A Day In the Life of a West Point Girlfriend: The 500th Night

Michael and I are from the same hometown and originally met at a friend of a friend’s Christmas party. My attention was drawn to him from the moment I saw him and we spent the rest of the evening talking and connecting on so many levels. After I finally got over all my hesitations and with some persistence on his part, we started dating at the end of the following summer. At the time he was beginning his cow (3rd) year at West Point, but was doing an exchange program at RMC (Canadian Military School) in the fall.

The thing about dating a military academy cadet is they are still a college student, but with so many more responsibilities and expectations than your average student. They still have class and Christmas break and spring break, but they also have physical training, military training, and so many rules to follow. There really is no typical day; it depends so much on what is going on at West Point. I’ve decided to share a special day, one that can only be associated with a military academy, 500th night.

He had only been gone for a month, but a month after spending the majority of a 3 week vacation together felt like an eternity. It felt so right to have him there by my side. My roommate and I had flown into New York City the day before and spent the majority of the day visiting the sites and getting lost in NYC. Michael couldn’t leave West Point until all his classes were done, he had told me he would be at the hotel by 6pm, but he ended up calling every 20 minutes to say he would “be there in 20 minutes.” Sometime around 7:30 pm, he finally made it. Several cadets, their girlfriends, my roommate, and her date for the weekend went out to Chinatown for dinner and hit up the night scene before heading back to our hotel room.

When we woke up Saturday morning we talked for an hour or so before heading out for breakfast with the rest of the group. Walking down the streets of New York while holding hands, I was so happy and proud to be able to call him my boyfriend. Just his presence warmed me up on that freezing cold January morning, inside I was beaming.

After breakfast we walked to a convenience store. One cadet (jokingly) said to Michael, “So are you guys like dating?” to which he responded with, “No it’s really more of a physical, friends with benefits type of relationship,” and I butted in with, “Oh right that makes perfectly logical sense to choose a long distance physical only relationship.” We laughed and headed towards the hotel.

One girlfriend wanted to go visit some shops, but I chose to start getting ready for the dance that night. The boys played cards, watched the news, and debated about going for a run while my roommate and I showered and did our hair. Michael had parked rather far away and about the time that I finished my hair he left to go pick up the car.

Over an hour later, he finally returned and in an urgent voice told me to come downstairs. Time had slipped away and it was now 4:15 pm (1615 military time) and he had to be checked back into his computer by 1800. Traffic of course was not cooperating and as the minutes ticked away, he became more and more panicked. I asked him what the big deal was if he was late and he told me all about “hours” and how he’d be in trouble for being late. Apparently, for every rule they broke, they had to march so many hours before they would be granted their privileges back.

He started to scheme in his head, calling a plebe and asking him if he would park his car once he got back to campus so he could run into his room to check in. Others called roommates or other trusted friends to have them enter their code for them (which is strictly against the school’s honor policy and could result in serious trouble for all parties involved). As we wound up the mountain and entered through the security gate, I couldn’t help but compare their buildings to a castle. Everything was made out of stone and had a cold and monstrous feel to it; it was both astonishing and depressing at the same time.

Now that we were back at school, we had an hour and a half before the dinner of 500th night started. We went up to his room (which was strictly forbidden) and just talked. Contrary to Michael’s personality everything in his room was so crisp and organized. He explained his uniforms and shared the story about how he wore the same shirt to class everyday and had not once washed it, despite having an identical shirt to wear and a laundry service that required him to do no work.

He put on his uniform and we went to another cadet’s room. Shortly before 7:30 we went down to the mess hall, only to find no one else there. Apparently it starts at 8, not 7:30. So we go back upstairs only to return a half hour later. This gigantic mess hall is now filled with people and they all look gorgeous in their formal dresses and uniforms! Michael introduced me to his sponsor and he remarked about how this is the exact same date that he and his wife attended his 500th night so many years ago. His sponsor’s wife asked me a few questions, but it was so loud from all the conversations I couldn’t hear a word she was saying. I just nodded, smiled, and tried to be as polite as possible. After being introduced to several other people, that I couldn’t seem to remember their names nor could I hear anything they were saying, we eventually made our way over to our assigned table.

Michael continued to mingle and introduce me to more people. When it was time to take our seats, he sat at the head of the table and began passing food since all the serving utensils and water pitchers were placed in front of him. There, at my seat, my name is hand written on a card. Michael explains that it was supposed to be typed, but the cadet in charge of that had been kicked out of West Point for academic reasons and had attempted suicide recently. I wondered how much pressure the cadets, the army, and their families place on them that suicide is a legitimate option for failing. I was thankful that this is not the case for my boyfriend.

I then noticed the class crest etched on the wine glasses and I excitedly filled my glass with sparkling grape juice. Several toasts are made and we eat our dinner. Then the speaker, a West Point graduate, began, and I once again couldn’t hear most of what he was saying. I expected a long boring speech, but from the little I could hear, it was quite the opposite. Once the speaker was finished, we applaud and eventually were dismissed to attend the hop. All throughout dinner we had been discussing whether to attend the hop or just to skip it to go back to the city. To attend the hop, you have to go through a long receiving line and from what I’m told it’s not all that fun anyway. So instead we took some pictures and headed back to his room.

As we were walking back to his barrack, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself for a question I had asked last week. “Does everyone actually wear long dresses, or are you just saying that because you don’t want me to be cold?” In the 5 minute walk from the mess hall to his barrack, I was shaking from the freezing cold wind. My dress was too thin, and I needed a thicker coat. He told us we can wait in his room while he went to get the car. This is the perfect opportunity for me to hide a bottle cap that has now become a game between us. I choose to place the cap in the breast pocket of the shirt he has never worn. (He never did find it and I had to tell him where it was).

Once he finally returned with the car, we crammed 8 people into his 5 person jeep. We stopped at a liquor store on the way back to the hotel and once we were back we went up to the club in our hotel. The drinks there were too expensive though and we went back to the rooms. It soon became apparent that these cadets never drank. We drank, laughed, and played games all while just enjoying the moment.

In an attempt to play matchmaker with my roommate and her date, some of the other girlfriends started a game of 7 minutes in heaven. When it was our turn, we swapped our pants and I beg him not to rip my new jeans. He can’t even zip the zipper he is so much bigger than me. As it got later into the night, we ran across the street for some snacks and then made it to bed. I knew that tomorrow this would all end and I would return to Indiana, but for now the world was perfect and I was content to just live in the moment.

Erica