Posted on 11/23/2004 4:19:54 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Applications are down at the nation's military academies, though administrators say the drop has been caused by factors other than any chilling effect from the war in Iraq.
West Point applications were off 11 percent as of Oct. 21 compared to a year earlier. The U.S. Naval Academy posted a 20 percent drop by the same week and the U.S. Air Force Academy reported a 9 percent drop compared to early October of last year.
The numbers are not final because application deadlines for the classes entering service academies in fall 2005 are still months away. And officials at all three academies noted that current application rates are within normal ranges, despite the one-year drop.
At West Point, U.S. Military Academy administrators say the lower numbers likely reflect the tail end of an application spike that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Naval Academy experienced a similar spike in the last two years, but officials there said it was difficult to speculate on reasons for yearly fluctuations.
The Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy all met or exceeded recruiting targets for the last year. The active-duty Army and the Army Reserve exceeded recruiting goals, while the Army National Guard fell short.
With death tolls mounting in Iraq, some military officials have said they worry lengthy deployments and hard combat could hurt recruiting.
But it's unclear whether a drawn out conflict will have an affect on military academies. While war can stir up patriotism and boost interest in military careers, the long, unpopular war in Vietnam was thought to have depressed application rates to West Point.
"I really have seen it dwindle in the last year, and that to me is curious," Brenda Melton, a counselor at the Navarro Academy in San Antonio, said. "I think part of it is that the war is a major topic and they see people getting killed over there and not everyone is in agreement with it."
U.S. Air Force Academy officials said applications got off to a fast start last year, and the rate is back to normal, with 6,952 by Oct. 4.
"That's usually where we're at this time of year," Capt. Kim Melchor said.
West Point's admissions officer, Maj. Dale Smith, said he's sure Iraq has convinced some young people that the academy is not for them. But, he said, it has not dissuaded enough people to affect application numbers, which were slightly above historical averages.
"We don't sugarcoat it at all," Smith said. "We tell them ... Every solider you see on TV in Iraq is led by a lieutenant, and those lieutenants come from West Point, and they come from ROTC."
West Point is the only service academy dealing with an above-average attrition rate for its Class of 2006 as of the start of this academic year. Of the 1,197 cadets who entered West Point in the summer of 2002, 904 remained by the end of August. The loss rate of 25 percent is greater than the previous five classes, which averaged a 20 percent loss rate.
Of two recent West Point dropouts who spoke on the condition of anonymity, one cited disenchantment with Army life and the other said Iraq was a major factor in his decision.
"I didn't want to be deployed in a war I didn't believe in," he said.
Headline says admissions, story says applications.
that soldier is using that as an excuse...he just couldnt cut it....what a pu$$y....
If application numbers are down, that's fine with me.
For too many years, hands full of people were joining the services for the BENEFITS rather than for the mission of the various services.
I don't have any problem with these numbers.
4 years of a free education SHOULD come with some sort of a price.
If you don't want to step up to the plate when the country needs you, get the hell out of the way of those who will.
Leave it to the liberal-demokkkRAT presstitutes at AP to mix-up applications and admissions, and to attack our brave US Military through the back door. Scumbags.
Actually, the academies are an anachronism. The poorest officers I served under had graduated from the Air Force Academy (and many of my Army friends have said the same about West Point). The Marine Corps has the best trained officers of all the branches of the service, and places a very low reliance on the Naval Academy as an accession point for their new 2nd Lieutenants. Perhaps the other branches should get the clue and just shut down the academies, go to a Marine Corps-type system and we might see fewer people just using the academies as a free ride on the tax-payers' dollars.
Also, potential applicants MIGHT have been concerned about who was going to be the CINC.
I know that affected my son's thinking about potential enlistment.
Yes that is a big difference. They will admit the same number from a smaller pool. Since the admission to applicant ratio is probably 1 out of 30, there will be little effect.
It does point out the leftist bias of the AP, though. Anything to make it look like the war on terror is going badly.
Yes that is a big difference. They will admit the same number from a smaller pool. Since the admission to applicant ratio is probably 1 out of 30, there will be little effect.
It does point out the leftist bias of the AP, though. Anything to make it look like the war on terror is going badly.
Premature evaluation?
Wow. The MSM is digging deep. The deadline is months away, they already have over 4 applicants per slot, and they twisting applicants and admissions.
