West Point

A former Army officer and Middle East analyst has called on the nation's service academies to trade in their focus on engineering for a more modern curriculum on international relations. Andrew Exum, who led combat units in two tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq, said the engineering coursework required at the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., is a holdover from the 19th century, when that was the direction of future warfare. Now, with constant challenges from unstable societies and radicalism, cultural understanding should be the new norm, he wrote in a new policy paper for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank where he is a fellow.

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Navy junior Erica Hayes scored nine points in a 2: 21 spurt last night on her way to a career-high 30, leading the Midshipmen to an 83-59 win over Army.Hayes, whose previous best of 28 came last year against Lafayette, made 10 of 15 from the field and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. She also had nine rebounds.After eight first-half points, Hayes started her scoring binge early in the second half to help the Mids (12-5, 4-0), whose nine-point first-half edge had shrunk to one. The lead was 35-29 at halftime, but the Cadets (4-14, 1-4)

Complaints about deteriorating conditions at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium had long preceded Saturday's Army-Navy game mishap in which a railing collapse sent nine fans hurtling to the AstroTurf field -- including a West Point cadet who suffered a fractured bone in his neck.The accident may prompt the Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy to review whether they will play future games at the 27-year-old stadium. A contract between the academies and the city of Philadelphia for use of Veterans Stadium expires in 2002.

Kathy and Kristy Mitroka are identical twins who do everything together.They take the same classes, play the same sports, practice the same instrument and even earn the same grades. Starting this summer, they'll be wearing the same uniform, too.The seniors at Ellicott City's Centennial High School have won presidential appointments to the U.S. Military Academy, continuing a family tradition at West Point.Their father, George, graduated from West Point in 1977 and is a lieutenant colonel with the Corps of Engineers assigned to the Pentagon.

HAVING BEEN brought up by an Army brat, with the Army-Navy game as much a part of my calendar as Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, I assumed the rivalry between the the Naval Academy and West Point extended into all aspects of life for graduates of both places.Not so, according to retired Army Col. Allan English Jr. of Annapolis, a 1949 graduate of West Point and a founder of the West Point Society of Annapolis, and a society member, retired Army Lt. Col. Bob Stroud, a 1968 West Point grad.

Army men's lacrosse coach Jack Emmer talks about being a team captain at West Point."Leadership is the primary objective here," he says. "Being selected a captain of a team here is very significant. All these kids come here as leaders."He goes on to talk about his senior captain, midfielder Ross Yastrzemsky, a Liberty High grad who entered West Point as a 135-pound attackman simply looking to make the roster his first season.Four years later, after a switch to midfield in his second season, Yastrzemsky has compiled more points in a career (114)

HAVRE de GRACE -- It may not merit a chapter in the history of the Clinton administration, but the story of the White House aide who rudely snubbed an Army officer by declaring that she never spoke to the military should be worth a least a footnote on sociological grounds.The incident confirmed an impression of the administration as staffed by people, from the Oval Office on down, who never got over the 1960s. The snubber was never publicly identified, but in what looked a lot like damage control, the snubbee was later named by the president to head his anti-drug campaign.

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Pete Dawkins sits in his New York City office, from where he can clearly envision the daily routine at the United States Military Academy. He can see the cadets lining up for their first formation at 6: 20 a.m. and turning the lights out at midnight.Dawkins, the 1958 Heisman Trophy winner, the last one for Army, is part of the academy's Long Gray Line, part of the school's history and part of what gives it life.This blustery campus on the cliffs above the Hudson River has been revitalized by its football team's 9-1 run, re-creating past glory, connecting the dots from one generation to the next.

WASHINGTON -- From assaults that are not adequately punished to pinholes through their class pictures, women at the nation's three military academies continue to have major problems with sexual harassment, government auditors said.More than one-third of the women said they were exposed at least once a year to unwelcome physical contact such as kissing or fondling, the General Accounting Office reported in a study released yesterday.The percentage of female students indicating that they had been harassed verbally or physically has increased at the Naval and Air Force academies since a similar study covering the 1990-1991 school year, the report said.

Success has many meanings for the Class of '95. It can't be gauged solely by SAT scores or class rankings. For some of this year's area high school graduates, success has meant coping with a foreign culture. For others, it has meant accepting family responsibilities, or balancing extracurricular activities with academic obligations. For others still, it has meant overcoming learning or physical disabilities.As graduation ceremonies in the Baltimore area wind up this week, students have much to celebrate.

