West Point Cadets honor Bond, Batman, Milk

Thanks to Lee for pointing us to recognition of Harvey Milk from an unexpected corner as the highlight of a headline from the West Point website. Proud to see Van Sant fans undaunted in naming Harvey Milk a nominee for the annual Cadet Choice Awards honoring heroes who exemplify outstanding character and leadership. The overlap of the forward-thinking West Point cadets of today and the ground-breaking West Coast activists of 30 years ago is encouraging evidence that 21st Century tolerance acceptance might be not be that far after all from my own private idealism.

WEST POINT — Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy Thursday announced the nominees for the 2nd Annual Cadet Choice Award for the movie character that best exemplifies West Point leadership. The nominees are:

• Bruce Wayne in “The Dark Knight”
• Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in “Valkyrie”
• Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr. in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”
• John Hancock in “Hancock”
• Harvey Milk in “Milk”
• James Bond in “Quantum of Solace”

“West Point is all about producing leaders of character,” said the cadet public affairs officer Cristin Browne. “Leaders influence people to accomplish the mission and improve the organization. A leader of character seeks to discover the truth, decides what is right, and acts accordingly. Furthermore, West Point values are Duty, Honor, Country. That leadership, those values, are what this award celebrates.”

The 4,400 members of the Corps of Cadets vote on the award with the winner announced in mid-February. Later in the spring, the cadets will invite the screenwriters, producers, director, and actor to West Point for a formal awards presentation of a Tarbucket: the tall ornate black and gold cadet parade hat with a feather plume.

Fills me with all kinds of pride to publish this news. Proud of our guys and girls in uniform, and proud of the bright bold directions where this country is hopefully headed.