Shut Down West Point and the War Colleges

[RJ]

Coldstreamer posted -"1. Regardless of system, only about 10% of Officers are 'First Class'. They are life's naturals. If they weren't in the Army, they'd be pushing Donald Trump or Alan Sugar out of the Boardroom and taking over. The bottom 10% will be worse than useless - actually corrupt or the most dangerous officer - the hard working moron who appears impressive because they keep their mouths shut. These tend to go quite far."

Thank you for all of your points.

The above outline of the officer corps was laid out to me as a 17 year old Marine boot at Parris Island, SC, by a Marine Drill Instructor, S/Sgt. William T. Mc Neill.

After 53 years of life experience in the military and corporate America, Sgt. Mc Neil's distilled comment always held up in any part of the society I happened to wander through. He was a Boston Southy, who looked like an Arkansas razorback. His language was quite colorful.

One in ten will be outstanding and another one in ten will be ignorant, nasty and dangerous to everyone around them. He opined that it would be our job to follow or lead the 90% and eliminate the bottom 10% as quickly as possible.

In my time in the Marines, I encountered two officers who could be considered as minus 10 percenters. Neither one of them were line company officers. My personal experience is antidotal and a long time ago.

Most line company enlisted Marines had high expectations of our officers. Almost all of whom were products of the Marine Officer Basic School in Quantico. Only a small number of USNA graduates are select to be Marine officers and I only had one who was a graduate. He was an excellent leader from the get go. His only fault was being extremely susceptible to sea sickness. A lot of VMI graduates take the Marine route. And if there were any negatives coming from that education, Quantico usually "adjusted" those who might have leaned towards arrogant side of things. Ditto for Texas A&M as well.

Both my sons are Aggies, and the oldest was a Navy Aviator via the AOCS track. Having a series of Marine S/Sgts and Gunnery Sgt. assigned to that officer training facility, gave him an appreciation for the Marine Corps.

At that time and place, the Navy accepted 6,000 AOCS candidates and produced 1,500 annually. (Limit allowed by Congress). The 4500 that didn't receive commissions were eleminated by said Marine NCO's or academic, physical ability or eye sight issues. DOR, ala "An Officer and a Gentleman" was the exit route for most. At Tom's commissioning the Admiral pointed to G/Sgt. Breckinridge and told the assembled family members of the commissioning class of 32, that the Navy uses Marines like Sgt Breckinridge to make our sons and daughters go home. The distilled group receiving commissions, are the most highly motivated, dedicated and intelligent individuals the Navy needs to send to pilot training. He then laid out the 25% of 6,000 candidates accepted, allowed to be commissioned by Congress thru the AOCS process information. Tough. You betcha! Fair?
Not part of the consideration to achieve the quality necessary.

I believe the service academys should be maintained. They set the bar high and that is a very good thing. Worth the cost? Absolutely! In a nation who's population has just passed 300,000,000, the need for a high standard, highly visible group of schools focused on the defense of the nation is necessary. The cost is minimal in that context.

I suspect the whine about "are they necessary" is part of the "wish list" mentality of most progressives. It will not fly, IMHO.