‘A promise’: Cadets describe their journeys at West Point

If you want to understand the future of America, you need to talk to the future leaders of America. And that’s exactly what we did right here on straight aerial news. I’m Dr Frank Luntz, and for the next 25 minutes, you’re going to get a unique and unprecedented opportunity to listen to the cadets of West Point, not only military leaders, many of them will end up in politics and business and what they think will be what America thinks in the years ahead. So please join me in listening to the future leaders of America as they talk about sacrifice, service and character, and you only get this conversation right here, and America speaks, let’s listen. I love it here, and there’s something special about you all, which is why I constantly am trying to do this so the world can see what I see. And I’m so grateful to be here,
and I want to begin this it’s the holiday season. What are you grateful for?
I’m grateful for everyone here. I know it’s really cliche, but I think about the opportunities that have been afforded to me here, just like by virtue of the fact that I’m a cadet and all of the people that I’ve been able to surround myself with as a result, and these are connections I know I’m gonna have for the rest of my life. And so I think that’s pretty amazing. What brings you the greatest joy in this as we celebrate a brand new year, the community that I found at West Point, there’s no other group of people who just root for you so hard. Like the community that I found here, you’re nodding your head. Tell me why
my answer was gonna be the support network and the people who got me here, I think first year is an amazing time to look back and think about all the people who helped us come here and just to like, look at my hometown. They’re so excited for me to commission. They’re so excited for me to reach the next step. Everyone’s wondering what I’m doing. And I look back and I just realize how many people have helped me come to exactly where I’m at. And I’m just so blessed and grateful to be here, Colonel, you listen to this, you’re calling it a community. You’ve been here for how long I’ve been here for three years now. And as you hear that, speak to you and speak to West Point and what it means to them. How does that make you feel? So I think it makes you feel really rewarded, really fulfilled. Community is an important concept. We talk all the time about building teams in the army, but but teams are really about having a common goal, and what I hear when, not just, not just in this setting, but when I when I interact with cadets on a day to day to day to day basis. When I interact with my my colleagues, other staff and faculty, is more than that. It’s a community. We share a common set of values, and we were committed to service. We’re committed to this country and this pride and that, that that is really lasting when we talk about the long, gray line. But so I’m I’m grateful to be a part of that, and it’s actually incredibly rewarding, because it affirms something that that I’m excited about when I get out of get out of bed, which is being able to come in and to be a part of that, to be able to interact with young people that want to make a positive difference and are incredibly talented. So I’m just all of that is just incredibly grateful for those things. Building a team is exactly what our two coaches do every day? Is it different here at West Point, or the principles the same? I was very fortunate when I was younger. I had some fantastic
mentors that helped me, and now I get a chance to give back to this group of people. And there’s just, there’s nothing like it. I mean, every day I’m excited. I can, I can drive back to my house the other night. Think I had a horrible day, and I think about what these guys have done today, and my day got a little bit easier just thinking like that, just being around them and helping them make decisions that I know that someday they’re gonna have to make decisions in a much deeper, heavier way. I just to be a part of that is special for me. It is different than any place I’ve ever been.
What do you want to achieve
each and every day? What are you trying to get out of West Point? So Dr Lent, the end goal, as you know, is we walk out of here as second lieutenant. So every day is chipping away at that goal of being the best version of ourselves, so that when we commission we’re prepared to lead soldiers in a way that is profoundly impactful, not only to the mission of the Army, but also to their individual lives. So what I seek to achieve every day is, Did I do the best I could? Did I contribute all that I had? And when I go to bed at night, I know that I’ve left it all on the table. What do you aspire to
each day, each week, each month? What are you trying to achieve? Try to achieve trust. Because at the end of the day, that’s what it all comes down to. That’s something that I’m extremely grateful for to have here. We have an honor code here, right? Because I would not lie to.
Steal or tolerate those who do, and that’s to set a foundation of trust so we can all trust each other, so that whenever we go back to our companies, whenever we go back to our second family here, we know that there’s that baseline trust between each other, so that we can operate so well as a team. I
do want to explore that, the Honor Code. What does it mean to you? Why is it so significant if the person next to you, you can’t trust the complete assignment in a computer’s class, if they can’t be trusted to do that, how can you trust and delete soldiers? That’s what it really boils down to. And every single person in this room and at the school you have the trust that they’re from West Point, that they will do the right thing when they have to, always, and it’s not just applicable to the cadets, the coaches, the staff, the faculty, everyone is expected to not only uphold it, but to set an example for what that looks like. And knowing that if my cadets say something, I can trust that, and I can give them the freedom to lead the program themselves and not have to lead it from a coaching standpoint, is unmatched anywhere else in the country and in the world. Probably that’s a pretty strong statement.
How do you react to it?
