By John Hughes, MD, USMA ’96
In June 2023, several hundred concerned West Point graduates established the MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates.
The West Point Association of Graduates (WPAOG), by the nature of its very name, should be serving the graduates of the Long Gray Line.
Founded in 1869, it has strayed from its original purpose and has morphed into an ATM machine that takes money from graduates and funds the West Point football and other sports teams and other academy foci.
Increasingly, many graduates began to feel that unless they had 8 figure donations to offer, they were irrelevant and unimportant in the eyes of the WPAOG leadership.
On the heels of 78 years of losing wars, football scandals, drug rings, cheating escapades, and wokeness, West Point appears to be losing its way.
Worse, concerned graduates frequently found themselves blocked from speaking out by AOG moderators in its various organizations.
West Point’s reason for existing is to train Army officers to win our nation’s wars. Period.
Instead of winning wars, debacles like Kabul 2021 continue to happen. Many of the generals responsible for that debacle were unfortunately West Point graduates.
Instead of focusing on duty, honor, country, USMA is focusing on identity issues, tribalism, pronouns, and the football team’s record.
West Point and the AOG increasingly ignore the voices of its individual graduates. Perhaps, as the MacArthur Society grows into a larger organization to advocate for a return to West Point’s founding principles, they will listen.
In the meantime, concerned graduates of West Point should check out our website and join the website and our organization.
https://westpointmacarthur.wixsite.com/macarthur-society
John Hughes, MD
Veteran of Iraq/Afghanistan
West Point Graduate Class of 1996
President, MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates
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