USMA Visit

Over Memorial Day Weekend this year, my wife and I took a trip back to West Point for our friends’ wedding. We met this couple through mutual acquaintances who knew I graduated from West Point, and we “took them on” with the intent of being mentors as he left for West Point and she started at a local university. We became good friends with them over the years, and lo and behold, they managed to join the 2% club and get married the day after graduation. My wife was a maid of honor in their wedding, and I tagged along as an obnoxious quasi-photographer getting in everyone’s way.

We had great time, and it was a lot of fun seeing how the place had changed over the years. In the chaos of graduation we had almost unlimited access to the place, and I got to take my wife on tours of academic buildings, barracks, the mess hall, and any other place that caught our interest. For those of you who haven’t seen the place since graduation, here’s what you’ve missed:

Arvin Gym

All I can say is WOW. This place is not only huge, it’s full of nice stuff. And it puts to shame the facilities that we endured during our time at USMA. It has a three story climbing wall, multiple new gymnasiums, survival swimming pools, several new wrestling and combat grappling rooms, and huge weight rooms. What’s more, all this is built on top of the historical Arvin Gym that we knew. The rear exterior of the old Arvin is now an interior wall on a giant corridor in the new facility.

Jefferson Hall

Jefferson Hall is the new library (above picture courtesy of rosspilot.com). So, for some of us, there’s now two libraries at West Point that we haven’t visited. When I was there it had a long way to go yet, but they were starting to install some of the fascia and it looked good. It blended into the surrounding architecture well, but it definitely changes the lay of the land — especially when looking from the plain or Battle Monument.

More updates to follow.