BS&L takes Cadets to visit Sing Sing Prison. Dr. Luke Gerdes and LTC Remi Hajjar from the Sociology Program of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership chaperoned 55 cadets currently enrolled in PL393 Criminology to visit Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Sing Sing staff members provided a full tour of the prison’s facilities and answered cadets’ questions about a variety of topics.

Cadets from the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership traveled to Philadelphia, PA to participate in the 8th annual Wharton Business School On 24 October 2014, 18 cadets from the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership traveled to Philadelphia, PA to participate in the 8th annual Wharton Business School - US Military Academy Leadership Exchange at the University of Pennsylvania. These hand selected cadets engaged in a series of leader development exercises with high-potential undergraduate students from the Wharton Business School on topics related to team vs. group leadership, team leadership innovation challenges, team leadership navigation challenges, and other classroom discussions. The cadets earned high praise for their professionalism and leadership abilities, as well as their creative approaches to problem solving during the innovation challenges. The same cadets will reciprocate the exchange by hosting Wharton students at the US Military Academy in the spring for military style leader development exercises.

The BS&L Management Program hosted the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Executive MBA program. On 19 October 2014, the BS&L Management Program hosted the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Executive MBA program. CPT JD Mohundro and Management Cadets, Collum Magee and Chris Corbett, hosted the group and discussed the West Point Leader Development System (WPLDS). The visit was part of an exchange that enables cadets to travel to South Africa for AIADs with the University of Pretoria. Cadets Magee and Corbett traveled to South Africa and engaged in leader development at GIBS this summer.

On 4 November, New York Times best-selling author ("The Century"), Dr. Todd Brewster, visited the Department of Law to discuss the constitutional implications surrounding the Emancipation Proclamation. Dr. Brewster explained how his new book, "Lincoln's Gamble: The tumultuous Six Months that Gave America the Emancipation Proclamation and the Course of the Civil War,” showed the legal and political considerations of Abraham Lincoln as he decided whether to issue the Proclamation.

Department of Systems Engineering. Capstone team visits the Brigade Modernization Command (BMC) at Fort Bliss, Texas. Cadets Scott Rapuano, Colton Cupp, and Domingo Hilario visited Fort Bliss to observe a real world application of their capstone project. The capstone team is working on the Command Post Efficiency and Network Integration Project in coordination with TRAC White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). This project is also being developed in conjunction with the Mission Command Center of Excellence, Command Post 2025, and Aberdeen Proving Grounds. The cadets’ contribution to the project will be their ability to extract technology requirements from the Command Center of Excellence based on their stakeholder analysis and independent research, and creating quantitative tools to simulate the value of new technologies. The tools they create may potentially be used in the future by the Modernization Brigade.

Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering. Trip Section: On 21 October, Dr. Michael Pfenning and MAJ Anthony Clark brought fourteen cadets majoring in physic to tour the facilities at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York. BNL is a Department of Energy research lab that was established after WWII for the development of peaceful uses of atomic energy, and which has since grown into one of the premier physics centers in the world. Scientists at BNL have been awarded eight Nobel prizes over the last half century.The group from West Point toured four different research facilities at BNL: The National Synchrotron Light Source II, the Battery Test Laboratory, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and the STAR particle detector. At each facility, the group was briefed by a professional physicist on how each facility worked and the types of experiments being carried out.

Triathlon Team: "The West Point Triathlon team sent one cadet, Mackenzie Williams ’18, to compete in the inaugural NCAA Women’s National Championships. Because triathlon is an emerging women’s sport under NCAA, athletes were allowed to compete in the championship regardless of the NCAA status of their program provided they met the requirements as collegiate athletes and, based on their resume, could make the field start list. In her first collegiate race and first draft-legal event in over a year and a half since racing as a junior elite, Mackenzie finished in the top half of the field within a couple of minutes of the podium and right with Navy’s top three women. UCLA took first and third place. Penn State 2nd, Georgia Tech 4th and the University of California Santa Barbara was 5th. The race was an excellent experience for CDT Williams and she is expected her to dominate the field in future events as she returns to form in draft-legal racing. The next draft-legal event for the team will be the elite developmental race in March where West Point will bring a full complement of three men and three women. This is closely followed by the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals in April."

DEP Hosts Tailgate, Former Instructor and Current CJCS Drops By. On 1 November, DEP hosted a tailgate for APL majors, faculty and staff, family, and former faculty members. General Martin Dempsey, former DEP faculty member and current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stopped by for a visit. The Chairman enjoyed a pre-game burger and conversation with faculty, family members, and APL majors.

On 28 October, cadets from EN101 (Composition) and the Writing Fellows Program participated in a guest lecture from Terence Szuplat. Mr. Szuplat is the Senior Director for Speechwriting at the National Security Council and speechwriter for President Obama. During his lecture, he and the cadets discussed the importance of clear communication and provided insights to cadets as a practitioner in a field. Szuplat discussed several of President Obama's speeches on a range of domestic and national security issues. The focus of the speeches included ISIL, the Boston Marathon bombing, Afghanistan, and Ebola. Highlights of the event were discussing the writing process, the use of rhetoric, and communication with an international audience.

