ARMED FORCES: Long Gray Hemline

For four tense months, the U.S. Military Academy had been preparing for the invasion—in some ways the most threatening in its 174-year history. In compliance with a law passed by Congress last October, West Point, the Naval and Air Force academies will each have admitted up to 150 women cadets for the first time by this summer. Last week 20 prospective female cadets journeyed to the hills 50 miles north of New York City to spend a day and a half learning what life would be like as Fourth Classmen, or "plebes,"...