I think that the separate cultures and commands of the three armed services are a bad thing, causing a reduction in cooperation, distrust, poor coordination and waste. This can cost time, money and even lives in some situations.

We should have one Defense Service and make all of these institutions churn out potential officers that can serve in any capacity. Specialist training for service at sea or elsewhere can take place at other institutions after graduation.

I don’t think we would be here with out them! Matt Vea is one of my many hero’s. Our military needs leaders to leader. Problem is they over train and under utilize these 2nd Lt’s. We lose a lot of good men and women after there five year contract is up to the real world.

Like it or not, the graduates of these ivy league academies are the elite of the officer corps. Most successful armed forces have had an elite inner officer core.

This can be good or bad. It could be argued that drawing officers from the aristocracy was a bad thing for many European armies. However, in feudal times there was not much of an alternative available, so I would claim that it was not.

During the 18th century, the British Royal Navy was largely a meritocracy when the British Army was burdened by class promotion and incompetent officers. No doubt the promotion requirement to be able to handle a large square rigged ship with a motley crew sorted out the aristocratic pretenders. The navy became the dominant force in the defense (and aggression) of the British Empire.

This supports my view that the principle of promotion on merit must be retained whatever route is taken to become an officer.

Their education does not necessarily make our academy elite the best officers in the field but it should make many of them career professionals having a profound commitment to their service.
They are more likely to have the time and teaching to learn about the finer points of military life such as: history and tradition, law, politics, logistics, leadership, diplomacy and so on. These are things that are not usually learned on the job. Sure, they can be learned in other ways, but having them presented in class by respected officers is a good start.

I think that making a military career a profession that is on a par with law, business, medicine and so on is valuable, particularly when degrees in these other professions are available.

Perhaps the main role of West Point and Annapolis is to act as a filter removing the spawn of the social elites if they are not up to the demands of military life. If that is all they really do then a few top sergeants or Chief Warrant officers could achieve much the same thing during basic training.

I support the institutions strongly, I am just not sure that in this case the competition between them is a positive thing for the nation as a whole.