That’s great, because it builds on the idea of accountability, and that’s if we can’t hold ourselves accountable to not lie, cheat or steal. How are we going to be able to be held accountable for others’ lives in combat? So West Point helps build that foundation, and it’s great that it’s both top down and bottom up, that we all live it out our faculty and our teachers and our staff. They do that. They lead by example. They hold themselves to the same honor code that they hold us to, and that is first hand leadership, and that is what enables us to become greater leaders. Is that what you’re thinking when you step before class? Is that what you think leadership and setting an example and being a role model when you teach these cadets what’s going on in your head? I think the Honor Code is more than just the words on the Honor Code or the honor Cadet honor plaque. It’s, it’s about being a good person. And what you see in the classroom is that far beyond the Don’t, don’t lie, cheat or steal, there’s this. We need to help each other. We’re good we need to be good teammates. We need to do things ethically. It might not be written into the Honor Code, but it stretches out much further than that. So if I ask a cadet to help another cadet, that’s going to take more time from them, that’s not going to be to their benefit, to advance their own cause, but every Cadet I’ve ever asked to help another Cadet has turned around and done that, and the faculty too. The faculty are exactly the same way. I find that the honor code makes me a good person, because I have to think about things and choices I make and ask myself, like, if I don’t do the right thing here, how can I teach someone else to do the right thing? So we got three faculty members, two coaches and a group of cadets.
This feels like a community or even a family.
How’s it feel to you? I think family is a really good word for it, sir. You know, I think we’re all coming from different walks of life, some of us coming from prior service, some straight from high school, some from other colleges beforehand. And I think the Honor Code is also a great example of an equalizer. West Point is an equalizer between people. It brings people together, breaks them down and then builds them back up. And I’ve never felt more support than I have here. How does it break you down and how’s it build you up? Well, I can speak to this from being on both sides, because this past summer, I was beast cadre, and only three years ago I was shaved head new cadet. Explain what beast cadre is, because most people don’t know so beast cadre is you have two iterations of it. I was a second iteration. Whenever the freshman class comes in during the summer, they’ll come around late June, they’ll come in, get their head shaved, and then immediately start their basic their basic training, and they go through around about seven weeks of that. And for the last three I was able to mentor and guide them, and it was one of the most developmental
times for me, not being that, not being that new cadet, but rather having to be that example for them. So tell me what the environment is like here. Most people have heard of this place, but they have no idea what happens here.
They have no idea about the magic or the chemistry or the
how you all relate to each other.
Can you explain it to me in itself, just the words Honor Code can sound very rigid, but in my opinion, I would say that it’s a promise. It’s a promise to the person next to me that I’m going to do my best every day to be the best diversion of me, and that you’re gonna do your best every day to be the best version of you. And that’s what creates the trust and the teams that everyone thinks is so like, how does West Point build these teams? It’s because we have a mutual trust, and we have that promise that I’m gonna do my best every single day for you. Okay, so what can America learn from West Point? I.
Know You’re humbled.
I know that this is a question that you kind of don’t want to answer, but I’m asking you to answer, what can the United States of America learn from the United States Military Academy at West Point? I think the ability to trust one another, that trust that mutually binds us together, would be probably the largest thing that an average American citizen could take away, being able to look to your neighbor, to your left and right, and understand that they’re there for you and they have good intentions, and be able to work for each other and support each other.
Dr Lynn said, I’d echo that, that American values are exceptional. They’re unlike any others that we see in the world. And if Americans could tap into that and remember who we are as a nation, the values that we have, the promise that she shared, that we have with each other to be the best versions of ourselves. One of the things that West Point makes really obvious, really explicit in everything that we do, is that we’re going to succeed or fail together. And so the idea is that we have to come together and form a community, because we’re only going to go as far as we can go together. And so I think that that’s a really important lesson that this place has taught me, I think, is that teams are I mean, we choose to be part of teams. We choose to be parts of communities. And I think that that is really the strength of this institution.
Your parents weren’t born here, correct? Yes, sir. What do you love most about America? And I think this is what my parents have always told me and tried to emphasize, is that it doesn’t matter who you are when you come to the US, because you can do anything when you’re here. And that is something that is deeply, uniquely American. My father was an immigrant. His family immigrated from China when he was very young, and one thing, after hearing their stories and why they immigrated here, they wanted a chance, and that’s one beautiful thing that America provides anyone it doesn’t matter your background, it doesn’t matter the way you look, where you come from, every single person gets a chance here and a chance to succeed and a chance for better life. What is it that you love most?
