Boxing is not required training for students in R.O.T.C. at other colleges, or for those who enlist as infantry troops and will be the most likely to face hand-to-hand combat.

Some medical experts say the risk of the boxing requirement may outweigh the rewards.

“No brain trauma is good brain trauma — even if there are not diagnosable concussions, there can still be lasting damage,” said Dr. Robert Cantu of Boston University, a leading neurologist specializing in concussions who has advised the Army and major league sports. “Maybe you could justify it if there is some crucial lifesaving skill that can’t be taught in any other way. But short of that, it’s absolutely stupid.”

The sport has a hallowed history at the academies. Together, they have won 18 collegiate championships in the past 20 years. And many of today’s top military leaders look back fondly on the pummeling they received as plebes, the West Point nickname for freshmen.

Boxing was made a requirement at West Point in 1905 at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt, joining horsemanship and swordsmanship as necessary skills for young officers. And though swords and horses were cut long ago, boxing remains.

It has endured even as the military, after 10 years of battling roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, has become increasingly aware of the seriousness of traumatic brain injury, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on research and treatment.

To some extent, the heightened national concern over concussions in recent years has softened plebe boxing. Cadets at West Point now wear thick padded gloves, headgear and mouth guards. In sparring bouts, fighters can throw only one hook, one cross and one uppercut per round. And after each of the 19 classes and three test bouts, coaches give a short talk, telling cadets to report to the health clinic if they feel symptoms of concussion.