Transparency: male, cauc, straight,
USAFA grad (even before author L. Todd Wood above), physician(at courtesy & expense of USAF, for which I am most grateful).
Been looking for decades for the secret sauce in which I was to be basted by USAFA that justified the expense of my education (now $650,000 per year per cadet, Yes you read it correctly) and give me that edge which would propel me to heights of leadership in the military and beyond. Guess what? I am still looking.
It is true that dozens of my brave classmates, friends and acquaintances from that period gave their last full measure of devotion in the SEA theater whose architect, McNamara, to his credit, described on his deathbed as the most colossal mistake in United States Foreign policy history! Many, many more USAF casualties of ROTC birth than USAFA were killed in that tragic and deeply flawed concept perpetuated by succeeding hopelessly delusional senior leaders.
There is no data to show that USAFA grads are any more likely than ROTC grads to do a full 20 year career, or make Bird Colonel or go to grad school or to became a leader of any kind in any field. (Even if there is Data, you’ll never see it) For the folks of my era, the best predictor of making General was if your daddy already was one!
I know a kid who just got an ROTC scholarship for his last two years of college. The scholarship is generous and covers his nut well, but it is way less than Six hundred Gs.
Just think of the kids struggling with impossible college costs from which they may never recover. Military academies were a great idea in the 19th century. They are no longer useful and are the best examples of government waste. Your representatives in Congress love the military academies. They pay off their political debts by appointing favored offspring to military academies through an elaborate charade suggesting that others are involved in the process…government corruption at its best.
Military academies need to be repurposed.Troubled adolescents( addicted, found anywhere close to gun, any kind of sexual violence, vandalism, shoplifting, suspicion of gang activity, add your own deviant behavior) should spend 90 days “at the academy” getting worked up (physical/ mental health, learning disabilities, social determinants of health and well being) and put back on track starting with genetic testing. Absolute determination of biological parents is now as easy as a cheek swab. The next question they get to ask is: “Why have you been unable or unwilling to provide for my health and well being and what are you going to do about it now?”Theyball sit down to discuss the answers. People will Squawk!
Let them squawk! But now, your hard earned tax dollars are going straight to the heart of our problems instead of another hopelessly delusional program of some pimp elected to office as a “public servant”.
Where I live, if you are a 12 year old in a stolen car where there is a gun and illegal drugs, you will be back on the street in several hours even after a police chase because “incarceration “ doesn’t work. This is what emboldens young criminals, “you can’t touch me, I’m a juvenile.” Of course, incarceration alone doesn’t work to prevent repeat offenders. These magnificent facilities called Service Academies should be utilized to their fullest extent as diagnostic and treatment facilities for these youth who don’t know they are? Or what tribe they are from? and what their purpose in life is. THEY need these facilities and programs most. And they can go back as many times as needed!
All the dedicated military leaders we need going forward will be just fine coming out of Ohio State or Ol’ Miss!