New Cadet Takes on Beast
By Elaina Cronin Adrianna Biederman was nervous, but prepared. After a prep-year at Northwestern in California, she already had an insight to what the next six weeks, then four years, would look like. At West Point, the United States Military Academy, you are paid to go to school for four years, but in return, cadets are required to serve for at least five more years after graduation. By law, graduates of West Point are appointed on active duty as commissioned officers to serve in the U.S. Army. Before being admitted, potential cadets have to pass the Physical Aptitude Examination which helps prepare the cadets for their introduction to West Point with the intensive training course the Academy undermines as “basic” with the name, Cadet Basic Training. However, the cadets have another name for this course, they call it Beast. The upcoming six weeks will include daily physical fitness training such as mountaineering, land navigation, rifle marksmanship, tactical maneuvers, as...