Professional wordsmiths know how to present ideas accurately. That is the job of a journalist. But they also know how to present ideas inaccurately. That is the job of a propagandist. Which is this?
Even moreso than other schools, the Academy admission process is very complex. There is a pre-candidate questionaire which is an application to even get the real (and real big) application. There is the application itself. Then there is getting a nomination from a Senator or Representative (or President or Vice-President for a few)...each of whom sets their own process and invariably includes an application. There is one number I would like to see in this article...how many Pre Candidate Questionaires did they get back. I bet it is over 40,000 for the ~1,000 slots. It is pretty ridiculous to imply that not enough people want to go to our service academies.
The article doesn't address the qualifications of the applicant pool this year. If the top tier are taking free rides other places, it could have a serious impact.
PS: My son (WP Class of '90) could've gotten a free ride at quite a few good schools. Most of his classmates were also that accomplished. Those qualified for WP had choices, and decided that "protecting and defending the US" was a worthy choice upon graduation.
The state of public education in this country is very likely a part of the reason many don't apply.
The high school teachers are badmouthing the war, the president, and the military in general.
Pretty hard for a teenager to go against all that.
Birth dearth?
I just LOVE "anonymous" sources.
It is very difficult getting into our military academies. I seriously doubt someone went through all that great trouble just to drop out because we went to Iraq. That's just stupid.
yeah pretty much....
the guy probably wasnt mature enough and probably had a ton of demerits....
"Of two recent West Point dropouts who spoke on the condition of anonymity, one cited disenchantment with Army life and the other said Iraq was a major factor in his decision."
Maybe.
Or possibly, "I was about to flunk out anyway because I can't hang, so I'll drop out instead and make up a story about my principled decision to drop out".
B,
I came off Army active duty a long time ago (11 years) and didn't interact with too too many West Pointers. Most were ROTC, especially the LTs.
Anyway, the problem I saw in my surroundings was that the de-education of West Pointers, ie getting the college out of them and getting knowledge into them that they could immediately use, took way longer than with ROTC guys.
What a pantsload. Marine Corps officers aren't better because Annapolis has been taken out of the equation; they're better because Marine Corps training is generally superior. As a matter of fact, because of the additional training an Annapolis mid receives if he or she is headed to the Corps, Annapolis-produced Marines are typically head-and-shoulders above everyone else. Your post makes no sense at all.
My son is looking in four year to earning a spot in the Air Force Academy. He is well on the way for his Eagle Scout and his grades are excellent. I hope his reaches his goal.
You both make some good points. I can't speak of the other two academies, but I do know from personal experience that WP is a self perpetuating institution very seperate from the army. It is true that too many people go there to get a free education. Frankly (I'll probably get flamed by other grads here) I've always thought WP placed too much emphasis upon institutional loyalty and less loyalty to the army. The gung-ho cadets who loved the structure and the rules of the alma mater in my mind did not make the best army officers.
Upon graduation, it takes some deprograming to realize that you as a graduate are no better than anyone else. It is only at this point that WP grad army officers ever become true leaders. Others never get deprogrammed.
Well said. Let some real patriots get into the academies, instead of using it as some country club status symbol for your candy-ass children.
I am not a West Pointer nor is anyone in my family, but when I attended my son's Ranger class graduation in March, I was able to meet many of his classmates who were from the WP 2003 class. They are some of the best young men I have ever met. Of course, just as in ROTC and, I assume OCS, Infantry Branch goes first in order of class standing.
Reasonable point.
You have got that right. I looked at West Point before deciding on El Cid, and it is nothing but an Ivy League school under the trappings of an "academy." There is nothing military about it anymore. Since the PC police have castrated the academies of this country, and no, The Citadel didn’t escape either, it is hardly the Spartan environment it used to be. Now, rather than the Alpha male, assertive but humble leaders that they used to produce, you find a bunch of preppie frat boys with big rings and bad attitudes. The West Pointers I have encountered in the Army are among the worst.
Their football team sucks, too.
Then you had no business going to West Point in the first place if there would be wars you wouldn't want to fight. When you're deployed, you don't get to choose which wars you want to fight and which wars you don't.
Another recent West Point dropout, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he was just too embarassed with the size of his genitals to be able to shower in front of his fellow classmates. "You know, I can only claim that it's too cold so many times. Hey, what are you looking at?" He also said that he suffered severe emotional stress because of the archaic, barbaric "regulations" preventing his mommy from tucking him in to bed every night.
