Class of 2018, Clarke celebrate 500th Night

Story and photos by Michelle Eberhart Assistant Editor

January 19th, 2017 | News, News and Features

The Class of 2018 celebrated its 500th Night Banquet Jan. 14 at Washington Hall, marking 500 days until the graduation and commissioning of the Class of 2018. Former Commandant of Cadets, Maj. Gen. Richard D. Clarke, was the guest speaker for the milestone.

Following the receiving lines, invocation, toasts and dinner, Class of 2018 President, Cadet Marcos Arroyo, addressed his class.

“The theme of tonight is time,” Arroyo noted. “Tonight’s magic number is 500. 500 nights is all the time we have left at this Academy.”

Arroyo touched on the fact that over the past 928 days, the number of Class of 2018 cadets dropped from 1,215 to 987. But regardless of adversity, his class has persevered.

“We’ve produced Olympic athletes, Jeopardy contestants, cancer survivors, sapper tabbers, combat divers, mountain schoolers, published authors, and even more, and the best is yet to be seen,” Arroyo said. “We have endured catastrophic lows, with the passing of one of our brothers Mitch Winey, and experienced extraordinary highs like having General Odierno bounce with us to Tsunami during Runback.”

But no matter what, Arroyo told his peers, “I wouldn’t have wanted to pass my time with any other group of people.”

Arroyo then introduced Superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr. who congratulated the class on the milestone and its hard work over the last two and a half years.

“There is one thing I am sure, the Class of 2018 is strong and is doing an outstanding job,” he told them. “And I speak for the entire leadership team when I say that we can be no more proud of all that you’ve accomplished and the direction that you’re headed. You’re all doing a great job, and keep it up!”

Caslen then presented Clarke, who currently serves as Vice Director for Strategic Plans and Policy J-5, Joint Staff at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. After graduating from West Point in 1984, Clarke has since led Soldiers at all levels in Airborne, Ranger, Mechanized and Light Infantry units in five different divisions. He has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan nine times, and served as the 74th Commandant of Cadets from 2013-14.

And while Clarke was the Commandant for the Class of 2018 for just a short time, he says he still feels a bond with the class.

“Though I only had the opportunity to be your Commandant for about 35 days, I will always be tied to you through your crest, by administering your R-Day oath, and of course, the most important way, through the Long Gray Line,” Clarke said. “I’m honored to be here with you tonight to celebrate the time honored tradition of 500th Night.”

Clarke reminisced on good and bad times, congratulated the whole Corps on the Army-Navy victory, and shared inside jokes with the class. Clarke then told the cadets that over his time in the Army, he has learned to harness the good and bad times and learn from them.

“What I have found in my 32 years, is in the Army, you can learn from both successes and failures, you can learn from adversity, when classmates pass away,” Clarke said. “But what I would tell you is, you learn far more from the things with which you have to work the hardest and you learn the most from things in which you have failed.”

Clarke also shared stories of West Point graduates from recent classes who are “performing magnificently” as lieutenants overseas, and with only 500 nights to go, he anticipates that the Class of 2018 is preparing themselves for the next step.

“This time last year, I was in Iraq, I was the division commander of the 82nd Airborne Division,” he said. “Hardly a day went by when I did not see cadets from the class of 2013 or 14 that I helped commission. I had a tough job, but I would tell you that they had the tougher job, I had 32 years of training experience, most of them had less than two, but I would point out to all of you that the foundation that they laid here (at West Point) helped them achieve their successes.”

Clarke finished by telling the cadets that when they commission, they must take what they’ve learned at West Point and lead their Soldiers both confidently and competently.

Following a standing ovation, Class of 2018 Cadets Arroyo, Class Vice-President Aleksandr Kauffman and Class Information Systems Officer Bradley Cho presented Clarke with a replica of the 2016 Army-Navy football jersey. The jersey has Clarke’s name as well as the number “74,” as Clarke was the 74th Commandant of the Corps of Cadets.

“I love the way that he kept his thumb on the pulse of the class, he knew how we were doing, but the way he tied it in at the end and really encouraged us to be focused on our capabilities and how we need to be pushing ourselves and how West Point does all of that,” Class of 2018 Cadet Jonathan Sessions said after the speech.

In addition to enjoying the speech, Sessions added that 500th Night has a great deal of significance to himself and his classmates.

“500th Night is just an awesome time for our class to be together,” he said. “We have so many incredible friends that we’ve made through training, as well as just throughout the academic year, and being able to celebrate 500 days is cool because we look back on the time we’ve had and how incredible it’s been, but also the time that we have coming.”

His date, also from the Class of 2018, Cadet Natalie Dent agreed.

“It’s a really great milestone, something that we’re going to be able to look back on, but also, it allows us to look forward and appreciate the days we have left,” she added.

As of today, the Class of 2018 only has 488 days until their graduation and commissioning.