I love the fact that you can be an American while simultaneously celebrating
other cultures like I think that America has this really unique ability to mesh the cultures that all of the immigrants bring with them,
with what we know as American culture, like this idea that you can go to New York City and experience like the metropolis of America, that you know people from all over the world travel to visit, and you walk down The Street, and there’s like 40 different kinds of restaurants, and it’s it’s celebrated like we love that about America, the fact that you can go anywhere, and you can try different foods and experience different cultures, and there are these neighborhoods, you know, like my dad is Greek. I can go to Astoria, and he could walk into a restaurant and speak Greek to the owner. But it doesn’t make you any less American to celebrate any of that. And I think that’s awesome.
Couple more. Tell me what you love about this country, the values that we are a country built on values. We all hear officers and the cadets swear nose to the Constitution that not to a president, not to a leader, and that the standard in America, because we’re based on values, is set so high that we’re striving towards more profession. So you just mentioned the Constitution. This is the single greatest
misconception I think Americans have, is that they don’t realize that that’s where your oath is. What does the Constitution mean to you?
America? The Constitution means America because the Constitution is the very soul of America. That’s what it is. When the Constitution and its ideas were first written, over 200 years ago, it was an experiment. It was an idea. They didn’t know it was going to work, just like with the revolution. They had no idea if it was going to work or not, but they had the dream and they had the hope. And
for me, that inspires my dreams and my hopes, the Constitution is a promise to do better tomorrow. I think every single person in America, every single person here, wants to do better tomorrow, wants to make our army better, wants to make our nation better. Everybody in America wants to live a better life. People who immigrant, immigrate. They want to live a better life. That’s what America is, that’s that culture, that’s that community, and that’s what I really love about America. Everybody wants to do better tomorrow. When you listen to this, you teach it, you actually teach the Constitution. Viewers should know that I sat in your class. When you talk,
what do you want them to understand? And what do they understand about the Constitution?
I want them to understand that it is just a piece of paper until we believe in it and we swear to uphold, support and defend it with our lives and we in turn.
Analyze those values like what’s actually holding everything together in reality is not that something’s written down on a piece of paper, it’s that we’ve all decided that the ideals that undergird that are something we’re going to commit our lives to.
Why are you here at West Point for my soldiers, my future soldiers, there’s no other way. I am coming from prior enlistment and I was looking to commission because I want to help those around me. I want to be the change that I’ve seen in my units previously. I’m here because there’s people that don’t need me, and if I don’t do it, then who will we have to pay it back? I think we competed with 1000s of other people to be here. It’s an opportunity. There’s no greater opportunity here than serving America’s sons and daughters, serving in the army, being an officer, you have the ability to enact change on hundreds, if not 1000s, of people and dictate how America operates around the world and how it’s seen. Having that responsibility is something that we all want to do as best as possible, and West Point is the best way to get it my department, and even outside my department, people are so connected to each other across post. And when I have a problem, it becomes my whole department’s problem. Everybody’s there to support me. And whenever I have something that I’m really proud of, my whole department’s proud of it, and my whole community is proud of it. So that sense of family that we’ve talked about earlier, it’s not just for the cadets, it’s also for the faculty and also the cadets. Like working with the cadets. They are here for a higher calling, and I know that, after having such a long interaction with West Point, I know that my son graduated from here in 2022
so it I know they’re going out to do what’s best for our country, but they, while they’re here, they bend their minds towards problems, not just for the army, but also for the nation. Our cadets are doing amazing research that benefits the whole country, and I’m proud to be a part of that and wake up every morning and to have these meetings with the cadets that bring these new, innovative ideas to the research forefront. What do you want these cadets to know?
Really, I think that we’re here because of you guys. I mean, there are things that brought us in the uniform the same way, a lot of the same reasons that you guys are giving, but at this point in our lives and our careers, it really is about like, like Diana said, it is about you guys, and the promise that that you guys hold, but not just your potential, but the commitment that you’re willing to make, and how important that commitment is. And just like you talked about the importance of America being better tomorrow than it was today, I think we have the same hope for this institution. I hope lies in you guys.
What do you want people on your team to know? And what should America know about West Point, I think at the end of the day, we talked a lot about trust and the honor code,
that all leads to an environment where you can be authentically you. And I think that’s one of the most special things about West Point. It’s one of my favorite things about West Point. It’s why I coach here. It’s why I’ve committed, you know, my career, to being here, to, you know, extend that beyond the firing line of the rifle team, but something I wish that every Cadet would really just take ownership of and understand is that, yes, this is the most difficult place for you to be, but it has the most resources of any place in the world, and we’re all here for you. You know, other staff and faculty have said it. If you ask any staff member, the answer will be the kit. That’s why we’re here.
It’s someone said it very well. It’s not because of who you are. It’s because of the commitment that you make. Okay, duty, honor, country.
It’s what West Point is all about. What does that mean to you.
