A Few Good Men

Valley Forge Military Academy bills itself as a school that breaks down young cadets and builds them back better. It succeeds at one of those things.

- By Jasper Craven. Photography by Devin Yalkin

Former cadets Ryan Niessner, Jordan Schumacher, and Young Sheng are among the former cadets speaking out about their experiences at the Forge.

On a chilly evening in September 2020, Jordan Schumacher solemnly patrolled the grounds of Valley Forge Military Academy, near his wit's end. Weeks earlier, the school's top brass had elevated the 20-year-old college sophomore to the highest rank available to cadets-first captain. A former Boy Scout who'd joined a junior ROTC program at age II, he was proud of the promotion and ready to lead. But as he navigated the school's toxic environment in his new role, he'd been feeling increasingly helpless and depressed. Entrusting students in leadership roles was all well and good, but a dearth of healthy adult oversight and accountability had contributed to a culture replete with assaults, verbal abuse, hazing, and sexual violence that had resulted in police visits, lawsuits, and a cold war pitting recalcitrant trustees and administrators against reform-minded parents, alumni, and cadets. Out on patrol that night, Schumacher told me, he felt on the brink of darkness.

The Forge, as insiders call it, resembles a cross between an East Coast prep school and a military installation. Its 100-acre campus is dotted with dormitories and academic buildings, but also with a war memorial, an obstacle course, and a parade field for drill formations. Nestled 20 miles north of Philadelphia, the private institution teaches middle school, high school, and junior college students. Some graduate as commissioned military officers, but all are subject to the customs and courtesies of military life, as well as its trials and traumas.