Duty First - by Ed Ruggero (Paperback)

About the Book

"Duty First" follows a dozen cadets and instructors during one academic year at the United States Military Academy at West Point, detailing the struggles of the young men and women who will lead the American soldiers of the future, and examines the controversial changes in West Point's approach to leadership training. photo insert.

Book Synopsis

Duty First is a penetrating account of a year inside one of America's premier schools for leadership -- the United States Military Academy -- as it celebrates the bicentennial of its founding. Ed Ruggero, a former West Point cadet and professor, takes an incisive look at how this elite school builds the "leaders of character" who will command the nation's military.

Writing with deep insight and superb narrative skill, Ruggero follows the cadet's tumultuous lives: the initial grueling training; the strict student hierarchy and intense classroom work; and the interaction between the lowly first-year plebes and the upper-class cadets who train them. Duty First also shows the role played by the majors, captains, and sergeants, who oversee everything that happens at this unique institution.