Chapter 13 Jack Reacher and West Point:
“The Long, Gray Line”

“To provide the Nation with leaders of character
who serve the common defense.”

—“The purpose of the United States Military Academy,”
The Illustrated History of West Point, by Theodore J. Crackel

Not far from the National Archives in St. Louis, where military records are kept, the famous Gateway Arch stands as a symbol for a city considered the gateway to the west. The spans meet at the apex, a keystone that holds them together.

In Tripwire, Reacher travels to the National Archives to conduct research. What he discovers there is key to unlocking the mystery he’s trying to solve.

Reacher’s personal keystone, which is at the heart of all his novels, can be found in a Lee Child essay from The Lineup. As Child explains,

I thought a West Point history and a rank of major would be suitable . . . But to me it was crucial that he should have a certain nobility—which is a strange thing to say about a guy who goes around busting heads as frequently and thoroughly as Jack Reacher does—but it is clear from subsequent reaction that his “white hat” status depends heavily on our images of and assumptions about rank.

Child chose wisely in having Reacher as an alumnus of West Point, an elite US military academy that, with its two centuries of honor and tradition, has produced a long line of outstanding military officers. In his introduction to West Point: Two Centuries of Honor and Tradition, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf (Class of ’56), specifically cited Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, Dwight Eisenhower, George S. Patton, William Tecumseh Sherman, Stonewall Jackson, and Douglas MacArthur as graduates.1

Schwarzkopf calls West Point a “unique national treasure” and, after spending a lifetime in the Army, he still vividly recalled his time spent there. By the time he graduated, he said, “I carried away a system of values to live by, and a lifelong calling.”

Jack Reacher, like his brother Joe, had those same values instilled in him, succinctly summarized by West Point’s motto: “Duty, Honor, Country.” It’s also Reacher’s moral code at the heart of all his novels—he’s an officer and a gentleman, and relies on it to point to true north. It is his guiding light, and it is the beating heart of West Point itself:

In his acceptance speech for the Thayer Award in 1962, General Douglas MacArthur described Duty, Honor, Country as the foundation for a “great moral code—a code of conduct and chivalry . . . an expression of the ethics of the American soldier.” As such the moral imperative for a cadet; it is the foundation for the Army’s Professional Military Ethic.

West Point’s moral code is built on a firm bedrock called the Honor Code, which states that a cadet will “not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate anyone who does.”2 It’s not an empty slogan; it’s an inflexible moral point that forms, as Schwarzkopf pointed out, “a system of values.”

West Point alumnus Jay J. McClatchey (Class of ’63) explained,

It’s a romantic ideal. It’s a sense of you being a person of your word, a person who doesn’t tolerate someone trying to cut corners. We had a lot of instruction on what the honor code was all about, including discussion groups on whether this or that was honor bound or not.

Would Reacher have the same gravitas had he been commissioned as a military officer by any other means? I think not, which is why Child deliberately decided to make him not just an officer, but a West Point officer. Reacher wanted Child to have—a “certain nobility”—and be, in fact, a modern-day knight, the good guy in a white hat, like one of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table.

But even with all that, we know little about Reacher’s time at West Point. We don’t know, for instance, the classes he took, or what he majored in. And we don’t know what organized sport he participated in, which is required of all cadets. We do know that he tried out for the football team but never made it, not because he wasn’t tough enough, which he clearly is, but because he was, as he told a woman named Sandy in One Shot, “too violent.”

As he was born on October 29, 1960, we can surmise that Reacher entered West Point as a plebe at age eighteen and graduated four years later. But with the omission of verifiable information about Reacher’s school days at West Point, we can only look at the facts surrounding the institution and let them speak for themselves; we can let them tell us what every cadet, including Reacher, has gone through as part of the West Point experience. And by doing so, we’ll have a better understanding of Reacher’s moral imperatives—the qualities that make him the noblest of contemporary knights.

Class of 2013

Admission to West Point

One simply doesn’t apply to West Point for admittance; one has to be appointed. The arduous process begins with (1) meeting basic requirements (general, medical, and physical); (2) submitting a candidate questionnaire; (3) starting an online file for West Point’s admissions department; and, (4) applying and securing a nomination from your Congressional representative, your senator, or the vice president. The nomination is the legal authority to allow West Point to offer you admission, subject to a final round of testing: a qualifying medical exam, fitness assessment, and the timed ACT Plus Writing or SAT.

The Nature of the Beast

Freshmen, or plebes, begin their cadet life on Reception Day (“R Day”). West Point’s website explains that it’s “when you start six and one-half weeks of basic military training. Called ‘CBT’ (Cadet Basic Training), it is known to all who have gone through it as ‘Beast Barracks.’ This, the most physically and emotionally demanding part of the four years at West Point, is designed to help you make the transition from new cadet to Soldier.”