Failing at one of the toughest schools in the world is nothing to be ashamed of. He won't be the only one who come up short of "The Best of the Best." Edgar Allen Poe failed out of military school.
However, lying to your self is the bigger tradgedy. This boy has to grow up sometime. The media will give him a grandstand only because he parrots their feelings. Just like the welfare mentality, they will offer to feed it but not assist them.
/sarcasm
like I said, its an excuse, not the real reason...what a pu$$y.....
Ping.
Amen. Newly commissioned Marine Lts. all receive six months of training at The Basic School in Quantico. Whether you're going to be a lawyer, logistician, public affairs officer, motor T officer, artilleryman, or infantryman, you get that 6 months of basic combat training, over and above whatever you get at the Academy, or through ROTC or PLC. The other services have nothing comparable.
I also believe that the average young man who enters Marine Corps officer training is perhaps a bit different from guys who enter training for the other services. A bit more of the warrior ethos going in, though there certainly are guys in the other services who share some of that. I just think that the Corps gets a disproportionate share.
21 February 2002 - Major Curtis D. Feistner, 34 (Class of 1990) and CPT Bartt D. Owens, 30 (Class of 1994) were killed in a helicopter crash in the Philippines. The helicopter crashed after ferrying U. S. Special Forces and supplies from Zamboange to Basilan Island, where Muslim guerrillas were holding an American missionary couple and a Filipino nurse for nearly nine months.
2 April 2003 - Captain James F. Adamouski, 29, Class of 1995 , of Springfield, Virginia, was the first USMA Graduate to die in Iraq. He was one of six soldiers killed when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in central Iraq.
19 May 2003 - LTC Dominic R. Baragona, 42, (Class of 1982) of Ohio, was killed in Iraq when a tractor-trailer jackknifed on the road and collided with Baragona's HMMWV causing his death. Baragona was assigned to 19th Maintenance Battalion, Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
25 July 2003 - CPT Joshua T. Byers, 29, of Nevada (Class of 1996) was killed in action when his convoy hit an explosive device in Iraq. Byers was Commander of Fox Troop, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, in Fort Carson, Co.
30 July 2003 - 1LT Leif E. Nott, 24, (Class of 2000) of Cheyenne, Wyo., was killed on July 30 in Belaruz, Iraq, while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Knott died of wounds received from hostile fire. He was assigned to A Troop, 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry, Fort Hood, TX.
18 October 2003 - 1LT David R. Bernstein, 24, (Class of 2001) of Phoenixville, Chester County, PA was killed in Taza, Iraq when enemy forces ambushed his patrol using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. Bernstein was assigned to 1st Battalion (Airborne), 508th Infantry Battalion, 173rd Infantry Brigade, Camp Ederle, Italy.
31 October 2003 - 1LT Todd Bryant, 23, (Class of 2002) , of Riverside, California, was killed on Oct. 31 in Al Fallujah, Iraq. Bryant was on patrol when an improvised explosive device exploded and Bryant died of his injuries. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, KS.
7 November 2003 - CPT Benedict J. Smith, 29, (Class of 1999) , of Monroe City, Missouri, was killed on Nov 7 in a Black Hawk helicopter crash on an island in the Tigris River near Tikrit, Iraq. Smith was flying a mission over Tikrit, Iraq when the helicopter was apparently hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to the 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Airborne Divisoin (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, KY.
2 January 2004 - CPT Eric T. Paliwoda, 28, (Class of 1997) , of Texas, was killed on Jan. 2 in Balad, Iraq. Paliwoda was in his command post when it came under mortar attack. He died of injuries sustained in the attack. Paliwoda was assigned to 4th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), based in Fort Carson, Colo.
27 January 2004 - CPT Matthew J. August, 28, (Class of 1997) , of Rhode Island, was killed January 27th in Khaldiyah, Iraq in a roadside bomb attack. August was the Commander of B Company, 1st Engineer Battalion out of Ft. Riley, KS.
13 March 2004 - CPT John F. Kurth, 31, (Class of 1995) , of Wisconsin, was killed March 13th in Tikrit, Iraq when his patrol encountered an improvised explosive device. CPT Kurth was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, based in Schweinfurt, Germany.
