West Point

Long Overdue- USMA Gets First Black Superintendent in 216-Year History

One hundred and forty-one years after the Corps of Cadets got its first black graduate and 86 years since it had its first graduate in the 20th century, West Point, the United States Military Academy (USMA), is finally receiving its first African-American Commandant of Cadets. To say that seeing that was a surprise is an understatement.

Lieutenant General Darryl A. Williams takes over today as the 60th Commandant of Cadets. He replaces LTG Robert L. Caslen who is retiring after 40 years of service including the last five as the Commandant of Cadets at the USMA. The graduating class this spring had the first African-American as the first Captain of the Corps of Cadets. Simon Askew, a Rhodes scholar was the first black cadet to achieve that honor.

In this day and age, it is still amazing that we have to preface these events with the words “ first Black this” or “first Black that”…regardless, they won’t be the last. Williams came from Europe where he was the commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command, in Turkey. He also served in Korea as the Deputy CG in charge of Support for the 2nd Infantry Division and as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the US Army Europe.

Williams has also been assigned as the Assistant Surgeon General for Warrior Care and Transition, where those programs are designed to manage the care and recovery of soldiers evacuated from theater, and those who have returned from combat that requires complex care management to cope with the effects of war and multiple deployments.

In 2014, Williams was assigned by President Obama as the lead for the United States’ efforts to battle Ebola in Africa. He set up a command center in Liberia and had 3,000 military trainers to set up facilities and his troops helped prepare health workers to combat the continent’s Ebola crisis.

Williams was a Battery commander during Desert Shield/Desert Storm and later served as the Commander for Division Artillery during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is a 1983 graduate of West Point with degrees in leadership development, military art and science, and national security and strategic studies and now has Master’s degrees in each of those fields.

And yet where about 19 percent of the Army’s force is Black, still only 10 percent of the officers are and the percentage who make General Officer is much smaller still around 5-6 percent. For every Colin Powell or Johnnie E. Wilson, too many others fall thru the cracks.

Powell was the first Black to become the Secretary of State during the Bush administration, he rose to four-star rank. Wilson grew up in a housing project in Cleveland and joined the Army because that was the only way, he’d ever get a chance to go to college. He was enlisted but had good mentors who encouraged him to keep striving to better himself. He became an officer and over a 38-year career also rose to a four-star rank.

However, many Black officers choose non-combat arms careers to better prepare themselves for service outside the military and combat arms officers are generally promoted faster than the other non-combat arms officers.

Diversity is a word that is thrown around the military a lot these days. And frequently it is used wrong and many people assume that if you are pro-diversity, then you are operating on some sort of a quota system. That is as wrong as rain.

There is a good reason why the military favors diversity and it has zero to do with any social justice warriors who look for a conspiracy behind every rock. The bottom line is diversity makes the entire force better. Good leaders benefit from knowing and getting a lot of different viewpoints as well as the blending of a lot of cultures in the force.

Young people look up to and emulate people who they admire. And when it comes to the officer ranks, the military can do a much better job of recruiting Black men and women to volunteer for officer candidate schools as well as in ROTC in the college ranks. One reason why many Blacks may not volunteer is they don’t see many other Blacks being selected for General Officer ranks.

The military academies are another matter. At times minority Congressmen, who must nominate prospective candidates for the service academies, often nominate very few if any. That is wrong on a couple of different levels. It is removing the opportunity for several men and women a chance to excel and it weakens the force.

From Pentagon data from back in 2009, there were 38 Congressmen who didn’t nominate a single person for the academies, and there were 75 who didn’t nominate a single person in a four-year period. Of those, 75, 40 were either Black or Hispanic. There is no excuse for it.

We’re not talking rocket science here. No one is advocating lowering standards either…because that is exactly what some will point to. No, it is the exact opposite. I’d like to see the standards increase to get a better quality person going thru the officer pipeline. Look, if you are recruiting for a new unit and you have slots for 50 hard-chargers, will you have better luck recruiting the unit with 250 qualified candidates or 500?

Next month will mark the 70th anniversary that President Truman fully integrated the military. He signed an executive order on July 26, 1948, which ended military segregation once and for all. We’ve come a long way in the military since those days where Black units were relegated to combat service and support jobs in the Army and Marines and in the Navy where they were given menial jobs.

Benjamin O. Davis was the first Black officer to graduate from the USMA in the 20th century and had to endure four years of silence. Few of his classmates ever spoke to him outside of official duties. He never had a roommate or ate a meal with anyone. He graduated in 1936 and commanded the Tuskegee Airmen and later the 332nd Fighter Group (Red Tails) the African-American fighter group of World War II fame. When he was commissioned, the Army had two Black officers. Him and his father, BG Benjamin O. Davis Sr.

