In an extended flashback, Will then describes his own plebe year three years earlier. Will learns that the only way to survive is to bond closely with the other members of his class against the cadre. Many of Will's classmates quit due to the brutal hazing. However, a recruit named Bobby Bentley, who has a problem with urinating on himself due to the stress of hazing, refuses to quit. Conventional hazing methods fail to break Bentley, causing Will's class to come together, making Will's cadre the subject of ridicule of the entire cadet corps. Near the end of the year, Will's freshman class is recognized as cadets, and the hazing ends. Some time before this, Bobby Bentley is taken off campus and withdraws from the Institute the following day for unknown reasons.