CFAF Sponsors Trip Section to NYC’s 92nd Street Y’s Talk featuring LTC (R) John Nagl and GEN (R) Petraeus with Max BootOn 30 October, eleven cadets travelled to NYC on a CFAF-sponsored trip section to NYC’s 92nd Street YMCA to meet with LTC (R) John Nagl , GEN (R) Petraeus, and Max Boot. They engaged with LTC (R) John Nagl prior to the talk, where the discussion covered compositional aspects of Nagl’s newly published memoir Knife Fights: a Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice; Nagl’s selection of poet Brian Turner’s “Ghost Stories” as epigraph; professional development as Soldier scholars; and international affairs. Later, cadets listened as Max Boot, historian and Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, facilitated a discussion between LTC (R) Nagl and GEN (R) Petraeus on American foreign policy.

Practicing the Art of Poetry. Jeffrey McDaniel, poet and teacher of creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College, met with cadets from the Creative Writing Forum on Wednesday, October 29. A resident of Cold Spring, New York, Mr. McDaniel has published five books of poetry, most recently Chapel of Inadvertent Joy. His work has appeared in Ploughshares and several editions of the annual anthology Best American Poetry. In addition to reading some of his own poems to the group, Mr. McDaniel answered cadets’ questions about reading, writing, living, and claiming an identity as a poet. He also led the group in a writing exercise that resulted in a new poem by each member.

Center for Innovation and Engineering Site Visit to Holston Army Ammunition Plant. 5 Cadets and 5 Faculty from the Center for Innovation and Engineering went on a site visit to the Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Kingsport, TN from 26 – 28 October 2014. The Commander at Holston has asked for help via the CIE to present design alternatives in their industrial water supply and waste water systems to improve their performance. Holston is the sole supplier of the primary ingredient for explosives to the military and uses a large amount of non-contact cooling water and production water in the explosives creation process. The team consisted of an interdisciplinary group of civil, mechanical, and environmental engineers. The team members inspected the current industrial water supply system and the non-contact cooling water outflows, took measurements and interviewed plant operators in order to begin developing design alternatives.

Flight Labs for ME481. The Department of Civil & Mechanical Engineering Flight Section concluded their second round of flight labs in the Department’s Cessna-182 Skylanes to demonstrate the relationship between aerodynamic theory and aviation application. This lab supports the classroom instruction of the senior engineering course ME481 Aircraft Performance & Static Stability. In a two-hour flight based out of Stewart International Airport, cadets collected flight data to compute the Cessna 182’s longitudinal static stability, and compare the dampening effects of flaps on dynamic longitudinal stability. This gave them a firsthand look at flight design characteristics of aircraft and the procedures of flight testing. The Department’s fixed wing pilots MAJ Hans Thomas, MAJ Ben Recla, MAJ Brent Pafford, CPT Dan Brown, and CPT Drew Curriston flew 39 cadets in 20 flights that totaled 45.5 flight hours.

Boeing Capstone Trip to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 26-28 OCT 2014. USMA Cadets Matthew Kaiser (Class 2015, Co D2, D/C&ME), Andrew “Scott” Warner (Class of 2015, Co G4, D/C&ME), Ethan Johnson (Class of 2015, Co B2, D/C&ME), Jacob Semerar (Class of 2015, Co C4, D/SE), Jennifer Guzowski (Class of 2015, Co F3, D/SE) and USMA Instructors COL Bret Van Poppel (D/C&ME), MAJ Jose Ramirez (D/SE), and MAJ Scott Katalenich (D/C&ME), travelled to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) from Sunday, 26 October 2014 to Tuesday, 28 October 2014. Mr. Dan Howett (USMA ’87) and Ms. Julia Kelley of ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division coordinated and hosted the trip. Cadets received a number of briefings about general areas of research within ORNL, including Waste-to-Energy Conversion, Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Nuclear Power, Solar Power, 3D additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping, and others.

The trip also included a conversation about the future of alternative energy with MG (Ret.) John Doesberg, former Commanding General of RDECOM. The cadets and faculty toured the research facilities, learning about some of the active areas of research at ORNL in alternative energy. The group also visited the 3D additive manufacturing laboratory, the Titan supercomputer at the National Center for Computational Sciences at ORNL, and the insulation tents on campus. The ORNL trip supported the Boeing cadet capstone project, an interdisciplinary project team funded by the Boeing Corporation. The cadet project team is charged with developing an advanced tactical energy solution for a forward operating base (FOB) for the deployable force in the year 2040. The Boeing capstone is a service academy design challenge, with USMA competing against cadet teams from USAFA and USNA during the final project briefing to be held during Projects Day.

Semester Abroad Program (SAP) / Academic trip sections: French: CDT Ian Mauldin, currently on semester abroad at St Cyr, the French Military Academy, visited Normandy and some of the D-Day beaches this past weekend. It was very touching to view the main American cemetery where thousands of U.S. soldiers are still buried today who gave their lives to free France from Nazi rule. Many of the French citizens in the area graciously welcome American visitors and are so grateful for our nation’s sacrifice so many decades ago. It is amazing to consider how France and Germany have transformed since the end of the 2nd World War to enjoy such a strong economic partnership today.

Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering 74th Annual Scholarship Dinner Dance for the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). On the evening of Saturday, November 1st, five cadets from various engineering programs across the Academy were honored at the 74th Annual Scholarship Dinner Dance for the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). This event was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, and celebrated the achievements of over 200 of the top engineering students at universities across the nation. Each student received a $1000 scholarship. Scholarship recipients from USMA (as selected by the MSE Committee) were CDT Seamus Bann (Chemical Engineering), CDT Matthew Bryan (Chemical Engineering), CDT David Chacko (Electrical Engineering), CDT Zach Lee (Mechanical Engineering), and CDT Robby Hume (Civil Engineering).

West Point Energy Council Engagement to New York City, regarding Camp Buckner Renovations. On Thursday, 30 Oct 14 members from the Academy faculty and Garrison DPW staffs met with students from Columbia University as part of a midpoint meeting. The Columbia University seniors are majors or minors in sustainable development and are serving as consultants to the West Point Energy Council to evaluate alternate housing options for Camp Buckner. The students are conducting an extensive evaluation of a variety of housing alternatives and will recommend an alternative that best transforms Camp Buckner into a Net Zero Base Camp (Water and Energy). Students are evaluating three barracks options [(1) do nothing, (2) energy retrofit, (3) new structures], and two layout designs [(1) keep barracks layout the same, (2) new energy efficient barracks layout]. Joe Fahey, John Seeley, Caitlyn Flaherty, and George Markt, were the DPW representatives, LTC Mark Smith (GENE), Dr. Russ Lachance (AARS) (by phone), and MAJ Pat Sullivan (MATH) (by phone) participated on the Academic side. The first meeting was held on 12 Sep 14 at Camp Buckner. The final outbrief to the West Point leadership will take place at West Point in December. This effort is part of an initial step in evaluating potential options at Camp Buckner.

EECS Faculty Member Travels With Catholic Choir. On 24-26 OCT, LTC Glenn Robertson traveled with the Catholic Choir to Kenilworth, NJ. The trip was a great developmental experience for cadets and a success for West Point outreach.
The 27 Cadets were housed with families of the host parish, St. Theresa's of Kenilworth, New Jersey. The Catholic Choir sang the musical liturgy during one Mass on Saturday and two on Sunday for the total congregation of approximately 1,400. In conjunction with our trip, the parish hosted a visit from Bishop Cruz, the auxiliary Bishop of Newark.
To express appreciation, the hosts provided transportation and tickets for the cadets to see Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable on Broadway. Now in its 20th year, the relationship between the Catholic Choir and Kenilworth has fostered enormous good will, a steady stream of potential admissions candidates, and at least one USMA graduate.

BRONX, N.Y. - Chris Carnegie's 99-yard interception return for a touchdown with less than a minute to play closed Army's 35-21 victory over Connecticut at Yankee Stadium. Carnegie's pick-six was one of several key plays for the Army defense on a day in which the offense ran wild for 325 yards.

Carnegie's second of two interceptions in the game came after Connecticut trimmed Army's lead to a touchdown with two minutes to play and then recovered the ensuing onside kick at midfield. Huskies' quarterback Chandler Whitmer quickly moved the Connecticut offense into the red zone with runs of 26, 10 and seven yards before throwing the deciding pick. Whitmer was flushed out to his right and threw off balance toward the goal line where Carnegie leapt in front of the pass and took it the distance for six.

Army held a two-touchdown lead for much of the game and went ahead 28-14 with 4:22 to play when Angel Santiago wiggled his way to paydirt from a yard out to cap an eight-play 52-yard drive. The Huskies quickly answered a little more than two minutes later when Whitmer connected with Noel Thomas for a touchdown prior to recovering the onside kick.

The Yankee Stadium crowd of 27,453 saw Santiago rush for two touchdowns on the day as he directed Army's effective rushing attack with a game-high 97 yards on 25 carries. As a team, Army averaged 5.5 yards per rush and its stable of backs had six players run for at least 20 yards. Raymond Maples went for 53 yards on six tries, Larry Dixon bullied his way to 43 yards on 11 touches, Terry Baggett had a pair of runs for 38 yards, Joe Walker tallied 31 yards on five carries with two touchdowns, Trenton Turrentine racked up 28 yards on four runs and Matt Giachinta ran three times for 22 yards. Read More

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army women swimming and diving team defeated Iona Friday in the team’s home opener at Crandall Pool. The Black Knights won 12 swimming events and claimed first in the 1-meter diving segment.

Army set the pace going first through third in the 200 medley relay and never let down the intensity against the Gaels. In the 1000 free Sabrina Mortell touched the wall first in 10:29.27 and was closely followed by Danielle Nuszkowski.

Mortell then won the 200 free in 1:55.98. She was followed by teammates Kristen Barta, Shannon Rogers and Madison Jones who rounded out the top four. In the 100 back Kelly Hamilton and Keeli McNeary finished 1-and-2, respectively.

The Black Knights had the top-three swimmers in the 100 breast led by Jessica Burkett (1:07.63) and in the 200 fly led by Teresa Groton (2:07.57). Read More

WHEELING, WV - The third-ranked Army men's rugby team completed a perfect season, capturing a 34-29 victory over conference rival and 13th-ranked Wheeling Jesuit on the road Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, Army moves to 8-0 on the season, having claimed victories over four nationally ranked opponents, including three straight to close out the year.

