-[theme music playing] -[Reese Witherspoon reading]
So fun. Whoo!
-Cheers! -Cheers!
Hi!
[Reese] I'm doing a show highlighting powerful,
ambitious women in different fields.
Let's go back to the top of the frame.
Okay, how did I do?
[Reese] And I would love to share with you
what makes these women so inspirational to me.
[gasps]
Love, Reese.
♪ Rise up, never stay down ♪
♪ They know it's on when we come around ♪
[Reese] I'm here in New York's Hudson Valley to meet Simone Askew,
First Captain of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
She made history as the first American-American woman
selected for this role,
the highest position in the cadet chain of command.
Simone was also awarded a Rhodes Scholarship
to study at the University of Oxford,
one of only 32 American seniors to receive this prestigious honor.
I can't wait to learn more about Simone's life here
as leader in charge of 4,400 cadets.
-Hi! -How are you?
Good! Oh, my gosh. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day.
-Yeah. I love your jacket. It looks good. -[gasps] Oh, thank you.
[Reese] It's the most beautiful campus.
[Simone] Yeah, so, it looks like Hogwarts.
-A lot of people refer to it as such. -[Reese laughs]
[Reese] I was gonna say, it looks like Harry Potter.
[Simone] Yeah, exactly.
[Reese] I'm very interested in young leadership
and I'm very interested in diverse leadership...
-Okay. -...and female leadership,
so I've been interviewing women who are across so many different disciplines...
-Mmm-hmm. -Um, being their extraordinary selves
-in every different area... -Yeah.
...and I find that, you know, so many of those stories don't get told.
So I'm so happy to be here with you today.
-'Cause I'd heard so much about you... -You too.
...um, you know, just breaking new ground as a female leader.
It must be extraordinary. I mean, it's a lot of responsibility.
-I'm sure a lot of pressure. -Yeah.
I would say I didn't really feel the pressure until later on in the year.
-Okay. -Um, 'cause in the beginning,
just staying very focused on just doing the job,
and I'm sure you've been in similar situations
where you just wanna do the job. Like, it's not about you being a woman...
-Yeah. -...you just wanna be a good actor,
-or a good boss or whatever, a good mom. -Yeah.
Without that categorization one way or the other.
It's very humbling to be able to be in this role
and it's also a great amount of responsibility.
As the First Captain at West Point, I serve as the liaison or the bridge
between the officer leadership and the cadets.
Everything that we do, all the operations, all of the missions
are done at the cadet level,
but there are officers here who really oversee that process
and make sure we're headed in the right direction.
[Reese] I noticed you were saying that something challenging
happened this year with leadership.
Last year, I was in charge of about 30 people.
And then this year, I entered into a position
where I'm now in charge of 4,400.
My role now is a lot more visible,
so I would just say some of the challenges that I faced,
I have never even to a small degree engaged with before,
so that peer leadership aspect is very hard.
-It is very hard. -Yeah.
I can imagine.
Working with people who are just as, if not more,
qualified than I am at their jobs, and are the same age as me,
and are really, really, really, really good at what they do,
like, how do you provide feedback to someone who you look up to?
Within West Point, I would think there's a lot of, um,
just wanting to be number one.
-Yeah, always. -Right?
-[chuckles] Yeah, always. -Well, 'cause you were number one
in high school and everybody here was number one in high school.
-Yeah. -In every aspect,
athletically, academically, socially...
Yeah, no, you did your research.
Oh, you were the homecoming queen, weren't you?
Yeah. [chuckles]
Wait, tell me your homecoming queen story.
So, I actually missed the crowning at the homecoming game 'cause I was here.
-Yeah. -What were you doing?
So I was doing, um, a visit to West Point
to see if this was the college I wanted to go to.
And this was the last time that I could do it before I had to decide.
-Right. -And so I couldn't come
to the homecoming game where they were doing the crowning,
but I did go to the homecoming dance, so that was nice.
My sister accepted the crown on my behalf.
-She did? -Yeah.
And the fun thing was that the next year when I was a freshman here,
I went back to Fairfax, my high school, to crown the next queen, so...
-Oh, that's amazing. -It was really fun, yeah.
-A really cool experience. -I love what you said
that, you know, that you felt like leadership made you a queen.
[Simone] I think I was more proud of that and being accepted into West Point
than I was about homecoming queen
'cause to a degree, it is a popularity contest
and, um, you know, it's fun and it's flirty and it's a great experience,
but I was more proud for this.
I'm proud of this, too.
