I've been sentenced to 20 walking hours as punishment for a clerical error in signing out on a weekend pass about a month ago. It basically looked like I tried to blow post, so when I got a call from my CO telling me to make the 2 hour trip back to school after I had discovered the wonders of Hennessy, it turned into a messy situation--but I was able to return safely. Luckily I avoided all mention of drinking and any of the various other regulations I was violating, and just got written up for signing out before receiving an approved pass. It was completely and honestly unintentional, but that doesn't matter.

West Point has had walking hours as a traditional way to punish cadets for literal centuries. It involves walking back and forth across Central Area for however many hours you are given, and has had a history of documented events that are hilarious by our standards. Physically, it's whatever. Psychologically, it's torture.

Some of the ways the Corps helps out people walking hours is by abusing the regulation that walkers stop and take their parade rifle off their shoulder when a vehicle passes through. Cadets whose friends are walking will hop in a laundry cart and get pushed around in circles yelling "VROOOOOM" until they begin getting chased by leadership, at which point they will get pulled out with a slow "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP" backing up sound, giving the boys a break for a few seconds. For a time you could also march with your buddies for support, which is my guess as to how a Storm Trooper got in the mix. Edit: Walkers aren't allowed to walk beside each other or talk during their hours, so the way they're walking in this video makes me think the whole thing is staged for laughs, also the cadets walking with sabers are seniors, who get the privilege of walking with a shiny butter-knife instead of a wooden log on their shoulder.

There are also social clubs within the frequent-walker community, such as the title of Century Man when you walk your 100th hour, at which point you can purchase a Century Man patch and wear it on the inside of your uniform jacket, as a ironic mark of pride. These 20 will put me at a total of 55 with two years to go.. I'm not chasing it, but if it comes, I'll take it.