Army Officer Commercial

[Massengale]

The issue isn't geographic origin or commissioning source. It's training, and more specifically post-commissioning training. Assuming that 200 cadets from NYU, or any east-coast urban university, are somehow "shovel-ready" for operations requiring cultural sensitivity doesn't make that much sense to me.

Why wouldn't cadets who grew up speaking Arabic or Mandarin or Russian be more ready? Why wouldn't cadets who spent two years in Israel in high school be more ready? Why wouldn't cadets who spent the summer of their jr. year traveling in the ME or Africa be more ready?

There are millions of Americans who fit that description. The Army ignores them at its own (and the nation's) peril. How many lives were lost because of some retarded prison guards?

Power-point slides and a few actors at an NTC are no substitute for prolonged, formative exposure to other cultures.