16 March 2004 - 1LT Michael R. Adams, 24, (Class of 2002), of Seattle, Washington, died March 16th in Al Asad, Iraq. 1LT Adams was a member of the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, Fort Carson, CO.
16 May 2004 - 2LT Leonard M. Cowherd, 22, (Class of 2003) , of Culpeper, Virginia, died May 16th in Karbala, Iraq, when he received sniper and rocket propelled grenade fire while securing a building near the Mukhayam Mosque. 2LT Cowherd was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany.
9 August 2004 - CPT Andrew R. Houghton, 25, (Class of 2001) , of Houston, Texas, died August 9th at Walter Reed Army medical Center in Washington, DC, of injuries sustained on July 10 in Ad Dhuha, Iraq, when a rocket propelled grenade detonated near his vehicle. CPT Houghton was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.
10 September 2004 - LTC (Ret.) William E. Bowers, 46, (Class of 1979) , of Madison, Alabama, was killed by gun fire when his vehicle was ambused by insurgents in Baghdad, Iraq. Bowers was a Vice President of SEI Group, Inc., working on rebuilding power distribution and generation systems in Iraq for the US.
12 October 2004 - CPT Dennis L. Pintor, 30, (Class of 1998), of Killeen, Texas, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive detonated near near his vehicle. Pintor was assigned to the Army's 20th Engineer Battalion, 1st Cavalry Divison, Fort Hood, Texas.
16 October 2004 - CPT Christopher B. Johnson, 29, (Class of 1998) , of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when his OH-58D helicoptor apparently collided with another OH-58D helicoptor and crashed. Johnson was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation, 25th Infantry Division (Light), Wheeler Army Air Field, Hawaii.
http://www.aogusma.org/as/admin/remembrance.htm
And no doubt there have been others more recently. Plus some number left without eyes or legs or such.
They must be doing something right.
The other goes to West Point. He serves a tour in Vietnam, getting wounded, but otherwise does little of distinction. His career subsequent is a collection of "looks good on the record" staff assignments. He approaches retirement, and is placed in command of a division, because "it looks good on his record." A civil law enforcement situation develops, and, with questionable authorization, he sends military assets to the scene of the situation. Civilians are killed, and yet, he is protected from court martial because of his West Point pedigree and political favoritism. This same officer, nicknamed by his men "Perfumed Prince" and "The Anti-Christ", is promoted to a major theater command, and then is directed to plan and execute a combat operation. He does so, and it is a debacle. Civilians are killed, assets are lost which should not have been, a third party is nearly drawn into the fighting, yet, when this officer retires, he is called a "great example of an American soldier."
Two officers. Both eventually reach four stars, but one is OCS, and one is West Point. One got all the breaks, one didn't. One could lead and was respected by his troops, one couldn't lead and was only respected because of his rank.
Gen. Tommy Franks, OCS, and Gen. Wesley Clark, West Point.
My point is that the academy system does not always produce excellent officers, and in fact, often produces quite the opposite.
My experience with academy trained officers in the Air Force showed me individuals who were treated as "special" from Day One. Never mind the initial entry training they went through, which was similar to enlisted basic training. Academy cadets expected enlisted members to treat them with deference, and cadets treated enlisted personnel with an arrogance that was sickening. The number of times I would have an academy 2nd lieutenant want me to run some piddly errand for him (or her) when I had my own assigned duties to perform was higher than it should have been. ROTC and OTS graduates treated the enlisted as professionals, and as people who were knowledgeable about their specialties in a way an officer never could be. Academy graduates treated the enlisted as sometimes annoying children who didn't know how to wipe their own noses. What was actually quite funny was to see an academy lieutenant try that stunt on a chief master sergeant with 20 plus years of service. The chiefs always were militarily proper to the lieutenant, but the condescension in the chiefs' voices was a priceless thing to hear. Other lieutenants received the appropriate respect from the chiefs, as would be due a young person who has worked hard for that commission, but the academy graduates got back exactly what they gave out.
The point I had made regarding the Marine Corps system was left a bit incomplete. The Officers Basic School is something that ALL branches should utilize, but more to the point is how Marine OCS is conducted. While Marine OCS is more mentally stressful than enlisted boot camp, and is designed to develop leadership by teaching followership, it is physically very little different from the training enlisted Marines receive. A DI trains Officer Candidates, and if what Marine officers have told me is fact, these DIs are just as tough on the Officer Candidates as they are on enlisted Marines. As it should be.
