Colonel Who Reported Communist Cadet Slams West Point Leadership

dailycaller.com ^ | Patrick Granger

[RoosterRedux]

Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Heffington issued an open letter to West Point graduates earlier this week blasting the superintendent, commandant, and dean of the military academy for contributing to a “culture of permissiveness.”

The letter was subsequently posted on the website of American Military News.

Heffington told The Daily Caller he wrote the letter to the USMA Class of 1963 when several of its graduates contacted him asking how Spenser Rapone, a cadet espousing radically anti-American views, was allowed to graduate. (RELATED: Communist West Point Grad Was Reported In 2015 For Anti-American Posts)

“The Superintendent refuses to enforce admissions standards or the cadet Honor Code, the Dean refuses to enforce academic standards, and the Commandant refuses to enforce standards of conduct and discipline,” the letter charges. “The end result is a sort of malaise that pervades the entire institution.”

Heffington’s eye-opening letter describes systemic problems at West Point that he says have led to a decline in honor, standards and meritocracy. The end result of said neglect, according to the lieutenant colonel, is a current “embrace of mediocrity.”

“Every fall, the Superintendent addresses the staff and faculty and lies,” he asserts. “He repeatedly states that ‘We are going to have winning sports teams without compromising our standards,’ and everyone in Robinson Auditorium knows he is lying because we routinely admit athletes with ACT scores in the mid-teens across the board.”

[SkyPilot]

Reading between the lines, the appearance is that, in seeking “diversity”, standards had to be lowered.

That is exactly what he is saying:

. He repeatedly states that “We are going to have winning sports teams without compromising our standards,” and everyone in Robinson Auditorium knows he is lying because we routinely admit athletes with ACT scores in the mid-teens across the board. I have personally taught cadets who are borderline illiterate and cannot read simple passages from the assigned textbooks. It is disheartening when the institution’s most senior leader openly lies to his own faculty-and they all know it............Academic standards are also nonexistent. I believe this trend started approximately ten years ago, and it has continued to get worse. West Point has stated standards for academic expectations and performance, but they are ignored. Cadets routinely fail multiple classes and they are not separated at the end-of-semester Academic Boards. Their professors recommend “Definitely Separate,” but those recommendations are totally disregarded. I recently taught a cadet who failed four classes in one semester (including mine), in addition to several she had failed in previous semesters, and she was retained at the Academy. As a result, professors have lost hope and faith in the entire Academic Board process. It has been made clear that cadets can fail a multitude of classes and they will not be separated. Instead, when they fail (and they do to a staggering extent), the Dean simply throws them back into the mix and expects the faculty to somehow drag them through the academic program until they manage to earn a passing grade.

And then there is this at the Air Force Academy:

Lesbian with ‘wife’ and two kids selected to lead U.S. Air Force Academy

[Nateman]

This commie cadet has actually done the country a great service by showing the rot at West Point. Of course the source of it all was Obama.

[combat_boots]

0bama appointed all academy heads

Two are female

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

It appears that West Point went into the toilet when they started allowing women to attend.

Sentiments echoed repeatedly by my father, an Annapolis grad, and uncle, a West Point grad.

They both knew these institutions were doomed then.

[bert]

The Obama “diversity rules” trash at West Point needs to be burned

[MattinNJ]

what a shame they even got to West Point

[T-Bone Texan]

I do not see the value in allowing illiterate black females to attend West Point.

They take up a slot that a competent person could occupy.

[NorthMountain]

The word “she” appeared frequently enough in the Colonel’s letter to be conspicuous. I cannot shake the thought that our experiment with mainstreaming women into the Republic’s armed forces has proven it to be a very bad idea.

[PapaBear3625]

How do the service academies "fit" into the military chain of command?? Is not the President commander-in-chief over them as well as the regular services??

According to the West Point wiki page, the Superintendent reports directly to the Army Chief of Staff, currently General Mark A. Milley, an Obama appointee.

The Senate confirmation process is killing us.

[Brooklyn Attitude]

I’m going to guess that the quest for “diversity” has done what it always does, reduce standards. Time to clean house.

[NorthMountain]

Most Americans do not know, and will never really know, the depth and extent of damage done to this Great Republic by the islamist usurper Barack Hussein 0bama. It remains to be seen whether the damage can be repaired, or whether it is fatal.

[capydick]

Your sympathy is noted however, this is not about one person's mistake - this is about the degradation of our American institutions, including our military institutions. For those on the left, the media, Communists, Socialists and Islamic terrorists (I know, redundant), tearing apart our ideals and institutions is a never ending mission for them. They count on our good nature to just excuse away another tear at the fabric of what made this country great. Before you know it - what used to be considered normal thinking becomes intolerant and we've lost another inch to the left.

The only way this stops is to stand up to every battle the left decides to come at us with, otherwise, we lose an inch every day to them.

Take the recent news that the Boy Scouts of America will now admit girls to their ranks. Do you think that decision "just happened" without any previous attacks on the institution in the last 20 years? It's a result of the chipping away at their culture and now we have this decision, which is more or less considered acceptable today by most however - would not have even been considered a normal possibility by our grandfathers.

And neither would a West Point cadet openly espousing his love of Che Guevara and Communism.

[PeterPrinciple]

Reading between the lines, the appearance is that, in seeking “diversity”, standards had to be lowered.

---

Repeat LOUD and OFTEN..........................

[DAC21]

Probably a similar situation at the Naval Academy. About 10 yeas back a Family member failed a summer Calculus class along with about 10 others. Come revue board time he was gone along with a couple others. Those given a second shot? The women and Football players.

[FES0844]

You left honorably. This guy is a traitor.

[Robert A Cook PE]

No.

His attitude, his ultimate loyalty is to the enemy. In battle, who will he attack? How will he attack, how will he deploy his forces? How many will he kill - on our side?

HE WILL KILL American soldiers. NO, he did not “make a mistake.” He MUST be removed. Imprisoned for the duration of his “obligated service”? It is appropriate.

[i_robot73]

>
Eight years of a communist as president is beginning to show!!!
>

Sorry, FRiend, it took longer than 8 years (might have sped UP in that time)...

This is the fruits of PC and using the armed services/etc. as their social engineering sandbox.

16+ in the ME, ‘winning the hearts and minds’...no WINNING (the) A WAR.

[wita]

Under what President was the present Commandant selected? The swamp covers a whole lot of ground doesn’t it.

I sense that Army senior leadership, KNOWING what was coming in the volunteer pipeline, chose to adapt the officer corp to the level of the volunteer army. They have done an outstanding job.

It even appears that the character and honor of the volunteer force at the enlisted level could easily exceed that of the officer corps.

Sad indeed.

[longtermmemmory]

can Trump fire and replace?

[combat_boots]

I don’t know

The services appear to need entire sets of one man patrols with leadership as designees