Discovering Wes Moore

It’s 5:30 a.m., and Jason, Moore’s roommate, is awake too. He tells Moore they have to get in the hallway. Moore tells him to tell them to come and get him around eight, and he will be ready to go then. A voice yells for them to come into the hallway, and Jason hurries out. Moore rolls over and pulls the cover over his head. First Sergeant Anderson walks in and yells at him to get up. He calmly tells to get out of his room, and the sergeant leaves angrily. Moore is satisfied by what he thinks is his intimidation, but the door bursts open with the entire chain of command, eight teenagers, who pick his mattress up off the top bunk and dump him on the floor. It is his first day of military school.

Wes didn’t think his mom would actually send him away, but he is at Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, PA. He learns how to shine his shoes and execute military commands. He recalls, “We were the same now. We were nothing. In fact, we were less than nothing. We were plebes” (60). Wes is angry at his mother for the first two days. He runs away four times in four days. He creates a plan to take a train back home. Jason is from New York too; they are the only two New Yorkers in the unit. Wes partly blames Jason for him being there because Jason’s grandmother told Joy about the military school.

Jason and Wes are shining their shoes. Sergeant Austin, Wes’s squad leader, tells Jason to leave the room, and Wes is scared. Austin tells Wes to sit down. He knows Wes doesn’t want to be there and they don’t want him there either, and he tells Wes he drew him a map to the train station. Wes is stunned. He thanks him and stands at attention giving him the first real sign of respect since he’s been there, and Austin rolls his eyes and leaves.

At 10:00 p.m. they listen to taps and stand in parade rest until it’s over. Wes sets his alarm for midnight and plans his escape. His bag is packed, and he is ready to go. He tiptoes down the hall and runs out the big red door. He follows the map, and it takes him through the woods. He is unsure of where he is and which direction to go. Wes cries and feels defeated. He hears rustling, and the members of his chain of command and Sergeant Austin walk out of the darkness. They laugh in a chorus. Wes realizes it was a prank and follows them back to campus. They take Wes to the tactical officer’s office.

Colonel Battaglioli or Colonel Batt, who had served all over the world and Vietnam commands Wes to look at him. He says, “I am going to let you talk on the phone for five minutes, and that is it for the rest of plebe system. Call your parents, call whoever you need to, but you had better be snapped out of this when that phone hangs up” (64-65). There are four members of Wes’s chain of command looking down on him, as well as a man he had not seen before. He is Black, tall, and fit, with a frighteningly serious demeanor. Colonel Batt hands Wes the phone, and he calls home.

His mother is half asleep when she answers, and Wes excitedly says hello to her. She is worried and asks why he’s calling, as she wasn’t supposed to hear from him for another month. Wes pleads with her, telling her he promises to do better, to pay attention in school, and even go more often. She interrupts, saying that he has to give the military school a chance and that too many people have made sacrifices for him to be there. He didn’t realize military school cost money. His grandparents had taken decades of savings to pay for his first year of Valley Forge. He doesn’t know how much his family had sacrificed until much later. Joy tells Wes that it’s time to stop running. The time for the call is up, and he is sent back to his room.

The next day, on their way to second mess (lunch), Wes sees the Black man from the night before speaking with Colonel Batt. They glance in Wes’s direction and then salute before the man walks to F Company, which is made up of college freshman and sophomores. F Company is known as the most impressive company in Valley Forge. Wes has never seen someone young like Cadet Ty Hill before. He’s 19 years old and taking his place in front of F Company, demanding respect from his peers. Wes begins to realize that doing well is honored, and clowns don’t impress anyone in military school. Wes, now in a different head space despite his surroundings, sees he must find a different way to make an impression.

Three years after starting at Valley Forge, Wes gives his platoon orders and reminds them of the upcoming room inspection. At age 15, he is a sergeant and a cadet master sergeant, making him the youngest senior noncommissioned officer in the corps.

Joy’s financial strain has lifted since Wes has received academic and athletic scholarships. Having people around Wes that want him to succeed makes him want to succeed too.

Wes goes to the mail room and finds a letter from Justin. They are in touch often. The first part of this letter is funny stories about school and the neighborhood. Then it became serious; Shea has been arrested on drug charges with intent to distribute, and Justin’s mother, Carol, is dying. She has Hodgkin’s disease, and Justin has been at the hospital every morning with his mom and feels like he can’t keep up with the stress. Wes is heartbroken for Justin and feels guilty for not being home for him or for his mom and his sisters. Wes’s family is moving back to Maryland where Shani will start high school. Wes feels stuck.

Wes is busy thinking about his platoon all day long. He has to keep all the guys on track, and he likes the leadership role, but it is exhausting. H Company is split in two platoons, and the other half is run by a cadet named Dalio. Dalio and Wes have a few free hours before they have to be back on campus, and Dalio asks if he wants to get a stromboli. As they’re walking into town, a tinted Toyota drives up to them and rolls the window half down. It smells like alcohol, and they ask what Wes and Dalio doing. Wes says they’re not doing anything, and the voice corrects him saying, “Don’t you mean nothing, sir?” He says he’s Colonel Bose’s son, calls them rude, and says their uniforms are a mess. He’s going to report them both. Dalio tells the men in the car to do whatever they have to. The car speeds away and comes roaring up behind them. Dalio and Wes jump out of the way and run. The car takes off, and Dalio asks what they should do. Wes says they should still get their food. They cross an intersection, and someone yells the worst derogatory term at Wes. As Wes looks toward the voice, something smashes his mouth. He spits pieces of his teeth and blood into his hand. The car had been sitting and waiting for them.

They flash the headlights and Wes and Dalio hear them laughing as they drive away. Dalio tells Wes they have to go back to campus now, and Wes wiggles his loose tooth. He’s is in pain, angry, and confused. Wes is embarrassed that he’s decided to flee back to campus. He is surprised at himself when he decides the answer to go after them is no. Dalio and Wes wait cautiously for a moment. Dalio says they’ll have to take a different route back to campus. Wes knows where to go and tells Dalio to follow him. Dalio asks where they’re going, but Wes keeps moving and feels there’s no time to explain. Wes finally tells Dalio that it’s the field that leads them back to school. Dalio had never been in these woods, a location from one of Wes’s first Valley Forge memories. Wes writes, “Tonight, I was running through the same woods looking for safety, in the other direction” (80). He smiles with his cracked tooth at the irony of being in the woods again.