Hopefully, this generation will mark the end of us hearing that “General A. is the first Black such and such in the Army.” This isn’t about reaching quotas or lowering the standards of the Army. It is about making the standards higher and just doing a better job or recruiting and marketing the military to more people.

We can do better.

Photo: US Army

Army – Navy Is About Much More Than a Game, Tradition, Respect

The 118th playing of the Army-Navy game was an instant classic, on and off the field. Played in a snowstorm, one could say that the Army finally found a camouflage uniform that worked the way it was supposed to. And in a year where the Army’s West Point came under a lot of scrutiny for reasons they’d rather not delve into, this was the perfect cure.

Army camouflage? Cadets are barely visible on television as they blend in with the snow. (Screenshot CBS)

The Army held on to win for the second year in a row when Navy’s Bennett Moehring 48-yard field goal attempt veered just left in the driving snow and there was jubilation on the Army sideline. While the devastated Navy sideline saw that their epic comeback missed by just a foot or two.

In a sport that no one wants to come in second place, the goal of the Army-Navy game is to sing second. In their time-honored tradition, the cadets from each academy gather together to hear the song from the school’s alma mater. The losing team sings first and the winners sing second. So this is the one day a year, that the men want to be second. The Army also won the prestigious Commander in Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 1996. It is given to the service academy who wins the triangular series between the Air Force Academy, the US Military Academy, and the Naval Academy.

But perhaps the best moment of the day occurred before the game even began. The National Anthem, a song that has been targeted with such controversy and misunderstanding this year, was sung brilliantly and beautifully by the combine Glee choruses of both the Army and Navy’s service academy.

As the cadets sang the National Anthem with the backdrop of the falling snow, the cameras pulled back and scanned the combined chorus and one could see every type of nationality that makes the melting pot of the US so workable. There were no cadets kneeling or taking a stand for social justice here. The message that the academies were showing the rest of the country is that here, we are all one. Is the military perfect? Of course not and those of us who’ve served will attest to that. But it arguably works better than any segment of our society. It was one of those surreal moments that was perfectly captured and broadcast, that it nearly resembles a propaganda video.

Army coach Jeff Monken who took a football program that was floundering and one that was way behind the service academies of the Air Force and Navy and has made the Black Knights a relevant football program again. Prior to Monken arriving, the Cadets had lost 12 in a row to Navy and most of those were total blowouts. But although Monken and Army lost the first two games against Navy that he coached, both games were much closer and now the Army has won two years in a row. The Black Knights are going to the second bowl game in as many years.

The players on both teams are excellent examples of young men with great leadership on and off the football field. Malcolm Perry, the Navy quarterback, led a tremendous final drive that appeared to be a game-winner for the Midshipmen again. But two penalties set them back and Moehring’s field goal attempt may have snuck thru the uprights otherwise. After the game, the Army players lined up to express admiration for Perry who was in tears. The Army’s quarterback, Ahmad Bradshaw, led an impressive game-winning drive where he led the Cadets on a 65-yard, 11-play drive where they pounded the ball on the ground to get the winning touchdown. These two teams don’t throw the ball, they run it and pound it between the tackles and play tough physical football. Watching them in the snow, it could have easily been a game from the 1940’s when the service academies, especially Army ruled.

One of the most poignant moments was after the game, Perry, in tears after the disappointment of coming up just short, was consoled by Mike Viti, an assistant coach at Army, who played on many of those horrible Cadet teams and knows all about the disappointment.

This game and the Army-Navy rivalry is different from many of the others that you’ll see in college football. Because for the seniors who graduate from each service academy in the spring of 2018, they’ll be then playing for the same team. In no other college rivalry will the players who are such bitter rivals on the field, will be willing to lay down their lives for one another off of it in just a few short months. The United States has been embroiled in a long, drawn-out war for more than 16 years and it shows no signs of stopping. Many of the young men and women who graduate in the spring will be going into harm’s way soon after that. Many will see combat and sadly enough, a few will probably pay the ultimate sacrifice in the not-too-distant future. These people and the game on Saturday are the best recruiting commercial the military could ask for. This is the best example of what college football is all about. Will either of these schools play for a national championship in the not so distant future? That is very doubtful. But they will be playing for much more soon and the nation appreciates that. Mission accomplished…

And. Go Army, Beat Navy!

Photos:Wikipedia

West Point Grad Esper Confirmed as New Army Secretary

The US Army finally has a new Secretary. Dr. Mark T. Esper was confirmed by a vote in the Senate, 89-6, to become the 23rd secretary of the Army on Wednesday. Esper was nominated by President Trump back in July to take over the Secretary’s job.