-[Simone laughs] -I would be really, really proud...
[laughs] ...if I got into West...
Now I think I'm in West Point 'cause I'm here.
-[Reese laughs] -Yeah, you're basically a cadet.
-I'm so-- -The corps has accepted you
-for sure. The newest member. -Yay! I'm so excited.
But I'm curious, because I have teenagers
and they have their own dreams and desires.
And do you remember how old you were when you started to think,
"I wanna be a leader, possibly in the military, in a life of service"?
Yes. So, I mean, definitely my initial attractions were very superficial
in that I was at a football game
and I thought the cadets and midshipmen marching on the field
was the coolest thing ever.
-Well, it's the coolest thing ever. -It is,
but to say, "I wanna be a leader in the military" because of a parade...
-[Reese laughs] -I mean, it's very ignorant, right?
Once you finish at West Point, then you go into military service for how long?
Yes, ma'am, so five years active duty
and three years Reserve.
My mom was in the Reserves, and my dad.
-Wow, that's awesome. -The Tennessee National Guard.
-So my mom went to boot camp. -Really? I love that!
[Reese] Yes! I remember being a little girl when my mom went to boot camp
and I was like, "My mom wears combat boots."
-Yeah. -I thought it was so cool.
Yeah. My mom, actually, was a single mom growing up...
-Oh, yeah. -...and that was the same thing,
like, something I'm really proud of is that she worked...
-Yeah. -...and I think sometimes--
You say your mom was a big inspiration to you.
Oh, huge. She actually develops low-income housing in southeast D.C.,
which is a very impoverished region of the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area.
I grew up as one of two. I have a younger sister.
My mom worked, so when we would come home, my mom wasn't there.
I was very much like the mother figure for my sister.
And I would say that environment definitely taught me a lot about maturity
and personal responsibility at a very young age.
Another thing that my mom really harped on was not being a victim,
and in situations where I failed,
the response should not be to blame it on others,
but to take responsibility for my role in it.
And that's why I credit my mom with
a lot of the success that I've had at West Point.
My mom's awesome. [chuckles]
-We'll head this way. -Okay.
I wanna show you a formation and we come--
Wait, what's a formation?
[playing bugle]
[Reese] How many times a day do y'all do that?
[Simone] Twice a day. Morning formation at 6:55
-and then lunch formation at 12:00. -Wow.
[Simone] Primarily, it functions as, like, an accountability method
-just to make sure that everyone's here... -Right.
...and if people aren't here, we know.
[military music continues]
Hi, sir.
Sir, our special guest, Mrs. Witherspoon.
-Hi, Reese Witherspoon. -Hi, how are you? Nice to meet you.
-Welcome, welcome. -Such a pleasure to meet you.
-How you doing? -Thank you, sir. Good, sir.
-[cadet 1 shouts indistinctly] -[cadet 2] Company.
[cadet 1] Attention.
I've never seen this before.
[cadet 1] First sergeant, take charge.
The hardest part of my day is definitely waking up at 5:20.
110%.
6:55 we have formation,
then we start class from 7:30 to 12:00.
then we have lunch, and from 1400 to 1600, we have class.
Regular academic courses.
Usually at 1600, I'll go work out,
and then after that, dinner, and then meetings,
and then 10:00 to 1:00 or 2:00 a.m., I'll be doing homework.
Um, then take a little nap and wake up the next day. [chuckles]
Because you're a history major,
do you have somebody in history that so inspires you?
-Like, anybody you've learned about or... -Yes, ma'am.
I would say Abraham Lincoln is my favorite...
-I would say celebrity crush... -[laughs]
...or historical figure. I mean, all in one.
-I'm a history major so celebrity... -Yeah.
...and historical figure, kind of the same thing.
And for me, it was really his calmness,
and in a time that was very contentious, not only socially, but militarily,
he was able to remain calm and level-headed,
and that's something I really admire as well.
I'm a work in progress,
so I have not mastered the art of being calm under stressful environments,
but that is an approach I would like to be good at one day.
Okay, so this is where we eat every single meal.
-Let's head up to the front. -[Reese] Wow!
-It's amazing! -[Simone] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-[Reese] 4,400 cadets? -[Simone] Yes, ma'am, all at once.
-[Reese] Wow! -[Simone] Yes, ma'am.
The freshmen will move the plates around the table
to make sure it's prepared like a regular family-style meal.
So it's very much like how you would eat at home.
So you'll get to go up to the poop deck
where we make all the announcements to the corps cadets.
