Behind the Scenes

June 30, 2008 was R-Day (Reception Day) at West Point, the day the new candidates arrive and begin summer training in their quest to become cadets. It’s a hectic day, one fraught with anxiety, expectation, and a sense of new adventure.

For the past several years WP-ORG has been there to apprise the candidates’ parents of the services we provide for them. This year, however, we did not have a presence at R-Day. To understand why, we have to examine a bit of history.

When the Internet and the World Wide Web entered the mainstream the effect was nothing short of revolutionary. Old friends who hadn’t communicated in decades found each other. Groups reunited. People a world away could see photos of their old friends instantaneously. With a little imagination it was easy to see how this could be a real boon to groups such as college students, graduates, and their parents. Soon, WP-ORG was born and was establishing communications between classmates of West Point, the parents of cadets, and other groups who, as a whole, define the extended West Point community. Originally we were AOG-NET (Association of Graduates NET) but the USMA AOG objected and so we changed our name to WP-ORG.

We bided our time, knowing WP-ORG’s days were numbered until such time as the AOG came technologically current and caught up. The trouble was, they never did catch up. Subsequently, when suggestions were made that the AOG should leverage WP-ORG’s strengths – after all, we’re all graduates of the same institution – a rivalry developed and the “Not Invented Here” syndrome raised its ugly head.

Through the years attempts have been made to bring WP-ORG and the AOG closer together. For various reasons these attempts have met mostly with failure, although individuals at WP-ORG do enjoy close and favorable relationships with individuals at the AOG. The failure of the two organizations to cooperate was the subject of a dialogue between myself and a colleague:

As part of some baby steps made to bring WP-ORG and the AOG closer together I was made a member of the Alumni Support Committee. Joe Franklin, who honcho’d the committee, had visions of WP-ORG being the communications arm of the AOG. The organizations drew up an MOU in order to work more closely together. WP-ORG found the MOU restrictive but agreed to it nonetheless to show good faith.

Before long the AOG began violating the tenets of the MOU while issuing a stream of denials and “we didn’t know”. It soon became obvious that the MOU was being used as a vehicle to fetter WP-ORG while the AOG played a game of “commo catchup”. The MOU was finally scrapped.

Most of the WP-ORG advisors had given up on the thought of ever being able to work amicably with the AOG, me included, when suddenly [the AOG chairman] made some amicable overtures. Against a negative prevailing wind, we thought that with the changing of the guard at the AOG things may actually improve. Our Jack Price and Warren Hearnes met with the AOG’s Alan Salisbury to try to hammer out some agreements. Nothing substantive came from this although it wasn’t a backward slide either.  Then I was elected to the helm and began a dialogue with [the Chairman], who seemed to genuinely want to advance the relationship.

Unfortunately, [he] seems to be in the minority. The Board of Directors hamstrings him at every opportunity. [The AOG president stated that] the problem that the AOG had with WP-ORG was one of “funding and control”. Well, our semi-annual budget is about the same as his salary so the funding we get is not much more than a drop in the AOG’s bucket. As for control, we’re fully aware that venues such as WP-Forum - where everything from foreign policy to the Supe’s decisions are questioned – can’t be overtly endorsed by USMA. Hence, Joe Franklin’s vision of keeping both organizations branded separately while being cooperative. If the Forum disappears from WP-ORG it will resurface elsewhere, likely without the controls and experience currently in place, and it could become a black eye on the order of the USAFA’s edodo site.

The tactics up there leave a lot to be desired. One individual who understood the Forum better than many was Dan Christman. When he was made aware of some criticisms leveled against him on the Forum that were in error, he called me and gave me the straight poop. I published the corrections. Later, he had a grad from his office monitor the Forum and field USMA questions. It worked.

[The AOG chairman] would like to see both organizations be able to work together as would I.

What it comes down to is WP-ORG is there to fill a communications vacuum for the extended West Point community. We do it with three paid employees and a host of volunteers and the mission is accomplished on a daily basis. The great majority of us get nothing for our efforts except satisfaction. That, and the occasional “Good Job”, is all we really ask for.

I was informed that “…USMA and AOG are joined at the hip. When AOG is criticized [...] USMA will back them up.” I can understand this. The AOG sees its primary mission as supporting the Academy and it does so through the solicitation and distribution of funds. Money talks.

As I said earlier, good working relationships and friendships between individuals at the AOG and WP-ORG do exist, but cooperation at the organization level remains elusive.

