![i was once an avowed communist revolutionary i was once an avowed communist revolutionary](https://www.telesurtv.net/export/sites/telesur/img/news/2017/10/25/defendsoveit940.jpg)
- #I was once an avowed communist revolutionary professional
- #I was once an avowed communist revolutionary series
Given my recent tenure on the West Point faculty and my direct interactions with Rapone, his “mentors,” and with the Academy’s leadership, I believe I can shed light on how someone like Rapone could possibly graduate.įirst and foremost, standards at West Point are nonexistent. The recent coverage of 2LT Spenser Rapone – an avowed Communist and sworn enemy of the United States – dramatically highlighted this disturbing trend.
![i was once an avowed communist revolutionary i was once an avowed communist revolutionary](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UFreosid6vk/YBaHTjclZVI/AAAAAAAACbE/kio9HNeRk8ME4WzvN7az0xPzgPL6vk16gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1536/William_Cobbett.jpg)
#I was once an avowed communist revolutionary series
However, during my time on the West Point faculty (2006-2009 and again from 2013-2017), I personally witnessed a series of fundamental changes at West Point that have eroded it to the point where I question whether the institution should even remain open. I firmly believe West Point is a national treasure and that it can and should remain a vitally important source of well trained, disciplined, highly educated Army officers and civilian leaders. My experience as a cadet had a profound impact upon who I am and upon the course of my life, and I remain forever grateful that I have the opportunity to be a part of the Long Gray Line. The following is Heffington’s letter in its entirety:īefore you read any further, please understand that the following paragraphs come from a place of intense devotion and loyalty to West Point. In Heffington’s letter, he says the most recent coverage of Rapone only highlights a “disturbing trend” that he has observed over several years of being on the faculty at West Point, which are “fundamental changes that have eroded it to the point where I question whether the institution should even remain open.” West Point has said that Rapone’s actions “in no way reflect the values of the U.S. Military and the United States fight against. Rapone has been widely criticized on the internet – and so has West Point, for seemingly allowing this behavior and appearing to turn a blind eye to an apparent communist who espouses many things the U.S. He has deployed to Afghanistan and received a combat infantryman badge (CIB). Rapone is a 2LT (Second Lieutenant) and an infantry officer in the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y. Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary who believed the poor people of Latin America would be saved by communism. Rapone had also posted a second photo of himself in uniform, and he is seen wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt underneath his uniform jacket. His Facebook, where he goes under Giuseppe Impastato, is private. His Twitter account is now set to protected, and his Instagram account has been taken down. Rapone’s social media was filled with up to hundreds of posts, messages and photos that were being circulated around the military and civilian communities.
#I was once an avowed communist revolutionary professional
Rapone was recently discovered to be a communist propagandist and “official socialist organizer” of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) after he posted a photo to Twitter of himself in support of professional football player Colin Kaepernick, where he is seen in his West Point uniform at graduation holding his cap that contains a piece of paper that says “Communism will win.” While this doesn’t mean leaders at West Point defend Rapone’s views, it means that West Point’s senior leaders “are infected with apathy: they simply do not want to deal with any problem, regardless of how grievous a violation of standards and/or discipline it may be,” Heffington writes. Heffington says the Military Academy turned a blind eye to Rapone’s behavior and his “very public hatred” of West Point. The broader conversation that has been taking place in the military community now is what exactly went on – and goes on – at West Point that a graduate such as Rapone would feel so strongly empowered to apparently be a socialist and/or communist and spread these doctrines.