Chapter 4

West Point

06/04/2010

08:12

I had been sitting on the bus that was transporting me and about thirty-six other men and women to west point, for about an hour when we

finally come to a stop in front of what looked like the receiving hall. A cadet dressed in Class B west point grey uniform came on to the bus and said

in an elevated voice, "I am Cadet Sergeant Wells. When you leave my bus you will form a line parallel to the bus, stand shoulder to shoulder. You

will get off my bus in an orderly fashion starting with you." He was pointing at me because I was in the first seat behind the door and closest to

the aisle. He continued, "You will wait for the seat across and in front of you to clear and then you will get off. Now, MOVE IT!" I jumped up and ran

like hell off the bus, with my backpack in tow, and started the line about four feet in front of the door. I only had a backpack because I only carried

the essentials which were toiletries, a notebook, and a book for reading; because I knew that they were going to issue to me what I needed. After

everyone got off the bus, Cadet Sergeant Wells told us to turn to the left and follow him. After marching to the receiving building, they divided us

into male and female lines. My bus had about the same amount of females to males. They went through our stuff, some taking three minutes to go

through all the crap that people had. My bag took ten seconds; I timed it in my head. Wells then told me to go and see the Cadet Sergeant in the

door way about 200 feet to the left, give him my name and to triple time it in get there. I knew what double time meant, a military jog, so I guess

triple time meant military sprint. I stopped about two feet in front of the Cadet Sergeant and gave him my name. He then said, "You are now,

Cadet Radford. You will say this when you are addressing senior cadets and instructors, understood?" "Yes, Cadet Sergeant" "good, now wait

here." After about ten minutes the cadet sergeant came up to me and told me to follow him. I followed after him and after two minutes of

marching, the Cadet Sergeant, myself, and the rest of the people on the buses, 200 in all, went in to a large auditorium. The Cadet Sergeant told

us to sit down starting in the first row, last seat and filling the row before starting the next one. He told us not to say a word. After about ten

minutes of waiting, a Lieutenant General came on to the stage and walked to the podium. I thought, "The Academy's Commanding Officer." He then

said, "Good Morning. I am Lieutenant General Thompson, Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. I must congratulate

you for making it this far. You are the top ten percent of the people who turned in applications to come here. The other ninety percent have been

denied for various reasons, but you have been accepted. The first thing that will happen is you will be issued your clothing which includes your PT

uniform, Fatigues, and Dress Uniforms. Then you will be given a health exam including blood, urine, eye exams, and hearing exams. The Cadets in

uniform right now will be passing out medical sheets that you must keep. cool your heads cool and you will do fine. that is all." After about ten

minutes and receiving the med sheets, we finally got up, walked out of the aud., and went to get our clothes and the rest of our equipment and

our health tests.

06/05/2010

23:12

After our health tests, equipment issue and room assignments, we went to the receiving building and got our vaccinations included tetanus, MMR,

and a tuberculosis positive protein test. After that they took us back to the barracks and they said to be quiet and lights out was in forty five

minutes, wake up time was at 0500, formation at 0530 and breakfast at six. I went to my room which was on the third floor of the main barracks

where I was bunked with an African American kid of nineteen from Madison, Wisconsin. He told me his name was Kenny Franklin. I asked him why

he came to west point and his reason was because he didn't want to go to a traditional college. After he and I chatted while we were getting

ready for tomorrow, he said he was going to bed while I went to the showers. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and washed my face. Then

I went back to the room and went to bed. The last thought I had before I drifted off was, "What have I gotten myself into. Oh well we have nine

weeks of basic training and four years of classes. I hope I survive." Sleep over came me and I drifted off. And I slept lightly that night.