A good officer should know what it's like to be an enlisted man, even if only for a few weeks. Air Force OTS may have its stresses, but OTs aren't scalped and hollered at by TIs the way airmen are. The stress level at Medina is WAY different than it is at Lackland...and these guys can drop out when they want to. Not all Naval OCS is handled the way it is at Pensacola. Army OCS is tough, but could it be tougher, perhaps?
We live in a far different society than in the days when an academy was a necessity. Enlisted men have bachelor's degrees now, and many senior enlisted men have master's degrees. I also personally knew two chief master sergeants who had PhDs. The educational need for an academy system is gone. ROTC and OCS/OTS can produce officers in the quantity needed for service, and generally in good quality as well. The academies have a social purpose. "Colorado Springs" sounds good when going for a corporate job after the Service, and also looks good to a promotion board while in the service.
I forget who it was who said "Give me a battalion of West Point graduates, and I will win a battle. Give me a battalion of VMI graduates, and I will win a campaign. Give me a battalion of Citadel graduates, and I will win a war!" but that always made me wonder why that was. I found out why when I was in the Air Force: VMI and The Citadel had never forgotten what their mission was. The academies had abrogated theirs a long time ago. Individual graduates of these institutions may be very good, but look at the overall record and see what they produced.
Nathan Bedford Forrest, Pat Cleburne, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Nelson Miles, Winfield Scott, Curtis LeMay and George Forsyth didn't attend West Point. Neither did Audie Murphy nor Colin Powell. Randy Cunningham graduated from the University of Missouri, and Chuck DeBellevue didn't go to Colorado Springs. Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, MacArthur and Arnold did attend West Point, but Marshall didn't. Perhaps we should end our attachment to the academies....our military has grown beyond needing them.
I think your real problem with service academies is something akin to sour grapes:
"My experience with academy trained officers in the Air Force showed me individuals who were treated as "special" from Day One. Never mind the initial entry training they went through, which was similar to enlisted basic training. Academy cadets expected enlisted members to treat them with deference, and cadets treated enlisted personnel with an arrogance that was sickening. The number of times I would have an academy 2nd lieutenant want me to run some piddly errand for him (or her) when I had my own assigned duties to perform was higher than it should have been."
A misguided ringknocker or two treats you like a piss-boy, so you figure the service academies are worthless? Sorry, but the service academies, especially West Point and Annapolis, do far more than just train cadets and midshipman to become officers: they're the keepers of each service's traditions and esprit. And since we've got the most powerful army and navy (and air force, for that matter) in the world, and since service academies have been a part of their make-up since nearly the inception of this country, I think it's fair to say they're doing something right . . . your experience notwithstanding.
H's G
USNA '92
Fortune Favors the Bold
When I was at USNA, every mid who was going to service-select the Corps also went through a summer of Bulldog at Quantico, which, from what I understand, was a pretty rigorous/strenuous program akin to advanced boot camp all over again. I tip my cap to all my classmates who service-selected the Corps: they went above and beyond as far as training/preparing themselves to become Marine Corps officers. You had to do 120% of what the typical mid had to do---and it was all self-selective punishment, too.
Hey, when did you go to USNA? I graduated in '84, and we didn't have to do it then, but it was instituted shortly after that for a few years. I actually came back to USNA and spoke to mids who were upset about it and explained why it was a good idea.
That's just wrong. I'm a USNA graduate who went Marine Corps, and I know that the Marine Corps would probably do fine without USNA as a commissioning source. Although Boat School grads had an additional advantage of understanding the Navy much better than did most Marines, and that's helpful to a maritime service.
But in the Navy, the outstanding academic background you get at USNA does matter. Sure, you have a minority of enlisted that have degrees, and a much smaller minority with advanced degrees. Your loosely-worded "enlisted have degrees" glosses over that distinction. And that's dwarfed by the number of mids who get truly world-class educations in technical fields. And the Navy is a service that is sufficiently intellectual and technical that such a background really is of value.
You are making the mistake of assuming that your own personal experience with USAFA graduates can properly be generalized to all -- or even most -- USAFA graduates. And commit the even bigger error of generalizing your experience to other services. It's not equally applicable, which I know from my personal experience in both the Navy and Marines. A USNA background is far more helpful to a naval officer than it is to a Marine. Can't speak to how it is in the Air Force or Army because I've never served in either, nor did I graduate from either school. But I do know that generalizations between services and academies are misplaced.
