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    America's Service Academies Are Failing To Teach What Is Needed

    August 22, 2019
    5 Comments
    America's Service Academies Are Failing To Teach What Is Needed
    USAFA air gardens

    A few years ago after my 30-year reunion at the U.S. Air Force Academy, I wrote several articles regarding the changes at our nation’s service academies — changes not for the better. One couldn’t help but be shocked by the lack of discipline, the lowering of standards, and the destruction of traditions that had held officer trainees in good standing for decades, if not centuries.

    The situation has not gotten any better, and in many ways it is getting worse.  

    Hundreds of cadets and graduates reached out, agreeing with my critique. Many wrote clandestinely, including current cadets who were afraid of retribution from our military’s leadership.

    It’s not just the griping of an aging alumni. The quality of the men and women our service academies graduate has a direct impact on our national security, every bit as much as the quality of our weapons or the strength of our industrial base.

    For a long-ago graduate, the removal of training for “attention to detail” is the most shocking thing one encounters.  

    As freshman or “Doolies,” we learned that the purpose of instruction at the Air Force Academy was to “lay the foundation early in the cadet’s career for the development of those qualities of character and discipline which will be expected of an officer. These qualities must be so deeply instilled that no stress or strain will erase them.”

    This was a set of skills forged in fire during a year of extreme stress and pressure, a critical time in which a young teenager was transformed into a man or woman capable of leading troops in battle, handling complex tasks efficiently, and dealing with massive levels of responsibility.

    Today our academies have become essentially UCLA in uniforms. The discipline is gone, possibly irrevocably.  

    In addition, the academies are well on their way to “feminizing” the institutions. They routinely advertise a higher and higher percentages of female enrollment. Why? Is the goal a perfectly balanced, 50/50 military? Will that outcome better our chances of winning wars?

    Sadly, it will not. Men are simply stronger than women. That is not discrimination or misogynistic; it is a fact. The admission of more and more women has led to a reduction in physical and mental standards, which leads to a reduction in the quality of soldiers in the field. Yes, women can and do serve admirably in our military, but they are not as effective in many front-line positions. That is also simply a fact.

    Many warned of this outcome when women were first admitted to the service academies. Now it is coming to pass.

    Even more worrisome, our academies have become Petri dishes for the social justice agenda, not training real warriors. Race is highlighted constantly, which is incredibly divisive and detrimental to unit cohesion and effectiveness. Lowering standards for one ethnic group against another to push an agenda of societal change is unacceptable for those on the battlefield who depend on each other and must trust each other completely.

    Social justice is not a military function. Training social justice warriors is not what our military academies should be doing.

    You may believe that none of this affects military operations. The recent evidence suggests otherwise. 

    Two U.S. Navy ships recently collided with civilian vessels recently in the Pacific, accidents clearly tied to a lack of attention to detail. I don’t know if service academy grads were involved, but a lack of accountability for underperformance is rampant in our armed forces. How can you have accountability on the battlefield when you don’t instill this quality in the future leaders of our military?  

    These problems can be fixed, but we have to get back to simple common sense and away from the politically correct cancer which has infected our nation over the last few decades. It has no place in our service academies, where discipline, sacrifice and respect for authority are critical to success.

    As Napoleon so famously said, “Victory on the battlefield begins with the shine on a boot.”

    Originally posted at The Washington Times

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    Author

    L Todd Wood

    L Todd Wood, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, flew special operations helicopters supporting SEAL Team 6, Delta Force and others. After leaving the military, he pursued his other passion, finance, spending 18 years on Wall Street trading emerging market debt, and later, writing. The first of his many thrillers is "Currency." Todd has been a national security columnist for The Washington Times and contributed to One American News, Fox Business, Newsmax TV, Moscow Times, Novaya Vremya (Ukraine), the New York Post, National Review, the Jerusalem Post, Zero Hedge and others. He is also founder/publisher of CDM. For more information about L. Todd Wood, visit LToddWood.com.
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    Mona

    I'm an army brat. My dad served in the army 23 years. I contracted with the army as a mechanic on thier helicopters. When my dad came to visit us in Germany, where we working, I had to warn him of the lack of discipline and work ethic that he was going to see.i was disappointed with it, he was pissed.

    larrythelogger

    LCWB, USNA '79 grad. Went to the 150th Anniversary of Navy Crew banquet last February. It's much worse than you think. We ALMOST got a lesbian USMC general with her partner for the new Supe. Had Cankles won in 2016, that would have happened. Ahhhh, the wonders of diversity.

    Walt

    I graduated from the US Naval Academy in the 60's and served a tour at sea in the Pacific as a junior officer on a destroyer. I read the public version of the official report on the Fitzgerald collision when it came out. It's well beyond shocking. It was sheer filth. Reading between the lines you could see a dozen or more basic errors. Perhaps the most basic was putting women aboard ship but there were lots of others.

    There may not now be officers at any level who know how things ought to be done in a professional navy. If we go to war with what we've got I'm sure there'll be individual brilliance and heroism -- as indeed happened in the Fitz collision -- but we're going to get our asses handed to us by a professional navy.

    Anthony LaRocco

    Why is it such a surprise that standards are lowered? It all started in 1954. Brown vs Topeka Board of Education. High schools and colleges have let whites suffer academically while trying to bolster minority graduation rates. Dumbing down education to accomodate minorities has been this nations downfall. Go to any high school and ask the teachers if it is so. I can promise you if they're honest they will respond yes. Blacks are not allowed to be failed at most colleges resulting in affirmative action morons. The military academies are just another decaying system due to diversity.

    Mick Mccall

    "Two U.S. Navy ships recently collided with civilian vessels recently in the Pacific, accidents clearly tied to a lack of attention to detail." Enough said?

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