The graduating cadets of the United States Military Academy spent their final days here like scores of seniors, or firsties, before them: packing foot lockers and showing their mothers around gray buildings and sweeping lawns. All smiles. Even the lone cadet marching in full uniform in a parking lot under the hot sun \u201d\u201d a form of punishment called \u201cwalking the area\u201d\u009d \u201d\u201d flashed a grin when a friend passed.<\/p>\n
Lt. Col. David A. Jones was one of the graduates 22 years ago, in the class of 1985. Now 43 and a staff officer who works in the academy\u2019s leadership and ethics programs, he was smiling upstairs in his office, but his words betrayed his worry for the young men and women who will, in all likelihood, be leading other soldiers in Iraq next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t provide them with all the solutions and all the answers,\u201d\u009d he said. \u201cThis is too complex.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The war in Iraq has hovered over the class of 2007, perhaps more than any class before. The 1,000-plus cadets graduating on Saturday were the first to enter West Point after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Most arrived on campus in June of that year.<\/p>\n
The events of the last four years have directly shaped the curriculum at West Point, as instructors who for years taught the fine points of battlefield strategy found themselves leading drills with fake bombs made of pop bottles and clocks. \u201cAin\u2019t no front line anymore,\u201d\u009d Colonel Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s all front line.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Today, role-playing sessions regularly descend into chaos. \u201cI never did this when I was here in \u201985,\u201d\u009d he said. \u201cWe did road marches. We prepared the defense for defense operations. We were confident the enemy wouldn\u2019t hit us for 24 hours. That was our scenario.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s West Point cadets are taught how to react to surprise uprisings, often while accompanied by someone acting as an embedded television reporter. \u201cWe have a road march, and a crowd of people come in the middle of the road,\u201d\u009d Colonel Jones said. \u201cThere\u2019s a vehicle on the side. There\u2019s a camera, there\u2019s a kid with a bat, there\u2019s a pregnant woman.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n