MEMOS OF A WEST POINT CADET

by Jaime Mardis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 1976

The slapdash memoir of a cadet who resigned from the long gray line at the end of his first year. As with all secret societies, the rituals (hazing, honor code, punishment tours) are both compelling and incomprehensible to the reader and the unlucky plebe alike: being confined to quarters for three months for not waking up on time seems Kafkaesque in the dope-smoking, long-haired flower power era (1969) the author was at the Point. Mardis, who imagined himself Errol Flynn in The Charge of the Light Brigade, instead found himself in a world out of Catch-22 and M*A*S*H: his resolation falters for good when a Vindictive Surgeon operates on him without benefit of anaesthesia. But the plebe year left its toll on his life: the author, who was never able to finish college, became the first West Pointer ever to stand on an unemployment line, and he has apparently never quite been able to get over the fact that a civilian softie was once one of his country's finest.

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McKay

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION