for members of the freshman class known as plebs it's their first chance to have a reception .n each of the four years here at west point we are on a constant campaign to develop them as leaders of character, because almost immediately upon graduation they take on this extraordinary responsibility to command, to inspire, to lead, to serve the soldiers of the united states army. that's the primary mission here at west point. jon: let's get become now to the music of the west point band as we rejoin the hudson valley holiday concert for "winter games." ♪ [music playing] ♪ [music playing] ♪ [music playing] ♪ [music playing] [applause] jon: much more to come here at west point. but before we take a quick break we'd like you to sample a wood winds performance, an 18th century j genre of music taken from the word, to amuse. ♪ ♪ [music playing] ♪ [music playing] ♪ [music playing] jon: to continue our west point holiday special let's go back inside eisenhower hall and rejoin the west point band for sleighride. ♪ [music playing] [singing] ♪ come its lovely weather for a sleigh ride toge

i mean, being in the cadet chapel that, you know, i remember being a pleb in the cadet chapel in 1976the words of the cadet prayer, always to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, never to settle for a half truth when the whole can be won. those were our guiding principles when we worked against don't ask, don't tell. as both penny and i worked to support lgbt military people, those principles were always in front of us, and to be able to have this time to be able to celebrate this with so the many of our straight and gay military folks, bi and trans, was really overwhelming. >> how did this come about? was west point receptive to your wedding plans? >> west point was great. west point was very supportive. you asked how this came about. we had long agreed that we were going to wait for new jersey to pass marriage. we've been together for 17 years, but at the beginning of this year when governor christie vetoed marriage equality we started thinking about other options. the more we thought about the possibility of marrying at west point with all of the connections and the