As an example of the former, in past years WP-ORG was granted use of part of the AOG’s table at R-Day. Last year we decided to stand on our own feet and petitioned for a separate table. The problem was, at the time, no one, not us, not the AOG, not the Academy, knew who was authorized to grant the request. We worked with the Commandant, the OSJA, the Office of Morale, Welfare and Recreation, and the Office of the Garrison Commander to satisfy this request. We were told we needed to qualify as a Private Organization and to have liability insurance in place for our request to be granted. We were granted our own table having fulfilled these requirements. In the end, however, we were told that we didn’t qualify as a Private Organization but that was no problem because qualification was not a prerequisite to getting a table at R-Day.

This year word came that the PAO (Public Affairs Office) was the official entity that would grant tables at R-Day. I contacted COL Bryan Hilferty, the Public Affairs Officer (I understand that his position has been re-designated as the Director of Communications), who told me that no considerations would be made until after graduation. I attempted to contact COL Hilferty again regarding R-Day after graduation via email and telephone. No response. The Director of Communications had stopped communicating.

Not long after last year’s R-Day, WP-ORG received a letter from Laura Heller, an Intellectual Property Law Attorney with the USMA OSJA. The letter demanded that we Cease and Desist use of the words “West Point” and stop displaying the Academy Crest on WP-ORG Web pages. The alternative was to negotiate a license fee with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC). WP-ORG Advisor Doug Dribben, who is an attorney though he was not representing WP-ORG, along with WP-ORG CFO Jack Price, spent considerable phone time to negotiate an MOA (Memorandum Of Agreement) whereby WP-ORG – a non-profit organization of West Point graduates providing a voluntary service for West Point graduates – may actually use the words “West Point” and the Academy Crest on the WP-ORG site. For two years.

And now the West Point Parents Club, Inland Empire has received a similar Cease and Desist order from the USMA OSJA. I’m impressed with their persistence, though more so with their spectacular lack of tact. Not only does WP-ORG host the site with an MOA already in place (look closely at the URL: http://www.west-point.org/parent/wppc-inland-empire/) but the person who received the curt and bloodless screed is the Webmaster, Larry Bryant, who is guilty of nothing except pride in his son, Todd Bryant, USMA 2002, who was killed in Iraq. The transgression? Using the image of the helmet of Pallas Athene as link buttons on the site.

And so we drive on, as those who would have us swept away probe for weakness. To our 30,000 users I say keep the faith and keep on using what we provide. You won’t wear us out. No one will. We’re here for you, behind the scenes.

~ Dempsey

VVV ***************** Update (below) July 2, 2008 *****************VVV

Since the above was posted we’ve received word that other West Point Parents Clubs are now receiving the ominously worded Cease and Desist demands from the USMA OSJA via registered mail.

I might understand this action if the clubs were selling questionable items, say, homemade liquor, in bottles adorned with the USMA Crest. But they’re not, they’re simply parents clubs, groups comprising individuals whose sons and daughters are cadets at West Point, people who get together to share information regarding issues affecting their offspring. These are the same parents who are approached by the AOG on R-Day – a day of significant trauma for many – in an effort by the AOG to lay the groundwork for soliciting money later. All this, at a time when the Academy is attempting to re-brand itself to get the name ”West Point” in front of the public in lieu of the less familiar “United States Military Academy” or “USMA”.

Below are just some of the messages indicative of the correspondence we’re receiving. 

~ Dempsey

*****

As a school director of communications all I can say is *Holy Cow!*  What are West Point and the AOG thinking? West Point.org is clearly the best tool the Academy has for communicating with its many diverse communities, and who does it better? We all know that communication is at the foundation at all important relationships, including those that result in moral/financial support for the institution.  Big mistake, West Point, unless you are prepared to do exactly the same brilliant job executed by West Pount.org. every moment of every day.

I do hope that you and others at West Point.org understand just how much your organization means to current parents and parents of West Point graduates. You are literally a life line of information that keeps people connected with their sons and daughters’ experiences at a time when it would be so easy to feel disconnected or left out. Now that my son is a graduate, you bring me more valuable information that helps me help him in Iraq. You share tragic news of loss that reminds us of the importance and significance of our former cadets’ work on behalf of our country.  I cannot imagine experiencing West Point without the calm, consistent, sane presence of West Point.org. And to think that so many of you are volunteers. It boggles the mind that instead of gratitude you have been given the shaft by the very Academy you so beautifully complement. One measly table at R-Day? Puleeze.

So keep doing what you’re doing. Someone needs to remind the AOG and West Point who the real enemy is. He’s the guy shooting at my son in Iraq. 

