Duty, honor, discharged
NorthJersey.com ^ | Sunday, November 6, 2005 | By ALLISON PRIES
Posted on 11/11/2005 9:18:29 AM EST by Calpernia
Fifty-one seconds.
It separated a free education from a tuition bill of $189,000.
It was the difference between a framed West Point diploma and a "certificate of attendance."
It meant returning to Oakland and becoming a telecom salesman - instead of being sent to Iraq as a proud soldier.
For Brad Waudby, 51 seconds changed his life.
Waudby, a 6-foot-5-inch, 340-pound football player recruited for his skills on the offensive line, failed the running test on his West Point physical. He was supposed to run two miles in 16 minutes 36 seconds. It took him 17:27.
West Point had exempted Waudby from the test during his playing days, he said, but required him to take it when his football career ended.
Then, when he failed on his third and final try, the academy asked Waudby to pay all four years of his tuition and told him the military did not want his services, he said. Cadets, by law, get a no-cost education in return for five years of service.
He received no degree.
He has filed a federal lawsuit seeking his diploma and the free schooling he had expected.
He says he wants to serve his country.
"I was excited to do it," the former offensive tackle and guard said. "Especially after 9/11. My whole mind-set changed where I was determined to go."
West Point officials declined to comment on Waudby's case, but they acknowledged that the biannual physical fitness test has been modified for others in the past.
"It's inappropriate for me to discuss individual cadet records or other personnel matters," said Lt. Col. Kent Cassella, an academy spokesman. "The same holds true for matters under litigation."
Waudby has no regrets.
"I'm glad I went there," the 24-year-old said recently in his attorneys' office. "It gave me discipline. A sense of duty, honor."
Still, he longs for things he's been denied:
To receive his bachelor of science degree in systems engineering and law. To fight alongside his classmates in Iraq. To make his way through the ranks of the military. To go to law school. To take advantage of the lifelong network afforded to all "ring knockers" - a slang term for military academy graduates.
Destined for football
Waudby, who met his academic and moral requirements to graduate, had been exempt from running in previous years, his lawyers said, because the academy wanted him to retain his size while he played football. When he was admitted to the United States Military Academy Preparatory School at Fort Monmouth out of high school, Waudby said, he already exceeded the Army's height and weight requirements by 129 pounds.
He has always been big.
As a third-grader, just two years after beginning youth football, Waudby was shut out of the league because of his weight. He still played sandlot games and watched his friends play. But it wasn't until freshman year of high school that he was able to play his favorite sport in an organized league.
"My father played in high school," Waudby said. "He's been breeding me to play since I was born. My first Christmas present was a football.
"I guess I was built for it," he said.
While at the academy, Waudby played varsity his junior and senior years. An Army football Web site described him as "an impressive physical specimen ... a powerful performer who moves well for a big man." His time playing there was dismal. The Black Knights won only five games in the four years he was at the academy and only once while he was on the varsity.
Several top schools recruited Waudby, including Boston College, Syracuse, Rutgers and Northeastern universities, he said.
But his first recruitment letter was from West Point.
His dad's jaw dropped.
Brad Waudby Sr., the owner of Oakland Memorial Funeral Home, opened his son's eyes to what a life-enhancing opportunity the military academy could be.
"It was the structure and the discipline," said Waudby Sr., an Air Force veteran whose own father had served in the Army. "Not every kid gets the opportunity. I just thought it was a good thing and the right thing for him to do. And I still feel that today."
After some raucous visits to a few schools that were trying to recruit him, his dad leveled with Waudby.
"He said, 'Brad, be honest with yourself. You're not going to play football for the rest of your life. ... You might as well get an education first,'Ÿ" Waudby recalled.
Not just an education
But at West Point, the classroom is equal to the battlefield.
"You're not just here to get a college degree," academy spokesman Cassella said.
Cadets sign an "Oath of Allegiance" promising to complete their education and serve for eight years following graduation - five years on active duty and three in the reserves.
If they fail "voluntarily" or because of misconduct, cadets must reimburse the United States the cost of their education. Cadets who are discharged, however, are given the option to go on active duty or pay tuition, Cassella said.
Waudby's lawyers said he was not given that option because he was honorably discharged from the military and the academy at the same time.
Successful completion of the fitness test - which includes sit-ups, push-ups and a two-mile run - is an Army standard.
"The Army is a very physical profession," Cassella said. "Officers must be physically fit in order to perform their duties. And to set the standards for their soldiers."
There are instances where a cadet may be exempt from some or all of the test, he said. For example, a soldier recovering from a leg injury might walk for a certain distance within a certain time. Cassella would not discuss if or why Waudby was given an exemption.
"Relatively few" cadets who can't pass the test are allowed to remain at West Point and try again, he said. "We invest in these cadets' success," Cassella said. "We know the quality of cadets who come in here. We work hard to commission them as leaders in our Army."
West Point is deemed a "more selective" school by U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings. There are eight to 10 applicants each year for every one of the 1,200 open spots, Cassella said. And of the select group admitted, 20 percent never make it to graduation.
Waudby said he passed the push-up and sit-up tests at each attempt but failed the two-mile run.
He contends that over the four years he played on the Army football team, he was allowed to substitute cycling for running because of his size. Once his senior season concluded, West Point insisted that he pass the running requirement, his lawyers said.
The academy maintains that Waudby knew from the beginning that he'd have to pass the running portion of the test when his football career ended and before graduation.
Waudby's lawyers said he was given two chances to pass during his senior year. When he didn't make it by the time his classmates were to be commissioned, in May 2004, he was invited to return that fall and try again.
Waudby trained with a major who helped him set a pace. His lawyers said he was told the pace man would be allowed to run with him during the test, but when he arrived, he was told he had to do it alone.
The rest of the cadets complete the run en masse, his lawyers said. They can keep up with the front of the pack or stay in the middle. But with Waudby being the lone man on the track, he was at a disadvantage, they say.
After several months of limbo, and with his military status pending, Waudby was notified in July that he was being discharged. A month earlier, the academy had issued him a certificate of attendance in lieu of a diploma.
"It's like something you get from the back of a box of Cheerios," said Michael L. Detzky, one of his attorneys.
His lawyers said they were told Waudby could transfer his academic credits to a college in New York State, pay $1,500 and be issued a diploma from that school.
"It just seems so absurd that he would give four years to the academy," said Frederick W. Klepp, Waudby's other attorney. "Be academically qualified to graduate from the academy. Play football for them for four years, which is what they wanted. They recruited him. And now get a degree from some other school, with which he had no affiliation."
Waudby, meanwhile is trying to make something of his life in spite of this setback. He recently started working as a sales representative for a telecommunications company.
"Everything I learned in college, I can't really apply [outside the military]," he said.
His father, still proud of all his son has accomplished, chalks it up as a learning experience.
"It's made him stronger," he said. "And it's made our family stronger ... learning how to deal with adversity."
E-mail: pries@northjersey.com |
