ABSTRACT
Something similar to the tragedy in the Peruvian military school occurred at a military school in the United States, although the outcome was not quite as dire and there was no real possibility that it could be passed off as an unfortunate accident. What I can accept is that the attempted murder during the night of October 6, 1997, of Cadet Gabriel Cortez at Marine Military Academy (MMA) occurred while he was sleeping in a room shared with another cadet. I cannot say that over the last 150 years there has been no murder of a cadet by another cadet at a military school, but during my decade of visiting, studying, and observing military schools nothing remotely as serious was reported to me, not only from among those schools I studied closely but also at the many now defunct schools about which I heard so many tales. Cadets, especially younger ones, are fascinated by school lore of ghosts, mysterious lights moving at night in deserted buildings, and moans and sounds of long dead legendary school figures, of cadets who hanged themselves in the chapel belfry and have been known to ring the bell in the dead of night, but none can vouch for the truth of these tales. I am satisfied that the Cortez incident, although real, was an aberration.
