As a follow-up tp Townie’s post below, go here to see the WaPo online discussion of Ricks’ idea to shutter the service academies and send all the would-be cadets to Ivy League institutions, etc etc. There is much to be skewered.
My only comment from the original article is that I have never seen Ivy Leaguers as being particularly dedicated to national service. Maybe I’m missing something, but I can count the number of them I’ve run across in 20 years in the Marine Corps on the fingers of two hands, with two middle fingers left over. Now, they’re all good guys, and good officers, but it’s the rest of their alumni I wonder about. I just don’t see them beating the path to the all-volunteer force that would suggest it’s time to make a big change.
Go, draw your own conclusions. I’m sure Al Qaeda is duly impressed with “crackerjack smart.”
Ivy League (former) Marine Officer, reporting for duty, sir! o7
I ran into quite a few, actually. A couple in my tank battalion (one from the same school in my company), and almost a dozen in my OCS class. The platoon commanders always asked, “Is that a two year school?”