Editing Hal Moore (section)

===West Point===
Moore received his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy shortly after the United States entered into World War II. He reported to West Point for "Reception Day" on July 15, 1942, and the summer training referred to as "Beast Barracks" held before the formal academic school term took up in the fall.<ref name="Guardia pg20">{{harvnb|Guardia|2013|pp=20–29}}</ref><ref name="Moore2008p73">{{Harvp|Moore|Galloway|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/wearesoldierssti0000moor/page/73/mode/2up 73]}}</ref> During his [[Plebs#Cadets in America|plebe]] summer at Pine Camp, he qualified as an expert on the [[M1 Garand|M-1 Garand rifle]] and was the top scorer in his company.<ref name="Guardia pg20"/> Although Moore did well in most of his classes, he was academically deficient in the required math subjects and he had to redouble his efforts to absorb the engineering, physics and chemistry, often studying two or three hours past lights out to memorize the material.<ref name="Guardia pg20"/><ref name="Moore2008p162">{{Harvp|Moore|Galloway|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/wearesoldierssti0000moor/page/162/mode/2up 162]}}</ref> 

In the fall of 1942, his class received the news that because of the war, his class would graduate in three years rather than the usual four years. Moore made it through the plebe year, but just barely, as he put it, it was "an academic trip from hell." This observation caused Moore to lead a student's life at West Point devoted to studying, with few extracurricular activities.<ref name="Guardia pg20"/> After a ten-day [[Leave (military)|furlough]], he reported to [[Camp Popolopen#Lake Popolopen|Camp Popolopen]] for summer military training, where his company trained with vehicles and fired many types of weapons.{{#tag:ref|The name of Camp Popolopen was changed to Camp Buckner after World War II to honor General [[Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.]], who was killed in action during the closing days of the [[Battle of Okinawa]].|group=Note}} The summer ended with maneuvers held again at Pine Camp.<ref name="Guardia pg20"/> 

In his second year at the academy, he studied more complicated subjects like calculus, electrical engineering, thermodynamics and historic military campaigns. Wednesdays were spent watching the latest ''Staff Combat Film Report'', which reported the most recent fighting from the Pacific and European war fronts. Summer military training after his second year consisted of touring U.S. Army basic training centers to study tactics and techniques.<ref name="WPAoG" /><ref name="Guardia pg20"/>

His final academic year was spent studying military history and tactics as the war was winding down in Europe. Just before graduation, each cadet selected his branch of assignment, dependent upon their academic standing in the class and the quota of openings in each branch. Moore was in the bottom fifteen percent and he wanted an infantry assignment. When his name was finally called to declare, there were still infantry openings available. Moore graduated from West Point on June 5, 1945, and he was commissioned as a [[Second lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] in the infantry branch.<ref name="WPAoG" /><ref name="Guardia pg20"/>