Despite allowing Wheeling Jesuit to remain close, the Army defense held strong in the final minutes of action following three straight scores from the Cardinals.  Continue Reading »

WEST POINT, N.Y.– Army linebacker Stephen Ricciardi and defensive lineman Joe Drummond were named to the Capital One Academic All-District football first team.

Ricciardi and Drummond, selected by a national panel of sports information directors, are now eligible to become an Academic All-American.

Ricciardi and Drummond, both seniors, are among the 25 players selected as District 1 winners. First-team selections from each district are placed on the Academic All-America ballot. Read More

West Point cadets marching in the New York Veterans Day parade

[Photo courtesy of Mike Segar/Reuters]

The Jewish Chapel Choir of the United States Military Academy at West Point sings the National Anthem during a Veteran’s Day commemoration that opened the closing plenary of the 2014 Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly.

[Photo courtesy of Ron Sachs]

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Senior Chandler Smith of the Army wrestling team was honored with the Lt. Gen. Harold “Hal” Moore Warrior Athlete of Excellence Award over the weekend.

The award is annually presented to a male and female West Point cadet from the graduating class who exemplifies the leadership qualities of retired Lt. Gen. Harold “Hal” Moore and the tenets of the Warrior Ethos on the athletic playing field and in the Department of Physical Education combatives program.Candidates are assessed by character attributes such as mental toughness, coachability, perseverance, athletic skill and Warrior Ethos. Recipients of the award are selected by a Department of Physical Education panel. Read More

"We have been teaching military history since 1818," said West Point History Department Chair Col. Ty Seidule. Now, the school is doing it with a new twist.

Animated representations of each day of the Battle of Gettysburg, or 3-D models of a medieval castle stormed in the Hundred Years' War, "allow you to see how the commanders placed their troops, how they flanked and maneuvered against their enemies, " said West Point freshman Mary Liu. "It really does bring history to life."

"War is the most complex, chaotic, unpredictable and dangerous activity undertaken by humans," Col. Seidule continued. "We have to have the tools to help (future Army officers) understand that better. And that's what we've done with this course." Full Story »

In the summer of 2014, Boldt was selected to the Deputy Brigade Commander position for the U.S. Military Academy Cadet Chain of Command. As the Deputy Brigade Commander, Boldt holds down the second-highest position in the cadet chain of command, which oversees all 4,400 cadets at the Academy. Boldt was nominated for this leadership position by a group of his peers before being eventually accepted into the role by members of the Academy administration. Boldt is two-time co-captain on the Army men’s soccer team (2013, 2014).

Vote for Deputy Brigade Commander Winston Boldt '15 for this year's Senior CLASS Award! Designed exclusively for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility,The Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of NCAA Division I senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition.

You can vote each day until November 24, so be sure to vote daily during the next two weeks. Duke and Michigan are in the lead, so go to the website and vote for Winston! « Vote Here»

Extracurricular Clubs

Triathlon:

• On October 24-27, Eleven cadets traveled to Aus-tin, TX to compete in the IronMan 70.3 Collegiate National Championships
• The West Point Team swept the Collegiate divi-sion with 1st place male Dylan Morgan ‘16, 1st place female Cat Sedy ‘16, Men’s Team National Champions, Women’s Team Na-tional Champions, and overall Team National Champions
• All four cadets, Dylan Morgan ‘16, Cat Sedy ‘16, Angelica Dickson ‘ 16 and Jacob Slife ‘18, qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Champions in 2015
• Dylan Morgan was 10th overall in the entire race and the fastest amateur athlete with a collegiate championship record time of 4 hours and 8 minutes to complete the 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and half-marathon
• For five of the eleven cadets, this was their first time competing at the half-ironman distance
• This is the third consecutive 70.3 national championship for the team under Head Coach Ian O’brien, and the third consecutive World Championship qualification for CDTs Morgan and Sedy
• In addition to the cadet athletes, the OIC of the team, LTC Ken Allen, competed in the event and was 9th out of 266 men in the 40-44 year old age group division
• Although not pictured, General Odierno gave a COSA coin to Cadets Sedy and Morgan for their Ironman sweep and continued triumphs with the Triathlon team
• On November 1st-3rd, The West Point Triathlon team sent one cadet, Mackenzie Williams ‘18, to compete in the inaugural NCAA Women’s Na-tional Championships
• Because triathlon is an emerging women’s sport under NCAA, athletes were allowed to compete in the championship regardless of the NCAA status of their program provided they met the requirements as collegiate athletes and, based on their resume, could make the field start list
• In her first collegiate race, and first draft-legal event in over a year and a half since racing as a junior elite, Mackenzie finished in the top half of the field within a couple of minutes of the podium, and right alongsideNavy’s top three women
• UCLA took first and third place, Penn State took second, Georgia Tech took fourth and the University of California Santa Barbara was fifth
• The race was an excellent experience for CDT Williams and she is expected to dominate the field in future events as she returns to form in draft-legal rac-ing
• The next draft-legal event for the team will be the elite developmental race in March where West Point will bring a full complement of three men and three women; this is closely followed by the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals in April

