This year marks the bicentennial of the founding of the United States Military Academy at West Point. The military column of Chinese-version china.org.cn, one of the authorized government portal sites to China, meets the unique needs of readers for war history, military theory, weapons, famous battles, famous officers and men. It also offers a comprehensive array of military news both at home and abroad. Recently, lots of readers have written to editors of the column inquiring about the history and development of West Point.
With the help of officials from the US Embassy in Beijing, two West Point graduates were invited on July 9 to china.org.cn, to talk about their campus life, the military training including the well-known Beast Barracks and Camp Buckner, and most important, the spirit of West Point as represented by its motto “Duty, Honor, Country,” from which they have profited greatly.
LeRoy Graw, a graduate of the class of 1964, and Jim Rogers from the class of 1986, are now working in Beijing. Graw said he had been back to West Point to participate in its celebrations three times and saw many changes since his day, including more professionalism, more flexibility both in course selection and career choice, expanded student leadership, and no more mandatory Sunday church-going for cadets. But, while things may have taken a turn for the better since Graw’s time, one thing remaining unchanged at West Point is its rigid discipline. It is still vivid in both men’s memories how they kept up military bearing even during mealtimes at the dining hall and how they slept in uniform at night when they were cadets.
As a result, every trainee at West Point becomes extremely self-disciplined no matter what career he or she chooses in the future. “Self-discipline is our great advantage compared with students from other universities”, Graw said. Indeed, besides military training, moral-ethical development is central to the West Point experience. It is stated in the Honor Code that “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do”. Cadets are guided by the timeless creed “Duty, Honor, Country” with “Respect” and “Integrity” as core values.
However, the young generation has a different opinion of military academies. Living in America, the so-called “free country”, people are most concerned about being deprived of their personal liberty. “Deprivation of freedom” is exactly the young students’ impression about military academies. Therefore, “when I suggested to my 18-year-old son to go to military school, he refused to even consider it,” Graw said.
In the beginning, besides West Point, Graw also got a scholarship from Stanford University and the Air Force Academy. “Naturally, with a different choice, life would have been very different.” But Graw never regrets his initial decision to become a cadet at West Point.
When asked about the role of West Point in the US armed forces, Graw said he noted a slight change in the description of the school’s mission. “In my time, the school’s mission was described as ‘preparing young people as professional military officers’. Not long ago, it changed to ‘preparing young people as officers to serve their country,’” Graw said.
Currently Graw and Rogers act as the president and vice president (respectively) of the American Certification Institute, which does professional certification training and related programs throughout China and other countries in Asia. In 2000, Rogers came to Beijing to hold the post of General Manager in the China Branch of World Franchise Solutions. After graduating from West Point, Graw went back to school to get a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Doctorate in Education. Graw and Rogers also operate a Business English Institute in China.
(china.org.cn by Shao Da and Li Jingrong July 18, 2002)
