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Product Description
In this penetrating account of a year inside one of the nation's premier schools for leaders, Ed Ruggero details the struggles of young men and women determined to become the U.S. Army officers who will lead the American soldiers of the future. Writing with deep insight and superb narrative skill, Ruggero follows their tumultuous lives: the initial, gruelling training, the strict student hierarchy and the intense classroom work, and the interaction between the lowly first-year plebes and the upper-class cadets who train them. Ruggero shows the role played by the majors, captains, and sergeants, who oversee everything that happens at this unique institution. By taking a hard look at Academy standards and traditions, he examines the changes in West Point's approach to leadership training that have sparked controversy among its alumni. From the Superintendent's office high above the Hudson River to the hot and humid barracks rooms where America's future captains struggle, Ruggero takes readers on a guided four through the jarring, overwhelming, inspiring leadership school that is West Point.
Amazon.com Review
West Point isn't just a military academy, writes Ed Ruggero--it's "America's premier leadership school." Or at least it's one of them. Ruggero, a graduate and former faculty member who now specializes in leadership training, went back to his old school for an entire year to figure out how West Point builds leaders. "If the successes of its graduates are any indicator, the Academy's approach offers a template for leader development in and out of the military," he writes. And so Ruggero profiles a cross section of West Pointers, from first-year cadets enduring difficult initiation rites to the school's superintendent overseeing the whole process. Duty First prefers showing to telling: there are more stories and anecdotes on its pages than analysis and discussion. It doesn't offer very many clear-cut lessons that, say, business executives might apply to their own leadership dilemmas. The book is primarily about West Point culture, and Ruggero provides an excellent overview of what the school is really like, with its emphasis on strict discipline, the constant tension between military and academic training, and the supreme importance of beating Navy at the annual football game.
But he is not afraid to criticize an institution he generally admires: "The culture is not one that encourages cadets to excel in any one thing; instead, they are conditioned to handle multiple tasks. The result is an education that, some critics say, lacks depth. With so much on their plates, some cadets learn how to get by with minimum effort in many areas." He also wonders whether the cadets are "too isolated from their civilian peers." After just a few months of training, they begin to see others as "unmotivated, slovenly, fat, and lazy.... [As a result] some cadets are ill-suited to relate to the young soldiers they will lead." Despite this, Ruggero finds much that is good at West Point: "The [cadets] who learn their lessons well will succeed in and out of uniform." Duty First will find an audience among readers interested in leadership formation, and, perhaps especially, among high school students thinking about enrolling, as well as their parents. --John J. Miller
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