War More Than Academic Exercise for West Point Class of 2004

Bernard Gardner is about to graduate from college, and his mother is worried about him. She’s not worried about whether he’ll get a good job or a nice apartment. She’s worried about what might happen to him in Iraq.

Along with many of the U.S. Military Academy’s 900 “firsties,” or seniors, graduating May 29, Gardner stands a good chance of being assigned to a combat unit after several months of training.

“It’s starting to be more real to my mom now,” Gardner, 22, said after his law of war class one recent afternoon. “She tells me she loves me a lot more often these days.”

For the class of 2004 here, the war in Iraq is much more than an academic exercise. The conflict has overshadowed their final year at West Point as they prepare to be commissioned as second lieutenants -- and make the practical and psychological adjustments of shifting rapidly from students to trainees to combat commanders.

When this year’s class entered the academy four years ago, the country was at peace. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were a year away. The U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq came during their “yearling” (sophomore) and “cow” (junior) years, respectively.

Now the cadets are bombarded with the latest updates on the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan -- from newspapers, television, the Internet and from friends, relatives and mentors serving in the combat zones. They are very much aware that they could face the same difficult decisions confronting recent West Point graduates who are now officers leading soldiers into combat.

Cadets are commissioned as second lieutenants the day they graduate -- this year after a scheduled commencement address by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. They attend an officer’s basic course for several months to a year, depending on their specialty, and then report to an active-duty unit, many of which are preparing to deploy to Iraq.

On average, according to West Point officials, certain cadets could find themselves in Iraq in eight months to a year.

Stephen Bishop, 21, who will be assigned to an infantry unit, said he received detailed updates from his roommate’s brother -- who was serving in Iraq -- and from Iraq-based officers who provided after-action reviews under a mentoring program.

“I get a lot of information on how tough conditions are, but I don’t worry about whether I’ll be up to the job over there,” Bishop said. “I have confidence in my ability and my training. My only worry is being away from my friends and family and my girlfriend.”

For several years, cadets have taken courses in Middle Eastern studies, Arabic and urban warfare. The academy also has created a “combating terrorism center” that brings in veterans of special operations units and other guest speakers with experience in counterterrorism.

But no matter how many combat veterans and commanders return to their alma mater to lecture on the realities of war, there is no way to fully prepare young men and women (16% of cadets are female) for the death and brutality of the combat zone. Many cadets say they realize they won’t know how well prepared they are until they actually lead soldiers into combat.

“The academy does as good a job as possible to prepare the cadets for combat, but certainly actual combat isn’t something you can fully prepare for until you’re there,” said Capt. Aimee Hobby Rhodes, an assistant professor of law at the academy.

Since the Iraqi invasion began in March 2003, the academy said, 11 West Point graduates have been killed in action. They range from a lieutenant colonel who graduated in 1982 to a first lieutenant who graduated two years ago.

Daniel Redman, 22, who plans to become an officer in an armored unit, said an officer who fought in the Iraq invasion a year ago suggested that cadets visit hospital emergency rooms to steel themselves for the carnage of war. Redman said he expected to be commanding a platoon in Iraq as early as next autumn.

“He told us you’ll never get used to it, but you need to see it -- and you need to be mentally ready, if not emotionally ready,” Redman said.

Gardner said he sometimes caught himself inventing hypothetical combat situations to force himself to make tough decisions. He will be assigned to a Stryker brigade, named for the Pentagon’s new eight-wheeled, 20-ton armored troop carrier.

“It’s more than just being tactically proficient,” Gardner said. “It’s knowing how to lead, how to make smart decisions, how to be decisive.”

Part of leadership is not showing fear or indecision in front of soldiers, several cadets said. It is natural to be afraid, they said, but being a strong leader means disregarding one’s personal safety to ensure the safety and well-being of soldiers under an officer’s command.

Even off-the-battlefield news from Iraq has intruded on instruction during the final months of classes. Rhodes said her law of war class had discussed the torture and humiliation of Iraqi detainees by soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

Rhodes has used the case to emphasize the importance of commanders setting expectations early on, and for commanders to understand the consequences when soldiers fail to respect military and international laws and regulations. She said her class had discussed the killing of Vietnamese citizens at My Lai; the looting of Baghdad last year; photographs of Saddam Hussein’s capture; “collateral damage,” or the killing of civilians; and combat footage of a U.S. helicopter gunship killing an Iraqi fighter who may have been wounded but also may have been reaching for a weapon.

“It’s not difficult for them to study the Geneva Convention and apply it to a conventional war,” she said. “But it could be very hard for them to apply it to situations on today’s battlefield in Iraq.”

Redman said he was astonished by the level of cruelty displayed in the published photos of Iraqi detainees. He said he cannot comprehend how any American soldier could take part in the humiliation of detainees.

“You could put me in a room for a month and I could never come up with the idea to put naked detainees in a human pyramid,” he said. “It’s just not part of the values we’re taught.”

In the coming weeks, scores of cadets will leave the crisp efficiency and quiet contemplation of the tree-lined campus on the banks of the Hudson River for the pressure and chaos of the ongoing insurgency in Iraq.

They know that they could be confronted with life-and-death decisions while still trying to make the difficult transition from students to combat leaders.

Redman said the best advice he had received from officers now in Iraq was to ask a lot of questions and pay close attention to everything taught at the officer’s basic course this summer.

“We’re all faced with a pretty steep learning curve,” he said. “When you get caught up in the middle of things in Iraq, you’re not going to get a chance to ask questions.”