-Okay. -So they'll announce that you're here
and everyone will go crazy.
[officer speaking on microphone] Okay, attention.
The corps cadets would like to welcome actress Reese Witherspoon.
[all cheering]
Please give her a warm West Point welcome.
[Simone] I think that's the loudest cheers we've ever gotten.
-[Reese laughs] -[Simone] They're so excited to see you.
We are responsible for eating within, like, 15 minutes.
-Fifteen minutes? -Yes, ma'am.
-That's the time that we have. -Is that enough time?
Uh, no, it's not.
-Ma'am, you're gonna sit right here. -Oh, great!
Oh, my God, I'm so excited!
[Simone] The seat of honor, yes, ma'am.
Tell me what the rules are.
-Who sits down first? -Uh, you let us know that we can sit down.
-Okay, we're gonna sit down. -[Simone laughs]
Time to eat. Thank you.
[Reese] This is incredible!
Okay, so do you know where you're going next year?
Germany! What part?
Okay.
Oh, amazing!
Okay, I grew up on a military base in Germany called Wiesbaden
when I was a little girl 'cause my dad was in the Air Force after Vietnam.
So, I loved it. It was amazing.
So good! I'm overwhelmed.
-I've never been here. -[laughter]
This is a lot to take in.
I can't even imagine if I was 17 or 18 years old,
coming here for the first time, how scared I would be.
Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot.
I just think it's a comparison to other kids that are in normal university.
You guys are growing up in a completely different world
than a lot of us grew up in.
-Right? -[laughter]
[cadet] That is right. It's not normal.
I'd heard a little bit about the IOCT.
-[cadet 1] Yeah. -[cadet 2] Yeah. Oh, my God. Who told you?
[Reese] I think that would be incredibly stressful.
[cadet] We have a whole class tailored to learning how to do it.
It's like a gymnastics class.
Oh, my God. It was like parkour!
-[cadet] That sucks. -[laughter]
The IOCT, it gets you going for sure.
It is Indoor Obstacle Course Test,
an annual assessment of physical capability.
What it is supposed to simulate is a combat environment
where you might have to do a variety of those movements.
With all due respect, I think, like, the short people,
what do you do when you're short?
-You have a lot of faith and hope, and... -[laughs]
-And good friends cheering for you. -Yes, exactly.
-Oh, my gosh. -Yeah. The hardest part
-is going across the bars. -Yeah.
Because someone who's say, you know, six feet tall versus someone who's 5'1"...
Right. I don't have a lot of sympathy for you.
[all laugh]
-You have to be able to jump really high. -Yeah.
But you probably get the low parts really easy.
-Oh, yeah, I can do that so fast. -Right. [laughs]
-Like the military crawl. -She doesn't need to get down.
I was like, "I'm used to being down here, honestly."
[Reese and Simone laugh]
So, is that kinda like, junior year? Is that sophomore year?
[cadets] Every year.
It must be really fun to see
your commanding officers have to do it as well.
Or it's, like, really embarrassing when they do really well.
-[Reese] Oh, no. You're like... -[Simone] And you're like,
-[Reese] "Oh, crap." -[Simone] "I suck at this."
-And you're like, 60. -[cadet] Exactly.
-Right. -[cadet laughs]
I just wanna thank y'all.
It's an incredible amount of commitment
and perseverance and mental fortitude.
And you should feel enormously proud of this.
And the idea to be such a young person and dedicated to service is extraordinary.
The young people are the ones that are gonna be the future for us.
And we need your ideas, we need your energy,
we need your forethought and your leadership.
This was really nice.
Oh, wait. I'm gonna take one picture of all of us.
Okay, you guys. Here I'm at West Point, this is my table.
-Say hi, everybody. -[cadets cheer]
-These are our future leaders. -[all] Yay.
I was really so interested to hear about how international...
-Mmm-hmm. -...all of the cadets
-are going to be stationed... -Yeah.
...and continue their studies, but also go out in the world.
-Yeah. -Which is amazing.
Cultural competence is something
that is a priority
in our academic development.
[Reese] Do you think that's important, how other countries perceive our country?
Oh, of course. I mean, that's our base of power and influence.
I don't believe it's in... fighting and war.
-Mmm-hmm. -It's more so in those bridges
-that we can build. -Mmm.
And you can't build those bridges if you have no idea
-what's going on. -Absolutely.
Or you have no idea why people behave the way they do, or...
-can sit down and have tea with them. -Yeah.
