West Point

Endlessness.






This is a photograph of an assembly of Cadets at West Point, U.S. Army Academy. In the photo, Cadets are listening to an address by President Barak Obama announcing troop increases in Afghanistan.

I find this image extremely powerful, not only because it is an impressive documentary of U.S. Military Cadets, but mostly because of the context which it is placed.

I have always had a connection to West Point, as my brother-in-law graduated from the Academy in the spring of 2001. There is a superstition among West Pointers that if it rains on the graduation of a West Point class, that class will be sent to war. Well, in my families case, it did rain on his graduation in 2001, and not only four months later did the attacks on the world trade center occur. Now, I am sure this is only a coincidence that he graduated the year of the attacks on September 11th, but since then, seeing any group of West Point Cadets (as depicted in this image) brings a looming sense of dread to me.

With that in mind, I chose this image because of the many powerful implications it has regarding the Wars being fought in the Middle East. To Analise the image, there are several qualities that make it so striking. First, although the photograph was taken during one of the Presidents speeches, Obama is not a subject in the photo at all. By doing this, it focuses the attention on only the seemingly endless assembly of Cadets, capturing their cool expressions of interest, fear, anxiety, duty, and anticipation. Second, the rows of Cadets seem to go on for infinity (much like how the conflict in the Middle East feels endless). It is fitting that such an infinite image of American soldiers would be depicted to compliment Obamas announcement of the increase of troops in Afghanistan.

To me, this image and its context brings powerful memories to my mind, but to anyone else, it can still be seen as a very powerful image.

- C. Rousseau

Image: Christopher Morris / VII for TIME

Taken for Time Magazine, 2009.