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Wasdahl perpetuate's family's military tradition

Son of D-3 employee returns to West Point after Thanksgiving break

Presidents Grant and Eisenhower; generals MacArthur, Patton and Schwarzkopf …

These are just a few of the notable graduates of the United States Army Military Academy – West Point. Earning an appointment to West Point is a prestigious and highly coveted honor, as District 3 senior planner Mark Wasdahl is well aware.

A 2009 appointee of the military academy, Pierce Wasdahl (Mark’s son,) majors in Geospatial Information Sciences at West Point. The goal of the program, according to its website, is to give "future Army officers, regardless of branch, the knowledge set to leverage these tools when leading soldiers in our high-tech digital Army."

The military increasingly relies on geospatial technology and data to achieve information dominance on the battlefield. That includes GPS, satellite imagery, real-time force tracking, sensor integration and massive geographic databases.

To secure the appointment to West Point, Wasdahl said his son “received endorsements from both of Idaho’s U.S. senators (Mike Crapo and Jim Risch), played varsity basketball, was in Trial Advocacy (Mock Trial) competition and had a good GPA with good SAT and ACT exam scores.

Wasdahl’s mock trial team lost in the state final, but he earned the best witness” award in the process. He also earned college credits in human biology through Northwest Nazarene University while still in high school.

Pierce continues a proud military tradition within the family. Both of his paternal and maternal grandfathers were WWII Navy veterans. His great grandfather served in the Army Air Corps in World War I. More recently, Mark served on active duty in the U.S. Pacific Fleet after being commissioned as a graduate of Naval Officer Candidate School.

The military tradition is unlikely to end with Pierce. His older brother is in boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill. His younger sister also is considering a military future.

Although the Navy was his first consideration coming out of high school at The Ambrose School in Meridian, Pierce chose the Army because the Navy requires full-color vision, and he is deficient in the red-green spectrum.

Pierce, who is in his third year at West Point, prefers combat engineering but could be assigned to another specialty. Mark said the cadets are not assigned their branch (infantry, armor, aviation, etc.) until December of their senior year.

The assignment is based on class ranking (he’s in the top third), plus evaluation of the cadet by the military’s chain of command. The Army’s needs then are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Pierce visited family in the Treasure Valley over the Thanksgiving holiday but has returned to his home in New York; West Point is about 50 miles north of New York City.