WPAOG Parent Handbook 2020-21

28 DEVELOPING LEADERS OF CHARACTER RoomAssignments Upon arrival at West Point, new cadets will be assigned to a Cadet Basic Training (CBT) company. Room assignments are two- or three-to-a-room and are made on a random basis and are not infuenced by race, religion, creed, or socioeconomic backgrounds of individual cadets. Roommates are members of the same squad or platoon and will be responsible to the same upper class leaders. Cadets have the same roommate throughout the summer. Women generally are assigned to squads in pairs, and women will be assigned as roommates. Women live in the same buildings as their male fellow company members but have separate rooms and use separate latrine and shower facilities. New cadets and cadets are required to lock their room doors each night from Taps until Release from Quarters the following morning. The military atmosphere at West Point is maintained even in the cadet’s room. For example, here is a cadet’s description of a room arrangement: “The Army has a place for everything and a way to fold everything. In our closet, clothes must be hung in a certain order. Our underwear must be folded ‘just so,’ and in a certain part of the drawer. The inside of our desk is supposed to be neat and our books stacked on the shelf from the tallest to the shortest. In the medicine cabinet, the razor must be on a certain shelf and turned a certain way. We have to dust, sweep, clean the sinks, and make sure the mirror is clean.” Between the end of CBT and the start of the academic year, cadets will be assigned to rooms in their permanent company areas. Cadets are generally assigned two or three to a room. Once assigned rooms, Plebes retain the assignments from August through December. Cadets sometimes receive new room assignments each semester.