An unnamed cadet from the Class of 2013, who just completed CBT, explained on West Point’s official website that, “At West Point, you are challenged in a variety of ways in every developmental area—mentally, physically, militarily, and socially. The system will find your weaknesses, but that is the point—West Point toughens you.”

Another unnamed cadet on West Point’s official website recalled:

Cadet Basic Training is rewarding. There are ups and downs, but the end is worth it. Yes, you pick up all sorts of great experiences and good training you wouldn’t get anywhere else, but you also learn the satisfaction of working hard and working together. You learn how precious it is to render a salute to our flag and take on the nation as your own, to protect. You learn how much it means to know your buddy is there for you. From just taking everything in, you begin to piece together the essence of the leader you want to become. And then you realize that so much is left to do and learn, and this is only the beginning.

The New Cadet’s Daily Routine

This is a typical daily schedule for July and August for Cadet Basic Training, or “Beast Barracks”:

5 A.M.: Wake-up3

5:30 A.M.: Reveille formation

5:30–6:55 A.M.: Physical training

6:55–7:25 A.M.: Personal maintenance

7:30–8:15 A.M.: Breakfast

8:30 A.M.–12:45 P.M.: Training/classes

1–1:45 P.M.: Lunch

2–3:45 P.M.: Training/classes

4–5:30 P.M.: Organized athletics

5:30–5:55 P.M.: Personal maintenance

6–6:45 P.M.: Dinner

7–9 P.M.: Training/classes

9–10 P.M.: Commander’s time (free time)

10 P.M.: Taps (lights out)

Curriculum

Historically known for its engineering curriculum, West Point now offers an extensive selection of academic majors embracing the liberal arts, politics, the hard sciences, engineering, computer science, defense and strategic studies, foreign languages, management, and other subjects “carefully designed to meet the needs of the Army for officer-leaders of character to serve the Army and the Nation.”4

The academic program goal is:

to establish the intellectual foundation for service as a highly-educated commissioned officer, and to develop in cadets the knowledge and skills necessary for service and continued growth as an officer in the United States Army. In coordination with the Military and Physical Programs, the Academic Program develops in cadets a professional self-concept as an officer, nurturing each cadet’s competence, character, and confidence to act decisively on matters of concern to the nation. The content and process of cadet education and development within the Academic Program enables cadets to understand the interrelated roles of a commissioned officer—soldier, servant of the Nation, and leader of character—and to incorporate these roles into their own emerging professional identities.5

In order to graduate, cadets must not only meet all the academic requirements, but also physical and leadership requirements: cadet basic training, cadet field training, cadet leader development, and participation in a four-year competitive athletic activity.

Their cumulative purpose is to shape a fully rounded person, in the classroom and outside of it, with leadership skills, and the physical fitness to match.

Branch Selection

On Branch Night, held in November of their junior year, cadets find out what branch they will be assigned to when they graduate from the academy the following year in May.

From 1802 to 2012, branch selection was based on order of merit; but the Class of 2013 was the first to use a sophisticated, new model that the Army feels will more closely align the Army’s needs and cadets’ talents.

Graduation

The graduation ceremony, held annually in May, concludes with a time-honored tradition, the hat toss.

It is followed by a pinning or commissioning ceremony, which signifies the transition from cadet to junior officer.

Graduates then must clear their rooms, complete all necessary paperwork, and pick up their military ID card no later than 5 p.m. on graduation day.

Post-Graduation

The next step is the first rung in the ladder in a newly minted junior officer’s career: attendance at his or her respective branch’s basic course, followed by assignment to a unit.

At the 2008 US Military Academy at West Point commencement ceremony, the class of 2008 receives the oath of office.

“The Long, Gray Line”

The annually-issued book of nearly 1,000 pages is titled The Register of Graduates and Former Cadets of the United States Military Academy West Point, New York. Its contents are a permanent record, a condensed biography, of every graduate or former cadet (non-graduate) since the beginning of West Point.

The “long, gray line” of cadets and faculty goes back to the Class of 1802, when two men (Joseph Gardner Swift and Simon Magruder Levy) attended but did not graduate. (The phrase “long, gray line” was coined by West Point to recognize its historical lineage, an unbroken line of service to the country that spans over two centuries.)

Over two centuries later, the Class of 2010, comprised of 1,024 cadets, whose class motto is “Loyal ’til the End,” got their send-off from their commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama.

Immaculately dressed in the traditional West Point cadet uniform, the members of the graduating class could not have had a more appropriate send-off: The country was still at war, mired in Iraq.

