50 West Point Cadets Punished for Ritual
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About 50 West Point seniors were punished for taking part in a “blood branching,” in which pins designating their branches in the Army were pushed through their uniforms into their chests. Calling it a “stupid rite of passage,” Lt. Col. Rick Machamer, spokesman for the military academy in West Point, N.Y., said the cadets face demerits, extra duty or restrictions in the Nov. 13 ritual. Such rituals at West Point were barred before Marine Corps “blood pinnings” were made infamous by gory videotapes broadcast on TV earlier this year.
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