In May, West Point commissioned 987 new second lieutenants – about one-seventh of the Army’s total. Faculty at West Point change lives as they educate, train, and inspire the next generation of Army leaders. This piece offers recommendations from two field grade officers, Major Zach Griffiths and Major Guillermo Guandique, who both recently departed the U.S. Military Academy, on how to make the most of your assignment at West Point.
West Point assignments for mid-career captains and majors often lasts 3-6 years and includes advanced civil schooling, West Point utilization, and intermediate level education before returning to the operational force. Assignments at West Point fall into two broad categories: academic and military. Academic instructors teach in one of the academy’s 13 departments under the Dean, a brigadier general. The academy’s other brigadier general, the Commandant, leads West Point’s military and physical education. Officers assigned on the “Comm’s side” might serve as tactical officers (“TACs”) for cadet companies in the Brigade Tactical Department, in the Departments of Physical Education, Military Instruction, or with the Simon Center for Professional Military Ethic.
Interested officers should open a file as soon as possible, and plan to apply when they are in their captain key developmental position. Officers from all commissioning sources should consider applying to work at this institution because it seeks leaders from diverse backgrounds and a range of commissioning sources. In addition, non-commissioned officers can also find great positions advising cadet companies or teaching tactics. Cadets benefit from observing successful leaders from a variety of backgrounds.
Below, we suggest six ways to make the most of your time at West Point. The authors’ recommendations come from their experience gained as an instructor under the Dean and as an executive officer working under the Commandant. To further substantiate our collective takeaways, we conducted an informal poll of our colleagues, which resulted in the following:
1) Say no to say yes. Officers should arrive at West Point with some idea of their goals for their years at the Academy. Some focus on their families or recover from injuries. Others complete their PhD or transition to a functional area. Still, others dive deep into cadet extracurriculars and sports. All of these are great approaches, but officers must say no to focus on their priorities.
Officers on the Dean’s side commonly work towards academic promotion to Assistant Professor throughout their tour. This promotion requires progress in five areas: teaching, faculty development, self-development, cadet development, and research. Though designed for completion in three years, this is attainable in two years if one works toward this end right away.
As an example, within his first semester assigned to the Academy, Zach faced balancing the arrival of a new child to the family, fielded requests from the combat weapons and crew teams to volunteer, and his department tasked him to help run a major conference. All of this coincided his distance learning Intermediate Level Education – and learning to teach 67 cadets across four different sections. As a result, Zach said no to the combat weapons and crew teams in an effort to provide space for his new baby and work responsibilities. As time progressed, he took over the combat diver train-up. Mentoring and training cadets to dive deeper ultimately stood out as one of the highlights of his tour at West Point, but timing played a key role in this experience.
TAC officers, too, get involved in cadet activities. However, TACs also have close to 120 cadets, each with their own lives. After a fall semester attending home Army Football games with your company, an even busier spring semester with Sandhurst and Graduation will help you value time with your family. Have an early conversation with your family to prioritize what time is available and how you want to spend it before committing to cadet activities.
Opportunities abound at West Point, so officers should think critically about their goals for their tour. If possible, pursue academic promotion while realizing your initial goals. Don’t be afraid to say no so you can say yes to the things that matter.
2) Teach the cadets. West Point is an undergraduate higher-education institution, so nearly everyone will teach. Teaching is the primary mission of faculty and the cadets deserve your focus. The primary mechanism for teaching development is the two-year Master Teacher Program. Once a month, for an hour, master teacher sections discuss how an assigned reading relates to their teaching experiences. The course culminates with either a pedagogical research project or literature review.
TACs who have completed the Eisenhower Leader Development Program and hold a Masters’ degree in Organizational Psychology should consider teaching in the department of Behavioral Science and Leadership. Whether you work towards the master teacher certificate or not, the experience of teaching will improve your communication skills and force you to master material you can bring back to the force.
Aside from academic teaching, the summer is a great opportunity to teach your craft as an officer and a soldier. The main effort at West Point during the months of June and July becomes Cadet Summer Training. Officers and NCOs from across West Point’s academic and military components develop cadets through vigorous training on tactical fundamentals.
3) Develop the cadets. Cadet development is its own beast. In their free time, many officers choose to coach club sports, travel with clubs, or sponsor cadets. While it is an unparalleled chance to change someone’s life, it will also eat up all your personal time if you let it. The West Point Leader Development Strategy specifies that every interaction is a chance for a developmental interaction. The opportunity to develop a future leader is always there, and because of that, you must make sure you are ready to commit the time. No matter how you structure your cadet development, make the most of each engagement.