The “long, gray line” that extends well into the past, as well as into the foreseeable future, highlights the US Military Academy’s perpetual commitment of service to the nation.

“Duty, Honor, Country”: Not mere words to West Point graduates, those are words to live—and die—by.

West Point: “The Professional Military Ethic”

DUTY. Professional officers always do their duty, subordinating personal interests to the requirements of the professional function.

HONOR. An officer’s honor is of paramount importance. It includes the virtues of integrity and honesty. Integrity is the personal honor of the individual officer, manifested in all roles.

LOYALTY. Military officers serve in a public vocation; their loyalty extends upward through the chain of command to the president as commander in chief and downward to all subordinates.

SERVICE TO COUNTRY. An officer’s motivations are noble and intrinsic: a love for the technical and human aspects of providing the nation’s security and an awareness of the moral obligation to use that expertise self-sacrificially for the benefit of society.

COMPETENCE. The serious obligations of officership—and the enormous consequences of professional failure—establish professional competence as a moral imperative. More than proficiency in the skills and abilities of the military art, professional competence in this sense includes attributes of creativity, confidence, and self-awareness.

TEAMWORK. Officers model civility and respect for others. They understand that soldiers in a democracy value the worth and abilities of the individual, both at home and abroad. But because of the moral obligation accepted and the means employed to carry out an officer’s duty, the officer also emphasizes the importance of the group above the individual. Success in war requires the subordination of the will of the individual to the task of the group. The military ethic is cooperative and cohesive in spirit, meritocratic, and fundamentally anti-individualistic and anti-careerist.

SUBORDINATION. Officers strictly observe the principle that the military is subject to civilian authority and do not involve themselves or their subordinates in domestic politics or policy beyond the exercise of the basic rights of citizenship. Military officers render candid and forthright professional judgments and advice, and eschew the public advocate’s role.

LEADERSHIP. Officers lead by example, always maintaining the personal attributes of spiritual, physical, and intellectual fitness that are requisite to the demands of their profession and which serve as examples to be emulated.

—from West Point: Information for New Cadets and Parents, Class of 2013.

The newly commissioned second lieutenants of the US Military Academy at West Point class of 2008 toss their hats at the graduation ceremony.

Final Salute

Lee Child does not tell us where Jack decided to have his brother buried, or, in fact, where Jack made arrangements for himself; but since they have no remaining family members, the logical choice is the burial grounds at West Point, which says on its official website:

The mission of the West Point Cemetery is to deliver the FINAL SALUTE to those members of the U.S. Corps of Cadets, its Faculty, Staff, and those West Point Graduates who have dedicated their lives in the service of this nation. We strive to commemorate and memoralize these Graduates and to care for their final resting place in perpetuity. May it be said, “Well done; Be thou at peace.”

Buried with full military honors, the Army officer interred at West Point is paid one last tribute: the high, clear notes of an Army bugler playing “Taps.”

Parade . . . rest.

At . . . ease.

Company . . . dismissed.

Facts About West Point

The first West Point class consisted of only two cadets in 1802.
The first documented West Point hat toss took place in 1946 at the Field House. Cadets traditionally place pictures, notes, and other items inside their hats.
Since the first cadets belonged to artillery and engineer branches, their uniform consisted of a dark blue cutaway coat with scarlet facings, brass buttons, white or blue waistcoat and tight pantaloons, black leather boots, and a large cocked hat with a black cockade and a scarlet feather. In the summer of 1814, a small American Army, led by General Winfield Scott and wearing gray, decisively defeated the British in upper Canada. Gray uniforms at once became badges of honor and the academy decided to utilize the color gray in memory of Scott’s victory. In 1816, the Secretary of War formally approved the use of gray uniforms for the Military Academy in recognition of General Scott and his gallant troops.
The “Goat” refers to the last-ranking cadet to graduate. The Firsties (members of the senior class about to graduate) donate to the “Goat Fund” (typically a dollar each), which is presented to the Goat on stage during graduation. The Goat usually receives the loudest applause from the class. Some notable Goats include: Civil War hero in the Union Army George Armstrong Custer, Class of 1861; Virginian and Confederate officer George Pickett, Class of 1846; and Lt. Powhatan Henry Clarke, Class of 1884, who received the Medal of Honor in 1886.
West Point was the first school in the US to use rings as a class symbol. The tradition started in 1835 and has been continuous with the exception of 1836 (no rings) and 1879 (cuff links).
After graduation, West Point tradition continues when second lieutenants give a newly minted silver dollar to the first enlisted person who salutes him or her.

—Army Live, the official blog of the US Army (http://armylive.dodlive.mil)

Chapter 13

Jack Reacher and West Point: “The Long, Gray Line”