‘Revolutionary socialist’ military grad quits Army

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — The images Spenser Rapone posted on Twitter from his West Point graduation were intentionally shocking: In one, the cadet opens his dress uniform to expose a T-shirt with a bloodred image of socialist icon Che Guevara. In another, he raises his fist and flips his cap to reveal the message: “Communism will win.”

Less than a year after Rapone’s images drew a firestorm of vitriol and even death threats, the second lieutenant who became known as the “commie cadet” is officially out of the U.S. Army with an other-than-honorable discharge.

Top brass at Fort Drum accepted Rapone’s resignation Monday after an earlier reprimand for “conduct unbecoming of an officer.” Rapone said an investigation found he went online to advocate for a socialist revolution and disparage high-ranking officers. An unrepentant Rapone summed up the fallout in yet another tweet Monday that showed him extending a middle finger at a sign at the entrance to Fort Drum, accompanied by the words, “One final salute.”

“I consider myself a revolutionary socialist,” the 26-yearold Rapone said. “I would encourage all soldiers who have a conscience to lay down their arms and join me and so many others who are willing to stop serving the agents of imperialism and join us in a revolutionary movement.”

Rapone said his journey to communism grew out of his experiences as an Army Ranger in Afghanistan before he was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy.

Spenser Rapone / Associated Press Spenser Rapone, by then already a combat veteran who had served with the First Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan, displays a sign inside his hat after his 2016 West Point graduation.