30 Cadets Injured During Pillow Fight at West Point

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Photo by @lordlightskkin/Twitter[/caption]We have to say first, this is not a Duffel Blog article. This actually happened. Every year at West Point, the freshmen cadets end their first summer of training with a giant pillow fight. The pillow fight is meant to blow off steam and help further bond the group who are about to begin their plebe year at the military school.There are reports that some cadets were putting helmets and other items in to their pillow cases to cause more damage. I can't imagine the thought process behind someone thinking, "hey, I'm going to put my helmet in a bag and go out and swing it as hard as I can at someone."Here is a video of the fight that turned seriously violent:

30 Cadets Injured During Pillow Fight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOMb2FOwIgMWe are told that what you see in this video is actually an organized event. It doesn't look to me to be too much different than a riot and given the injuries, I don't know how anyone can think that this is a good idea.Here is what the New York Times reported about this event:

For generations, freshmen cadets at the United States Military Academy have marked the end of a grueling summer of training with a huge nighttime pillow fight that is billed as a harmless way to blow off steam and build class spirit.

But this year the fight on the West Point, N.Y., campus turned bloody as some cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects, thought to be helmets, that split lips, broke at least one bone, dislocated shoulders and knocked cadets unconscious. The brawl at the publicly funded academy, where many of the Army’s top leaders are trained, left 30 cadets injured, including 24 with concussions, according to West Point.

In interviews, cadets who asked that their names not be used for fear of repercussions in West Point’s strictly controlled culture, said the fight had left one cadet with a broken leg and dislocated shoulders in others. One cadet was knocked unconscious and taken away in an ambulance and had not returned to school, they said. But a spokesman for the academy, Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker, said all cadets had returned to duty.

Read the rest at the New York Times.

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