Category: USMA

Ryan Crocker is a Diplomat in Residence at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He served as Dean of the Bush School of Government & Public Service, Texas A&M University, until August 2016. He also has had appointments as the James Schlesinger Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia and as the first Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale University.

He retired from the Foreign Service in April 2009 after a career of more than 37 years but was recalled to active duty by President Obama to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan in 2011. He has served as U.S. Ambassador six times: Afghanistan (2011-12), Iraq (2007-09), Pakistan (2004-07), Syria (1998-2001), Kuwait (1994-97), and Lebanon (1990-93). He has also served as the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College, where he joined the faculty in 2003. From May to August 2003, he was in Baghdad as the first Director of Governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority and was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs from August 2001 to May 2003. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1971, he also has had assignments in Iran, Qatar, Iraq, and Egypt, as well as Washington, DC. He was assigned to the American Embassy in Beirut during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the bombings of the embassy and the Marine barracks in 1983.

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By Joshua Kim

Chris Mayer is an Associate Dean for Strategy and Initiatives, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and a colonel in the US Army. I first ran across Chris on his active Twitter feed @ChrisMayer_WP. Chris generously offered to answer my questions about academic life within the military, his thoughts on COVID-19 and the academy, and the future of higher education. Please note that the views expressed in this article are Chris Mayer’s and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or the Department of Defense.

Q1: I’d like to start by trying to understand the world of the US service academies. These include West Point (where you are) and the four other academies for the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, and the Merchant Marine. Can you provide insights into where the service academies fit into the broader postsecondary ecosystem, and maybe some points of distinction and differentiation?

Service academies have the mission of developing and graduating leaders of character to serve as officers in their respective services. The United States Military Academy’s (West Point) graduates are commissioned as Army officers, United States Naval Academy graduates as Naval officers, United States Air Force Academy graduates as Air Force officers, United States Coast Guard graduates as Coast Guard officers, and United States Merchant Marine Academy graduates become licensed Merchant Marine officers or commissioned officers in the Armed Forces. Students at service academies do not pay tuition or room or board, but they do have a service obligation once they graduate (West Point graduates have a five-year active duty service obligation).

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The superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point said this week that he has started to take action about allegations of racism at the historic institution.

Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams told an audience at a discussion on race hosted by the Association of the United States Army Wednesday that he takes it very seriously that former West Point graduates described personal experiences with racism. A number of West Point alums came to the school June 25 with a 40-page proposal to create an “Anti-Racist West Point.”

“I directed my inspector general to do a formal investigation; he has a report out to me, and we are going through the process of it,” Williams said. “It’s an investigation, so I have to be careful about commenting on it, but we took that and are taking it on and looking at it in a very deliberate way.”

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By West Point Public Affairs – August 4, 2020

RELEASE NO: 11-20

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cadet Reilly McGinnis of Macungie, Pa., has been selected First Captain of the U.S. Military Academy’s Corps of Cadets for the 2020-2021 academic year, achieving the highest position in the cadet chain of command. She will assume her duties on Aug. 10.

Most recently, McGinnis, an Operations Research major, led 1,300 cadets as the Regimental Commander of Cadet Leader Development.

As First Captain, she is responsible for the overall performance of the approximately 4,400-member Corps of Cadets. Her duties also include implementing a class agenda and acting as a liaison between the Corps and the administration.

“I first heard about West Point in my sophomore year of high school when I started getting recruited by the Army Women’s Soccer team. After visiting the Academy, interacting with cadets and faculty, and speaking with my grandfather, who served in the Korean War, I knew West Point was where I belonged. The greatest lesson I have learned at West Point is that a person’s success is not solely based on self-achievement, but rather what that person can do to help and influence those around her.”

McGinnis’s cadetship includes various activities and accomplishments, such as being a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the Phi Mu Epsilon National Honorary Mathematics Society. She was also a member of the Army Women’s Soccer Team from 2017-2019 and currently serves as a Young Life leader for O’Neill High School.

See the entire list of Class of 2021 Leadership Positions at:
https://www.westpoint.edu/news/press-releases/usma-announces-class-2021-cadet-leadership-positions