Mary Kate Murphy,
The Pilot
For three recent high school graduates from Moore County, education is only one facet of what the next four years hold in store.
When Nathan Brianas and Robert Hyder report to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point next week, and Brodie Karres arrives at the U.S. Naval Academy, they’ll all embark on an experience designed to turn them into new men.
Next week, they’ll all say goodbye to a summer they’d otherwise spend with their friends and families — to familiar routines and part-time jobs— in exchange for a uniform and haircut before standing in formation and taking an oath to support the Constitution of the United States.
Each of the nation’s elite officer training colleges annually accept about 1,200 new cadets — or midshipmen in the case of the Naval Academy midshipmen — from more than 12,000 applicants. Acceptance is a path to an academically rigorous education, the basic skills to be a soldier or sailor, specialized training in a military occupation and a commission as a second lieutenant upon graduation.
Even so, Robert Hyder’s parents made him wait four months after his acceptance before committing to joining the “long gray line.” Hyder’s father Lee spent 29 years in the Army and himself graduated from West Point, so he wanted his son to be sure of his own motivations.
“Being an officer in the Army is the greatest leadership school this country has to offer. The main thing my dad always told me growing up is that part of being an officer is being able to care for your enlisted soldiers while also being able to communicate with your superiors,” said Hyder.
“That skill I believe is something that is very, very important and something our country needs more of.”
Hyder and Brodie Karres both graduated from Pinecrest earlier this month. Nathan Brianas is a graduate of The O’Neal School.
They’re all athletes: Hyder and Karres both played football for Pinecrest, with Hyder also wrestling to the semifinals of the state tournament this winter. At O’Neal, Brianas kept a full sports schedule with track, cross country and swimming.
Family military connections drew them all to consider military service early in their high school years. For Brianas, it was his stepfather, also a West Point graduate.
“Throughout high school, I talked with soldiers who attended West Point or who were in the military to fully understand the commitment I was considering,” he said.
Karres’ parents both served in the Army, and his older brothers Garrett and Gus went to college on ROTC scholarships. He always intended to follow in their footsteps, but also wanted to get the best academic education he could.
Pursuing both passions led to acceptances to the Naval Academy, West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy. He chose Navy because it seemed like a new adventure after growing up with his parents’ Army careers, and for the likelihood of being stationed near the ocean.
“Right after I got the news I got into the Naval Academy, that motivated me to work harder, do better PT, everything,” Karres said.
Once commissioned as second lieutenants, at the age of 21 or 22, they’ll take command of a unit of 40 or so that includes experienced servicemembers twice their age. They have four years to prepare, but none of them take lightly the prospect of leadership or the commitment of at least eight years of service after graduation.
“I am most excited about meeting other passionate cadets who are looking to better themselves physically, academically, and morally,” said Brianas.
“I think the greatest challenge will be juggling a strenuous academic load, a challenging physical fitness regimen, and the necessary components of military service.”
He intends to emerge from the next four years ready to excel in any environment, but for now hopes to pursue a medical degree while still in the Army.
With athletic and ROTC scholarships on the line, Hyder visited other colleges until the day before he committed. But his heart was set on West Point as soon as he was accepted.
“Once I had found out that I’d been nominated and accepted to West Point, collegiate athletics kind of took a back burner in my mind. I was more focused on my future service to the country because for me it was the best opportunity I felt like I was going to get,” he said.
Hyder is planning to major in economics and eventually serve as a tank commander. They don’t have much in common at first glance, but both callings require clearheaded judgment in a chaotic environment.
“The part that I’m most looking forward to, which will also be the greatest challenge is the discipline that is involved going through West Point,” he said. “They will make sure that I can micromanage aspects of my life and … to make sure I’m on time, on point, and very very precise with how I go about the rest of my life.”
Karres plans to spend his first semester considering his options, maybe engineering or computer science. But before he even sees the inside of a classroom he’ll contend with six weeks of physical training, basic drill and weapons instruction and learning to sail.
“Right now I’m just trying to get through plebe summer,” he said.
“It’s definitely going to give me a really good work ethic coming out of there and it’s a really good school. I have a few friends there now. I’ve only heard good things. They give it to you straight about how hard it is, but they say it’s the best place to be.”