30 cadets injured in bloody pillow fight at West Point

Mary Bowerman | USA TODAY Network

Show Caption Hide Caption 30 cadets injured during bloody pillow fight 30 cadets were injured during an annual pillow fight between freshman cadets at the United States Military Academy. The pillowcases were reportedly stuffed with hard objects.

A pillow fight between freshman cadets at the United States Military Academy took a violent turn when cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects at each other.

Thirty cadets were injured, including 24 that suffered concussions, the New York Times reported.

The brawl took place Aug. 20, and was part of an annual pillow fight between freshman cadets. The Times reported that West Point did not confirm the fight until Thursday.

Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker, a spokesman for the academy, said all of the cadets have returned to duty, the Times reported.

The yearly pillow fight is organized as a sort of right of passage to celebrate the freshman cadets' completion of summer training, Kasker told the Times.

He said older cadets required the incoming freshman to wear helmets, though video and photos of the incident on social media show that many did not.

US Military pillow fight with helmets and body armour leaves 30 injured #WestPoint #WTF http://t.co/QgH3JgiUTa pic.twitter.com/co1tp0Bsfx — Tom Antonov (@Tom_Antonov) September 5, 2015

"West Point applauds the cadets' desire to build esprit and regrets the injuries to our cadets," Kasker told the Times. "We are conducting appropriate investigations into the causes of the injuries."

Kasker told the newspaper that no cadets have been punished, and there are no plans to end the tradition.

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