Orienteering:

• On October 25-26, the West Point Orienteering Team traveled to Sa-lem, New York in order to take part in a meet put on by the Hudson Valley Orienteering Association
• Team members ran up to 19km of course over the rocky, wooded hills in Salem
• The terrain closely resembles that of West Point
• Overall the team performed admirably at this second-to-last event of the orienteering season

Team Handball:

• The Men’s Handball team took a trip down to Salinas, Puerto Rico to compete in the International Handball Fed-eration cup
• After four days of group play, where games were played against Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico, Team USA advanced to the finals for the first time in the team’s history, but fell short to Canada in the gold medal match
• By outperforming their expectations, the USA Junior Team may be able to compete sometime in the near future in another international competition
• Cadet Cross was appointed as the captain of the team, and learned valuable tips to help the West Point Men’s Team Handball Club in order to compete at an even high level than before

Hobby Clubs

Paintball:

• On 26 Oct. the Tournament Paintball team competed in the first event of the NCPA (National Colligate Paintball Association) season at Playgrounds Paintball in Mantua Township, NJ
• The Tournament Paintball team competes in the NEIC (Northeastern Conference) of the NPCA, which consists of six teams: Tem-ple, Cornell, UCONN, Northeastern, Penn State and West Point
• The team arrived at approximately 0900 and began preparations for the first match against Cornell University
• The team had a slow start, losing the first few points, but then regrouped and scored six straight points, resulting in a 6-4 win for West Point against Cornell!
• The next match was against Temple, where the team scored the first point and then completed the match with a 6-4 win, securing a 2-0 undefeated re-cord in the conference and arguably first place

Chess Club:

• The West Point Chess Team had a great trip to the Air Force Academy for the U.S. Armed Forces Chess Open
• Our team competed against active and retired officers and enlisted personnel from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines; as well as cadets from the Air Force Academy
• Nick Oblak (CIC) won 1st overall with 5 wins and a draw
• Wes Loudon won 1st in the cadet category and tied for 5th over-all with Clifford Hodges
• Michael Huang tied for 12th overall
• Nick Oblak won 3rd place in the Blitz tournament and Nick and Wes, as a team, won the Bughouse tourna-ment

Academic Clubs

Debate (Model Arab League):

• On October 28-29th, 16 Cadets from the Model Arab League attended the National Council on US-Arab Relations Policymakers’ Conference at the Reagan Center in Washington, DC
• The Cadets were privileged to hear the latest thoughts of the most knowledgeable and influential US and Arab policymakers on the most pressing subjects of concern to the League of Arab States
• The most significant emerging topics of interest included:
• The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where current thought seems to indicate a dwindling of international and US support for Israel following the most recent Gaza war
• The Iranian nuclear deal in the offing, which the Saudi spokesman publicly welcomed with caution that Saudi Arabia would insist on the same deal for itself, guaranteeing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if Iranian nuclear ambitions are accommodated
• Most pressingly the clear and present danger posed by the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL), which is “neither Islamic nor a state” and which, though alarming in the extreme presents more of an oppor-tunity than an existential threat: Never before have the US and Muslim states faced such a compel-ling common enemy, which could bring together Arabs, Turks, Iranians, Israelis and Americans against a common foe
• Success of the all of these issues depends on Muslim leadership and provides fascinating discourse for our Cadets preparing to engage in parliamentary debate with students from other schools representing other states of the Arab league in upcoming competitions

Debate:

• This past weekend, the Army Debate team travelled to Liberty University
• Army CW, comprised of cadets TJ Collins and Matt Watts (both members of the class of 2018), finished in 3rd place in the novice division
• Army HP, comprised of cadets Ian Holbrook and Kyle Paget (both members of the class of 2017), made it to the sweet 16
• Army BB, comprised of cadets Bryant and Barlow (both members of the class of 2016) also made it to the sweet 16 of the open varsity division

Chinese Club:

• On October 25th, ten members of the USMA Chinese Forum, led by First Class CDT Kaiwen Lin, visited with members of the Rutgers University Chinese Club
• The students and the cadets took the oppor-tunity to discuss each others’ respective lives at Rutgers and West Point, eat dinner to-gether, and attend a student-run talent show hosted by the Rutgers Chinese Club
• This experience allowed both the students and the cadets to gain a better under-standing of each other and the unique opportunities and challenges that Civilian Aca-demic Institutions and Service Academies present

The West Point Band and Glee Club participated in Military appreciation day at Metlife Stadium as the New York Jets hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 9 2014. The day began with a joint service National Anthem performance, and featured an enlistment ceremony featuring the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, and the Superintendent of West Point, Lieutenant General Robert L Caslen, Jr. The West Point Band and the West Point Glee Club performed a military themed halftime show to a full house at MetLife Stadium. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class William Calohan.

Click the photo below read the Parent Review Newsletter

November 13 was the Sosh Run. Cadets taking International Relations (a required course) find unique ways to dress up and deliver/turn in their required papers prior to the 4:30pm deadline.

A few photos from the “run” can be found at this link courtesy of the West Point Parents Liaison – https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5vembR. Can you spot the surprise appearance?