08/14/2010

15:13

For the past nine weeks, myself and all other 200 something Plebes went through Army basic training. This included rifle training, mapping,

communications, and various other things. The first couple of days of basic I kept remembering the bit of advice I got from my JROTC Instructor, "if

they say anything that makes you sore, remember that it is not personal. It's just the way they are taught. They are to make you unlearn all you

have learned about civilian life and things like that." It was good advice because a lot of the instructors really laid the heat on us. After the nine

weeks we got a couple of days "off" which meant that we were given time to meet with counselors, senior cadets, etc. It was a Saturday, two

days before classes started. I was talking with one of the counselors in charge of classes who was a commissioned Captain when my team leader

who was a second year cadet came in to the office. He came up to us and said, "Excuse me for the interruption sir, Cadet Radford the Lieutenant

General would like to see you in his office ASAP." I felt a knot in my stomach, the Lieutenant General was the superintendent of the school and

from what I heard. when a new student had to see the Lieutenant General, you were usually in extremely deep trouble. The Captain said I could

go, so I got up and followed my TL to the Academy Headquarters. The First Captain or the Cadet Brigade Commander who was a Forth year cadet

was waiting for us in front of the building. My TL and I saluted him and he told the TL he could go back to his other duties. The TL left and the first

captain told me to go to at ease and then he said, "Cadet, I will tell you this. I know you probably sweating over meeting the General one on one.

Am I correct and you don't need to respond to as you would a cadet sergeant but only this once." I said in quiet, shaky voice, "ye…yes sir, I'm

scared. The reason is I have heard from several teams over the past couple days that if a first or second year cadets has to go and see the

General one on one, there usually in so much trouble that the reason the General is calling them in is to dismiss from the academy, sir." "It's true,

but usually it goes through me before it has to be addressed by the academy staff, and I haven't heard anything bad about you. Your commanders

tell me you are a top notch cadet. So I have no idea why he's calling you in, Cadet." I felt a little bit of relief. We both walked into Headquarters

and told the colonel sitting at his desk outside the General's office we were here to see the General. He asked for my name and then said that the

General was expecting me. Before we entered the door the First Captain gave me a pointer, "I'll be in there with you. Just relax and you should be

fine regardless of the situation." "Yes, sir." He knocked on the door. The general told us to come in. we opened the door he walked in first and I

followed him. The General was looking out the giant window directly behind his desk overlooking the parade grounds. The first Captain waved me

to the desk while he waited by the door. I walked up to the desk, saluted the General and said, "Cadet Private Radford, Reporting to

the General as ordered, sir." He waited a few seconds before turning around and returning the salute. He then walked to the desk sat down in his

chair which was leather and told me to sit down. He opened a file and looked at for a couple of minutes before addressing me, "you have a lot of

credentials, cadet." I was confused, so I said, "sir?" he then looked up at me and said, "three hundred on the initial acceptance, a 278 for the IQ

Test that Lieutenant Colonel Daniels recommended you take, and a fine cadet in JROTC. Rank of Cadet Major, Security and Intelligence officer,

Company Commander, Varsity Rifle team, Platoon Sergeant, and Color Guard. After Graduation you became a security officer and

made the rank of security captain or site supervisor after two years. You also were a volunteer firefighter. Firefighter II, Hazmat awareness and

operations, EMT-Basic, Technical Rescue, achieved Rank of Engineer after three years. You got a heck of a resume, Cadet." "Yes, sir" he back to

looking at my file. He finally said the words that put me into shock, "Cadet, Depending on how you do this year in classes, I may have you graduate

a year early." I was in shock, the First Captain yelled, "WHAT?" the general told the first captain to relax. The general and I talked about the

classes I would be taking and some other stuff. After about twenty minutes the general finally dismissed us. We both went to the barracks. He

went up with me to my room. Kenny was polishing his boots. When he saw the First Captain come in behind me, he immediately snapped to

attention. He reminded me of security officer Sanderson. The First captain, whose name was Hedley, told him to relax. And that he was here

semi-socially. Kenny then asked, "Hey Tom, I here you got called to see the General. What happened?" I told him everything that myself and the

general talked about.

16:45

After I told Kenny everything, Hedley told us he had to leave. We stood to attention as he went out. Kenny then asked me as we got ready to go

to dinner, "so the general is pretty cool in your opinion, huh?" "Yeah" we went down to formation. I thought, "Well this may be the most interesting

THREE years of my life. We went downstairs, got in formation, went to the chow hall, and got in line. Tonight was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and

garlic bread.

05/10/2013

10:43

"…Catherine W. Rabb…Thomas E. Radford" I walked across the graduation platform and received my diploma from Lieutenant General Thompson.

