RECEPTION DAY: Here's a look at what awaits fresh West Point cadets

a cadet candidate stands stoic while listening to a senior cadet

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

As college students from across the nation begin their much-anticipated summer break, nearly 1,300 individuals are singing a different tune.

Located in West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy (USMA) just received their latest batch of incoming cadets. At West Point, candidates are transformed through a grueling and arduous process, in hopes to join their comrade-in-arms from "The Long Gray Line." Testing both their mental and physical abilities, the highly selective military academy with time-honored traditions will provide them the skills to join the US Army as officers.

For now, these starry-eyed cadet candidates face their first challenge — enduring Reception Day, or 'R-Day.' It is here that they will get their first taste of the discipline, uniformity, and what it means to uphold the USMA's motto of,"Duty, Honor, Country."

Here are several photos of what awaits the new cadet candidates on R-Day:

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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