US Air Force Academy Accused of Training Bureaucrats Not Warriors
This is a pretty interesting read by an Air Force Academy alumnus who recently saw the changes the academy has gone through to train officers for today’s Air Force:
None of this was happening. They were walking at rest, not greeting anyone. Actually, they were ignoring the upperclassmen walking by. I stopped one of them and asked him, “Cadet, are you recognized yet?”
“No, we are not,” was his response. He kept walking. There was no “sir” in his response. He obviously knew I was an alumnus and former military officer. The problem was that he simply didn’t care. He didn’t care because he had been taught not to care. Military bearing was absent. Completely gone. Removed.
And then, the shock continued.
As the time started to get close to the Noon Meal Formation, where the cadets form up and march into Mitchell Hall for lunch, I again realized nothing was happening. Cadets were nonchalantly walking to the huge cafeteria where they are served all at once during the school week for lunch. I subsequently found out the formation had been cancelled due to high winds. I laughed to myself. There wasn’t even a breeze. Wow, things really have changed.
Inside the noon meal, all former military decorum and training at the lunch table had been vaporized. There was nothing. The freshman cadets didn’t even have the civilian decency to serve their alumni guests first, not to mention any military bearing. They just took the food and ignored everyone else at the table.
It gets worse: after lunch, my colleagues walked into the academic building. Before my eyes, where there used to be formal lecture halls, was a Dunkin’ Donuts. My jaw hit the floor and I actually took a picture– I was that amazed. This was no longer a military academy; it was UCLA in uniforms. [Ops Lens]
Here is the most profound thing he realized from his visit to the US Air Force Academy:
Not once did I hear the word warrior. In a flash, I got it. The academy was no longer training cadets to be Air Force warriors. They were no longer training to fight for our country and win wars. They were being trained to function in the bureaucracy. The academy was all about competing with civilian institutions in a variety of ways.
You can read much more at the link, but I am curious if anyone agrees with this former cadet’s assessment of the current state of the US Air Force Academy.
I think everything he says is true. But the academy has been training bureaucrats for a long, long while.
My husband went to jump school (the real Army Airborne School, not the AF Academy version) but has never worn his jump wings because he doesn’t want people to think he went to the academy.
I can’t speak as to USAFA at all. But, I’m a product of Army ROTC and I’ve seen some troubling trends.
The two key aspects of my ROTC experience to this topic are these:
1. Because time is limited in ROTC, the curriculum was focused on “The Basics”; if a potential block of instruction didn’t help further our understanding of general management, general leadership or how to fight at the platoon/company level,we wouldn’t do it. Extra training was available but it too was limited to these core matters. Examples being Airborne and Air Assault School, Northern Warfare, Master Fitness, etc.
2. The leadership incessantly drilled into us the notion that once we were contracted (formally part of the program) anything we said or did which would put the Army, the armed forces in general or the United States into a bad light, there would be unpleasant consequences.
Most of what I glean from ROTC in general and my school’s program in particular is propaganda. But sifting through the static, I’ve found some troubling items:
1. Army ROTC now has a program known as CULP where selected cadets are flown into Africa, South America and Asia to teach English to their host nation counterparts and take part in humanitarian projects for over a month. I really don’t get why this is a good idea so early in a potential officer’s career. Even worse the articles I’ve read on the program have comments from participants who denigrate America in ways you’d expect out of the mouths of Peace Corps volunteers! So the Army is sending these future leaders off for about half a summer and they come back hippies!
2. The issue of my alumni magazine which came out after the lifting of the female combat exclusion policy had two articles about a female Cadet and her Cadet husband. In the articles the stated they were long time vocal advocates for women in combat units and were glad Obama changed the policy. Furthermore they both portrayed the Army as a backward, bigoted and misogynistic institution which was finally put on the right track. The second highest ranking officer in the ROTC detachment opined about how awesome these two Cadets were and how they’d make fine officers. I tracked down this fellow’s email and sent him my concerns about ending the combat exclusion policy and praising these two. In so many words this Lieutenant Colonel told me to F off.
In Mr. Wood’s article, he hints around this softening is a result of female integration. He’s probably right to think so. But I wonder if a piece of it could be since the end of the Vietnam War all the armed conflicts we’ve been in have been fairly low cost in blood spilled and the POW issue has been nearly nonexistent and the more harrowing matters quietly hidden from view.
The warriors have become bureaucrats.
The bureaucrats have become ideologists.
The ideologists have become looters.
The looters have become heroes.
The heroes have become villians.
The villians have been running the country.
With any luck, Trump will get enough done by Congress to neuter the looters and moochers for long enough to start making America support producers again.
Having spent a few years in joint assignments, the main issue I saw with the Air Force officers is that they were all too interested in getting their PhD’s.
I had to explain to a Marine Col that yes, the Air Force was allowed to have ‘PhD’ as part of their official signature block.
Neither the Marines or us Army guys could really understand it. Even if allowed, those officers would have been ridiculed by their peers for doing so.
Those who can’t tell everyone what their qualifications are.
Those who can just do it and don’t need to tell anyone.
“Neither the Marines or us Army guys could really understand it. Even if allowed, those officers would have been ridiculed by their peers for doing so.”
If that’s the case, an advanced degree must not be required for promotion in the Marines or Army.
In the USAF, up until very very recently in active duty an advanced degree was required to make Lt Colonel (actually, advanced degree plus completion of War College…and since War College wasn’t typically an option for anyone under O6, that was done by correspondence. So that’s at least two advanced degrees necessary to make O6). None of this is stated outright…it just “is”.
This is “OPR Review” piece might be satire, but it is also accurate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8KxC4Wo5hI
Sorry..not O6. Required to make O5. (intended to say, above)
It is. But it is for everyone, so why would they put their qualifications in their signature block?
Bragging? Showing off?
Actually, Army officers are expected to get advanced degrees by the time they hit Major/Lieutenant Colonel. However, the requirement is for a masters degree and what it’s in and where it’s from are largely irrelevant. A MS in Management from Florida Institute of Technology gets you just as far as a Wharton MBA. If one wants to get a PhD, you apply for a position/program which requires a PhD. Doing it on your own is not a good idea.
I can’t speak from authority as to the Marines, but from all the Marine officer bios I’ve read where almost all officers above the O4 level have some sort of masters degree, I’m thinking they have a comparable system in place.
That does sound very much the same as the USAF.