West Point

West Point cracks top 25, barely, in U.S. News annual college rankings

By Kevin Lilley on September 9, 2014 Army, West Point

Despite continuing, stellar support from America’s high school guidance counselors, the U.S. Military Academy slipped seven spots on this year’s U.S. News Best Colleges rankings for national liberal arts colleges, falling out of a three-way tie for 17th last year and into a three-way tie for 24th with Macalester College of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Scripps College of Claremont, California. West Point finished second in the service-academy race, with the Naval Academy ranking 13th (down from 12th last year). The schools also finished 1-2 in selectivity: Annapolis accepted just 7.4 percent of its 2013 applicant pool, according to U.S. News, while…

VIDEO: Army football's 2014 hype roll has historic, and powerful, voice sample

By Kevin Lilley on September 5, 2014 Army, West Point

At first look (and listen), Army football’s slick 2014 introductory video has all the standard fare of preseason hype, including in no particular order: Explosions. Players in a dimly lit studio modeling new uniforms and trying to look imposing. A head coach twirling a football on his finger and giving the camera a look that all but screams, “Are you sure I have to twirl this football? Can’t I just look imposing?” Assorted highlights, quick cuts and logos, all set to a powerful soundtrack. More explosions. An introduction from a famous alumnus. And that’s where the similarities between Army’s video…

Black Knights fall to Yanks in preseason exhibition

By Meghann Myers on April 1, 2013 Army

By Jim Tice The West Point baseball team made a nice try of it Saturday, but fell 10 to 5 against the New York Yankees in an exhibition game that set an attendance record at the Military Academy’s Doubleday Field. The Black Knights, who today and tomorrow play two doubleheaders against Patriot League arch rival Navy, hung tough against the Bronx Bombers for three innings but gradually were worn down by major league hitters. The game, which drew 6,100 fans, was West Point’s first against the Yanks since 1976, and the 22nd in an occasional series dating to 1927. Academy…

Army hacks Navy ahead of rivalry game

By Meghann Myers on December 7, 2012 Army, cyber warfare, West Point

No suspects have been nailed down, but it appears that someone with a West Point bias hacked into the U.S. Naval Academy’s e-mail server and sent a mass message in support of Army’s inevitable victory. Bloomberg posted the full text: “Vice Admiral Michael H. Miller Dec 5 to goarmysinknavy, AllUSNA, USCC, BTD Greetings, In preparation for the humiliating defeat Army will be dealing to us in the near future, I have some guidance to pass down. First: when we stage for march-on, we need to clean up our act. The internet has us pegged as dirty slobs– this year, we…

The best of "Go Army, Beat Navy"

By Meghann Myers on December 6, 2012 Afghanistan, Army, West Point

The Army has stepped up its promo game in the weeks leading up to the West Point – Annapolis football game this weekend. A multilateral YouTube campaign includes submissions from Fort Drum, the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea and cavalry scouts in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Still no word on whether Bill the Goat’s kidnapping had anything to do with the game, though. Maybe they turned him loose after he failed out of Air Assault School. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imd91aMIIuE[/youtube] “I want my mommy” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hxEGNYN8Yc[/youtube] “These guys are in the Army” [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHmmQnWJiG8[/youtube] And of course, Black Knights, don’t forget to be safe out…

West Point gets down, Gangnam style

By Meghann Myers on October 4, 2012 Outside the wire

It was only a matter of time. Two weeks after Annapolis released its version of YouTube’s viral video of the moment (359,713,166 views at press time) and the Air Force followed suit, the Army has answered the challenge with its own version, filmed at the U.S. Military Academy and starring Army cadets. Enjoy. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4RLoG9234] P.S. – Marines, your move.

UPDATE: Gates focuses West Point speech on officer retention

By Mike Hoffman on February 24, 2011 West Point

UPDATE: Here is a link to Army Times’ story on the speech. Interesting some of the changes to the promotion and assignment system Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested for officers. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will spend the day at West Point tomorrow, according to his spokesman Geoff Morrell. Gates will teach cadets and then address the Corps on the future of the U.S. Army, according to Morrell’s Twitter account @PentagonPresSec. “SecDef teaching midshipmen at USNA this AM. Tomorrow does same at West Point before delivering speech to entire Corps on future of US Army,” Morrell tweeted at 11 a.m. Feb.…

Sexual harassment, assault reports rise at service academies

By Lance Bacon on December 15, 2010 Army, Congress, Pentagon, West Point

The number of reported sexual harassment and assaults at the three service academies is up 61 percent from last year, according to this story. Pentagon officials say the rise could be due to an increase in education and training. There were 41 incidents reported for the 2009-2010 school year, up from 25 last year, according to this annual report required by Congress. In the year before the survey, 12.9 percent of women and 1.9 percent of men indicated experiencing unwanted sexual contact, and 56 percent of women and 12 percent of men indicated experiencing sexual harassment. According to the survey…

Lesbian cadet considering return to Army

By Lance Bacon on November 26, 2010 Army, Congress, DADT, West Point

Katherine Miller, who quit West Point in August, said she would come back in the Army – if “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is repealed. The admitted lesbian told the Associated Press that she left the U.S. Military Academy to fight the policy and because she couldn’t keep lying about her sexuality. Miller, who is now attending Yale University, said the end of DADT would help the military by opening it up to more qualified candidates. At the time of her departure, Miller was the ninth-ranked Cadet in her class of 1,157, and boasted a grade point average of 3.829. She…

Bionic feet put spring in amputees’ steps

By Joe Gould on October 27, 2010 Outside the wire

At the Army Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center’s booth at AUSA, it was hard to take my eyes off a prosthetic hand so lifelike it looked like there was dirt under the fingernails. Beneath its silicone flesh was a mechanical pincer that, manipulated by the motion of an amputee’s arm and shoulder, opens and closes the thumb, pointer and forefinger. But after filling me in on the hand, TATRC research scientist Jason Ghannadian wanted to talk feet. Since the start of the current wars, there have been more than 16,000 amputations across the services, an overwhelming number of which…

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