Three weeks before they will induct a fresh batch of plebes, officials at the U.S. Naval Academy expect their Class of 2013 to include far more minorities than any class in the institution's 164-year history. The class of about 1,200 will include 435 minorities, up 33 percent from the previous year's class, which had the most minorities until now, according to figures unveiled yesterday at the academy's Board of Visitors meeting. The academy received 57 percent more applications from minorities than in the previous year, part of a 41 percent increase in overall applications.

Capt. Brian M. Bunting was a star athlete from Potomac, a West Point graduate, a man who could be serious and disciplined. But the first thing that hits you when looking through his pictures is the smile: A huge, toothy, goofy grin. Bunting, 29, a member of the Individual Ready Reserve assigned to the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Syracuse, N.Y., was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Tuesday when a bomb exploded near his vehicle. Three other soldiers also died in the attack. It was Bunting's first combat tour as a ready reservist, one of a pool of soldiers who have completed their service but remain available for call-up when needed.

On his days off, Lt. Col. James J. Walton liked to parachute out of airplanes and bike long distances - once embarking on a weeklong trek from Richmond, Va., to Lexington, Ky. The career soldier, who relatives said never complained about two deployments and whose fourth wedding anniversary would have been tomorrow, was killed Saturday in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was 41. As a member of an Army Military Transition Team, Colonel Walton trained Afghan soldiers. It was a job he enjoyed, although he often reported to his family about its front-line danger, his father-in-law, Joseph Moschler, said yesterday.

The Army's brightest young officers - the men and women upon whom the success of the service genuinely relies - are voting with their feet. Every West Point graduate must serve five years after leaving the academy, and historically all but about 29 percent of them continued their military careers after that term was up. But no more - as McClatchy Newspapers has reported, 35 percent of the Class of 2000 left the Army five years after graduation; 46...

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- With the Bush administration laboring to persuade skeptical Americans to stick with its war effort, Vice President Dick Cheney delivered a graphic warning yesterday about the high stakes of the conflict in Iraq. "Al-Qaida's leadership has said they have the right to kill 4 million Americans, 2 million of them children, and to exile twice as many and to wound and cripple thousands," Cheney told graduates in a commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy. "America is fighting this enemy in Iraq," he said.

A former Army officer and Middle East analyst has called on the nation's service academies to trade in their focus on engineering for a more modern curriculum on international relations. Andrew Exum, who led combat units in two tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq, said the engineering coursework required at the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., is a holdover from the 19th century, when that was the direction of future warfare. Now, with constant challenges from unstable societies and radicalism, cultural understanding should be the new norm, he wrote in a new policy paper for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank where he is a fellow.

A 24-year-old soldier from Ijamsville who married his West Point college sweetheart was killed in combat Wednesday in Iraq, according to his family. 1st Lt. John Ryan Dennison died after suffering two gunshot wounds during fighting east of Baghdad, his family said. The Department of Defense has not publicly announced his death. Lieutenant Dennison, the eldest son of Army parents, was a fiercely competitive athlete and a determined soldier who reveled in every challenge, said his mother, Shannon Dennison.

Frank Shannon was 20 seconds short. Twenty seconds from graduation at the U.S. Naval Academy, from his tour of duty on the USS James E. Williams and from a career as a naval officer. A former offensive lineman with shoulders that span almost 3 feet, Shannon had struggled with the academy's distance-run requirement of 1.5 miles in less than 10 minutes, 30 seconds. He usually made it, although rarely on the first try. In January, however, his best time was 10 minutes, 50 seconds, and in March he was expelled from the academy for failing the test.

Maggie Dixon wasn't the coach who sold Alex McGuire on Army. Truth be told, McGuire never really needed to be sold on West Point, not with a father and two uncles who walked the Long Gray Line before her. Indeed, Maggie Dixon got to Army just two weeks before the just-concluded women's basketball season started, and was there for just seven months before her death last week after an episode of heart arrhythmia. Seven months hardly seems like enough time to get much below skin level, yet 28-year-old Maggie Dixon, in just one basketball season, got all the way into the soul of the Army campus.

A mere joke. That's what a young Alex McGuire considered any talk that she might attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and play basketball some day. "Growing up, we used to joke about it," said The Sun's 2004 All-Metro Player of the Year from Arundel High. "Actually I never thought I would end up here. The Military Academy was never one of my top choices (even though her father and two uncles attended the U.S. Military Academy). When it came down to it and I came up here to visit, everything just fit for me and I think I made the best choice for me. I just love it here."