 |
| (Source) |
Do the services recruit good athletes who may or may not be good officers after graduation?
Sure they do. But they also admit a lot of kids who have the right grades, the right high school extracurricular activities, and the right connections (sigh, that's still a thing) who may turn out to be really crappy officers. If they graduate at all.
The average dropout rate ranges anywhere from 15% to upwards of 30% depending on the year, making the service academies some of the most competitive schools in the country. (Source)
I would bet that most of the brand new second lieutenants and ensigns from the service academies are decent, if not outstanding, officers. The service academies are tough schools to get through and it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to do so. If they listen to their NCOs after commissioning, they'll go far. (Provided of course, that their NCOs aren't idiots. Hey, it happens.)
Anyhoo, reader/commenter Mark made a disparaging comment about Commies at those service academies. I kinda jumped down his throat over that, which, in hindsight, I kinda feel bad about. He did make a good point, however, I didn't feel that that was the right place for that sort of comment. I mean it was supposed to be a "feel good" story, as noted above.
Which brings me to my point, there seem to be a lot of "negative waves" in the public discourse these days. It's hard to avoid it, harder still to refrain from engaging in such oneself. (I have bitten my tongue so many times I'm surprised it hasn't fallen out of my mouth. Far too often I just blurt out what's on my mind, to which those who know me can attest.)
I get it, I really do. When it seems that the country is run by a pack of self-serving, idiotic morons, it's hard to remain positive. Doesn't matter which side you fall on, the other is going to presume you're an asshole because of your politics. I'll go on record here as saying "I hate politics," full stop. I don't subscribe to the lunatic fringe of either major party. I can be liberal in some things, conservative in others. That's all I'll say about that.
But a note to all and sundry, I get that you might be pissed off about something, but if the post is about something relatively innocuous, leave it out of the comments. (And for those of you who like to go "off-topic," please don't, it's kind of annoying.)
Perhaps I should institute an "Open Thread" post every now and then. Let you all rant and rave about whatever you'd like. That could prove interesting. It's also an easy post, easier than a music post. Going through the comments could be nasty though, I don't know.
In other news ...
As to the Commie at West Point, yes, there was a guy who professed to be a traitor, er, Communist who graduated from West Point. If you have the stomach for it, you can read about him here.
I would venture a guess that he's not the first Commie/Fascist/Nazi¹ to get an appointment to one of the service academies, and then graduate and get commissioned. Probably won't be the last. But, for the most part, the kids who apply to and graduate from the service academies are some of the country's best and brightest. Same goes for most of the universities in the country. The incidence of evil is far smaller than the media would have us believe.
But at the very least, the person who graduates from a service academy knows that their education could call upon them to make the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country. Wouldn't be the first time, wouldn't be the last. Those who don't grasp that probably shouldn't be there.
Selah.
¹ Kinda the same, kinda not if you dig deep enough. But they're all assholes.
