cadet blogs

Return from West Point

(The Cadet Experience, Class of 2012) Permanent link All Posts

This past weekend I was able to travel back to USCGA from my exchange at USMA in West Point, New York. Exchanging at West Point has been an incredible opportunity so far. I have only been at USMA for a little over a month, but it is humbling when I look back at how many new friends I have made and how much I have learned about the U.S. Army. The Army is a completely different culture from the Coast Guard, mainly because of its massive size and land (as opposed to nautical) roots. In addition, West Point is very different from our Academy. The sheer size (approximately 4,700 cadets) takes away from: 1. the close-knit family atmosphere of the CGA and 2. the excellent food that a school with less than 1,000 cadets can serve. However, West Point does offer many more majors and elective courses.

West Point cadets have been really friendly to “Coasties” and luckily the three of us CGA cadets should be exempt from the “torture” that Navy and Air Force cadets go through the week before Army plays their football teams. As much as I love gaining a new perspective on service academy life and our fellow armed forces, I still enjoyed returning to CGA this past weekend. Not only do I miss my shipmates in the Class of 2012, but it was awesome talking with my former swabs from Hotel who are now 4/c cadets in spread throughout the corps. I have not seen them since before they left for Eagle, so speaking with them was really motivating for me.

Stay tuned for more experiences from West Point when I post a blog in October. GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!

More about Hunter.

Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/2/2012 3:50 PM