Graduation is just about a month away and I’m sure many of you are looking forward to seeing your sons and daughters graduate and become officers. Graduation Week is both an exciting and a very busy time around here, and I know you probably have many questions as you make plans to attend the ceremony and other Graduation Week events.  The parent’s information page on the USMA website has a lot of good information for you about Graduation Week to help you plan your visit: schedule of events, lodging options, post access and more. As always, thank you for your support of West Point and for entrusting your sons and daughters to us.  I look forward to seeing many of you here for Graduation!

West Point’s Cadet Community on Civil-Military Operations (C3MO) hosted civilian students and ROTC cadets from Tufts University, Wellesley College, and Rochester University for its annual Student Workshop on Civil-Military Operations (SWCMO) from Mar. 30-Apr. 1. (The Class of 1978 is currently fundraising to endow this important program.) Cadets from the West Point Negotiations Project provided assistance and expertise for C3MO during the event. The civilian students and cadets attended classes on conflict de-escalation and negotiation, then utilized their new skills with a Key Leader Engagement (KLE) exercise on Constitution Island. Teams devised a course of action for delivering medical supplies to a nearby hospital, and the exercise culminated with a simulated react to contact and casualty evacuation drill. Overall SWCMO succeeded in its goal of exposing civilian students to military life, and providing negotiation training for the participating future leaders. The Civ-Mil Center is one of the Superintendent’s Margin of Excellence priorities.

Since 1967, competitors from around the world have competed for the highly acclaimed Reginald E. Johnson Memorial Saber and this year was no exception. In previous competitions, West Point has been represented by 36 teams, one for each of the cadet companies. This year the Academy added two more teams to competition: West Point's Black and Gold teams which combined the most competitive cadets into two teams to represent the entire USMA as West Point's elite Sandhurst contenders. Black Team squad leader CDT Daniel Gaynor won last summer while saving the life of a person who was drowning. Surdyke was a member of the Company B4 Sandhurst team and his parents presented Gaynor the award. Full Story.

Parents connect and give back to West Point in many ways. Liz and Scott Doll, parents of Cadet Gus Doll ’18, are active with the WPPC of Nebraska and Southwest Iowa, and Liz enjoys treating Gus and his fellow cadets by making holiday favors for their mess hall table. Gus has directly benefited from the Margin of Excellence and is currently in a language and cultural immersion program in Lyon, France. The Dolls have been donating to the West Point Parents Fund and Army A Club since Gus arrived at West Point in 2014. Said Liz, “Although we were not a military family before, our decision to give back to West Point was simple. We believe in the mission of West Point.”

Members of the USMA Debate team received the 2016 Commander-In-Speech trophy from Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in Washington, DC, Mar. 29. The USMA team won the inaugural Commander-In-Speech Debate Competition in the fall debating the topic, “The Department of Defense should substantially increase its offensive cyber capabilities” against both the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

During spring break March 11-19, 20 West Point Cadets visited foreign academies in Chile, Colombia, Georgia, Indonesia, Latvia, Mexico, Mozambique, Peru, Poland and South Korea. From March 25-April 2, the West Point Cadets hosted 18 cadets from the same countries under a reciprocal agreement. The Foreign Academy Exchange Program is an annual program designed to promote good will and foster partnerships between USMA and the service academies of other nations. Read More.

USMA hosted the 5th annual McDonald Conference for Leaders of Character, an annual event administered by the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, from Mar. 29-Apr. 2. The event combines world leaders, with 22 domestic and 23 international undergraduate students and 18 cadets, to expand their perspectives on worldwide pressing issues. This year’s conference theme was Opposition and Innovation: Taking Risks to Lead Change. Panel topics included “Freedoms and Ethics,” “Expression” and “Structures.” The conference was founded and endowed by Robert A. McDonald ’75 and his wife, Diane, in order to support and nurture the next generation of global leaders. McDonald is the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the retired Chairman, President, and CEO of Procter & Gamble. Full Story.

Recently LTG Robert Caslen ’75 visited Semester Abroad Class of 2018 cadets Logan Joseph, Tyler Brown, Kaya Manizade, Grant Oncay, Mitchell Magill and Rebecca Griswold in Munich, Germany. The cadets had a busy first day with a city tour ending with a traditional Bavarian dinner. Later that week they had discussions and a meeting with university officials. The following day cadets met in Garmisch, Germany for a tour of the Marshall Center prior to finishing the trip with a Founders Day dinner the next evening. The visit was an excellent opportunity for the cadets to demonstrate some of their language and cultural skills to senior West Point leadership.

The Department of English and Philosophy hosted the second annual Zengerle Lecture in the Arts and Humanities, with speaker/author Ta-Nehisi Coates, Apr. 12. The lecture, endowed by Joseph (’64) and Lynda Zengerle, demonstrates USMA’s enduring commitment to humanities education at West Point. The goal of the lecture is to “counter insularity” and forward equality while bridging the civilian-military divide. Coates addressed an audience of over 800 USMA cadets, staff and faculty members. “I had to come here because I can’t think of a more important place to be for the things that I discuss, the things I’ve spent basically since my childhood perusing,” Coates recalled when he was accepting his invitation to speak at West Point. “It was my feeling that those who are charged with defending the country have to know the country.” Full Story.

Past parents are forever connected to the Long Gray Line. Although his son, Jake, graduated in 2014, Robert Steckler continues to support West Point, both as a donor to the West Point Parents Fund and Army A Club and as a volunteer. A member of the West Point Society of New Jersey and a football season ticket holder, Robert was recently appointed a MALO (Military Academy Liaison Officer) for the southern New Jersey territory. He is excited to help recruit future cadets, and has seen firsthand the friendships, camaraderie, team building, and leadership skills that will last cadets a lifetime. Robert continues to be inspired by the “commitment to West Point, to an ideal of excellence and honor, and to a greater cause” of all those he meets at West Point.

TAPS is the official and unique annual memorial magazine of the Long Gray Line. In it, you will find the fascinating and inspiring life stories of West Point graduates. The 2017 edition will be our largest ever, with over 250 Memorial Articles! To guarantee your copy, order online now through May 31. We will a very limited number of extra copies for sale at an increased price. Please call 845.446.1645 to order now.

All around the world, West Pointers are celebrating the 215th anniversary of the founding of USMA! So, as of Mar. 16, you can get the 2015 Register of Graduates & Former Cadets at a special discounted price. The Register, updated every five years, is West Point Association of Graduates’ most historic publication, and is the ultimate West Point reference book. It contains a wealth of information on the careers of 72,413 West Point Graduates from 1802-2015, including 218 class mottos and crests, West Point generational family ancestry, USMA leadership, Medal of Honor Graduates and more! Deluxe clothbound edition with custom-designed West Point map endpapers. Visit our Gift Shop online to order your copy! Offer ends May 27, 2016.