No difficulty is found to arise from the difference of age among the cadets in maintaining an uniform system of discipline. The same rules are applied to all during the whole period of residence.
The cadet officers and non-commissioned officers greatly assist in maintaining discipline. A daily abstract of offenses show that out of 15 offenses recorded therein, 11 were reported by cadet officers or non-commissioned officers.
The daily duties are assimilated as much as possible to those of a battalion in quarters, and are as follows:
The officer in charge, detailed daily from the assistant instructors of tactics, is responsible for the proper performance of all the military duties of the battalion during the day. His tour of duty commences at guard mounting (7.30 a.m. in barracks, 8 a.m. in camp); at which time he reports for orders to the commandant at the office of the latter. He has an office adjoining that of the commandant where he must constantly be present from reveillé to taps (the signal for putting out lights at 10 p.m.), except when absent on duty or at meals. He is present in the cadets’ mess hall during all meals, and superintends every parade and roll call. He visits the sentries at his discretion. On being relieved, he includes in the usual morning report of his company, all offenses which may have come to his knowledge as having occurred during his tour of duty.
The officer of the day, is detailed usually from the roster of the cadet officers, although every cadet of the highest class is appointed at least once to perform this duty. He is present at guard mounting and receives his guard in the usual military manner, after which he reports for order to the commandant and is generally under the orders of the officer in charge. His post of duty is the guard room, which is in the same building as, and immediately beneath, the offices of the commandant and the officer in charge. He causes all calls to be sounded at the proper time; is present at all parades and roll calls; and receives reports of all absentees, whom it is his duty immediately thereafter to seek and to order when found to repair to their respective duties unless properly excused. He reports to the officer in charge all absentees whom he may not be able to find, and all cadets who fail to obey his orders. He directs the formation of all the class sections before marching to the section rooms; receives reports of absentees from the section marchers, and requires the latter to march off their sections in a proper military manner. He is responsible for the suppression of all irregularities in quarters or their vicinity during his tour. He visits the quarters during the hours of independent study and receives reports of absentees. He visits all the quarters at Taps, and reports absentees to the officers in charge. He afterwards visits the room of every cadet absent every 15 minutes until the return of the absentee, or until otherwise directed by the officer in charge. On the back of the guard report which he forwards next morning to the commandant, he records all offenses which come to his knowledge as having occurred during his tour; and presents with it all permits and passes that have come into his hands, all of which are required to be deposited with him. The officer of the day is relieved from study during his tour of duty.
Daily Guard.—A cadet guard, consisting of one sergeant, four corporals, and 24 privates, is mounted every morning at 7.30. The cadets of the guard remain in the guard-room during the day, excepting the hours of study.
Sentries are posted during the hours of recreation, the most important posts being the different entrance halls of the cadet barracks. Ten minutes after the call to quarters, during the day on Sundays, and every evening, it is the duty of each such sentry to visit all the rooms belonging to his particular entrance hall. He then orders all cadets whom he may find visiting in rooms not their own to their proper quarters, and reports all who fail to comply promptly with his orders to the sergeant of the guard, as well as all absentees; and the sergeant of the guard passes on all such reports to the officer of the day. A sentry similarly reports every irregularity that may occur on his beat, and particularly the name of any cadet who may have absented himself from the barracks for more than ten minutes. A high sense of the honorable confidence reposed in a sentry seems to be generally entertained; and there is every reason to believe that the cadet sentries at West Point perform their duties in a trustworthy and satisfactory manner.
The general duties of the battalion are assimilated as much as possible to those of a battalion in quarters. The daily detail of duties is drawn up by the cadet adjutant. The cadets for guard are detailed by the first sergeants of their respective companies at each evening parade, and the daily routine is in this respect as nearly as possible the same as that of military life.
There is no yearly vacation; and the furlough which each cadet may obtain at the end of his second year is subject to the following conditions, viz.:—