Esper testified before Congress two weeks ago and laid out what he sees as his priorities.

“If confirmed, my first priority will be readiness — ensuring the total Army is prepared to fight across the full spectrum of conflict,” Esper said. “With the Army engaged in over 140 countries around the world, to include combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, training rotations to Europe to deter Russia, and forward deployed units in the Pacific defending against a bellicose North Korea, readiness must be our top priority.”

Readiness, he said, starts with ensuring the Army has the best possible Soldiers in the force.

“This means recruiting and retaining the best our nation has to offer, ensuring these young men and women are well-trained and well-led, and equipping them with the best weapons and technology available,” Esper said. “Every unit must be prepared to deploy and accomplish its mission. These are the fundamental Title 10 duties of the Secretary of the Army, and, if confirmed, I intend to do them well.”

Esper named four broad priorities he would focus on if he were confirmed as secretary of the Army. Those include ensuring Soldiers, their families, and Army civilians are “well-led, well-supported, and well-cared for.”

Also top priorities for Esper, he said, are modernization, efficiency, and most-importantly, readiness.

“This means that units are fully manned, weapons and equipment are well maintained, munitions stocks are sufficient, and training — particularly for high end combat — is ample, rigorous and realistic,” Esper wrote.

Esper graduated in 1986 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, and served on active duty for over 10 years before transitioning into the Reserve, eventually reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. He had a combat deployment with the 101^st Airborne where he was awarded a Bronze Star.

For the past several years, Estep has been a successful lobbyist.

To read the entire article from the US Army, click here:

September 25, 1780, Benedict Arnold Defects to the British

Almost every American school kid remembers (when they actually still taught history) the name of Benedict Arnold. He was roundly reviled in the American Revolution as a traitor and his name will, in American folklore be used as a synonym for being a turncoat.

But there was more to Arnold’s treachery than meets the eye. He was, at the start of the Revolution, a fervent Patriot. But later events, partly of his own doing, would cause him to eschew the cause and go over to the British.

Arnold was born in the Colonies in Rhode Island in 1741. He was as close as one could get to being royalty in New England. His grandfather was one of the founding fathers of the colony and his family were considered respected upper crust there. But his father, was a drunkard and an embarrassment to the family, having moved them to Norwich, Connecticut.

Arnold moved away at first chance and became a very successful apothecary and seagoing merchant. But ever aware of any slight due to his childhood, he was extremely petty and overly sensitive, taking umbrage to anything, he fought more than a few duels because of it. It would cause him much heartburn later in life.

Arnold was outraged over the Boston Massacre and when he heard of the fighting in Lexington and Concord in April of 1775, he seized some of the gunpowder of New Haven and quickly assembled a group of volunteers and marched north.

Arnold met with and convinced Dr. Joseph Warren in Massachusetts, one of the leaders of the nascent revolution, that the revolution needed to capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York State. It was a formidable star-shaped target with 80 cannons. Arnold and Warren knew the Revolution could use those cannons. But since the end of the French-Indian War, the British let the amount of troops lag and by 1775, the garrison contained only about 50 men.

Arnold and his troops met up with Ethan Allen and his “Green Mountain Boys and marched to the fort on the shores of Lake Champlain. There they surprised the British garrison that was still sleeping. It was the first victory for the Revolution and the cannons would be well used during the upcoming siege of Boston.

There would be controversy when Allen’s men were busy consuming the fort’s rum supply while Arnold, would capture and take command of a small fleet of warships on Lake Champlain giving the Colonials control of the lake and fight a battle there in 1776.

One of the Colonial leaders, Colonel James Easton dared to ridicule Arnold for his self-styling name as “Commodore of the American Navy” at Lake Champlain, something the thin-skinned Arnold wouldn’t tolerate and he proceeded to “kick him very heartily.”

It would forever burn his bridges with Easton, as he and a number of other American officers would ostracize and eventually drive him away.

Despite this, Arnold’s men and even many of his detractors would characterize him as an excellent officer and leader. His men always had confidence in his abilities.

Arnold’s first wife died in 1775 and he was grief-stricken and couldn’t bear to remain in New Haven alone. He left his children with a relative and threw himself into the workings of the Revolution. And for the next three years, he was a model officer and became an indispensable member of General Washington’s staff.

He met his second wife, Peggy Shipton, daughter of Philadelphia aristocracy and British loyalists in 1778. While stationed there, he was living well above his means, trying to keep his new wife in the standard of living that she was used to.

Another enemy Arnold made during his time in Philadelphia was that of Joseph Reed, who had been a close friend of General Washington but had burned his bridges there with his annoying habit of antagonizing everyone around him including his friends. Reed as a member of the Supreme Executive Council began documenting a case against Arnold as the military governor.