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army begins its 113th season of basketball on Friday evening when it takes on the Air Force Falcons. The game will follow the VMI-The Citadel matchup at 5:30 p.m. It is the fourth straight season the Black Knights and Falcons have met in the opener of the All-Military Classic presented by USAA.

The winner of the VMI-The Citadel contest will meet the winner of the Army-Air Force game in the championship of the All- Military Classic presented by USAA on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. The consolation game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Friday's game between Army and Air Force is the first meeting at West Point since the series started on Jan. 29, 1977. Army won that meeting, 68-49.

The Black Knights are 76-36 in their previous 112 season openers. Friday's game is Army's first season opener at West Point since the 2010-11 season. Full Story»

GO ARMY BEAT AIR FORCE!!!

Click the Cover to read the entire update.

Extracurricular Clubs

Support Clubs:

• On 8 Nov, the West Point Glee Club traveled to Yankee Stadium to perform the National Anthem and halftime show with the USMA Band and the UCONN Band at the Army-UCONN football game
• Nearly 70 members of the club, under the direction of Constance Chase, presented the Anthem and a collection of patriotic selections in support of Veteran’s Day and the Army Team’s victory over UCONN
• On 9 Nov, the West Point Glee Club traveled to MetLife Stadium with the West Point Band where they played a key role in the NY Jets celebration of Veteran’s Day
• With the band, nearly 70 members of the Glee Club performed at halftime in front of more than 78,00 fans
• On 10 Nov, 18 Cadets from the Glee Club traveled to Madison Square Garden in NYC where they performed the National Anthem at the NY Knicks-ATL Hawk’s NBA Game
• As a part of Military Appreciation Night, the club joined members of all military services in various roles on the court at Madison Square Garden and extended USMA’s outreach to NYC
• Nearly 20.000 fans were in attendance for the game

Parachute:

• On 8 Nov, the West Point Parachute Team had their first demonstration jump into Yankee Stadium for the Army-UCONN football game
• Typically to jump into a stadium, a jumper must have a pro-rating, which has minimum re-quirements of 500 jumps, 10 declared accuracy jumps, as well as smoke, flag, and night jumps
• Yankee Stadium, however, has even stricter requirements, with a minimum of 1000 jumps to perform the demonstration
• This year the coaching staff ,who have the necessary requirements, performed the demon-stration to prepare the cadets for jumping into Yankee Stadium in following years
• Coach Tom Falzon was using a camera during the jump that was displayed on the jumbotron and allowed the fans to see the jumpers exit
• The team OIC, LTC MacCalman, also used the camera to pump up the crowd as he was preparing to exit
• Coach Falzone led in the stack, followed by LTC MacCalman and CPT Krupski who flew in the American Flag
• The jumpers flew in right over the jumbotron and each landed right on target
• On 9 Nov, the West Point Parachute Team and the 2nd Aviation Detachment performed a demonstration jump in Milford, CT in support of the city’s 375th anniversary Veterans Day celebration
• Mayor Ben Blake presented the team captain, CDT Fuller, the key to the city
• CDT Fuller gave an impressive speech to the audience thanking the older veterans for their service to our country and “inspiring us” to do the same
• After the parachute demonstration, the ca-dets participated in the parade

Pipes and Drums:

• On 11 Nov, the West Point Pipes & Drums supported the NYC Veterans Day Parade
• The NYC Veterans Day Parade had over 25,000 participants and over 500,000 attendants
• The Parade was televised on Fox5 and is viewable on the internet worldwide
• The band marched as part of the Corps of Cadets in the first division and performed along the parade route
• Periodically along the route members of the band performed solos to entertain the crowd and also accompanied a solo dance performance by CDT Alexis Martinez
• The band also performed in front of the reviewing stand for the Grand Marshall, former NY Police Chief Raymond Kelly, and for members and dignitaries from the military and government

Hobby Clubs

Skeet and Trap:

• On 7-9 Nov, the cadet Skeet and Trap team traveled to the DC area to compete in the two day ACUI Collegiate Clay Target Championship
• The cadets were just behind 2nd place by about 10 points out of a possible 1000, however, they were 60 points ahead of Navy
• Cadet Carolee Schwarzer beat out Clemson and George Mason to place first in women’s trap with a score of 92
• Cadet Mitchell Koellner and Cadet Gio Pezze placed 2nd and 3rd place, respectfully, in men’s trap with scores of 97

Diversity Clubs

Korean-American Relations Seminar:

• The West Point Korean-American Relations Seminar Cadets made a trip to NYC to meet with human activist, Mr. Adrian Hong
• Mr. Hong is a senior TED fel-low and the co-founder of a NGO called LiNK (Liberty in North Korean)
• The KARS Cadets spoke with Mr. Hong about the conditions of life in North Korea

Competitive Clubs

Equestrian Club:

