WEST POINT, FLORENCE AND MANGKHUT

Day 135 of the Lower Puna eruption.

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West Point is a quaint town of 7,000 residents, plus around 4,500 cadets from the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point, Army, The Academy and The Point, located 50 miles north of New York City at a fort that once guarded the Hudson River from the British.  It is one of five U.S. service academies, the others being at Annapolis (Maryland--Navy), Colorado Springs (Colorado--Air Force), New London (Connecticut--Coast Guard) and Kings Point (New York--Merchant Marine).

I had been to the Navy and Air Force academies on several occasions, so wanted to come here to complete the primary triumvirate.  Three months ago the University of Hawaii football team was picked to be near the bottom, so that certainly was not a primary motivation.  That it has now won three straight and a touchdown favorite over Army in an away game is something bordering on the miraculous.

The ride to West Point took about an hour and a half, but there were a couple of accidents blocking traffic.  There were two check-points before entering the campus, and I was scolded for taking this photo:

What could possibly be the security concern, but you also can't take photos during customs/immigration at an airport, which, too, makes no sense to me.  We drove past Michie Stadium, where we return Saturday for the game itself:

To quote Mel Kiper, ESPN football guru:

There is nothing like being at Michie Stadium on the banks of the Hudson River with the leaves changing during the third weekend in October. The scenery is incredible. And how about the inspiration drawn from being at such an historic landmark? You see the statues of MacArthur, Patton and Eisenhower. Then on game-day morning, you have the pleasure of witnessing the Cadet Parade. And how about when the cadets sing, "On brave old Army team"? That's an unbelievable moment.

You would think that this academy would be all about war, tanks, guns and so forth, right?  Well, the tour did just the opposite.  The all-morning visit took us first to a large Christian church, then mostly at a cemetery, then into another church.  That was it.  The only military photo I took was a portion of the campus a quarter mile away, where cadets were being recruited by their various future foci.

Graduates of West Point can choose to be buried here.  Below, Coach Red Blaik, who was one.  His headstone is football-shaped.  Since then, the size has been more controlled.

Colonel George Custer is buried here.  He graduated last in his West Point class of 1861, but was, actually, quite a successful Civil War leader, for a week before the Battle of Gettysburg, where he led calvary charges against the Confederate army, at the age of 23, he had already received a battlefield commission to be a brigadier general.  Three years later he was promoted to major general.  He was there in 1865 when General Robert E. Lee (another West point graduate, who ranked #2 there, and his son in 1854 was the top graduate), surrendered to General Ulysses Grant (yes, also a West Pointer).

After the war, he was automatically reduced to Captain, but worked his way to Colonel, where he led 700 troops at the Battle of Bighorn in Montana.  His last stand resulted in 268 deaths, including himself.

Incidentally, Douglas MacArthur was the top rated cadet in 1903 and Mike Pomeo (our present Secretary of State) was too in 1986.  MacArthur was 71 when he was fired by President Harry Truman when the general was commanding the United Nations forces in Korea.

President Dwight Eisenhower ranked #61, for he was known as a practical joker then and accumulated more than 100 demerits, putting him in a special infamous group.  In 1915 when he earned his bar, there were only 164 graduates, and 59 became generals, including Omar Bradley and James Van Fleet.

The top three public universities, according to U.S. News and World Report, are #1 West Point, #2 Annapolis and #3 Air Force Academy.  What is a public university?  Has something to do with the liberal arts.  Incidentally, the latest listings has Princeton as the best university in the country.  The most difficult universities to gain acceptance into are Harvard and Stanford at 5%.  Army's acceptance rate is 10%.

So here are my tour photos, beginning with the Hudson River:

Our lunch in the Thayer Hotel on campus, where rates start at around $300, was excellent:

Walked around the grounds.  Not sure what that was above

I then walked down to the Army Museum:

Finally saw my first tank, close-up.  Guess who this is?

George Washington.

I wondered why the tour stressed religion.  Maybe the purpose was to underscore that the reason we have an army is to insure for peace.

The bus dropped us off at the Sheraton:

Next, Statue of Liberty and other uptown New York sites, plus an evening with Carole King and Beautiful.

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Two ocean storms are now making landfall.  Hurricane Florence has been described as a horrific nightmare.  Won't say much as you will see this all on television:

The shape has been mentioned as testicles and penis, with the longer-term fallout heading for New York City, but that should be after I leave on Monday:

In the Orient, Super Typhoon Mangkhut, at 180 MPH, made landfall over Isabela province, north of Manila, around the same time as Florence, which was "only" at 100 MPH.  Four million are affected, and the effect should be scarily cataclysmic:

The fear is that the devastation will exceed that of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which killed 6300 in 2013.  This is the 15th typhoon to strike the Philippines this year.

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