Anger over Admissions

Navy Times | 3/05 | Flemming

[pabianice]

Cannot link to Navy Times because the woosies can't stand criticism.

Go to Click here to read story.

[pabianice]

PC hurts us everywhere. Boat School prof dares criticize set-asides for minorities, women, he gets threatened.

[Meldrim]

I'd be interested to know what James Webb thinks of this.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

Having been in the navy for 14 years and seeing it go to hell in a hand basket because the leadership was poor ineffective and non responsive to the needs of the enlisted (E6 and below)
This comes as no surprise. I mean our glorious Naval academy has had drug rings, stolen cars rings and cheating rings for years.
The quality of most Ensigns who grad the acad is that of supercilious, arrogant, snobbish and prickly if they were not prior enlisted. Most of the prior enlisted walk softly and are timid. That is almost worse that the prior. Because you know they had it beaten out of them.

Sad really, I personally know 2 enlisted who got accepted to the academy. When next I saw them they did not recognize me nor where they the same guys who went in.

[tarawa]

"our glorious Naval academy has had drug rings, stolen cars rings and cheating rings "

Why do you think we call them 'ring-knockers'? ;-)

[54-46 Was My Number]

The quality of most Ensigns who grad the acad is that of supercilious, arrogant, snobbish and prickly if they were not prior enlisted. Most of the prior enlisted walk softly and are timid. That is almost worse that the prior. Because you know they had it beaten out of them.

Hmm. This describes exactly zero of the priors I knew at the Academy. Timid? Walk softly? Just the opposite, actually.

[Little_shoe]

I wasnt supprised to hear about this article. As a Naval Academy Grad I an familiar with the school and the brigade.

In fact I was a victim of the PC that this article was talking about. I applied to the boat school right out of high school and I got rejected (though I got a NROTC Scholarship). Halfway through the year I met a guy from the class of 2002 who was seperated from the academy and joined my NROTC unit. He couldnt run fast enough to pass the PRT. It really pissed me off at the time b.c this guy had and opportunity I would have killed for and he threw it away. He had gotten a USNA prep school slot (I wasnt "qualified" for that) simply because of the color of his skin. Interestingly enough he ended up leaving NROTC program b.c he couldnt finish the requirements.
I think that athletes/minorties should be able to goto these schools however they should be just as qualified as everyone else. This is coming from the guy who struggled through all four years and finished at the bottom of his class.

Other Examples of PC from USNA

Gen John Allen... Banning the word "Kill" from Plebe summer.

Adm Rodney P. Rempt... Changing the words to Blue and Gold with out consulting anybody. ( I have female classmates that were pissed off about this)

Banning Pushups/Situps from plebe summer... compared to USMC Boot Camp at Parris Island its a joke.


P.S.
As for the Scandles I think that every insititution has its bad apples. To blame USNA for stuff that individual people did is wrong. You dont blame the squadron/ship/US Navy when you find a sailor doing the same thing its just hipocritical.

[One Proud Dad]

I have a son at the academy and take offense to your generalizations as I am sure he will when I send him the link. Why don't you take the time to get to know a few of them before putting them all in one basket. Every institution has itrs dregs.

That said my son wants a Marine billet.

Your comment about prior enlisted is askewed. My son says a lot of the leadership comes from the "outspoken" prior mids.

In your way of tihnking I can say that of all the enlisted personnel I know below E6 are morons. I think not.

[One Proud Dad]

I was wondering, did you get turned down by a service academy?

[One Proud Dad]

After readng the article a third time I might add, my son scored a 1420 on his SAT, maintained 3 advane classes, attended college math classes while in high school, and graduated in the top 10 of his class all the while playing football, track, and several other activities.

Sounds like this "tenured" ( another word for "someone cannot get a job anywhere else" ) professor might be the one who got in under standards.

I am becoming angry now, so I will stop posting before I use colorful English.

[Myrddin]

My dad spent 27 years in the Navy. As a young kid I ran around the destroyer Marshall and destroyer tender Prairie while they were in port. My dad was XO on both ships. Later, he served as XO and CO of the Arlington. I was enamored of the Navy during the days of the Marshall and Prairie. By the time he took his last billet as XO of 32nd Street Naval Station (San Diego) from 1970-1977, I was no longer interested in the Navy. I could see changes that made it unpalatable even without serving inside.

[Little_shoe]

I think its interesting how you say this guy might be under standards. I was talking with a friend who had this guy and said that he was a horrible professor who gaves C's in his plebe english class. While getting A's in another english class. I know a History prof that I was like this at the Academy. However, I still think that he had a very valid point. My friend had an ideal that the admissions board should personally interview every serious candidate before they are offered an appointment. However, he cant relay this to the Academy b.c he dosent want to kill his career before it has even begun.

[One Proud Son]

I am currently a Midshipman at USNA and I can attest that the "set-asides" (varsity athletes and prior enlisted) run the school with regard to peer leadership. There is a popular generalization at the academy that there are two kinds of midshipmen. There are "joes," who are guys who were nerds in high school and probably got picked on, so when they get here and receive their first dose of leadership, they go crazy and fry people left and right (fry means to report a conduct offense). These people typically are not well-liked and respected even less. Then there are the guys who have led people either in the enlisted service or as athletes in high school. These guys respect and care about their subordinates and treat them like normal human beings. As a midshipman, I have had officers and upper-class midshipmen of both types and I can say that the "joes," who cared more about the damn midregs (midshipmen regulations) than their people, I wouldn't give a hoot for, and the other guys I have had who talk before yelling and know what really matters in life (such as physical fitness or grades versus shiny shoes or a short haircut), I would go into battle and die for.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Are you saying that Kerry set the standard for what new Ensigns graduating form the USNA are supposed to be, in the new Navy?

Lord help us!

[F.J. Mitchell]

That sounds reassuring.

Are you any relation to One Proud Dad?

[Little Bill]

We had those in the Army, time servers, beat me to it.

[Little_shoe]

Its interesting that since Kerry was from frecking Yale not the Naval Academy. Kerry's Nemesis John O'Neil IS a Naval Academy Grad and he stands for all the values that grads are supposed to be. He was willing to stand up for the truth against a corrupt and powerful politician. We need more John O'Neil's in this country.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

The quality of most Ensigns who grad the acad is that of supercilious, arrogant, snobbish and prickly if they were not prior enlisted. Most of the prior enlisted walk softly and are timid.


As you can see I said most..... not all.

As far as your son is concerned you are justly proud of him and rightly so. I myself scored a 1390 on the SAT. While in the navy crammed a 4 year degree into 3 years and carried a 4.0 average in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. That said, the Navy and I had started having fundamental differences on Ideology and Qualification standards, I choose not to reenlist as I felt I could do nothing to change the downward spiral I perceived existed. There are many fine officers and enlisted in the Navy. Some I would gladly sail to the gates of hell with. It is unfortunate however that I have seen the majority of them leave after their commitment was up leaving behind only those who were mediocre at best and Stalinist at worst.
So before you go and flame me consider that I have been in the "modern" post Clinton Navy. I doubt that you have.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

Then you may be one of the good ones.
I wish you luck in the Navy but watch your back. The politics on board any ship are vicious and cutthroat as they come. I hope you are up to it.

[One Proud Dad]

That's my boy. Told he'd chime in.

[One Proud Dad]

All candidates are interviewed by blue and gold officers, some more than once. While I might agree in principle I think it would be a financial and logistical undertaking.