As a 2002 Air Force Academy graduate, I couldn't agree more with the comments above. AFA graduates have a terrible (and well earned) reputation inside the Air Force. The problem is so extreme, I often times was reluctant to reveal my commissioning source.

The 4-class system openly endorses hazing. Worse yet, the officers that run the AFA pay lip service to the "Leadership Laboratory", but few, if any cadets, get any real leadership experience outside of hazing the freshmen. This environment accounts for nearly all the cynicism I dragged with me to Active Duty after graduation, and I suspect that many of my fellow graduates would say the same thing.

All of this makes me want to agree with you regarding closing the Academies. The system as currently run produces officers that are less capable and, worse yet, less trusted than ROTC or OTS officers. Either dramatically change how the Academies are run or close them down.

The prior-service cadet's opinion is narrow. This entire argument is circular (although entertaining :)). I'm a product of USMA. I served three tours in Iraq as a platoon leader, staff officer, and company commander. I learned a lot about leadership at USMA, but my experience started when I was four years old and took charge of my soccer team.

v/r

Major Michael Few

In all of this discussion, one should make an argument for tradition. West Point (and the other academies) is a great national institution. From Lee and Grant, through MacArthur, Patton, and Eisenhower, to McMaster, Petreus and the many brave junior officers serving in harms way today - West Point graduates have shown the best of our nation.

Was every USMA I served with over 10 years a great officer? No - neither was every ROTC graduate. But the West Pointers had made a commitment as young people to serve their country in the armed forces, many turning down prestigious schools and scholarships to do so. They were not imperious and petulant at 18. They are only products of a system, they are great Americans.

Perhaps what the academies need is not a padlock, but a broom, a 21st century version of Douglas MacArthur, who as superintendent in the '20s drastically overhauled West Point's disciplinary systems, athletics, training, and curriculum.

A few ideas to start:

-Fully professionalize the faculty and use military officers for training and staff
-End hazing and replace that necessary mental stress conditioning with more traditional military challenges
-Use cadet rank for leadership training, planning, and coordination, but not for the more petty abuses it seems to spawn
-Evaluate and overhaul entrance requirements to provide a better cross-section of society: geographically, ethnically, and socially
-Run all cadets individually through inital entry basic training. Give them a sense of life in the real Army up front. Let them get to know their future soldiers as comrades and friends first. Take the cadets who run summer camp and send them out into the army for a second summer of experience.

Don't close West Point, reform it for the better.

I left the service in 2007 as a SFC with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan among others. As a platoon sergeant, squad leader and team chief.

In my experience the very best company grade officers had some prior enlisted experience, the second tier was formed by ROTC leaders, and the West Point graduates were, by and large, terrible company grade officers.

They DID have an imperious and holier-than-thou attitude and were often resistant to the counsel and suggestions of their NCOs. They tended to self-assured to the point of cockiness.

However, around the rank of major, the gap ceases to exist and the West Point officers really begin to shine. Their patriotism and dedication lead them through the difficult 8-10 year mark of a career (when many decide to leave the Army) and they begin to find their leadership voice.

I don't think it is a mistake that top flight senior leaders have gone to West Point - Petraeus, Powell, McMaster.

It seems to take those cadets a while to find their way. As a platoon sergeant I wanted a prior enlisted platoon leader, an ROTC company commander and a West Point Battalion Commander.

The SFC is completely correct and fair in his observations. They parallel much of what I have heard. West Point officers, though well intelligent and well-motivated, lack a great deal of maturity that others gain over the course of their respective pre-commissioning educations.

Once they reach the O-5 level, however, a magical transformation occurs. The instruction they received in playing politics, watching out for backstabbing peers, and fighting institutional favoritism at the academy serves them and their units well in the Big Army bureaucracy. All those skills and talents that were a liability at the company-grade level become an asset and allow them to effectively network to accomplish great things.

The question is how to keep them out of trouble in the mean time?

As a former enlisted soldier, former civilian college student, former cadet, and Iraq veteran, I couldn't possibly find a more apt description for what is wrong with West Point. It should be surprising to see so many cadets jumping up to defend their institution, as the prevailing attitude at the academy is that everything sucks, all training and responsibility is to be avoided, and the most prized pursuit is not learning, but sleep. However, I shouldn't really be surprised considering that the academy's chief export is puffed chests and (undeserved) elitism.

Cadets are constantly reminded how unique and heroic they are - how they were handpicked from an entire nation of youths yearning for a spot at the academy, and how they are so much more honorable than the sandaled hippies at those "civilian colleges." I guess this is so no one realizes they're really getting an education equivalent to what you might expect from a good private high school or community college. Forget the Ivy League - you'll find more interest in learning and community at any state school in America (I should know, I've attended both). Cadets bristle at the suggestion that their $300k diploma is insulted in this way, but that's only because they have no idea what the rest of the world looks like.

I don't want to jump on any bandwagons, but my experience with West Point officers (Although limited to 1-2) is that they are not really good leaders. They do tend to have an elitist view on things, to the point where they ignore the opinions of those closest to the actual work that's being done.

As an aside, they also don't earn many friends or respect when they try to come into a situation as if they already know what to do. Often this just results in duplicative effort and repeating past mistakes. Not to mention that it's a waste of time.

I don't know what they teach at West Point, but as the fdzle said spending your time avoiding work and looking to sleep is no way to go through school.

If you're going to make a statement, put your name behind it. Yes, USMA can make some changes, but honor is not one of them...Lest we fall trap to conjecture and anecdotes that may be near-sighted.