We recommend you thoughtfully consider your cadet development. All faculty will develop many cadets as part of their formal positions. For example, Zach taught about 130 cadets over two semesters, while Guillermo mentored a company of 110. Neither of us knew all those cadets very well. We both agree that you should find a way to make a more deliberate impact in getting to know cadets.
For example, Zach led the combat diver train-up and two research projects. Through the combat diver program, he mentored twelve cadets through frequent engagement. Zach also embarked on research projects with two cadets. Persistent engagement and mentorship of those cadets postured me to positively shape their experience at the Academy and beyond. Meanwhile, as a TAC, Guillermo involved himself with teams such as the Obstacle Course Racing team, and helped teach the Superintendent’s Capstone Course on Officership. Guillermo also supported the Class of 2018’s class officers.
In other words, the cadets we knew the best were not just in the cadet company or classroom, but also through targeted interactions with cadet clubs and teams.
4) Develop yourself. West Point tours offer a rich menu of opportunities but take time to focus on yourprofessional development. We recommend you consider two parts of your professional development: professional military education and self-study.
For professional military education, attending resident intermediate level education at the Command and General Staff College and completing distance learning are common options. The Army typically selects captains for promotion early in their time at West Point, forcing them to defer ILE. However, deferring ILE for two years leaves an officer with only 30 months following ILE to complete 24 months of key developmental rating, prior to their primary zone lieutenant colonel board meets. As an alternative, many defer to Distance or Satellite ILE and then choose to complete Advanced Operations Course during the academic year.
West Point’s hybrid Advanced Operations Course (AOC) cohorts you with other faculty members, brings CGSC instructors to West Point for certain exercises, and beats the exclusively distance learning option. This option extends stability at West Point for families while easing the strain on your timeline and provides another year for self-study.
Outside of ILE, welcome the opportunity at West Point to redefine what officership means to you. While working at the world’s preeminent leader development institution, take the time to understand how to develop leaders in your next organization. Most officers will leave West Point as field grade officers with exactly this responsibility. West Point provides the ideal environment to exercise this talent.
5) Get to know your peers. Few assignments in the Army will put you in prolonged contact with so many peers for so long. While some describe the “real value [of the Command and General Staff College] is in the connections you make,” West Point presents an even better opportunity to connect. At West Point, you work alongside your peers and senior officers for 2-3 years, as opposed to ten months. Faculty also connect and mentor officers who move into functional areas – a rarity at CGSC. Beyond your peers, West Point can connect you with a comprehensive faculty and alumni network that offer premier counsel and mentorship.
To connect with more of your peers, consider building connections outside your department by supporting programs on both the Commandant and Dean’s sides. The relationship between the authors, for example, resulted from collaboration at West Point’s AOC program. While you may not immediately leverage connections from your time at West Point, these relationships may prove invaluable in the years ahead.
6) Family and physical recovery. West Point tours also offer time with families and physical recovery. The authors recommend living on post unless you have a strong reason otherwise. Despite its location about an hour north of New York City, you will commute about 20 minutes over a mountain to most off-post communities. Living close allows you to take advantage of cadet development, social opportunities, and academy functions that you’re more likely to miss if you live in the city. That said, making trips down to the city and embracing the Hudson Valley is reasonable and easily accessible. In New York, we recommend visits to famous, historical and cultural points such as the Statue of Liberty, Museum of Natural History, and even see a Broadway play. Closer to home, in the Hudson Valley, you might consider sampling ciders at Angry Orchard, teaching your kids to ski at West Point’s Victor Constant, and hiking Anthony’s Nose.
An assignment at West Point also provides great opportunities for physical recovery. After eight years of tactical leadership, many officers suffer from chronic injuries. The length of a West Point tour included enough time for the author to undergo back surgery and completely recover, before returning to the operational army. In short, it’s a place where you can also “get fixed”!
Conclusion
Officers at West Point mentor the next generation of officers while developing themselves. In this article, we offer six suggestions for officers fortunate enough to fit in a West Point assignment. An assignment at the U.S. Military Academy will cement what you will learn in graduate school, but officers should remain in contact with mentors from their branch. This will ultimately ensure the lessons you learned during this experience will return with you to key-developmental billets in operational force as part of West Point’s “second graduating class.”
Major Zachary Griffiths is a Special Forces Officer and recently departed Assistant Professor of American Politics in @WestPointSOSH. He tweets @z_e_griffiths.
Major Guillermo Guandique is an Engineer Officer, his latest assignment was in the United States Corps of Cadets as Executive Officer to the Commandant.