<p>ranger-hooah: yes ad medic. basic sucked, the end.</p>
<p>michaelburt: who am I not being respectful enough to?</p>
<p>8IzEnuff: went to ft. Lwood</p>
<p>marines4me: I've had cadets at my unit during the summer. They aren't saluted and they aren't considered officers. Theyre given the respect anyone else receives.</p>
<p>"In addition, once they're done with Buckner, Cadets have completed more than what Basic would have taught your basic Private."</p>
<p>why do you think this? I've heard both ways, but few have done both to be able to compair.</p>
<p>"There are plenty of Cadets who HAVE seen action and HAVE been in the Real Army"</p>
<p>from my research and discussions with admissions, I'd have to disagree with this statement. I've been told that about 70-80 active army personnel enroll each year. many of these soldiers coming straight out of ait without even being in the real army, let alone having deployed. And of those that deployed, there are bound to be people that went in pog ass units and chilled on a fob the entire time. so I choose to disagree.</p>
<p>Now please everyone don't get mad at me. My point isn't to make people angry. Just givin you an insiders point of view. I don't hate cadets, or think theyre scum. I hope everything will work out so I can finally get there. Just read and take the good from it.</p>
<p>I can tell you that starting that the class of 07 had 3 guys from the Ranger Reg. with CIBs come in, in addition to a few other units. 08 had about 20 combat vets spanning the entire spectrum of units, to include combat jumps with the Rangers, guys that had both Afghanistan and Iraq tours, and people that served on SF B teams. 09 had roughly 25 combat vets, some with bronze stars and purple hearts. </p>
<p>Bottom line is as the entire Army continues to deploy, there are hadly any prior service cadets that come here without combat experience. The vast majority of prior service cadets that come here have combat experience now.</p>
<p>Having been enlisted, I will tell you that you cant compare Beast/Buckner with Basic/AIT. But I will tell you that you take things away from Buckner that you dont get in AIT and you take things away from Basic you dont get in Beast.</p>
<p>The experience you bring to the Academy is a combat multiplier. If you're prior service, use that to help out the guys that havent had that experience. If you fail to do that, you pretty much missed the point of being a soldier in the first place.</p>
<p>One of the members of the class of 2010 that will be reporting on R day in June is currently a U.S. Marine who has finished two combat tours in Iraq.</p>
<p>This marine had an LOA from WP for the class of 2006 and then was medically DQed by DODMERB for "clawtoes". To prove it wasn't a disability to him he immediately enlisted in the Marines (who didn't see the problem I guess) and saw combat on both tours. He was part of the original invasion force on the first tour and was on the Syrian/Iraq border on the second. He re-applied in the fall of last year, got a nomination, and voila, soon to be a member of the class of 2010. He always wanted West Point, and got his wish, thanks to the Marine Corps.</p>
<p>ScreaminEagle great post. those numbers are great, and I'm sure that the academy is benefiting from those people. I just don't consider 20-30 out of 1200 "plenty of Cadets who HAVE seen action and HAVE been in the Real Army"</p>
<p>Compared to new cadets who entered the academy over the 25 years prior to 9/11, 20-30 new cadets with recent prior combat experience is a HUGE plus. Given that to this is added a group of Army officers and NCO's that have also seen combat, the cadets are fortunate to have such people around them to train and develop them. I believe that the academy attempts to spread the prior service new cadets around the training regiment for the best results during Beast. As it has been relayed to me the prior service new cadets have the chance to help out those just out of HS and when the academics start the favor is returned.</p>