its monstrous goggle-eyes and a green plastic hood. Wearing it is like wearing a head-sized, portable sauna.
The biggest challenges for the new cadets are simple tasks: learning to wear their specialized equipment, for instance. Upperclass cadets like junior Greg Stitt are on to more difficult things: Stitt is learning to be a platoon sergeant. Just as the squad leaders take care of their ten or eleven new cadets, Greg Stitt takes care of four squads, seeing to all the details that make the machine run smoothly: food, water, transportation, accountability. He gives instructions to the squad leaders, passes information from the platoon leader—a senior—and generally acts as a second-in-command and chief of operations.
Stitt stands in a central location, in the same uniform as the new cadets, including the weapon. As they complete their various tasks, the new cadets report to Stitt, who records their successes on a card. New cadets who don’t complete the summer’s required training will lose their spring leave and take the tests over again while the rest of the class enjoys the break. This is another innovation of the Commandant, Brigadier General John Abizaid: Rewards are tied to performance, just as in the regular Army, where a soldier who hasn’t mastered the required skills is not promoted.
Stitt, who was an Army enlisted man before coming to West Point, thinks these are good changes.
“The Comm has some good ideas; he’s moving this place to be more like the army.”
Stitt looks up as a new cadet reports that he has successfully completed the task, “Don the protective mask.” Stitt nods, makes a quick pencil mark, and tells the new cadet, “Move out.”
Greg Stitt isn’t losing any sleep worrying whether or not CBT is too easy, or if the new cadets should be yelled at more. He thinks new cadets should be treated like basic trainees in the Army. That way, he says, “They’ll know what it’s like to be a private, and they’ll learn how to treat other people.”
Stitt, who is older than his classmates, is five eight, with red hair and the compact build and coiled energy of a lightweight boxer. He was a helicopter crew chief in the 82nd Airborne Division before applying for West Point. His experience as an enlisted soldier has shaped his view of how leaders should treat subordinates.
“Most people don’t realize they’re being developed until after it’s over,” he says. “If they pay attention, they realize they can learn from both good and bad examples. I can learn good points, or I can learn bad points,” he notes. “There is a lot of emphasis on thinking for yourself.”
All through a hot afternoon, the new cadets move from one station to another in squad groups. The equipment is unfamiliar (except to those new cadets who were enlisted soldiers and thus have been through Army Basic Training). Every station includes some timed task, but the pressure is not great; the tasks are just not that tough for this bunch of two-varsity-letter-winner, National-Honor-Society new cadets. A letter home might sum it all up as “spent the day getting dressed and undressed in unfamiliar and uncomfortable extra clothing.” The new cadets joke among themselves, compare notes on hometowns, slouch, and stretch under the shade of the trees as the classes drone on.
Major Rob Olson, Alpha Company’s Tac, notes that this is the first time the new cadets have had the chance to talk to one another at length, to find out they’re not the only ones worried about fitting in,about handling the stresses of basic training. “For some of them this is the first time they’ve smiled [in the seven days since R-Day]. And there was a line at the latrine. It’s the first time some of them have taken a shit in a week.”
The new cadets stand in clusters in the shade after removing their equipment. Squad leader Grady Jett, an Army football player from Houston with a TV-star cleft in his chin, lets the new cadets joke
The biggest challenges for the new cadets are simple tasks: learning to wear their specialized equipment, for instance. Upperclass cadets like junior Greg Stitt are on to more difficult things: Stitt is learning to be a platoon sergeant. Just as the squad leaders take care of their ten or eleven new cadets, Greg Stitt takes care of four squads, seeing to all the details that make the machine run smoothly: food, water, transportation, accountability. He gives instructions to the squad leaders, passes information from the platoon leader—a senior—and generally acts as a second-in-command and chief of operations.
Stitt stands in a central location, in the same uniform as the new cadets, including the weapon. As they complete their various tasks, the new cadets report to Stitt, who records their successes on a card. New cadets who don’t complete the summer’s required training will lose their spring leave and take the tests over again while the rest of the class enjoys the break. This is another innovation of the Commandant, Brigadier General John Abizaid: Rewards are tied to performance, just as in the regular Army, where a soldier who hasn’t mastered the required skills is not promoted.
Stitt, who was an Army enlisted man before coming to West Point, thinks these are good changes.
“The Comm has some good ideas; he’s moving this place to be more like the army.”
Stitt looks up as a new cadet reports that he has successfully completed the task, “Don the protective mask.” Stitt nods, makes a quick pencil mark, and tells the new cadet, “Move out.”
Greg Stitt isn’t losing any sleep worrying whether or not CBT is too easy, or if the new cadets should be yelled at more. He thinks new cadets should be treated like basic trainees in the Army. That way, he says, “They’ll know what it’s like to be a private, and they’ll learn how to treat other people.”
Stitt, who is older than his classmates, is five eight, with red hair and the compact build and coiled energy of a lightweight boxer. He was a helicopter crew chief in the 82nd Airborne Division before applying for West Point. His experience as an enlisted soldier has shaped his view of how leaders should treat subordinates.
“Most people don’t realize they’re being developed until after it’s over,” he says. “If they pay attention, they realize they can learn from both good and bad examples. I can learn good points, or I can learn bad points,” he notes. “There is a lot of emphasis on thinking for yourself.”
All through a hot afternoon, the new cadets move from one station to another in squad groups. The equipment is unfamiliar (except to those new cadets who were enlisted soldiers and thus have been through Army Basic Training). Every station includes some timed task, but the pressure is not great; the tasks are just not that tough for this bunch of two-varsity-letter-winner, National-Honor-Society new cadets. A letter home might sum it all up as “spent the day getting dressed and undressed in unfamiliar and uncomfortable extra clothing.” The new cadets joke among themselves, compare notes on hometowns, slouch, and stretch under the shade of the trees as the classes drone on.
Major Rob Olson, Alpha Company’s Tac, notes that this is the first time the new cadets have had the chance to talk to one another at length, to find out they’re not the only ones worried about fitting in,about handling the stresses of basic training. “For some of them this is the first time they’ve smiled [in the seven days since R-Day]. And there was a line at the latrine. It’s the first time some of them have taken a shit in a week.”
The new cadets stand in clusters in the shade after removing their equipment. Squad leader Grady Jett, an Army football player from Houston with a TV-star cleft in his chin, lets the new cadets joke
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