Reed made a flimsy, eight charge indictment of Arnold that had zero chance of ever getting a conviction. Washington knew this and took neither side but Reed persisted, despite lacking any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Arnold.

By the spring of 1779, with Reed refusing to let go of his vendetta against him, Arnold began to have second thoughts on the revolution. With the court-martial and the digging of Reed’s barbs hanging over his head, Arnold read where the British newspapers were speaking more highly of his talents than his own were. The Royal Gazette of London wrote, “General Arnold heretofore had been styled another Hannibal, but losing a leg in the service of the Congress, the latter considering him unfit for any further exercise of his military talents, permit him thus to fall into the unmerciful fangs of the executive council of Pennsylvania.”

Arnold then saw his betrayal to the Revolution as a way out of his predicament. In financial trouble as well as his legal issues hanging over his head with Reed. A British captain, John Andre knew his wife and was living in New York City. Arnold sent him a letter to feel out the British and wondering how much they would compensate him for his services.

Washington finally ended the court-martial with a reprimand and gave Arnold the command of the fort of West Point. In 1780, Arnold made plans with Andre to turn over West Point to British General Henry Clinton. Andre was caught with the documents and executed. Arnold himself narrowly eluded capture by Washington and escaped on the British sloop Vulture down the Hudson River.

The British made Arnold a Brigadier General with an annual pension of £360, and a lump sum of over £6,000. He led British troops in Virginia and conducted raids in both Groton and New London, Connecticut. After the British defeat at Yorktown, he and his wife moved to London, where incidentally, Arnold never received the full amount of money due him.

He and his sons briefly ran a business in New Brunswick, but he soon returned to London and there he remained until his death in 1791.

While the incessant poking of Reed and the jealousy of seeing several junior officers to himself get promoted ahead of him weighed heavily on him, in the end it was money that was the driving force that caused Arnold to betray the revolution.

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

West Point Cadets Learn Unconventional Warfare on the Hudson

West Point cadets at the United States Military Academy from the school’s Irregular Warfare Group recently learned some good lessons on Unconventional Warfare. In a recent exercise in New York, the cadets got a first-hand taste in the complex world of UW and how their thinking will have to be creative when operating in the realm, no matter what career field they choose after graduation.

It is a good practical exercise that many of these junior Army officers will someday draw upon when they go out into the world that is rife with insurgent movements, multi-tiered organizations fighting for supremacy and the civilian populace caught in the middle. And the cadets also became familiar with the fictional nation of “Pineland.”

Their mission was to enable indigenous resistance movements to disrupt military and political activities in the breakaway self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Pineland” in order to facilitate the forcible entry of a conventional task force to liberate occupied eastern “Pineland.”
While this mission was part of a fictional scenario without any actual shots fired or lives lost, the very nature of Unconventional Warfare was on display.
This multi-day training event in Esopus and Hyde Park, New York, involved over 60 USMA and Preparatory School cadets along with faculty from the Departments of Social Sciences, Chemistry and Life Science, Military Instruction, and the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic, and external support from the Scenic Hudson environmental and conservation group, the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and former senior leadership from the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne).
“This unique exercise offered cadets the chance to think creatively about solving practical problems,” retired Col. Mark Mitchell, former commander of 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) who served as the resistance movement’s top commander in the exercise, said. “It provided them an opportunity to consider the myriad of complexities of insurgencies at every level, including how local populations might perceive the actions of both insurgents and foreign sponsors. All of these opportunities will benefit the Cadets as young officers, no matter where they serve.”
Training emphasized task organization, mission analysis and planning, property accountability, negotiation skills, emotional intelligence, small unit tactics proficiency, advisor skills, navigating moral dilemmas, and creative problem-solving at both the tactical and strategic levels.
Events included a planning and team building phase, waterborne infiltration, link-up with resistance auxiliary, reacting to enemy checkpoints, meeting with and building rapport with resistance force commanders, assessing resistance capabilities, advising both guerrilla forces and nonviolent civil resistance groups, and coordinating multiple indigenous and U.S. interagency efforts.

The training event also got the blessing and support of many civilian and police organizations lending a realism to the exercise that will be invaluable to the cadets as they tried to navigate thru the difficult UW scenario.

Besides the creative problem solving that the cadets had to come up with, it gave them some training in small unit tactics, advisor skills, negotiation with resistance or guerrilla leaders and task organization.

This training event will serve them well when either working with or possibly becoming part of Special Operations Forces in the future.

To read the entire article from The Pointer, click here:

Photo courtesy USMA West Point