PBS documentary "West Point" to air Wednesday

By Jim Fox
Staff Writer

A two-hour Public Broadcasting Station documentary titled "West Point" is scheduled to air Wednesday at 9 p.m. on local PBS channels.

The Driftwood Productions/Oregon PBS show will lay out, in depth, the 200-year history of the United States Military Academy as well as explore how the academy trains the nation’s future leaders, according to USMA public affairs specialist Mike D’Aquino.

D’Aquino worked closely with PBS from October 2000 until October 2001 to help them get the information and footage they needed.

"They focused on the fact that West Point has been around for 200 years and has been providing leaders for the Army and the nation," he said. "They also got behind the scenes to show the process of developing the nation’s future leaders."

D’Aquino said the show was originally slated to run for 90 minutes, but was bumped up to a full two hours when PBS garnered a wealth of footage from their time here.

"They tried to capture all four seasons here," D’Aquino said. "A tremendous amount of work was put into this. We went out of our way to give them access to what goes on at West Point."

Academy Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col. James Whaley said that after more than a year of filming the PBS folks left here with a greater appreciation for where West Point, as an institution, stands in the nation’s history.

"They were overwhelmed by the academic and physical prowess of the cadets," Whaley said. "The other thing they took away with them was how important this institution has been to the nation for 200 years."