The United States Military Academy at West Point can be a beautiful place, just not in the middle of winter. We called the time from January through early March, Gloom Period. It was a combination of the blahs, a lack of color, a lack of light, and coldness. There was a pervasive grayness to life.  

Gloom Period would start just after you returned from the high of being on Christmas Break for two weeks. Seeing your girl, seeing your old friends, and of course partying your butt off. Flying back to school, just after New Years, was enough to put you in a gray mood by itself. This was especially true if you were a Plebe, returning from two weeks of life as a regular person, to five more months as a Beanhead in the Fourth Class System. Another contributing factor to Gloom Period – First semester finals were in early January, just after returning from break.

Photo from the class of 1978 Howitzer (yearbook)

Our uniforms were gray and the buildings were all gray stone. The Hudson River seemed to turn gray, and would sometimes ice up. The surrounding mountains, without leaves on the trees, were granite gray. The sky was often gray, clouds pregnant with snow. If it did snow, the snow turned gray after a couple of days with the road dirt. It was almost like living in a black and white film.

Daylight was noticeably absent durning Gloom Period. During the first formation of the day (Breakfast formation), it was still dark outside. As we walked to the first class in the morning, the dark was lifting, but it still wasn’t light. Walking from your first class to your second, you would finally see full light. Then, during the late afternoon, as you were returning from intramural sports, the evening started filtering in again, and at dinner formation, it was of course, dark.  

The cold of January in New York didn’t help. I come from Illinois originally, but the cold and wind off the Hudson cut right through our overcoats. Daily formations had their own kind of coldness to them. Standing.And.Waiting. And, if you marched punishment tours in the winter, you learned a special appreciation for the cold. 

In late January and early February, spring seems a million miles away at West Point. It of course finally arrives in late March or early April. The sky turns blue, the leaves come out on the trees, the snow disappears, and the weather warms. Gloom Period becomes a memory….. until the next year.

I haven’t thought about Gloom Period for years. Maybe the deep freezes of this January reminded me. Maybe it’s the lack of sunshine lately. I’m not sure. I do know that spring officially starts about 60 days from now. I think I’ll make it.