<p><a href=“http://www.usma.edu/publicaffairs/faep/faep2006/faep2006page.htm[/url]”>http://www.usma.edu/publicaffairs/faep/faep2006/faep2006page.htm</a></p>
<p>wow! thats really cool. do the other academies do anything like that?</p>
<p>Not so much at spring break but the Coast Guard Academy kids get to go all over the country and different parts of the world during their summer cruises…similar thing at MMA with their Sea Year. Check those sites for additional info. Mine is going to Alaska for five weeks then Bermuda, Puerto Rico and South Carolina to visit Jamzmom.</p>
<p>Wow…France has a military college!!!.. (couldn’t resist 
)</p>
<p>Also very cool: USMA sends a select group to participate in Operation Crossroads Africa every summer and has done so for the past 10 years or more (I think).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.dean.usma.edu/sosh/Activities/AIAD/IRCP/crossroads.htm[/url]”>http://www.dean.usma.edu/sosh/Activities/AIAD/IRCP/crossroads.htm</a></p>
<p>Operation Crossroads Africa (which was established in the 1950’s and was the prototype for the Peace Corps) organizes 7 week summer programs sending young adults to various African countries to provide support for infrastructure, agriculture, health and education programs. The essays written by USMA participants are a testiment to the power of this program to help those who may be deployed in a foreign culture understand how to acclimate and understand the culture they are immersed in. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.dean.usma.edu/sosh/Activities/AIAD/IRCP/AAR%20crossroads.htm[/url]”>http://www.dean.usma.edu/sosh/Activities/AIAD/IRCP/AAR%20crossroads.htm</a></p>
<p>I know about the program because one of my children who attends a civilian college will be participating this summer!</p>
<p>Good post and link momoftwins.</p>
<p>Although not sponsored by West Point, our plebe son had a great time winter backpack camping in Estes Park over spring leave. He said the days were great but the nights at 10,000 feet were really cold - below zero. He was shocked to find that as his breath vapor collected and froze on the roof of his tent it began to snow inside his tent and get everything wet. Anything not in his sleeping bag at night froze. One night he left out his contact lens case only to find it frozen solid the next morning.</p>
<p>He said the scenery was awesome and the silence incredible as the knee-deep snow dampened most of the sounds.</p>
<p>He laughed when he said he looked forward to going back to West Point to warm up. Although he had a lot of fun, I think he will head South rather than West next spring leave.</p>
<p>aspen,</p>
<p>I recently heard Cancun referred to as Cadetcun.</p>
<p>Snowing in the tent would be fascinating to see.</p>
<p>I’m goin to Cancun June 10-17, two weeks before R-Day! My last HOO-RAH as a civilian!</p>
<p>Re: French Military Academy - someone has to be trained to maintain the answering machine that says “We Surrender”</p>
<p>good one BigGreen :)</p>
<p>Good thing there were no answering machines invented when they saved our bacon during our War for Independence :)</p>
<p>The only significant surrender I can recall by the French in recent history was to the Germans in 1940—but then again, they were in good company as most of Europe went with them. In WW1 they were slaughtered by the thousands (along with just about everyone else in that war), but I can’t recall them surrendering. They certainly paid a higher price in body count in that war than anyone else other than maybe the Germans. But agian, they were defending their home soil for 4 long bloody years. They have been defeated on the battlefield on numerous occasions in their history, but then so has everyone else. They pulled out of Viet Nam in the 1950’s (then again, so did we in the 1970’s), then again no surrender. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the French have seen things “our way” much and a lot of the time they are just flat wrong (at least from our perspective), but they don’t really have a big history of surrendering either. Hmmmmmm, must be one of those European Urban Legends.</p>
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<p>I did Crossroads as a cadet in 1989 in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire (other classmates were in Kenya, The Gambia and Liberia); I think USMA has been sending cadets (using non-appropriated funds, as I last recall) for closer to three decades. It was a powerful experience.</p>
<p>However, what Crossroads and the various spring break programs really speak to is that USMA affords its cadets valuable and unusual opportunities–and not just to wealthy students who can afford the travel and expenses.</p>
<p>Roliremu,</p>
<p>Welcome aboard. Can you tell us more about the Crossroads experience and what made it so powerful for you?</p>
<p>Shogun,
Fair perspective… IT is asterotype of course. While neither supporting or arguing your point, Waterloo and NApolean retreat from Russia …</p>
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<p>I went into Crossroads expecting mostly a cultural experience, to the extent I was “expecting” anything. In this regard, it is quite different than the other summer extern programs USMA had at the time (as I recall, a dozen or so positions at various military or government agencies; I believe these programs are far more extensive now). I had been disappointed not to be selected for one of the cushier posts; I couldn’t have been happier in retrospect. </p>
<p>What I got from Crossroads was a cultural experience well beyond my imagination at the time, AND a series of leadership challenges that were fundamentally different. Regarding the latter, without getting into the details, leadership in a non-hierarchical organization in a foreign environment presented different challenges from the ones normally presented at USMA during the Cold War, and indeed, was not an advertised or intended feature of Crossroads. I still recall the After Action Report I wrote about it.</p>
<p>Another unanticipated aspect was learning to rely on my basic military skills. Although I still had little training or experience, I still had more first aid, navigation and “survival” skills than anyone in the group, and was far better prepared for the adverse environment and situations than any other participant in my group. It was very satisfying to reap the benefits of my training, and I wished I had had more.</p>
<p>It was a fabulous experience, and one that is not easily replicated in the military environment.</p>
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<p>I think we’re straying from the thread, but FWIW, my interaction with the French Army indicates that the image / reputation of “surrender and cowardice” is not really fairly applied to the military (they seemed quite well trained, and had a strong service ethic), but rather to the government that instructs and deploys them (or not).</p>
<p>Roliremu,</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. Please stick around. We need our own Zaphod. :)</p>