It’s a commitment, and we share that commitment,
duty we all signed up to serve, and we all know that we’re all going to do that. It’s a shared commitment. It’s a shared promise, honor. We uphold that with the Honor Code. Again, it’s all a shared promise and a shared understanding, and that’s why we’re able to go far, because we have this mutual understanding, this mutual trust.
You
with this being the end of a year and the beginning of a new one,
how can we explain duty honor country, it’s in our history, to go back to the Constitution and the two over 200 years of American history, you know that leader of character commit and from West Point committed to the values of duty on our country, is what made America so excellent. When you hear American exceptionalism, for me, that’s what comes to mind when you hear the story of the.
Patriots during the Battle of Fort McHenry, throwing themselves and their bodies at that flag pole just to keep Old Glory flying, just so there’s one symbol of hope for the Americans out there that the flag was still flying. Don’t you get emotional telling that story a little bit you,
when you I hear the story, and when I think of those patriots signing that blank check and giving everything up just to keep that flag flying, that is duty, honor and country right there. That is the reason why the Constitution has survived for over 200 years, why the American dream and our excellence and exceptionalism has survived for 200 years, and all of us here at West Point are committed to that because we know that America needs the leaders of character, and that is what I and everyone else here has been called to do. So if America needs one reason to hope for this new year coming up is that everyone here is committed to that same excellence, that same leader committed to be that same leader of character through our values of duty, honor and country,
this country gave not only my family but millions of other families a chance for a better life. And so it is my greatest honor to be able to serve that country that gave my family an opportunity with the hopes that in the future it will give more families an opportunity. So when you said the phrase duty on our country, my mind instantly just went to my friend group here and the people that I’ve been fortunate enough to meet, because I think that’s where it manifests itself most, is that people here are plucked from all different corners of the country, different nationalities, even different incomes, upbringings, but we all have this common goal, shaped by this common honor and just a common commitment to the country. I hope we can live those out a duty to serve one another, and that’s kind of what we live by, that there’s more to life than just ourselves. Honor, integrity can’t be taken away from us when we die, money goes away, fame, but integrity is the only thing that we can personally give away in country, that we’re all under the same flag and under the same set of values, and that there’s just something more to life than those simple quabbles that we have on a daily basis. As a cadet, what is your hope for America as a cadet, I hope that every American finds that sense of purpose within them, because as a cadet, I have that purpose. For me, it’s to become that leader of character, and for me, that man that America needs, and that’s what pushes me through tough times. And that sense of purpose is something that I would hope every American can find in their lives. I re watched the first baseball game at the 911 and watched the American flags wave. I was there, by the way, you were there. That’s fantastic. But that sense of pride that every single person had in that community, I think that was, that was the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. And I think finding that pride and finding that happiness in that community is what everybody in America wants and everybody in America needs. I think that would, that would make me really happy. Doesn’t that describe West Point? Absolutely, people are together in that community. People from every single part of America are at West Point. Are in this room, and we all came. I want to prove that. What state are you from? Washington State, Georgia, Kansas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Oklahoma, Idaho, we’ll do the faculty and coaches too. Maryland, Louisiana, Montana, from the great state of Kansas. How has your life changed? If it has, based on being here at West Point, one thing, I’ve drawn tremendous optimism, tremendous hope from being around this place. I think I look around this room and I’m very confident. You know, I have two kids at home, and I I draw a lot of of hope and inspiration from the fact that they’re young people so willing to commit to ideals like duty on our country to stand in difficult places because they believe in ideas and so it’s made me a more optimistic person. I’m grateful for that. I’ve seen how you’ve changed.
I almost got through it without getting emotional. I’ve seen how you’ve changed. I’ve seen what this place has done for you. Do you see it in yourself I do, yeah, absolutely, it’s it’s a change in self confidence that’s completely unmatched, but not one that I believe leads to a negative place of narcissism. It’s a self confidence that I can step out into the world in whatever capacity, unafraid, because I will trust that the faculty and coaches around me, taught me everything that they had to offer,
so I can leave here unafraid to pursue what the country needs.
I would say that looking across the room, I’m inspired just by seeing all the other cadets. But there is hope. There is hope. I’m not worried about this.
State of this nation. I’m not worried about the state of this country, because every day I get to wake up and realize that I’m not alone in this, and there’s other people who are fighting for the same ideas as me and that we’re going to go far together. Unfortunately, that’s all the time that we have.
And I have to apologize, because I can’t hide my pride in these young people.
It’s truly exceptional and extraordinary to listen to their sacrifice, their service, and to get a chance to experience their character. You only get that at the West Point Military Academy, and you only hear it from these cadets.
So on behalf of everyone here at America speaks on straight arrow News, I’m Dr Frank Luntz, I wish you an awesome day, and we’ll be back next time with another segment. Thank you.