Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 4:20am

West Point Has Become a Bad Joke

Duty, Honor, Country” — those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn… In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield. But in the evening of my memory always I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country. Today marks my final roll call with you. But I want you to know that when I cross the river, my last conscious thoughts will be of the Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps. I bid you farewell.

Douglas MacArthur, address to the Corps of Cadets, May 12, 1962

Lieutenant Colonel Robert M. Heffington (US Army, Ret.) had a run in with the Commie Cadet, Spenser Rapone, at West Point, and warned the West Point chain of command about him in 2015.  Go here to read about it.  Heffington, a former member of the faculty at West Point, has written an open letter which details the rot that permeates West Point:

Dear Sir/Ma’am,

Before you read any further, please understand that the following paragraphs come from a place of intense devotion and loyalty to West Point. My experience as a cadet had a profound impact upon who I am and upon the course of my life, and I remain forever grateful that I have the opportunity to be a part of the Long Gray Line. I firmly believe West Point is a national treasure and that it can and should remain a vitally important source of well trained, disciplined, highly educated Army officers and civilian leaders. However, during my time on the West Point faculty (2006-2009 and again from 2013-2017), I personally witnessed a series of fundamental changes at West Point that have eroded it to the point where I question whether the institution should even remain open. The recent coverage of 2LT Spenser Rapone – an avowed Communist and sworn enemy of the United States – dramatically highlighted this disturbing trend. Given my recent tenure on the West Point faculty and my direct interactions with Rapone, his “mentors,” and with the Academy’s leadership, I believe I can shed light on how someone like Rapone could possibly graduate.

First and foremost, standards at West Point are nonexistent. They exist on paper, but nowhere else. The senior administration at West Point inexplicably refuses to enforce West Point’s publicly touted high standards on cadets, and, having picked up on this, cadets refuse to enforce standards on each other. The Superintendent refuses to enforce admissions standards or the cadet Honor Code, the Dean refuses to enforce academic standards, and the Commandant refuses to enforce standards of conduct and discipline. The end result is a sort of malaise that pervades the entire institution. Nothing matters anymore. Cadets know this, and it has given rise to a level of cadet arrogance and entitlement the likes of which West Point has never seen in its history.

Every fall, the Superintendent addresses the staff and faculty and lies. He repeatedly states that “We are going to have winning sports teams without compromising our standards,” and everyone in Robinson Auditorium knows he is lying because we routinely admit athletes with ACT scores in the mid-teens across the board. I have personally taught cadets who are borderline illiterate and cannot read simple passages from the assigned textbooks. It is disheartening when the institution’s most senior leader openly lies to his own faculty-and they all know it.

The cadet honor code has become a laughingstock. Cadets know they will not be separated for violating it, and thus they do so on a daily basis. Moreover, since they refuse to enforce standards on each other and police their own ranks, cadets will rarely find a cadet at an honor hearing despite overwhelming evidence that a violation has occurred. This in tum has caused the staff and faculty to give up even reporting honor incidents. Why would a staff or faculty member expend the massive amount of time and energy it takes to report an honor violation-including writing multiple sworn statements, giving interviews, and testifying at the honor hearing-when they know without a doubt the cadet will not be found (or, if found, the Superintendent will not separate the cadet)? To make matters worse, the senior leadership at West Point actively discourages staff and faculty from reporting honor violations. l was unfortunate enough to experience this first hand during my first tour on the faculty, when the Commandant of Cadets called my office phone and proceeded to berate me in the most vulgar and obscene language for over ten minutes because I had reported a cadet who lied to me and then asked if “we could just drop it.” Of course, I was duty bound to report the cadet’s violation, and I did. During the course of the berating I received from the Commandant, I never actually found out why he was so angry. It seemed that he was simply irritated that the institution was having to deal with the case, and that it was my fault it even existed. At the honor hearing the next day, I ended up being the one on trial as my character and reputation were dragged through the mud by the cadet and her civilian attorney while I sat on the witness stand without any assistance. In the end, of course, the cadet was not found (despite having at first admitted that she lied), and she eventually graduated. Just recently a cadet openly and obviously plagiarized his History research paper, and his civilian professor reported it. The evidence was overwhelming-there was not the slightest question of his guilt, yet the cadet was not found. The professor, and indeed all the faculty who knew of the case, were completely demoralized. This is the new norm for the cadet honor system. In fact, there is now an addition to the honor system (the Willful Admission Process) which essentially guarantees that if a cadet admits a violation, then separation is not even a possibility. In reality, separation is not a possibility anyway because the Superintendent refuses to impose that sanction.