*****

I was at R-Day with the MA parent club.  We commented that the room seemed less busy than in years past and couldn’t quite figure it out.  Now I know! What a shame that it didn’t work out for you guys West-Point.org this year (and what a shame for parents!)   We definitely have disseminated information to MA parents but we did have quite a few parents that came by our table for water, tissues, tootsie pops etc. who were not from MA and had no parent table to go to.  One parent in particular from Indiana was lamenting the fact that she might not make it back for A-Day because she can’t afford to make the drive again.  I was so enthralled by her story that I never thought to mention some of the things we mentioned to our parents. The flyer looks great and as I’m sure you know, I wish we could have put it in our folder of info at R-Day.  What a frustrating situation for you.  If there is anything we officers at the WPPC-MA can do to help (other than continuing outreach to our parents) let me know.

*****

You might be interested to know that West-Point.Org was started by Houston’s own Ditus Bolanos ‘90, because when he graduated and couldn’t be commissioned for injuries sustained as a cadet, he discovered there was not adequate support for Grads in the civilian world.  West-Point.Org thus has filled a void, which otherwise would still exist today.  Grads are able to communicate directly with each other on as many topics as Grads have come to believe are important to them, to their respective Classes, to their respective local societies, and to the well-being of the United States Military Academy.  The Class of 1967 used its e-mail list, in recent years, to raise the money to fund a $2 Mil Chair for the Physics Dept, for example.

It is my personal opinion that the duties and responsibilities of the AOG and West-Point.Org complement each other profoundly, and this friction at all levels is unfortunate.  As stated in the URL link below, I find it very sad and troubling that “the powers that be” at the United States Military Academy made such a deliberate effort to block the parents of this year’s incoming new cadets from knowing about a very valuable, supportive parent resource, namely Plebe-Net and Parent-Forum.

Most of today’s parents have never served in the military.  These Plebe-Net and Parent-Forum do a lot of teaching about what it means to be a family member of someone who is serving in the military.  As an example, one year [...] a father wrote me wanting to organize a committee of parents to go tell the Superintendent that the parents were demanding that the Superintendent be more decisive, several months in advance, about the exact scheduled dismissal times and dates for all future cadet leaves, so the parents could buy their cadets airline tickets home at cheap rates!  I had to have several communications with him before he was able to understand that the only things we were going to say to the Superintendent was “YES, SIR” and “NO, SIR”……never mind what a similar parent committee had done at his daughter’s private civilian college.  In that particular case, Parent-Forum also saved at least one cadet a lot of unwanted “official” attention as well.

I hope in future years that the AOG and West-Point.Org will find a way to be more supportive of and more cooperative with each other. This continuing friction between the two is not contributing positively to the overall good Grads make to the Academy.  I also find it troubling [...] that the “powers that be” are being so aggressive against certain Grads regarding the use of the LOGO or the words WEST POINT.  I do not believe Aggies have ever had such actions taken against them for displaying their pride of Texas A&M, for example.

*****

We are saddened by the lack of cooperation from the WP side. I have read the blogs and hope that better cooperation will result in the future. Meanwhile, we are adjusting to being WP parents of a recent graduate. Ours is off to Benning for training, but I look to still participate locally with the society (now life time member) and on this forum to support in any way possible. The distance between El Paso and West Point was made less painful over these past four years because of what this small group of dedicated people do. The resource and confidence this forum has provided is a blessing beyond measure. I will contact all our parents to make SURE they are aware of WP-ORG. Let me also say thank you. What you and others of this effort do blesses us all in ways you may never know. Again, thank you.

Sincerely,
Yoshio (& Kathy) Horn 2008

*****

I am so sorry to learn of this.  WP-ORG has been invaluable to me.  As R -Day just passed for the incoming class, I recalled with fondness going to the WP-ORG table and signing up for plebe-net (which I wouldn’t have made it through the year without), and then having parents who’ve been through it  ask me “How was I doing”?  It was a touching moment.  I feel so badly that the parents of the class of 2012 weren’t able to have that touch of comfort on R-day.

If there is any way I can help, please let me know.  You’re doing a great job and providing a great service, and I couldn’t imagine this network not existing.

Our local Parents Club is active and I’m sure these brochures will be passed out at our next meeting.  I will make sure.

Thanks again for all you do.

Laura  (parent of a class of 2011 cadet)

*****

Since my son graduated and my wife and I turned over the West Coast of Florida Parent Club to others, no one has picked up our web site for maintenance, and it should be taken down.  I have lost the password and can not do it myself, but will be glad to if you wish to provide/reset it.  On the other hand, it may be easier for all concerned if your administrator simply disables it directly.

Altho taking this action is overdue, it was brought to a head by the legal folks up there talking about infringement of USMA copyrights due to excessive use of the Athena helmet symbol on the site.  This must be one of those things that comes under the heading of the “marvelous military mind.”  I can’t figure out why a Parent Club, a semi-official organ of and supported by the Admissions office, would be cited for such a thing, but whatever.

You do a great job for the community.  Keep it up.

Dick Hull