Man follows military dream to West Point

Even when he was a little kid, Duncan Aylor knew he wanted to join the Army.

As a child, the military appealed to Aylor’s sense of adventure. As he grew up, the dream took on a deeper meaning. It was a chance to give back to the country he loves.

“I think I’ve been given a lot in my life — a lot of opportunities, a lot of gifts,” he said. “I think it’s good to do something not for myself.”

Now 19, the Flathead High School graduate is in his sophomore year at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Aylor spent last week in the Flathead Valley on Thanksgiving break and spent part of his time speaking to schools and Lions Club members about his experiences at West Point.

Aylor said his desire to join the military as a way to give back to the United States stems from his sense of patriotism and his parents’ example. When he compares life in the United States to life in many other countries, patriotism comes naturally, Aylor said.

“I find it hard not to be patriotic with that in mind,” he said.

His parents, Dave and Carol Aylor, further influenced his love for his country by setting an example of giving back.

“My mom and dad are very selfless people,” he said. “My family are great role models.”

Because he always had known he wanted a military career, his parents weren’t surprised when he told them he wanted to go to West Point.

“It wasn’t like this big shock,” he said. “They were supportive.”

Aylor said he was drawn to West Point in part because of the opportunities it would give him to build relationships with others.

“When you graduate from West Point, you become a platoon leader, so ... you get to interact with people, versus becoming a pilot where it’s you and your machine, not you and your people,” he explained.

At one point, Aylor considered going to the U.S. Naval Academy, which could have helped him get into the U.S. Marine Corps. But he thought the Naval Academy curriculum would include subjects, such as seamanship, that he wasn’t particularly interested in learning.

“I like the land. I don’t like boats,” he said.

Aylor’s career at West Point began in June 2009, shortly after he graduated from Flathead High School. The summer basic training program, known as “Beast” to West Point cadets, provides field training and “more military-oriented things” before the academic year begins.

After he was issued several uniforms for the various situations in which he would find himself at the academy, Aylor spent the first few weeks standing in lines and not talking.

“You just get yelled at a lot for two weeks,” he said.

He survived Beast and his freshman (“plebe” in West Point lingo) year and now, as a sophomore (“yuk”), he is a team leader in charge of two plebes. They get up at 5:20 a.m. to work out — in Army-issued shorts and T-shirts, of course — then eat breakfast, a mandatory meal with assigned seating. The rest of morning he has classes, followed by a mandatory lunch and more classes.

The school day ends at 4 p.m. That’s when Aylor heads to boxing practice, followed by dinner, which is only mandatory on Thursdays. Then he does homework until it’s time for bed.

Every weekday is highly regimented. Weekends are less so; cadets may spend their time as they please, Aylor said.

Occasionally he gets the chance to leave campus. His freshman year he visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. This year he went back to Washington for a symposium on negotiations in cross-cultural conflicts at Johns Hopkins.

The symposium may come in handy in the future. Aylor plans to major in comparative politics and Chinese. He hopes to spend a semester next year in China, an experience he says will be useful given the military’s recent counter-insurgency strategy.

“Being in a different culture ... is in line with the skills you need to wage counter-insurgency,” he said.

Once he graduates from West Point, Aylor hopes to get into the infantry but doesn’t yet know where he wants to post. It will depend on what the Army is going at that time, he said.

He also doesn’t yet know if he wants to make a career in the military. His base commitment is five years of active service in the Army followed by three years in the Reserves. Whether he sticks with it after that will depend on how well he likes the military, something he says he won’t be able to decide until he’s actually on active duty.

Something someone told him at Beast is the best way to explain it, he said.

“Beast isn’t plebe year. Plebe year isn’t West Point. And West Point is not the Army,” he said. “There’s no way to judge from my perspective right now.”

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.