Quote Originally Posted by Greyhawk View Post

And how many bright, young (Ivy-educated or otherwise) folks with world-changing/saving ideas are going to "survive" the first five or so years when "sir yes sir" is the right response to everything? Especially when they know they are the smartest in the room (a room full of people for whom "smart" appears inversely proportional to time in service/experience) and no one will listen?
I would dare say that was my experience. It is not that nobody would listen; it was that I had to slow the thought process way down to countermand the logical errors and comparative reasoning faults of all parties involved up the chain of command. Thus, I respectfully declined augmentation in July of 2001. This was a big deal back then, when all the field grades went through the wringer to be offered augmentation.

To my own fault, I did not trust that I would get orders to Naval Post Graduate School, even though in hindsight I surely would have. I had only bad experiences with the manpower process to this point.

The issue of a polarized Sam Damon / Courtney Massengale offers the opposite pole to the elite education issue. Currently, all services accept a degree as a qualification that one can obtain a commission; and the process requires very little evidence that an education has taken place.