Branch Night - Joining Our New Teams

"Open your envelopes," said the colonel on stage.  His command sparked an onslaught of emotions.  A cadet four rows behind me burst into tears.  A cadet in front of me raised his hands in triumph.  His smile extended to the ceiling.  By simply opening an envelope the 1,000 cadets around me were expelling over three years of anticipation in a matter of seconds.  I had yet to open mine.  It was Branch Night for the Class of 2009.

I never thought an envelope could encompass much power.  After all, what message inside an envelope could possibly evoke such strong emotions?  It was not a death certificate as some reactions seemed to indicate.  It was not a winning lottery ticket as others exuberantly portrayed it to be.  The message inside these envelopes, as I saw it, was simply an invitation to a team.  The team in this case was the branch of the army that was accepting you into its ranks.  Other cadets saw it much different.

West Point differentiates itself from other colleges in many ways.  The culmination of those differences emerged itself completely on this night.  On Branch Night each member of the senior class discovers his or her branch, or subdivision, of the Army in which they will serve upon graduation.  Most people know very little about the Army.  There is simply no need to as a civilian.  I certainly did not know much about it before I arrived at West Point three and a half years ago.  I thought that the Army was simply 'the Army'.  A large bureaucratic organization made up of a collection of people that fight the nation's wars.  I now know that the Army is much more complex than that.  One of these complexities is the branching system.  There are 16 branches.  Each branch specializes in certain functions.  These functions act in congruence with each other creating a force only our army can provide.   

Many cadets have their sights set on a particular branch long before this night.  Some are even set on a branch long before they arrive at West Point.  You can imagine the anticipation felt on behalf of these cadets - some of them hoping to join their family's legacy by entering a certain branch.  It is not until this night that they can rest easily knowing that their hopes and desires are fulfilled - or destroyed.

Going into the evening my expectations were different than most others.  Most notably, my emotions were in-check.  This was surprising to many of my classmates considering their nervous and anticipatory demeanors.  It seemed as if they thought their branch assignment was "the-end-all-be-all."  I looked at the night's outcome differently.  Rather than solely entering a branch of the Army I saw the final outcome providing me with a new team to join.  My branch would be my new team.  Many Army veterans compare their time in the army to that of times spent on athletic teams.  If my experience on the Army hockey team is any indication what my team in the regular Army will be like then I believe that I am in for a pleasant experience. 

The excitement all around me was beginning to take its toll.  It was time to open my envelope.  I lifted up the flap and pulled out a 4x6 piece of paper.  On it was a tiny 1x1 symbol.  I squinted my eyes and said to myself, "What is that?"  "Field Artillery, big guns!" shouted the major who suddenly appeared next to me projecting his baritone voice over the surrounding commotion.  "Congratulations," he said.  "Thank you, sir..." I mumbled as he carried on his way.

Field Artillery.... I thought to myself.  Who in the heck have been field artillery officers?  I later learned that I'd be joining the likes of Napoleon and Sir George Mallory (the first to reach Mount Everest's 'death zone') amongst many notable others as a field artillery officer.  Not too bad!  Those are some distinguished former members of the field artillery team.  I like to call them field artillery hall of famers.  I was told I would learn more about my particular branch in the months following graduation by an intimidating 'Ranger tabbed' captain who was also a member of the field artillery.  That was enough to quell any questions I had about the branch that evening.

I decided to meander around until I found my teammates to seek out their branches.  Of the five of them I discovered that three branched infantry, one branched armor and the other aviation.  All of us had the same, even-keeled, bearing that differentiated us from many other cadets.  Looking back, the unique perspective we had on the night stemmed from our distinctive experience on the hockey team.          While we did not visibly exhibit an outpouring of emotions we were still excited about the new teams we had waiting for us after graduation.  I think that because we were members of the hockey team we knew something others did not.  The strong bonds and unit cohesion we form as hockey teammates would translate into forming the same bonds and equally productive cohesion with our new teammates.  The excitement for us did not show itself that evening with the revealing of the branches.  The excitement for us will emerge when we meet out new teammates in the months to come.

Thanks for reading.

Go Army!

#7