Academic standards are also nonexistent. I believe this trend started approximately ten years ago, and it has continued to get worse. West Point has stated standards for academic expectations and performance, but they are ignored. Cadets routinely fail multiple classes and they are not separated at the end-of-semester Academic Boards. Their professors recommend “Definitely Separate,” but those recommendations are totally disregarded. I recently taught a cadet who failed four classes in one semester (including mine), in addition to several she had failed in previous semesters, and she was retained at the Academy. As a result, professors have lost hope and faith in the entire Academic Board process. It has been made clear that cadets can fail a multitude of classes and they will not be separated. Instead, when they fail (and they do to a staggering extent), the Dean simply throws them back into the mix and expects the faculty to somehow drag them through the academic program until they manage to earn a passing grade. What a betrayal this is to the faculty! Also, since they get full grade replacement if they must re­take a course, cadets are actually incentivized to fail. They know they can re-take the course over the summer when they have no other competing requirements, and their new grade completely replaces the failing one. ST AP (Summer Term Academic Program) is also now an accepted summer detail assignment, so retaking a course during the summer translates into even more summer leave for the deficient cadet.

Even the curriculum itself has suffered. The plebe American History course has been revamped to focus completely on race and on the narrative that America is founded solely on a history of racial oppression. Cadets derisively call it the “I Hate America Course.” Simultaneously, the plebe International History course now focuses on gender to the exclusion of many other important themes. On the other hand, an entire semester of military history was recently deleted from the curriculum (at West Point!). In all courses, the bar has been lowered to the point where it is irrelevant. If a cadet fails a course, the instructor is blamed, so instructors are incentivized to pass everyone. Additionally, instead of responding to cadet failure with an insistence that cadets rise to the challenge and meet the standard, the bar for passing the course itself is simply lowered. This pattern is widespread and pervades every academic department.

Conduct and disciplinary standards are in perhaps the worst shape of all. Cadets are jaded, cynical, arrogant, and entitled. They routinely talk back to and snap at their instructors (military and civilian alike), challenge authority, and openly refuse to follow regulations. They are allowed to wear civilian clothes in almost any arena outside the classroom, and they flaunt that privilege. Some arrive to class unshaven, in need of haircuts, and with uniforms that look so ridiculously bad that, at times, I could not believe I was even looking at a West Point cadet. However, if a staff or faculty member attempts to correct the cadet in question, that staff/faculty member is sure to be reprimanded for “harassing cadets.” For example, as I made my rounds through the barracks inspecting study conditions one evening as the Academic Officer in Charge, I encountered a cadet in a company study room. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and nothing else, and was covered in tattoos. He had long hair, was unshaven, and I was honestly unsure ifhe was even a cadet. He looked more like a prison convict to me. When I questioned what he was doing there, he remained seated in his chair and sneered at me that he “was authorized” because he was a First Class cadet. I proceeded to correct him and then reported him to the chain of command the next morning. Later that day I received an email from the Brigade Tactical Officer telling me to “stay in my lane.” I know many other officers receive the same treatment when attempting to make corrections. It is extremely discouraging when the response is invariably one that comes to the defense of the cadet.

That brings me to another point: cadets’ versions of stories are always valued more highly by senior leaders than those of commissioned officers on the staff and faculty. It is as if West Point’s senior leaders believe their job is to “protect” cadets from the staff and faculty at all costs. This might explain why the faculty’s recommendations are ignored at the Academic Boards, why honor violations are ignored (and commissioned officers are verbally abused for bringing them to light), and why cadets always “win” when it comes to conduct and disciplinary issues.

