For Cadet Yu and the rest of the class of about 1,100 cadets, there may be few, if any, coveted combat patches on their uniforms to show that they have gone to war. Many of them may not get the opportunity to one day recall stories of heroism in battle, or even the ordinary daily sacrifices — bad food, loneliness, fear — that bind soldiers together in shared combat experience.

The end of the war in Iraq and the winding down of the war in Afghanistan mean that the graduates of the West Point class of 2014 will have a more difficult time advancing in a military in which combat experience, particularly since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been crucial to promotion. They are also very likely to find themselves in the awkward position of leading men and women who have been to war — more than two million American men and women have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan — when they themselves have not.

That reality is causing anxiety and unease at West Point.

“We’ll be the youngest officers in the Army,” said Louis Tobergte, mulling the prospect of graduating from West Point as a second lieutenant who will have to lead men and women with multiple tours in two wars. “We’ll have to learn how to help soldiers make that transition to civilian life.” Cadet Tobergte, a chemical engineering major who is headed to an assignment with an engineering branch of the Army, said he was also thinking about trying to get into an elite Special Operations commando unit.

Special Operations units, which are expected to remain in Afghanistan after most conventional American forces withdraw by the end of this year, are among the most sought-after, and selective, options for cadets who want to see combat. Special Operations units are also now in Libya, Somalia, Niger and Djibouti.

“I showed up here thinking I would go the infantry route,” said Nils Olsen, a double major in Portuguese and comparative politics. Now, just two months before graduation, Cadet Olsen said his goal was to end up in Special Operations, which include the Army’s Special Forces, Rangers and Special Operations Aviation Regiment. “Special Ops will 100 percent still be involved in combat,” he said.