A non-commissioned officer is NOT an errand boy, Sir. They should have taught you that at Annapolis.
"...they're the keepers of each service's traditions and esprit."
Wrong. The true traditions of the Air Force are NOT found at Colorado Springs, which is an artificial "home" of the Air Force, but rather at where we grew as a service: Randolph AFB, the former Kelly AFB and at Lackland, where ALL airmen are made. I would also wager on there being more tradition and esprit in one square foot of ground at Fort Benning and Fort Bragg then in the whole grounds of West Point. And I don't know of a single Marine, officer or enlisted, who doesn't consider Quantico a holy place, but rather reveres MCRD San Diego or Parris Island.
The true keepers of the flame in the military are the enlisted. Officers can resign, but an enlisted man is bound to serve his hitch. Officers have their rank and privelege. Enlisted men have duty and commitment. When a latrine needs to be dug, it isn't a lieutenant who picks up a shovel....it's a private or an airman (and occasionally a sergeant who refuses to let his men do something he himself won't do).
It's the sergeant who waits to get chow after his men have been fed, not the officer. I've been in chow halls where officers would eat with enlisted men, and many is the lieutenant who shoved his way past an enlisted man to get to the front of the line....all because RHIP. I wore stripes, and having been dumped on by both officers and the occasional sergeant when I was an airman, I NEVER used my rank to gain privelege over a junior enlisted man.
Sour grapes? No. Disgust at the way I have seen fine people treated by those who theoretically were supposed to be leaders. By the time an officer was a major, he SHOULD have learned how to treat a subordinate with the respect due that subordinate, but many still did not. I know very few Air Force NCOs who have little but disdain for officers, but harbor great respect for chief master sergeants, and the equivalent sergeants in the other branches (as well as Navy chiefs).
I wouldn't give a bean for all the gold and silver braid out there, nor for bars, oakleaves and eagles. Stars hold no charm for me. But show me three stripes on a blue, or green background, and there is commitment. There is discipline. There is the glue that holds the military together.
Noone ever mentions the "Eternal lieutenant", nor the "Immortal colonel," because they don't exist. When we think of immortal soldiers, we think of the Immortal Sergeant....often unknown but to his own men, but without whom, there would be no tradition and no esprit.
B'dier
3723rd BMTS, 1981
Strategic Air Command Non-Commissioned Officer's Leadership School, 1985
SSGT, USAF (ret)
No kidding?
(eyes rolling)
Judging by the rest of your post, it sounds like you've got a serious chip on your shoulder and a penchant for the dramatic. I'll leave you now to stew in your own silly juices.
Not every sergeant is Audie Murphy or Maynard Smith, but thank God not every officer is like you. We need more Curtis LeMays and fewer Butch Blanchards (guess which one went to Ohio State?).
My Son was a National Merit Finalist and the USNA would not take him because he had asthma as a child.
Your point is well taken about quality, but I wouldn't worry about that. Even a 1 to 10 ration would admit well qualified men. (We don't need girls in combat arms)
The average applicant run for a class at Annapolis used to be 17-20k for the 12-1300 slots available. 80% of that is 15-18k for the same 1300 slots.
Sure, we'd like to get as many applicants as possible to ensure the highest quality officers are graduated, but our acceptance rate is still less than 10%, hardly a recruiting nightmare.
Your knowledge of academy officers appears to be somewhat myopic.
In the Naval Service, specifically within the surface fleet, there is absolutely no comparison to the average academy ensign and the average OCS/ROTC grad in ability to perform on day one. That gap narrows over the course of time, certainly, but the Academy is not training Captains, they are training Ensigns.
I also taught Navy OCS for 2 years. I had day to day dealing with the sister schools for AF and Army. I can state matter of factly that the general preparedness to walk out with your bars and actually do the job is significantly different based on accession source. Don't measure the academies by the performance of O-4s, measure them by the performance of O-1s.
It's amazing how omniscient one can be behind a computer screen, isn't it?
The Air Corps had, for quite some time, been the "bastard child," if you will, of the rest of the Army. While there had been pilot training programs, and a limited number of non-West Point, non-ROTC officer training slots (Brooks Field, most notably) the Air Corps lacked a permanent source of trained pilots who, in addition to being able to fly, were trained in non-flight related duties. In short, complete officers.
