Patrick Heller Completes Basic Training and Begins Classes at West Point

A young military cadet has made his Elmhurst grandmother—and his parents—quite proud.

Cadet Patrick Heller is the grandson of Joan Heller of Elmhurst, and the son of Richard Heller, a 1993 York High School graduate who now lives Atlanta, Ga.

Patrick completed six weeks of cadet basic training at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. Heller entered West Point on July 2.

Also referred to as Beast Barracks, cadet basic training is one of the most challenging events a cadet will encounter over the course of their four years at the academy. The initial military training program provides cadets with basic skills to instill discipline, pride, cohesion, confidence and a high sense of duty to prepare them for entry into the Corps of Cadets. Areas of summer instruction included first aid, mountaineering, rappelling, 10- to 12-mile marches with 50 pound-backpacks, hand grenades, M16 rifle marksmanship, grenade launchers and nuclear, biological and chemical training.

Cadet Heller earned the rank of Expert with the grenade launcher and Sharpshooter with the M16 rifle.

Cadet Heller began classes Aug. 20. The West Point curriculum offers 45 majors balancing physical sciences and engineering with humanities and social sciences leading to a bachelor of science degree. He plans to graduate from West Point on May 28, 2016, and be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

He earned an appointment to West Point with a nomination by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) on Nov. 8, 2011. He graduated from Marist High School, Atlanta, on May 26.

Cadet Heller was also an Eagle Scout in Boy Scout Troop 74 at St. Phillips Cathedral and attended elementary school at Christ The King School in Atlanta.