It seems that the Academy’s senior leaders are intimidated by cadets. During my first tour on the faculty (I was a CPT at the time), I noticed that 4th class cadets were going on leave in civilian clothes when the regulation clearly stated they were supposed to be wearing a uniform. During a discussion about cadet standards between the BTO and the Dept. of History faculty, I asked why plebes were going on leave in civilian clothes. His answer astonished me: “That rule is too hard to enforce.” Yet West Point had no problem enforcing that rule on me in the mid-1990s. I found it impossible to believe that the several hundred field grade officers stationed at West Point could not make teenagers wear the uniform. This anecdote highlights the fact that West Point’s senior leaders lack not the ability but the motivation to enforce their will upon the Corps of Cadets.

This brings me to the case of now-2LT Spenser Rapone. It is not at all surprising that the Academy turned a blind eye to his behavior and to his very public hatred of West Point, the Army, and this nation. I knew at the time I wrote that sworn statement in 2015 that he would go on to graduate. It is not so much that West Point’s leadership defends his views (Prof. Hosein did, however); it is that West Point’s senior leaders are infected with apathy: they simply do not want to deal with any problem, regardless of how grievous a violation of standards and/or discipline it may be. They are so reticent to separate problematic cadets (undoubtedly due to the “developmental model” that now exists at USMA) that someone like Rapone can easily slip through the cracks. In other words, West Point’s leaders choose the easier wrong over the harder right.

I could go on, but I fear that this letter would simply devolve into a screed, which is not my intention. I will sum up by saying this: a culture of extreme permissiveness has invaded the Military Academy, and there seems to be no end to it. Moreover, this is not unintentional; it is a deliberate action that is being taken by the Academy’s senior leadership, though they refuse to acknowledge or explain it. Conduct and behavior that would never be tolerated at a civilian university is common among cadets, and it is supported and defended by the Academy’s senior leaders in an apparent and misguided effort to attract more applicants and cater to what they see as the unique needs of this generation of cadets.

Our beloved Military Academy has lost its way. It is a shadow of what it once was. It used to be a place where standards and discipline mattered, and where concepts like duty, honor, and country were real and they meant something. Those ideas have been replaced by extreme permissiveness, rampant dishonesty, and an inexplicable pursuit of mediocrity. Instead of scrambling to restore West Point to what it once was, the Academy’s senior leaders give cadets more and more privileges in a seeming effort to tum the institution into a third-rate civilian liberal arts college. Unfortunately, they have largely succeeded. The few remaining members of the staff and faculty who are still trying to hold the line are routinely berated, ignored, and ultimately silenced for their unwillingness to “go along with the program.” The Academy’s senior leaders simply do not want to hear their voices or their concerns. Dissent is crushed-I was repeatedly told to keep quiet at faculty meetings, even as a LTC, because my dissent was neither needed nor appreciated.

It breaks my heart to write this. It breaks my heart to know first-hand what West Point was versus what it has become. This is not a “Corps has” story; it is meant to highlight a deliberate and radical series of changes being undertaken at the highest levels of USMA’ s leadership that are detrimental to the institution. Criticizing these changes is not popular. I have already been labeled a “traitor” by some at the Academy due to my sworn statement’s appearance in the media circus surrounding Spenser Rapone. However, whenever I hear this, I am reminded of the Cadet Prayer:

” … suffer not our hatred of hypocrisy and pretense ever to diminish. Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be won. …that scorns to compromise with vice and injustice, and knows no fear when truth and right are in jeopardy.”

West Point was once special, and it can be again. Spenser Rapone never should have been admitted, much less graduate, but he was-and that mistake is directly attributable to the culture of permissiveness and apathy that now exists there.

Sincerely and Respectfully,

Robert M. Heffington

LTC, U.S. Army (Retired), West Point Class of 1997

Screen Shot 2017 10 11 at 1.59.06 PM - Exclusive: Former West Point professor's letter exposes corruption, cheating and failing standards [Full letter]
God help the troops led by such cadets as described by Colonel Heffington.  Trump should immediately fire the current Commandant of Cadets and appoint Heffington in his stead.

 

0 0 votes
Article Rating
34 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 5:58am

The Superintendent of the Academy is Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen. The commandant of cadets he refers to as berating him over the phone was likely Robert Caslen as well. Lt. Gen. Caslen held that position from 2006 to 2008, supposedly.

The dean as we speak is female, as was the commandant of cadets during the period running from the beginning of 2016 to mid-2017.

