By Rebecca Rose, WPAOG Multimedia Producer
The Long Gray Line boasts many illustrious graduates, two of whom WPAOG was honored to host on Thursday, November 13 for a jam-packed day of cadet engagement.
Distinguished Graduate Award (DGA) recipients COL (R) Frederick C. Lough Jr. ’70 and Kathleen S. Hildreth ’83 started their day reliving some cadet memories while visiting the Simon Center, Arvin Gym, and observing lunch formation before moving into the Mess Hall. From the Poop Deck, Lough and Hildreth were announced to the Corps, where they received cheers of respect and admiration from the cadets below.
Later in the day, Lough and Hildreth attended the National Conference on Ethics in America (NCEA), which is generously endowed by the West Point Class of 1970. Each year, the NCEA aims to develop national awareness of ethical behavior in the undergraduate community, improve collegiate codes of ethics and honor systems, and strengthen civilian-military bonds. Attendees of the conference include cadets from each of the military service academies, ROTC, and students from civilian colleges and universities. Lough and Hildreth participated in an interactive “Leaders Challenge” session with attendees, where they discussed the impacts of ethics on decision-making as leaders, using examples from military law.
Lough described the relationship between graduates and cadets as symbiotic and beneficial to both parties. “You come back here, you sit with these young Americans, they’re all fantastic, just fantastic,” said Lough, “when they first started at the Academy, I’m sure the [cadets] must have been looking up to Sylvanus Thayer. Hopefully, [the cadets] benefited by hearing some of my and Kathy’s stories.”
The day concluded with dinner and an intimate fireside chat amongst cadet leadership, BG R.J. Garcia ’96, 81st Commandant, U.S. Corps of Cadets, and COL (R) Mark Bieger ’91, WPAOG President and CEO, who led a discussion and a Q&A session with Lough and Hildreth. Garcia had no doubts that the DGAs left a remarkable impression on the cadets.
“If you read the mission statement, part of it is, build, educate, train and inspire,” Garcia stated. “There’s so much inspiration in the Long Gray Line and incredible things that our graduates do, in and out of service for their communities and the greater good of the nation. Today, they’ve taken away two incredible examples that have done that, [Lough], who served 50 years of military service saving lives across multiple battlefields and [Hildreth] who dedicated her life to supporting U.S. soldiers and Army aviation.”
Many cadets throughout the room took notes during the discussion, and a few posed questions, allowing them to dig further into the wisdom that Lough and Hildreth shared.
Cadet Alyssa Figueroa ’26 shared her top two takeaways, “COL (R) Lough said, ‘one learns to make decisions by making decisions,’ we talk about that a lot but we need to take advantage of those opportunities as company commander, an XO or a firstie…to really make a decision and see how it plays out surrounded by your peers, who also are there to support you and figure out the type of leader you want to be.” The second takeaway was “competence creates confidence,” Figueroa said, “as a cadet, over time, as I become more competent in my skills, what I want to branch, things I want to do, it’s created a lot more confidence in me.”
Similar sentiment was shared by Cadet Timothy Ormsby ’26 who expressed, “there were so many good takeaways, the talk about competency as something super important and being technically proficient in everything that you do, that is something I struggle with as a leader myself. We had two great speakers here who really hit that point hard.” Ormsby also shared, “laughing through everything, having a good sense of humor in difficult situations, that was another great point made tonight.”
“One of the big things that they hit is that you have to be able to work well with people, keep your sense of humor, and build confidence in your organization because it is a people organization,” said Cadet Justin Zetterwall ’27. “I think that was a big thing, you can kind of get lost in all of the busy work of leadership and then you can forget who you’re serving and the unit as a leader.”
All parties expressed gratitude for the network of the Long Gray Line and its importance. “The Long Gray Line is our network,” said Figueroa, “those are people that you can rely on no matter where you go. It’s important to keep in touch, you never know when you might need someone but also when I can be there for somebody else.”
In her closing remarks to the cadets, Hildreth urged them to use their AOG and Long Gray Line as a resource in their future endeavors. “One of the focuses at the Association of Graduates is the moments that matter, and you’re going to have a lot of those times in your life,” said Hildreth. “We have an amazing network of fellow graduates that will help you do anything that you want to do if you reach out to them. Please take advantage of that, it’s an amazing resource you’ll be able to tap into for the rest of your career and life.”
This is the first time WPAOG has sponsored an event bringing together DGAs and cadet leaders on a larger scale. “Our Distinguished Graduate Award recipients are the best of us. They have so much wisdom and experience to share. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring them back to West Point so they can share their story with cadets and inspire the Corps,” said Bieger. When the Long Gray Line grips hands, sharing important lessons learned, it strengthens us all as they serve our country together.