And yes, I'm the first to point out the faults of the academies.

And yes, my NCO's, LT's, and soldiers keep in touch with me, so consider that for a case-study. BTW, we have the best retention rate in the 82nd ABN nearly two years after I left command. USMA is just a part of that process.

Mr. Ricks, sorry I had to vent. I simply get frustrated by those that point fingers. USMA is what it is.

23 APRIL 2007

Keep this in mind as you consider your thoughts...I wrote about it in SWJ in "Love and Hate."

1st Lt. Kevin J. Gaspers 26 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Staff Sgt. Kenneth E. Locker Jr. 28 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Staff Sgt. William C. Moore 27 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Sgt. Randell T. Marshall 22 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Sgt. Brice A. Pearson 32 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Sgt. Michael L. Vaughan 20 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Spc. Jerry R. King 19 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Spc. Michael J. Rodriguez 20 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

Pfc. Garrett C. Knoll 23 23 April 2007 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, TF Lightning Died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when a suicide VBIED attacked a patrol base in Diyala Province / Died in As Sadah, Iraq

The commander of Sadah was ROTC....I warned him even though I was 5 km's away....You decide....War changes all indescretion....

Persistent Presence

Not in my town claims the mayor as the hamlet burns in anarchy
Self-denial self-inflicted in meaningless promises turned towards lethargy
Obscuring transgressions against the village
Established men descend to pillage
The circle of control diminishes as grievances expand
Sparking great controversy across the land
Armageddon is here; the sky falls down
Nothing has changed; No evolution of man
Neither rich nor poor shortchanged from suffering
Some days I grieve it all for nothing
I cannot fix what always has been,
Therefore, I must transcend.
No longer am I angry.
I return refocused.

23 April 2007

No sleep after dinner with al Qaeda
All warning for naught
In love and hate
Sometimes we have to bring the hate
in hope of better days
Men bleed, heartache sores
Paratroopers persist
In ever knowing presence
In evervesance
Volunteer twice, no hope of virtue
Sadness persist
As we bury the dead
Hope forlorn, but not lost
Ever more we persist.
Strive brothers strive
for better days
And our children LIVE
Some things best left unsaid
Strive paratrooper strive
Pack up your things
and patrol once again

Let drops of mourning fall
for loved ones lost;
and be not ashamed
tears were meant to be wept....

v/r

Major Michael Few
Former Commander, A/5-73 Recon

I served 10 plus years in the military as an enlisted soldier. I only had one exceptional officer. He was an enlisted Sergeant that went "Green to Gold" and earned his Bars. He understood what the troops went through at the expense of some Graduate that wanted to experiement with his non skills of trying to be a leader. So we never did any of that stupid stuff that most officers wanted to do. All the other Officers I ever served under were worthless. Some good ones here and there. They treat enlisted soldiers like crap and then expected respect from them. I worked as a DOD contractor in Iraq. The Accoutable Officer was terrible excuse of a Army officer and the soldiers under his leadership had no respect for him and were poor examples of what a soldier should be. I am not trying to be Hardcaore about it, But, If you have a poor leader then you have poor followers. I have seen this many times in my military career. So, I have a total disdain for officers.

I spent four years in the Navy. In 1995, I enlisted as a Gunner's Mate. For the most part, I found the distinction between enlisted and officer to be humiliating and antagonistic. I understand that the military wants to have educated men and women as officers, but to allow people with zero years of experience with anything be put in charge of a group of 5-20 men, almost all of whom have more experience and knowledge of the equipment and mission, is nothing short of absurd. Because of this absurdly rigid idea, many very good leaders are lost because they happened to not have a degree and therefore were enlisted. These talented people left the Navy for better lives elsewhere.

I saw very little difference in the leadership ability and intelligence between E4-E5's and O1-O2. There is a drop off in leadership and intelligence for enlisted when you reach the rank of E6, which doesn't go away till you get to E8. This is primarily due to gifted enlisted people saying 'screw this, I can make more money, have a better life, and be more respected outside the military', then they left the service.

The hierarchy of the military being based on the idea that ANY degree from ANY university is good enough to get a commission is ridiculous and quite frankly insulting. I didn't find much difference in the idiocy or general sense of entitlement in officers due to having gone to the USNA or another school. Interestingly, I found the worst officers to be prior enlisted who became Limited Duty Officers (LDO's). These people were petty, unhappy, and generally not very competent. Technically, they knew their stuff, but as leaders and managers, they were godawful.

The most obviously humiliating part of being an enlisted sailor is that you have to work in the galley. On an understaffed ship like mine, where I got to work in the galley for 13 months (out of 29 months that I was on the ship) when the normal expectation is only 3, it is even more aggravating. Enlisted men working in the galley serve the officers their meals, clean up after them, clean up their staterooms, do their laundry, etc. In other words treated as their personal servants. While I understand that the top ranked officers on the boat should have this privilege if for no other reason than their valuable time is better spent working on the mission, this privilege should NOT trickle down to the lower ranks. How about treating officers as responsible adults who now have to look after themselves, which includes getting your own meal and cleaning up after yourself? As mentioned, this was the most obviously humiliating way officers treated enlisted, but certainly not the only way.

I think that in general, the way the military chooses its leaders is stupid. Hierarchy is important in the military, but hierarchy does not imply servitude and disdain as it existed when I was in. And there are much better ways to produce solid leaders. I'm still baffled by how the military sets itself up.