• On 1-2 Nov, the West Point Equestrian Team traveled to the Centenary College Equestrian Center in New Jersey and had the privilege of hosting an English Equestrian show for the first time this year
• Our team did a wonderful job riding this weekend, and both of the shows were a success!
• Cadets Holly Rodeo, Alex Moore, Laivan Greene, Vanda Niemi, Caroline Harris, Danielle Diulus and Shawna Moore placed 1st in their respective classes (novice flat, intermediate western and walk/jog western)
• Cadets Dillon Curtis, Danielle Diulus and Vanda Niemi placed 2nd in their respective classes (intermediate jumping and open class reining and walk/jog)
• Cadet Dillon Curtis also placed 3rd in the open class of reining and Cadet Lena Cruzval placed 3rd in walk jog/lope
• The team competed against Centenary, Bard, Marist, Drew, William Paterson, SUNY New Paltz, Sarah Law-rence, Stevens Institute of Technology, Rutgers, Kutztown, Villanova, Temple, University of Delaware, Washing-ton College and Vassar
• The team won two out of three shows and finished 6th in the other show
• So far this year the team has a total of three wins, one second place and two 6th places, out of six competitions

Sailing:

• On 8-9 Nov, the Army Sailing team competed in the Hap Moore Team Race at the US Coast Guard Academy
• This was Army Sailing’s first team race regatta, which involves a different set of rules and strategy from traditional fleet racing formats
• Team racing is a 3-on-3, head to head racing format where the team with the best combined finishes wins the race
• Despite the new format and shifty conditions on the water, Army Sailing repre-sented well against some of the East Coast’s prominent sailing schools
• Some of the teams that competed were Harvard, Boston College and George-town

Military Clubs

Pistol:

• On 7-8 Nov, the Pistol Team traveled to Colorado Springs, CO to compete in a collegiate pis-tol match at the Olympic Training Center
• The teams competing included: Ohio State University, North Dakota State, Texas A&M, and Utah
• Army came in second place with a score of 1601
• Army was first in the aggregate score for the two women’s events with a score of 2671

Department of Law US

US District Court Judge Cathy Seibel served as visiting instructor in the Advanced Constitutional Law seminar on 7 November 2014. Judge Seibel, appointed to the bench in the Southern District of New York by President George W. Bush, lectured and fielded questions by cadets pertaining to two important rights secured under the 6th Amendment to the Constitution: the right of an accused to confront the witnesses against him and the right of the accused to the effective assistance of counsel in all criminal proceedings. The seminar is taught by Department of Law Asst. Professor and Constitutional Law Chair, Tony DiSarro.

US District Court Judge Vincent Briccetti spoke to law majors in the Introduction to Legal Method course on 7 November 2014. Judge Briccetti, appointed to the bench in 2011, spoke to the cadets about judicial review, judicial philosophy, and how judges approach the interpretation of ambiguous provisions in the law and the Constitution. In addition to discussing these issues, cadets asked questions about the confirmation process, the impact of a lifetime appointment, and the ethical dilemmas of a judge. The class is taught by Department of Law Asst. Professor LTC Ward Narramore.

The West Point Mock Trial Team traveled to St. Bonaventure University on 8-9 November to participate in the Third Annual Friar Faceoff. Cadets competed against other undergraduate students in presenting a case to panel of three judges. The first event of the year proved to be a great success!

Department of Foreign Languages

Semester Abroad Program (SAP) / Academic trip sections:

Russian: On Thursday 6 NOV advanced Russian students traveled to NYC to watch a performance of the Russian opera "Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk District" by Shostakovich with colleagues from Vassar College and USNA at the Metropolitan Opera. On Sunday 09 NOV Russian-speaking cadets on study abroad returned from an academic trip to Yerevan, Armenia, where they were studying policy and conflict as relates to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the political relations of Armenia. On Sunday 09 NOV Russian-speaking cadets returned from a cultural trip to Minsk, Belarus, where they were able to observe Belarusian cultural and historical landmarks, and practice their Russian-language skills.

Chinese: CDT Warfield participated in a national Rugby tournament while studying abroad in Beijing China. Their team took fourth place overall and the experience allowed Cadet Warfield the opportunity to see her favorite sport from a Chinese perspective.

Language or International Club key events:

International Cadets: The International Cadets challenged DFL staff and faculty (and other USMA staff and faculty) to their semi-annual soccer match! Cadets from all four classes participated and enjoyed mingling with foreign-language instructors and DFL friends from across West Point. It was neat to see how soccer, arguably the most international competitive team sport and, brought so many cultures together to have a fun and exciting time together.

Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

Cadet Capstone Team Meets with Collaborators at Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center: Representative members of the Torso-Borne Loading Capstone team, Cadets Angela Bapp, Craig Curry, Jacob Chisholm, Anthony Adams, and Katrina Donarski were accompanied by their faculty mentor, Dr. Becky Zifchock, on a trip to Natick, MA. The team used this as an opportunity to meet with their collaborators at Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center (NSRDEC). The visit allowed the team to meet with their project sponsors and discuss the anticipated direction of their research design and testing. The visit was coordinated by the director of the Biomechanics Laboratory at NSRDEC, but the students had the opportunity to meet with members of the Anthropometrics as well as the Ballistic Protection & Testing teams. The team is planning to design and test an offloading system that will redirect the load associated with the ruck and body armor to the pelvis. They are also working directly with NSRDEC to identify the optimal load distribution ratio between the shoulders and pelvis. This interdisciplinary capstone team consists of students from Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Psychology. The integration between the two different disciplines brings diverse and complementary skill sets to the design problem and testing methods.

