After 43 years in the Army, West Point’s beloved Supe Daddy retires

After 43 years in uniform, the last five as the U.S. Military Academy’s passionate and enthusiastic superintendent, Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen is retiring from the Army.

Caslen, 64, will relinquish command of the academy Friday during a ceremony at West Point in New York, the academy announced.

His successor has yet to be officially announced. Caslen’s retirement was announced in April by officials at West Point.

Caslen has been West Point’s 59th superintendent since July 17, 2013.

Caslen, a 1975 West Point graduate, was the Commandant of Cadets from 2006 to 2008 and served as the chief of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq before taking the helm at West Point.

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After West Point announced Caslen’s retirement in April, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York released a statement showering the general with praise.

“Superintendent Caslen is an exemplary officer and has been one of the best Superintendents in the history of West Point,” Maloney wrote. “He will be missed by the faculty, cadets, and the rest of the West Point Commmunity. At every board meeting, I heard him state his core belief that ‘when you fail at character, you fail at leadership.’ Bob Caslen succeeded at both.“

Maloney’s sentiments were echoed by many cadets and West Point alumni, who took to Twitter to express their respect for the man many referred to as Supe Daddy.

It is not hard to see why the West Point community is so fond of their superintendent.

One only needs to look as far as this parody of a Snickers commercial that Caslen participated in to see both his friendliness and his sense of humor.

Throughout his career, Caslen has commanded at every level from company through division, serving multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

His commands include the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, and 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

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