Abolish West Point — And The Other Service Academies, Too [ISIS Agenda?]

Washington Post ^ | January 24, 2015 | Scott Beauchamp

[Steelfish]

Abolish West Point — And The Other Service Academies, Too

By Scott Beauchamp January 23

Most Americans are familiar with the prestige that surrounds the United States military service academies. Various names and phrases, spoken like solemn incantations, attest to their sacrosanct status: the Point, the Long Gray Line, Annapolis, cadets. Their graduates constitute a who’s who of American greatness, including Ulysses Grant, Jimmy Carter, novelist James Salter and sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein, to name a few. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, in a 1962 address at West Point, typified the veneration when he told the cadets that they were “the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense.”

The service academies — the U.S. Military Academy for the Army (West Point), the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy — promise to educate and mold future officers charged with leading the enlisted members of the military.

But they are not the hallowed arbiters of quality promised by their myths. Their traditions mask bloated government money-sucks that consistently underperform. They are centers of nepotism that turn below-average students into average officers. They are indulgences that taxpayers, who fund them, can no longer afford. They’ve outlived their use, and it’s time to shut them down.

[EveningStar]

[ISIS Agenda?]

Huh?

[Jan_Sobieski]

I do not believe what you proposing. In my work in NYC, I always stay at the Soldiers/Sailors/Airmans/Marines Inn (37th St.). I am shocked at the West Pointers I meet there. It seems to me that USMA has become more of a “Affirmative Action” / “Diversity” school. I would love to compare their SAT scores to the Average ROTC group. I will bet money the scores are much lower!

[Vermont Lt]

Have a buccaneer day. I used to hate when they would say that. My future SIL is a grad. Since I went to Norwich, I tell my daughter she fell in love with me. Just wet.

[Jan_Sobieski]

I posted this to another person, but in my work in NYC, I always stay at the Soldiers/Sailors/Airmans/Marines Inn (37th St.). I am shocked at the West Pointers I meet there. It seems to me that USMA has become more of a “Affirmative Action” / “Diversity” school. I would love to compare their SAT scores to the Average ROTC group. I will bet money the scores are much lower!

[Svartalfiar]

What would I have learned at basic/AIT that would have been of more value than 10+ hours a week of ROTC commitments during my four years of college?

For one thing, all your basic soldier skills. IMTs, weapons qual, what all the buttons on the M4 do. How to move as a fireteam/squad, conduct maneuvers, operate radios, CLS, etc. etc. How do you expect to lead soldiers when you have hardly any idea of what they're doing and how life looks through their eyes? Our latest LT (MI dude who finally got promoted to 1st a couple months ago) had no clue how to use any of our weapons systems. While we reviewed all the privates on dissasembly/re- on the MK19, M2, 240s prior to gunnery, we had to completely teach the LT from the beginning. He'd never seen half of the stuff in person before. And ALC doesn't do much for basic soldiering skills, it grades the cadets on their leadership and officer abilities.

And yes, I spent a couple years in ROTC right before funding dried up. My first year was spent having no clue what was going on. STX's involved us and the IIs laying in our 360 security for 20-30min, trying not to sleep. We had a very basic understanding on soldiering from the few labs on movement/camo/this/that. It wasn't until III-IV that you actually start participating in the officer-level discussion and planning. It would be much better for everyone to already know how a squad/platoon moves, and have your younger guys come in and learn by watching and listening instead of laying on the ground doing nothing half the labs. For classes, we didn't learn how anything worked, we studied either military history or leadership or the soldier's Creed or TLPs. 8-Step training model. But if 2-3 years of enlisted time was a requirement to become an officer, you would have cadets who already know how to be a soldier, and can therefore actually concentrate on learning how to be an officer. They'll know a lot of the tricks for how to live in the field and what to bring or not when you're going camping at Ft. Hood. Your limited lab time could be more effectively used for officer training instead of doing basic stuff most of the first semester.

My NCOs speeded my development, and I got along with them better than most officers.

That's good, I commend you for that. I know several officers who try to apply stuff they learnt that may work in theory, but is useless in practical application. Especially when you have an infantry officer placed in a Cav unit. And good officers can listen and learn from their NCO/E4s. But many don't, because they outrank them and the cadre already taught them how it should be done. Also, how units work varies. I'm in a BFSB and our LT doesn't talk to the CO. His job is to maneuver and control his platoon. The PSG is the one passing up info and reports to the ToC, and sending stuff through.

Yes, there are plenty of officers that do fine, especially after a couple years. But all of the best officers that I've met are guys who (I learnt later) were green-to-gold and made it to E5, E6 before they took that commission. Having been enlisted is a valuable experience for an officer that West Point or A&M or the Citadel just can't match.

[jz638]

This the same Scotty Beauchamp who made up fairy stories about soldiers running over dogs and desecrating mass graves during his deployment to Iraq to spark his writing career? Fairy stories he recanted under oath? The Washington Post publishing anything he writes, knowing that all this is easily found and thoroughly documented, says more about the Post than any opinion lil Scotty holds.

[TBP]

Bad idea.

[LadyDoc]

your argument for a year of work in the “real world” is true for any high school graduate.

as for officers: there is an argument to work oneself up in the ranks, but since some officers are specialized and their ranks require officer status, that is not true for everyone. The talents are different: Being a private does not necessarily make one a better officer, indeed, too much sympathy for the ranks can lead to them getting killed. McClellan (?SP) in the Civil war comes to mind...

I gave a biography of McArthur to a WWII Navy vet, and he was astounded that the book pointed out that his brilliance saved many many lives....

But McArthur was an aristocrat. Ironically, he is beloved here in the Philippines, because he treated local elites as equals and took care of the peons, but US soldiers hated him because he saw them as peons too....

[Svartalfiar]

your argument for a year of work in the “real world” is true for any high school graduate.

Haha yea, it;s true for anyone.

but since some officers are specialized and their ranks require officer status, that is not true for everyone.

Huh? Every officer is specialized in whatever field they're in. And yes, their 'rank' requires officer status, because it's an officer position. That's what the rank is. An officer rank. I'm not saying officers should be placed into an enlisted position, or vice versa, I'm saying someone should have experience as enlisted before they try to commission, in which case they will change from their enlisted MOS to a different officer position.