That's what's gonna make people friends. And a big aspect of that
are the international cadets that are here.
Um, it's harder to identify them
because they're in the same uniform, but we have cadets
that come from militaries all over the world.
-Really? -And are cadets at West Point
-for four years. -Oh, wow.
And then, once they graduate, they don't enter into the U.S. military.
-They go back to their national military. -Okay.
-So that is a great way to-- -With a greater understanding
of what we're supposed to represent as a country.
Exactly. Yeah.
So, we're headed to Colonel Morales'. We brought some of the cadets
-that you had lunch with today, ma'am. -[Reese] Oh.
[Simone] So, we wanna to just talk about a couple of the things
that we didn't get to cover while we were, you know,
-stuffing our faces. -This looks like presidents have visited.
Yeah. So, actually, President Obama came to West Point and did an NPR episode
in the living room of the superintendent, the general that you just met.
-Wow. -And so... [inhales]
a lot of high officials have come to West Point to meet the cadets
and learn about what we do...
It's great to see how much female leadership there is.
[Simone] Yes. Yes, so actually this year--
[Reese] I know it hasn't always been that way.
No, it hasn't and it is definitely something that has been
a topic of discussion this past year. The corps of cadets is 20% women.
Wow. Is that just because a lot of women don't apply?
-Mmm-hmm. Yeah. -Or it doesn't seem like, uh,
-maybe a path that would be possible? -Yeah. I believe as we present it
a lot more attractive to men, we have, um...
A lot of Eagle Scouts here, a lot of people who like to be outdoors,
-like to be in the woods. -Mmm-hmm.
-Love to run, love to shoot weapons. -And there are so many women like that,
but we don't see them on television or movies and--
Exactly. Exactly. I don't think West Point has mastered reaching out to them.
-[Reese] Mmm-hmm. -[Simone] But it's a difficult balance
that we have to focus on people who are here
and developing them, but also reaching out to the future population.
For sure. Because this is how we develop different kinds of leadership.
-[Simone] Exactly. -It's really appealing to people
who don't see themselves in these roles 'cause it's not represented to them.
I get this question a lot, "What is the difference
between being a woman or being a man at West Point?"
From the perspective of a woman,
I would say it's a lot more similar
than people may think.
Yes, I'm a woman, um, but we're teammates at the end of the day.
First and foremost, we're future officers. And really adhering to that identity
above all makes the gender difference diminish significantly.
-[Reese] Oh, hey, everybody! -[all] Hello. Hi.
-[Reese] It's a lot less crowded in here. -[all laugh]
-And less noisy, now I can hear you guys. -Yes.
Yeah, this is great. Well, I appreciate your time to talk a little bit about,
you know, what your experiences have been here.
And I would love to hear, sort of,
what you thought it would be
versus what it really is.
What I expected coming here was... cadets who were kind of robotic.
And then, I met people in the military, and it was, like, the complete opposite.
Which is why I think it's so important that we do things like this,
and people are educated on women in the military--
-[female cadet 1] We're normal. -Right, we're so normal.
-[indistinct chatter] -We're just normal people, right?
But I remember telling my dad, the day I wanted to go to West Point,
he, like, looked at me and he was like, "[scoffs] You?
Go to West Point? In the military?" And I was like, "Yes."
-Yeah, exactly. -[female cadet 2] Not just you.
Like, you guys have had experiences that no one will ever understand, and you
share that with each other. Can you speak a little bit about what that's like?
[Nette] So Lex and I actually did summer training together
our sophomore year. And just imagine being stuck in the rain, basically,
-for 24 hours endless of days. -[cadet chuckles]
And then, you're just like, of course you can't just look at each other
and laugh through it all. And that's what, I think, West Point really
brings out, it's just that we go through different trainings,
and we go through hardships, but you look to your left and your right,
and you have your battle buddies next to you. And that's how you bond.
Absolutely. The whole idea is that this West Point breaks you down
to build you back up together. Um, and that really just
forms that bond that Bailey and Nette are talking about.
In this culture and day and age, we're expected to be awarded
for the things we're good at and not told anything we're bad at, and...
So, I'm kinda curious... Has there been anything
that's been a big obstacle for you, a failure
that's really defined you through this experience?
Uh, so, during like, the initial summer training,
we had this thing called... It's like land navigation.
Uh, they give you, like, a coordinate point,
like, somewhere in the woods, you go find it, and, uh,
I got lost all the time.
I could never find myself at all.
