Just thought you might like to know that the current MNSTC-I commander (Petraeus' replacement), LTG Marty Dempsey, has an MA from Duke in English Lit. His proposed replacement, LTG Jim Dubik, currently commanding I Corps, has a Philosophy Masters (from Hopkins I think)--both taught in the English Department at USMA in the 80s. I was a philosophy prof and overlapped with Marty (and with another guy, named Petraeus, who was teaching Social Sciences at the time). The CG down at Knox these days, MG Bob Williams, is another USMA English Department Alum (philosophy MA from Emory) from the same time period, as is the Deputy US MIL Rep at NATO (BG John Adams, English MA, UMASS-Amherst). Another up and coming guy, COL (P) Jeff Smith, was with us too--MA in English from UC-Berkley (I think he has since gotten the Ph.D too).

The head of the English Department, BG (ret) Jack Capps, used to call us "the lunatic fringe." We were the element at USMA that taught critical appraisal and pushed our students to question their world, while all around them the rest of the Academy emphasized the notion of "cooperate and graduate." Cadet slang for the required philosophy class was "Drugs" as in "you have to be on drugs to understand what is going on in that class." We definitely encouraged out of the box thought .

I think the level of advanced degree is less important than the place of study and the subject matter. Graduate studies in the humanities and social sciences tend to open one's mind to new possibilities, especially when one is a conservative military member attending school at a hot bed of liberalism like a Princeton, a Duke, or a UC Berkely in the early 80s. I remember having a great time trying to justify our invasion of Grenada to my fellow grad students and the Philosophy faculty at the University of Kansas.