind the woodshed" and slip on a bar of soap (even in the woods you have to be careful not to slip on a bar of soap). I survived. But common sense was always used. No concussions, no stitches, minor alcohol poisoning.
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This is the reason for these traditions to be banned.
Someone always thinks they have to one up what they went through and try to make it worse for the new people getting initiated
I know when I became an Honorable Shellback it was a bonding with those who had already achieved that status. It was all good natured and the worse thing that I recall happening is a few minor scrapes and bruises and that was due to crawling on the non-skid on the main deck and a bit of slipping and sliding on the messy decks.
This is supposed to be a bonding and welcoming time, not a beat down.
Those senior Academy students who were complicit in this should be kicked out of school and a tax lien placed on them for the cost of their education thus far and kept in place until the debt is paid.
I'm certain you are going to soon be hearing how these immature clowns are regretful and sorry that they allowed this to get out of hand and that no one was meant to be hurt. False remorse is nothing more than being embarrassed that you got caught.
Someone always thinks they have to one up what they went through and try to make it worse for the new people getting initiated
I know when I became an Honorable Shellback it was a bonding with those who had already achieved that status. It was all good natured and the worse thing that I recall happening is a few minor scrapes and bruises and that was due to crawling on the non-skid on the main deck and a bit of slipping and sliding on the messy decks.
This is supposed to be a bonding and welcoming time, not a beat down.
Those senior Academy students who were complicit in this should be kicked out of school and a tax lien placed on them for the cost of their education thus far and kept in place until the debt is paid.
I'm certain you are going to soon be hearing how these immature clowns are regretful and sorry that they allowed this to get out of hand and that no one was meant to be hurt. False remorse is nothing more than being embarrassed that you got caught.
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I am just trying to imagine Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton in a pillowfight
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They better not do anything to any of these guys! They did this with pillows! Can you imagine in a bayonet charge against the enemy? Now if we could get the football team to play like this we could finally beat Navy.
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CPT (Join to see)
SGT William Howell Unfortunately some put helmets and other hard items inside the pillows and caused injuries to their classmates.
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