CDT Churchill Receives Moles Award in New York City. The Moles, a long-standing New York City-based group of 500 of the top heavy construction professionals, presented CDT Churchill with the annual Moles Student Award for his excellence in the pursuit of his civil engineering studies and his potential for future contributions in the field of heavy construction. The award is given to one student from each participating school and is presented at the Moles annual educational activities dinner at the New York City Marriot Midtown. A reception and technical seminar on the 86th and 92nd street stations on the 2nd Avenue line were also included as part of the event.

Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering

Physical Geology Course Field Trip. On 4 November, 32 cadets enrolled in EV388a Physical Geology participated in a field trip to Greenwood Lake, NJ and New Paltz, NY and points in between to study rocks in their native habitat and the influence of geology on regional development. Examples of stops included sedimentary sequences atop Bellvale Mountain, the Black Dirt region near Florida, the Old Stone Houses along Huguenot Street, the Rosendale cement mines and the Silurian age conglomerate atop the Shawngunk Ridge.

Colloquium in Geography Trip Section to the Met. Ten cadets enrolled in EV483, Colloquium in Geography, traveled with Dr. Jon Malinowski to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on Thursday, 6 November as part of a semester-long look at the concept of landscape in art. At the Met, cadets traced the development of landscape painting in Europe from the 15th century onward. They also viewed masterpieces of the Hudson River School as well as works by Robert Weir, head of the Department of Drawing at West Point, and his sons. In the attached photo, cadets pose in front of Leutze’s iconic Washington Crossing the Delaware. This visit supports the Superintendent’s goal of increasing outreach to New York City.

Department of English and Philosophy

Cadets Enrolled in EN302 Travel to NYC for A Taste of North African Culture: On Friday, 31 October and Monday, 3 November, 62 total cadets currently enrolled in EN302 visited the Nomad restaurant in New York City for an authentic North African meal. The cadets who visited the restaurant have been studying the Maghreb culture of North Africa the entire semester. The trip provided an opportunity to experience an essential component of culture: what people eat and how they eat it. The restaurant manager, himself a native of Morocco, helped the cadets understand what growing up in the Maghreb is like by sharing tales of his experiences as a Berber in Morocco.

Department of Systems Engineering

Cadets participate in a Habitat for Humanity project at Yonkers, NY. Cadet Clint Hepworth (CIC) and Dr. Bruce Keith (DSE) coordinated efforts to bring 23 cadets from Company D4 to a Habitat for Humanity site in Yonkers, NY on Saturday, 11 November 2014 (Veterans Day). The event served as a company service activity for D4 and a great opportunity for the Westchester Office of Habitat for Humanity to populate a worksite with many enthusiastic, able-bodied volunteers. The cadets placed finishing touches on two houses, which were then officially dedicated to the two veterans families who will occupy them. Various teams of cadets have worked on these two houses for the past two years. Earlier this term, Cadet Company F2 volunteered to work the site on 20 SEP and 25 OCT. The Habitat for Humanity Office in Westchester has undertaken a veterans’ housing initiative, to provide housing solutions and employment opportunities to U.S. veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with affordable housing in Westchester County, NY (see http://habitatwc.org/veterans-initiatives/). To date, the H4H Office has built or is building six homes for veterans; these houses were two of those six. The cadets’ volunteer activities, which are always welcomed on the site, helped to make this initiative a reality for a few veterans. Work on the two homes will continue until the electrical work is complete, at which time Certificates of Occupancy will be issued to the families by the city of Yonkers. The H4H Office will now be directing attention to the completion of the remaining four houses.

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Three players in double figures, including 20-point performances from Kyle Wilson and Tanner Plomb, lifted the Army men's basketball team to an 84-78 season opening victory over service academy rival Air Force in game two of the All-Military Classic presented by USAA.

The Army offense was on point throughout the entire game, shooting 49.2 percent from the floor and 52.0 percent from three-point range. The Black Knights' defense forced 18 Air Force turnovers and outrebounded the Falcons 37-32. The team collected six steals and four blocks.

Of those four rejections, none were bigger than Kevin Ferguson's block of Trevor Lyons from behind that kept Army's lead at eight points with two and a half minutes remaining. The Falcons pulled down the offensive rebound, but Army's defense was able to regroup and draw an offensive foul later in the possession. Full Story»

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army men's basketball team was crowned champion of the All-Military Classic presented by USAA by defeating VMI 92-86 on Saturday evening at Christl Arena. The hosts found themselves behind by six (83-77), after leading by as many as 14 points, with a little more than four minutes to play and closed out the game on a 15-3 run. Maxwell Lenox's finish with his right hand in close kick started the critical run, before consecutive old-fashioned three-point plays at the rim by Wilson and Plomb gave Army an 85-83 edge with less than three minutes left. Two of Army's eight blocks came on VMI's next possession and Ferguson went to the line where Army struggled the entire night (15-29).

After he made one of two to push the lead to three (1:45), Jordan Weethee converted a three-point play of his own to tie the game at 86-86 with 90 seconds on the clock. Army perfectly executed its next two possessions, surrounding a pair of missed VMI free throws, with Plomb draining a pullup and Cox going high off the glass to put Army ahead by four with less than 30 seconds remaining. VMI failed to score again and Wilson added two at the line to run the final score to 92-86. Read More