Freshmen at the United States Military Academy have celebrated the end of summer training with a pillow fight since 1897, but this year the brawl turned bloody when a few plebes loaded their pillow cases with helmets and other hard objects. The fight left 30 freshmen injured, including 24 with concussions, the New York Times reports.
Other injuries included broken bones, dislocated shoulders, and missing teeth. Several cadets were knocked unconscious, and at least one was taken away in an ambulance and hasn't returned to school. But judging by their posts on social media, neither freshmen nor upperclassmen were particularly concerned about the violence.
“My plebe was knocked unconscious and immediately began fighting when he came to,” an upperclassman posted on Yik Yak. “I was so proud I could cry.” Freshman Brian Alegre tweeted a summary of the casualties, and another Twitter user posted a picture of a cadet with blood streaming from his nose.
Even Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker, a spokesman for the academy, sounded pretty chill about the whole thing:
“West Point applauds the cadets’ desire to build esprit and regrets the injuries to our cadets,” Colonel Kasker said. “We are conducting appropriate investigations into the causes of the injuries.”
Word of the injuries circulated on social media on August 20 when the fight occurred, but West Point didn't confirm the body count with the Times until Thursday. As of today, Kasker said that all cadets have returned to duty.
A female freshman said that the body count made her and her friends feel "totally hard-core." "I know it looks weird from the outside, but it totally bonds us," she said. So far no cadets have been punished for the incident, and the academy has no plans to end the tradition.
