West Point – A Marathon, Not A Sprint: Six Years At The Academy

This is a follow-up interview to one we recorded with Jeremiah Malbon on January 31, 2022. In this interview Jeremiah reflects on facing adversity and setbacks, but persevering and growing from the challenges he faced. He discusses his initial academic struggles, including failing a class, and his journey to academic success. He switched his major from American Politics to Sociology and learned the importance of seeking help from his peers, a lesson he initially resisted. He discusses some of the leadership and mentorship roles he has held, including serving as a platoon sergeant for Cadet Candidates at the United States Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS), which he attended. He takes great pride in mentoring younger cadets, who are now following in his footsteps as leaders. After graduation, he will return to USMAPS as a Junior Tactical Officer (JTAC). He has the distinction of having been in all three companies at the Prep School. He highlights his “turnback” journey and his “roundabout path to graduation.” He reveals that he was held back a year due to an honor code violation that was adjudicated during his initial Firstie Year. He speaks candidly about the investigation, the consequences, and the emotional difficulty of watching his original classmates graduate without him. He refers to his final year as “The Last Dance,” a period of intense self-reflection and a chance to prove to himself and others that he could recover from his mistakes. Jeremiah shares that the most important lessons he learned from this experience are failure is not final, you learn more from setbacks than successes, and the need to take accountability for one’s actions. He compares his journey to running a marathon, with the honor violation being "hitting the wall" and the extra year being a necessary rest to be able to finish the race. Jeremiah developed his metaphor for his journey through West Point after training for and running the Marine Corps Marathon in the fall of his second Firstie Year. During his rehabilitation process, Jeremiah wrote a memoir titled “Anointed.” The book details his life, his experiences at West Point, his honor violation, and his journey of rebuilding himself to earn his place in the Long Gray Line. Following graduation, he will serve as an Adjutant General officer, detailed to Field Artillery, and will be posted at Camp Casey in South Korea. Overall, Jeremiah shares a story of resilience, learning from failure, and personal transformation. He reflects on how his difficult experiences have ultimately made him a more mature and prepared leader. Offering advice to future Cadets he says, “Fail forward,” and “take the job, not yourself, seriously.” He closes by stating that West Point was his home, where he laughed, cried, and made lifelong friends.