[all laugh]
I'd take like, ten steps and immediately just lose my bearings completely.
But, uh... I mean, that's part of the thing, is, like,
I showed up to West Point expecting, like, everyone to be super perfect,
like, 6'6", super strong, buff, super smart...
I show up to West Point, I find out that, like...
Not only do I notice that not everyone is perfect,
but I also realized that I'm also not perfect.
But I think that, like, in finding those imperfections about each other,
you appreciate what people are good at, and you appreciate
how they can complement you. And, like, the army is like a team.
-[Reese] Mmm. -So, it's like, people don't come here
able to do every job in the army or else, you know,
or else we'd be set. But we find out what we're good at and we come together
and, like, solve things together, so I found teammates
that were good at land nav and they helped me
get through summer training, so that's why I'm still here.
-[all laugh] -They found you.
-Yeah, they did find me. -[all laugh]
We all suck to a degree in something together,
and it's just about helping each other out.
[Nette] My favorite saying is cooperate to graduate.
So, that's... We're all in this together, that's for sure.
[Reese] That's good. That's great.
Well, to think about non-traditional experiences
and what's different than the civilian colleges,
I'm just so curious, what's it like to date at West Point?
-Ca-dating. -[all laugh]
-It's not 50-50 men and women, so... -[Simone] No.
Is that difficult or challenging or...
-Not hard for us. -Yeah, we get the cream of the crop.
-The guys are curiously quiet. -[all laugh]
They're like, "We really didn't think we're gonna have to answer this."
Not the direction I thought this was gonna go.
It is difficult to date though when there's the distance
and time commitment involved with everything here.
I think the most difficult aspect is keeping that...
'Cause our personal and professional lives are one over here,
right, we don't have a separate home we go to after class...
-[Reese] Right. -...so it is keeping that idea of, like,
professionalism within your relationship, so you can't walk and hold hands,
-you know, when you're in uniform. -Oh, you're not allowed to walk
-and hold hands? -No. You can, like,
-grab your significant other like so. -[Reese] Okay.
-That's it. Uh-- -So, you can't kiss or make out?
-Okay. No PDA. -[all cadets] No.
-No making out, no googly eyes. -Okay.
Our relationship's not grounded in this idea of, like--
-[Simone] Physical-- -Physical touch.
You have to make connections in things other than kissing.
I mean, because you can't do it. And not to say that
most relationships are based off of that, but... you talk about different things
and you have discussions, um, about the struggles
that you're dealing with. Which are a lot bigger than,
"I'm annoyed that you didn't do this when I did that."
Those are just not the conversations that I'm having.
Well, it would lead to a deeper experience, I think. But you're engaged.
-This is so exciting. -[female cadet chuckles]
Yeah.
My fiancé is younger than me,
so technically I'm in charge of him.
-[all laugh] -[Lexie] She's his boss.
One thing with ca-dating that's difficult...
-[Reese] Yeah, tell me. -Maybe you guys can speak to this, too,
is maintaining being a woman and that womanhood.
In high school, it was all about what I was wearing
and how I looked and how poppin' I was for school,
but, you know, it has to be... I mean, now you don't have that option.
We're wearing this every day, and this is not the most
-attractive for a woman to be in. -The biggest transition, I think,
in my social setting with, like, my girlfriends in high school versus now
is, like, how we talk about other men and women.
-Mmm. -[Bailey] So, it used to be, like,
kind of surface level, what they looked like,
and it was petty, like, I admit to that.
And now, when you talk about other cadets,
it's typically, like, it's about their physical fitness.
-[Reese] Mmm-hmm. -[Bailey] Like, how or what
they bring to the table, not what they look like.
Which is, you know, their personality, how they lead.
Yeah. Beauty definitely comes from the mind.
I think that's definitely
how women here define beauty.
Mmm. Thank you so much for sharing today.
I'm just really thankful for your leadership.
I'm excited to see what each and every one of you is gonna do.
-Awesome. Thanks, ma'am. -[all giggle]
When I think of ambition, I think about passion.
And... passion doesn't necessarily have to be self-serving.
Um, if you're ambitious to... build a team
and work well amongst your peers,
if that is your passion and that's what
you really focus on developing,
you could be a boss at it.
-Wait, ma'am, before you go-- -Yes?
If you could, would you give us a, "Go, Army"?
-Sure. -[cadet] Oh, yay.
-Okay, you all ready? -[cadet chuckles]
-Yeah. -Go, Army.
[all] Beat Navy!
[theme music playing]