March Back marks end of Beast for new cadets

By Kathy Eastwood, West Point Public AffairsAugust 10, 2011

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WEST POINT, N.Y. (Aug. 10, 2011) -- Nearly 1,200 new cadets completed a significant rite of passage Monday when they celebrated the completion of Cadet Basic Training by marching almost 12 miles from Camp Buckner to Washington Hall.

The March Back has been a long-standing tradition for the Corps of Cadets after completing CBT, or Beast Barracks. In 2002, another tradition began when former graduates marched with the new cadets in a show of support and solidarity to the Long Gray Line.

Capt. Ryan Miller, 28, is a Class of 2005 graduate who also marched with the cadets. Miller was severely wounded in Iraq in 2007 and marched with a prosthetic leg. Miller also recently marched in the Bataan Death March re-enactment.

“I really don’t like marching,” Miller said. “But this is work with a purpose. It was great to march and interact with the cadets. I’ve met a few classmates and hope to meet some of my instructors. I’ve made lifelong friends here and still keep in touch with them and I can see that developing with the plebes.”

Miller said that although he could stay in the Army, he opted for a medical retirement to pursue higher education.

“The Army is great with Soldiers who want to continue serving,” he said. “If it is at all possible, they will make it happen. I was involved in the Warrior Transition Unit here, but it wasn’t working out and this was when I still had my leg. I decided to receive a medical discharge and go on to further my education.”

Miller is pursuing a dual master’s degree in business administration and public policy at Harvard University.

“My major as a cadet was nuclear engineering, but I decided to go into the business field,” he said. “I’ve always been good at math. I hope I still am.”

With most of his wounds healing and the operations behind him, Miller said he has a positive outlook on life.

“My outlook on life was always positive,” he said. “I have a good future.”

The Class of 2015 marched back with 26 members of their sister class"the class that graduated 50 years before"and other graduates who met up with the new cadets at the Victor Constant Ski Slope to hydrate, rest and aid blistered feet.

“The Class of 1965 is tied to The Class the Stars Fell On,” Class of 1965 President and retired Maj. Gen. Clair Gill said. “That is the Class of 1915, which included Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley.”

The Class of 1915, a century before the Class of 2015, graduated 59 cadets who earned general stars out of a total class of 164.

“March Back brought out a lot of cadet memories,” Gill said. “We marched from Lake Frederick back then and we didn’t march with former grads, but we marched over much of the same terrain. They just beat us with a stick and told us to move.”

Despite the long march that began in the wee hours of the morning and ended with sore feet, Gill enjoyed marching and talking with cadets.

“I’m in shape. After being in the Army for 34 years, you realize that physical fitness is an everyday thing you do all of your life,” Gill said.

Retired Brig. Gen. Rebecca ‘Becky’ Halstead enjoyed marching with her Class of 1981 classmate, retired Maj. Lisa Bond, who marched in support of her son in the Class of 2015. Halstead was the first female graduate of West Point to become a general officer and was a member of the second West Point class to graduate women.

“The first time I marched back with the cadets was in 1981,” Halstead said. “I thought it was great marching with cadets from many different backgrounds.”

Halstead and Bond stayed overnight at Camp Buckner and enjoyed the talent show the new cadets put on Sunday evening.

“We had a talent show 34 years ago, but it just wasn’t quite the same,” she said. “This show had a lot of cadet humor, great songs and the Lord of the Ring dance was hysterical.”

Halstead said she also keeps up with her classmates and Soldiers she has worked with over the years.

“I still keep up with friends, classmates and Soldiers, through Facebook,” she said. “I still get notes from Soldiers who sent me photos of their kids, which is really touching.”