My USMA Grey uniform was ironed to perfection, my shoes shine so bright that they were mirrors, and my stripes that showed the rank of First

Captain looked absolutely amazing in the New York spring morning sun. I was one of the extremely rare Cadets who were graduating a year early.

Out of the 200 something Cadets graduating that year, three were graduating early, me, another male and a female. I took my diploma, shook the

Generals hand and went back to my seat. After two hours the General finally spoke the words every single one of us wanted to hear, "Class of

2013, you are dismissed." We all took off our service caps and threw them up into the air in celebration. I kept mine on because I didn't want to

lose it.

After the celebration and pinning of our second lieutenant gold bars on our shoulders by our parents, every one except for me and one other

cadet. He was staying for one more year as a teacher's assistant because he still hadn't decided what he was going to do. I went to the general

because as he shook my hand when I received my diploma, he said that he wanted to see me in his office. I knocked on the door and he told me to

come in. he was again standing at the window. I went up to the desk, saluted and said, "Cade…Second Lieutenant Radford Reporting to the

General as requested, Sir." He turned around, Saluted back and said, "At ease, Lieutenant. Please sit down." I sat down in the chair and he sat

down in his. He leaned back and said, "So, Tom, How does it fell to be a commissioned officer?" "To be perfectly honest, sir, I wasn't sure I was

going to make it. It is a big relief to be called second lieutenant. But I am aware this is only the beginning, correct?" "Correct and I have two things

that may help you along the way." "What's that, sir?" "One, a Commanders Coin." He handed me the gold coin, and continued, "And an automatic

promotion to First Lieutenant." He nearly fell backwards in my seat. After I regained composure, I said, "well thank you sir but I still am confused as

to why you are doing this, sir." "I'm doing it because you have more potential than anyone I have seen. You have a bachelor in robotics and

nuclear power and an associate in law enforcement. I'm giving you first lieutenant because I know from experience that no one listens to a new

lieutenant. I was given a lot of info about you and you're insight and that's caused me to give you an automatic promotion. And it's already been

approved. And if you walk into a room with a silver bar instead of a gold bar, people might actually listen to you. Now do you understand?" "Yes sir

and I hoping to continue my education along with being in the military." "Very Good, Lieutenant. What do you want to do?" "Well I want to

continue all the way to doctorate in robotics. So I was thinking of going to a technical school to learn more about robotics, sir." He looked down at

his desk and then said, "Well I think you would be a good man in an R and D battalion. I am going to send you to Fort Bragg. You'll be able to work

with the best people." "Thank you, sir." I got up and shook his hand and then saluted him and left his office.

06/12/2013

11:02

I walked in to the commander's office of the 1st R&D battalion. I saluted the Lieutenant Colonel and reported, "Sir, First Lieutenant Tom Radford

reporting for duty to the 1st Research and Development battalion, Sir." The LTC saluted back. He then said, "At ease, Lieutenant. Sit down please."

I sat down and the LTC proceeded look through a file. After about five minutes he started to speak. He said, "300 on the west point acceptance

test, IQ of 278, 100 percent every time for physical test, bachelor in robotics, nuclear power and an associate in law enforcement. You have only

two minor infractions in regards to uniform, one disciplinary report for walking about after curfew, all in the first year, In other words, you were an

ideal cadet, Given First Lieutenant Rank Immediately after graduating West Point. Recommended by Lieutenant General Thompson to join 1st R&D."

He then paused and looked up at me. I kind of gulped. He then put the file down and said, "We only accept the best here, Lieutenant. Are

prepared to live up to our expectations, Lieutenant?" "Yes, sir" "I can't hear you." "SIR, YES SIR." "Very Good, Radford. Now I know you will be an

asset to my battalion. I think you'll fit right in, lieutenant. And if got an automatic promotion to 1LT, you must have been good in your studies."

"Yes, sir" "well let's get you introduced. Follow me."

(A/N: i dont know if its possible to graduate from west point or any other military academy a year early. i also dont think its possible to get automatic promotions like the one in this chapter. please done get mad at me for this. im only making this stuff up.)