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Dreams amid hard reality

West Point grads - to be addressed by Bush - reach their goals under shadow cast by war in Iraq

BY GRAHAM RAYMAN | Newsday Staff Writer

May 26, 2006

Patrick Dowdell will fulfill a father's dream when he graduates tomorrow from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

New York City Fire Lt. Kevin Dowdell, who was assigned to Rescue 4 in Woodside, was one of 343 firefighters who died in the World Trade Center attack. In the aftermath, Patrick, then just 18, volunteered at Ground Zero.

"I wouldn't be here if he hadn't given me the encouragement and support to do it," said Dowdell, 23, of Breezy Point. "It's kind of the end of one chapter in my book."

With Dowdell and about 900 other graduating cadets looking on, President George W. Bush will give tomorrow's commencement speech. Bush last spoke at West Point in June 2002, when he articulated his "strike-first" doctrine, to "confront the worst threats before they emerge." The administration used that argument to justify the Iraq invasion.

Four years later, Bush faces low poll numbers, and the toll of more than 2,400 dead service members. Bush and his aides this week have taken pains to talk up the new elected, representative Iraqi government, which has called for a gradual reduction in coalition troops, to be replaced by Iraqi troops.

Two other graduating cadets, Christopher Aviles, 22, and Rich Macchio, 22, applied to West Point from Sachem High School and remained close friends throughout their four-year stint. After graduation, they will both go to flight school.

"We were best friends," Aviles said. "We ran track and cross country, and if I saw him out of the corner of my eye, I would run a little bit harder."

Dowdell, meanwhile, chose field artillery as his specialty. "I get asked sometimes, 'Did I join for revenge?'" he said. "I really wanted to do what everyone who is here wanted to do: serve in the Army."

All three cadets agreed that West Point was a challenge. "They teach you to prioritize your time," Aviles said. "It's like trying to fit 10 pounds of sand into a 5-pound bag."

Every time a former cadet dies in Iraq, the senior class' top-ranked cadet rises in the mess hall to make an announcement, followed by a moment of silence. Dowdell played rugby with one of those former cadets, Lt. Benjamin Britt, 24, of Wheeler, Texas, killed on Dec. 22 last year by a roadside bomb.

"At first, with those things, you don't realize how close to home it is, until it's guys who you played rugby with, or guys who you saw graduate," Dowdell said.

Said Macchio: "It definitely reminds us why we're here."

In addition to those tragic announcements, cadets spent a lot of time studying the war. "It's going to take a long time, but I do believe that we will achieve our goals," Macchio said. "Slowly and painfully, we will get there."

Macchio now has the whole summer before reporting to Fort Benning, Ga. "It's a nice payback from West Point," he said.

As for ending up in Iraq? "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Macchio said.

Newsday Washington correspondent Craig Gordon contributed to this story.