Duty, Honor, Country and the Long Gray Line

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
West Point

Ahhhh, the Ronald McDonald Show. Makes you smile as you are driving down the highway.

It was slated to be a beautiful almost-spring day in Upstate New York so I decided I would take a drive. That drive took me about 2 hours south of Albany to West Point. No, you're not mistaken in thinking that West Point is the United States Military Academy because yes....it is.

This is the Superintendent's house (or someone very important to West Point) The banners on the porch say "Go Army" and "Beat Navy".

You may remember about 2 years ago I visited the Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland (on a very cold February day) and of course I am an equal opportunist so I figured I better visit the Army Academy as well. You notice quickly that the motto changes from Beat Army to Beat Navy, but since I really don't take sides (plus I'm partial to Marines.....just love the dress blues), in the end we all win.

If it makes one wrong move.......that tank is gonna take out that church.

Anyway, the drive was uneventful. I finally got myself an Ez-pass for the toll roads. Why I didn't do that 4 years ago is beyond me but whatever. It does put those pesky toll booths in the rear-view a lot faster and I no longer have to search my wallet for cash as I drive. Everything is automatic. I no longer think about how much it costs me to get from one place to another. Anyway, I think I got a little off point. The drive took almost exactly 2 hours and since I left later than I had planned I missed the 1130 tour I had planned to take by a few minutes. It actually worked out well though.

The West Point Museum

With the time I had before the next tour I decided to head to the West Point Museum. I am told it is the largest and oldest Military Museum in the country. Oldest....I'll give them that, but I am sure I have seen larger Military museums. It really is all about how they categorize it. I guess that is not really a big issue so I won't dwell on it.


The first place I headed in the museum was to the sub-basement to check out the large Weapons gallery where you will find....yes, some big weapons. The next floor up was the small arms gallery where you will find......small arms (I know......mind blowing). There were all kinds of weapons from rocks, to knives, to swords and guns.

Small arms? Well ok. Yes this is considered small arms. I always thought small arms meant it could fit in your pocket but I guess not.

Of course the museum was not just about weapons. There were lots of other things there as well....some related directly to West Point and others just related to the US Military, the history of warfare and how the face of the Military and war has changed over the years.

I also found this. This is a theodolite dated 1830. A theodolite is a surveying tool used for measuring angles to determine heights and distances.

Army nurse boots. (Yes, back in the day Army Nurse meant "woman" so these are girl boots). Now I remember why I haven't joined the Army. No way I could handle this fashion statement. (That's a joke, I like boots.......I couldn't handle the immense pay cut.)

Of course this is the class of 1898, not 1998 (which I am a member of.......not the West Point class but you get the point).

Honestly though as I was walking through the museum I found myself rolling my eyes. The museum kind of read like this...... "We the United States fought all these people and they fought hard and presented us with a challenge but we killed more of them than they killed of us and we prevailed and aren't we the best". Ok so I was standing in the Museum at West Point so I am sure that is how it is suppose to read, but as a foreigner......just a little too "YAYYYY America" for me. But I did like looking at the old guns.....and they have a nice gift shop.

Yes, this is the women's washroom. I just needed to point out the colour scheme. Terrible I know.

Eventually I was able to head out on a tour. West Point is a whole lot bigger than Annapolis so here the tour is by bus. It sits on about 65 square kilometres (that's about 15,974 acres). Like Annapolis though, our access is pretty limited (they don't just let us wander amongst the Army's future officers, (too bad.....I like Cadets) but you certainly got a good feel for the place and the history and the architecture and well I will take that.

Maybe I should give you a little bit of background info on West Point. It is the oldest active army post in the United states being in service since 1778. It was in 1802 that President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy at West Point."The Long Gray Line" refers to West Point's students and graduates collectively. West Point is a completely self sustaining community. It even has it's own zip code. In 1960 the entire central campus as declared a National Historic Landmark. Duty, Honor, Country is the West Point motto.

Now that you know all that, let's get to the tour.

This is the entrance to the main mess hall, as seen from across the central cadet parade ground. The monument you can see is the Washington Monument at West Point.

Taken from the bus as we drove along. I might add that there were only 4 of us on the tour. Apparently not a big draw on a Wednesday afternoon in March. The morning tour was totally full however....with a group of tourists from Japan. Good thing I didn't end up on that tour.

Inside the Cadet's main chapel. It was built in 1910 and seats about 1500 people. It is one of many chapels at West Point that Cadets have the choice to attend. This one is non-denominational. All the stain glass windows, including the big one in this picture were gifts from graduating classes. Every graduating class gives a gift in some form to West Point when they leave. Gifts also include things like monuments or gyms or whatever the graduating class wants their legacy to be.

This is Battle Monument at Trophy Point. It was dedicated in 1897 in memory of the Officers and Soldiers of the Regular Army who were killed during the US Civil War.

It really does sit at a beautiful location. Of course it was a strategic location during the Revolutionary War (on the west bank of the Hudson River. If the British have been able to capture it......upstate New York and a few other northern states would probably be part of Canada).

So that was my day at West Point. No, I didn't come away with a husband (I'm kidding.........I'm not looking for a husband......plus at my age, Army cadets look about 12 years old) but I now have to add a visit to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs to my bucket list.

Julie