“Walk into any recruiting center and that is exactly what they will offer a prospective — a free college degree. Some people call it a scholarship. Semantics. Happens all of the time. It is a recruiting tool. OCS if it an officer.”
Well, where I come from if someone claims that they were “offered a full scholarship to West Point”, IT MEANS ONE THING...and it DOES NOT mean that he walked into a recruiting office and had a 5 minute chat. I do think Carson is intelligent enough to know that. Scott Walker...maybe not so, Rick Perry, DEFINITELY not so. But Carson - sorry, he knew just what his words implied.
...but I won’t argue that he was a damn good brain surgeon.
I have no doubt that Ben Carson would have made a excellent officer and if he operated a weapon like an F-16, A10, or an Apache etc. like he operates a scalpel, he might have been one of the best.
The skills of a surgeon, who is in the operating room for 10 hours straight, is not unlike fighting on a battle field avoiding SAMs, flak, ground fire, and other aircraft. Heck, some of the flights can last days (with refueling) with the actual bomb drop, AAA/SAMs in the middle and the return flight hours and hours. The whole time, the pilots and navigator have to be on their toes. The two professions have very similar attributes and both require a great deal of focus under a great deal of stress.