Those occupying the post of ‘Dean of the Academic Board’ during the period of decay he identifies were Patrick Finnigan (2005-10), Timothy Trainor (2010-16), and the current Dean, Cindy Jepp (2016-). The position of commandant of cadets appears to be a two-year appointment by custom and has had nine different occupants since 2004.

My wager would be that the fall in standards has several sources, and one might have been the recruiting trouble the military was having when the Iraq War was going south. I’d wager another was the usual depredations of institutional diverstocracies, present nowadays wherever you find careerist professional-managerial types and likely on steroids during the Obama msAdministration.

Former everything Robert Gates was the Defense secretary at the time this correspondent identifies the trouble as commencing.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 6:03am

The place has a board of visitors which includes nine members of Congress. What’s their excuse?

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 6:14am

Among Lt. Gen. Caslen’s predecessors as superintendent were David Huntoon (2010-13) and Franklin Hagenbeck (2006-10).

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 7:20am

Wow. Speechless.

ken
ken
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 8:03am

I was waiting for this picture to be exposed as a hoax or a joke. Now I’m only left wondering why this fool hasn’t been throw out of the military.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 8:47am

I was waiting for this picture to be exposed as a hoax or a joke. Now I’m only left wondering why this fool hasn’t been throw out of the military.

Waal, how long did it take military tribunals to process the blatantly guilty Nidal Hassan?

What Robert Conquest said, “Bureaucratic behavior can be explained by assuming every organization is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.”

CAM
CAM
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 9:35am

My uncle, class of ’39, is turning over in his grave up there on the Hudson.
This is what happens when the emphasis is not on the mission of USMA, but instead on social engineering. The cadets and midshipmen in federal service academies receive very expensive educations. In addition to the scholarships they also receive room and board and base pay. As a tax payer I want to know how long will it take to undo the damage to this once respected service academy?
The decline of West Point is part of the left’s master plan for weakening our country’s once respected institutions – Military, church, FBI, institutions of higher learning, marriage and family.

CAM
CAM
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 9:45am

Forgot to add the Boy Scouts (soon to be referred to as Boy/Girl/Question Mark Scouts) to the list of institutions caving and going down the tubes.

Bill H
Bill H
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 10:35am

Small point: “LTC”=Lieutenant Colonel.

Bob S.
Bob S.
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 4:44pm

I am a little surprised by the depth of horror happening there; it has gotten pretty bad. I graduated from the AF Academy (AFA) and many years later my daughter did as well. The rot at West Point unfortunately also exists at the AFA. My daughter saw a clear honor violation done by a classmate but the squadron put tremendous pressure on her to drop her charge; they refused to believe her and the investigation was shelved. To this day, she refuses to support the Alumni association or send funds to support their activities; she’s ashamed of the place.

Kevin Kenny
Kevin Kenny
Saturday, October 14, AD 2017 6:23pm

I am an old grad – Class of 80 – retired infantry Colonel with multiple tours in the 101st Airborne Division (AASLT). I also served a tour at the Academy as an instructor and Officer-in-Charge of the men’s rugby team. West Point was not perfect when I was a cadet, it was not perfect when I served as an instructor, and I suspect it is not perfect now. That said, I believe the Academy continues to produce leaders of character year in and year out.
In fact, I am positive of it.
There is a huge difference between cadets today and the cadets who made up my class – and most every other West Point class prior to 2005. Cadets in my class foolishly “hoped” we would get to go to war one day – whereas nearly every graduate since 2001 has had multiple combat tours and every cadet who has volunteered to go to West Point since 2005 has known going into the Academy that they were destined for combat. Nevertheless, they keep volunteering and they continue to lead our soldiers with valor at the company grade level where the rubber meets the road.
LT Rapone is an aberration – he is not the norm. The average cadet today is every bit as patriotic and professional as his/her predecessors and we are blessed as a nation to have them protecting our future.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, October 15, AD 2017 6:26am

Lt. Gen. Caslen’s response to date has been sufficiently vague and laden with red-herrings that the smart money says Lt. Col. Heffington’s skeletal points are true.

I’d recall Fr. Shaugnessy’s points about sociological corruption. He noted that a human organization may have a composition as follows: 5% scoundrels, 5% heroes, and 90% just trying to do their jobs. Without much change in the proportions, you can have an organization wherein malefactors are sanctioned and the heroes set the overall tone or an organization devoted to containing the embarrassments generated by the scoundrels. Suggest that what’s in the tail of the bell curve (and how normal officers interact with it) matters.

