FOX Cable’s screw-ups continue to make big news…… again. It was very disturbing when I heard the FOX Cable Network talking heads trying to say that when President Obama addressed the cadets last week at the West Point Military Academy, the Fox talkers continued to stress that the cadets were just, “sitting on their hands”. FOX stated that if an applause meter had been available on site, the needle would barely have moved. The implication was that after all the weeks and months that the president had taken for developing a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan, (which Bush had neglected to do) FOX had concluded that the cadets were apparently not very impressed with the president’s plan.

Once again, FOX has shown their ignorance about how the cadets are trained and are expected to respond when their commander-in-chief is addressing the academy in a formal forum assembly. The cadets (and the rest of the world) had just listened to President Obama declare his plans for the war in Afghanistan. It was an announcement that affected nobody more than them, and yet their bodies remained still and their faces remained stoic. However, the FOX personnel should have known that’s exactly the way they are supposed to react while sitting in the Eisenhower Assembly Hall during the president’s presentation. After the speech had ended and the country had turned away, the West Point cadets offered the interpretations of their own. Here was a plan, laid out by their commander-in-chief, and it was their job to follow it. But as expected, their emotions ranged from elation to concern. Also as expected, Obama's decision to deploy an additional 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan has consumed their thoughts and dominated their conversations in the days since the speech. Yet, it is impossible for the average American college student to understand what this announcement meant for the West Point cadets.

The average American college student can easily see themselves joining in a college anti-war protest. They can see where they will be targeting themselves to go to work after they graduate. But they will not think as the Senior West Point Cadet, Eric Berau, did when he said, “I came here to West Point for four years because I have one singular goal of serving this country while we're at war. If you're involved in sports, you don't want to spend all your time practicing and then never play in the game. It's the same thing for us. I always expected to go to war. I want to go. I'm honored to go." As compared to a student attending a major American university, after the speech, many of the West Point cadets received as many as 50 e-mails, text and cell phone messages asking them “What does the president’s speech mean for you? Will you have to go to Afghanistan?” The issues for students at a military academy are 180º from those of the average American college student. While the American student is taking their classes and studying for a business degree or a teaching credential or even that of becoming a research scientist, the cadets are instead studying Arabic instead of Spanish or French, judging it more practical for a soldier destined for the Middle East. Whether it is West Point, the Air Force Academy in Colorado or the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, the US military students are surrounded by the effects of war every day. At West Point it was the combat boots and military fatigues worn for Spirit Day each Thursday. It was the boxing classes and self-defense training required of each cadet.

It was the alumni who returned to visit between tours in Iraq, some telling gruesome stories and those that were seriously affected, not saying much at all. It was also the public announcements that preceded lunch in the mess hall when another West Point alum was killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, bringing the total now to 73. It was, as much as anything, the unblemished white headstones in Section 34 of the West Point graveyard, where so many of those 73 had been buried. And there are now plans to expand the cemetery and overtake an adjacent parking lot and coffee shop. Yes these students, as compared to most students, see the effects of war every hour of every day. Per Colonel Mike Meese, chairman of West Point's social studies department: "There has been an incredible intensity here ever since 9/11. The cadets have a strong belief that this is the defining struggle of their lifetime. Every one of them elected to come here because they want to be a part of it." When Arron Conley, a West Point class president told old acquaintances that a likely deployment to Afghanistan struck him as good news, they acted as if he were speaking a foreign language. His mother had adamantly opposed his decision to leave junior college in California for the military, and now some of her old resentments had returned. Friends expressed concerns for his safety.

A former classmate wanted to know whether there was any chance Conley could still avoid deployment. "Some people are never going to get it, because the idea of somebody actually wanting to go to war just doesn't make sense to them," Conley said. "But look, this is what I do. This is who I am." Yes, as FOX continues to act like a novice student whose only exposure to war is with a video game on a Wii, X-BOX or Nintendo machine, the difference between a military student and the average American college student is miles apart. But I guess we just need to “consider the source” and put FOX’s ignorance behind us while we as concerned Americans continue to support our young military treasures.

Copyright: G.Ater 2009 Follow me on Twitter: gater01