The result was the establishment of the Air Cadet School at Randolph Field, TX in the mid-1930s. Prior to the outbreak of WWII, the majority of Air Corps officers accessed from that point (West Point provided a very few, as did ROTC programs). Randolph became the Air Corps' "West Point," and the numerous cadet schools established during the War were built on the successful Randolph model.
When the Air Force attained co-equal status with the other branches in 1947, we still had the cadet schools and ROTC programs, but not many West Point alums chose the Air Force for their service. This bothered the West Point graduates who were in the Air Force, as their club was growing smaller. When the Air Force Academy was established in the mid-1950s, it was ostensibly to provide a source of officers trained in the specific requirements of aviation service. Originally, all academy graduates were rated as navigators, and were given first opportunity to attend pilot training. One minor problem, though: The curriculum was not much different from that of West Point, although a few aeronautical engineering classes were added to contribute to the "Air Force" nature of the institution.
What ended up happening was the pre-Colorado Springs WPPA morphed into the CSPA. Academy officers received inflated performance reports, choice postings, and preferential treatment their OTS, Cadet School and ROTC contemporaries didn't receive. As for the performance of an O-1 from the Academy vs. that of one from OTS or ROTC, well, all three could give equally good briefings, all three could fly as well (for the rated officers), and all three did their paperwork properly. Leadership qualities were where the Academy graduates fell flat on their faces.
The Academy graduates seemed to expect every enlisted man to treat them as if they were God come to Earth. I rarely saw an Academy lieutenant address an airman as a human being, but rather, as if the airman were an idiot who did not know his job. I remember an Academy 2LT make a condescending remark to me about the Air Force entrusting a multi-million dollar aircraft to a sergeant with just a high school education. I handed that officer my ring from the University of Nebraska, and pointed out that I held a BA with two majors. I never had an OTS or ROTC officer make a similar comment to me, but Academy officers did on several occasions.
I'll grant you that there were probably poor officers who came from OTS and ROTC, but my guess is that they were in non-flying billets (I was an enlisted aircrew member), and in terms of general obnoxiousness, pilots, regardless of accession point, were worse than navigators, and flying officers were worse than non-flying (opinion based on observation, although I will say that enlisted aircrew had the "flyer" attitude as well, so I know I pissed off my share of non-flyers). However, the Academy graduates I met were more obnoxious than other officers of similar rank and AFSC. Time in service mellowed them a bit, but some never did. The OTS and ROTC grads generally became better officers with maturity, but I rarely saw an Academy officer who completely climbed down from Mount Olympus. One who did was a high school teacher of mine, who had attended West Point, and he actively discouraged his students (and his own kids) from wanting to attend the Academy. His advice was "Get a real education, and then decide if you want to serve. You'll be a far better officer that way." He was one of the first people to send me congratulations when I earned my third stripe.
With a few minor (and one major) exceptions, I didn't see good officers who came from the Academy. A sergeant, perhaps, has a different view on what makes a good officer than an officer does, but looking out for your men is a pretty good yardstick, and on that score, the Academy lieutenants failed time and time again. They seemed to be more concerned about the priveleges of rank than about looking to the welfare of those who served with them. A sergeant looks to his men first, then himself. So did the OTS and ROTC lieutenants (it was a lieutenant who was from Wyoming who sent an airman who worked for me a "Get Well Card" when he found out this airman's father had a heart attack, as well as gave the airman non-chargeable leave for a week to go see his dad. An Academy lieutenant in the same chain of command seemed surprised that this airman wanted to make sure his dad was going to be okay. Maybe the Academy lieutenant was just a jerk, but having encountered so many Academy lieutenants who held negative attitudes toward airmen, I'm not sure).
Basically, I will speak well of individual Academy graduates (Eisenhower, Spaatz, Lee, Grant, Patton, etc.), but that's where it ends. In a society such as ours, we can't afford to have a system wherein some officers come from a training source so removed from where their men come from. I still maintain that the other services would do well to adopt a version of Marine Corps OCS/Officers Basic School....and intensify their training accordingly. Enlisted men understand that officers get certain priveleges on the basis of rank, but if we all start out close to each other, that galls a bit less. Also, if someone understands first hand what an enlisted man goes through to gain the right to wear that uniform, we might see a bit more of a bond between officers and men. Just my opinion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.