Look at BO’s actions. Bowe Berghdahl was never prosecuted and Bradley Manning was sprung because the commander-in-chief did not disapprove of what they did.

a. vietvet
Sunday, October 15, AD 2017 7:44pm

youtube the army- mccarthy hearings,,,,,,everything old is new again.

TomD
TomD
Sunday, October 15, AD 2017 7:49pm

I was on the West Point campus about 4 years ago for a football game. While walking around I overheard several conversations by cadets. They were all what could be called motivated and professional. There was also a table for the younger visitors where they could handle safed submachine guns (some of WW2 vintage). The cadet at the table seemed unusually poised, so I inquired as to his background. Turns out he took the entrance exam after returning from a tour in Afghanistan as an enlisted man. I would have to agree, the commie cadet is an aberration. The problem is 1) not his existence, but the tolerance given him, and 2) the fact that only 7% of U.S. youth meet military enlistment requirements today (per this month’s Naval Institute Proceedings) so it is more likely his type will be overlooked.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, October 16, AD 2017 4:37am

he fact that only 7% of U.S. youth meet military enlistment requirements today (per this month’s Naval Institute Proceedings) so it is more likely his type will be overlooked.

Not buying. During our last bout of military conscription, 12% of male age cohorts were categorically disqualified and 12% were contingently disqualified (it was a tad lower during the 2d World War). I knew a man in Rochester who had eczema on his insteps. He was classifed I-Y. Partisan Democrats have made hay about Donald Trump’s I-Y classification for some issue with his achilles tendon and Rush Limbaugh’s for a pilonidal cyst. There were hundreds-of-thousands such disqualifications every year. Still, most men passed.

Howard
Howard
Monday, October 16, AD 2017 4:42am

Well, what did you expect? Was there ever any promise that the gates of Hell would never prevail against the United States Military Academy? Just look at everything wrong within the Church Herself — which has such a promise. What chance did West Point ever have?

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, October 16, AD 2017 4:42am

youtube the army- mccarthy hearings,,,,,,everything old is new again.

The Army-McCarthy hearings concerned a promotion awarded to an Army dentist who was a member of the American Labor Party. The ALP did have a mess of crypto-Communists and red-haze riff raff in it. It also had people who were anything but. Captain Peress was in the military when it was hoovering up huge proportions of each male age cohort and he was conscripted into service for his technical skills.

Patrick
Patrick
Monday, October 16, AD 2017 6:49am

I hate to say this, but some of this may have been forseen when women were admitted to the Academies. That would have begun the gradual change in the perception of what a military is for. Of course it didn’t happen overnight but nevertheless it set in motion the eventual conversion of the USMA into a SJW Meals-on-Wheels program. Once you compromise on one thing – in this case gender – you sooner or later compromise on everything. I understand the head of the Air Force Academy is a “married” lesbian mother of two children! Women are far more likely to suffer serious joint injuries than men at the USMA. It is an open secret that women get passed along with a wink & a nod when it comes to the physical training even when their standards have already been lowered. The armed forces are playing with disaster when it comes to combat positions being opened to women, as the vast majority cannot cut it. It is unforgivable that military personnel will be exposed to disaster if there are many who cannot meet even minimum requirements. It is like everything else in the PC crazy Romper Room – reality means nothing, only if everybody FEELS good. Look at the Boy Scouts – homosexual scouts & scoutmasters, “transgendered” scouts & now girls. What’s the point in even having them? This is part of the ongoing war against masculinity in our “culture” designed to destroy even marriage & turn boys into feminized, over protected pussies. People are running away from reality & objective truth as fast as their two legs can carry them. To begin to restore some sanity to all this would be to simply take a stand & state that women simply do not belong in the military academies & that the current female plebes will be the last freshmen class allowed in. It is about far more than the USMA. It is about seizing back the God ordained normal & truth in society, regardless of institution. The survival of our country demands it

trackback
Monday, October 16, AD 2017 8:06am

[…] West Point Has Become a Bad Joke – Donald R. McClarey J.D., The American Catholic Fr. Antonio Spadaro is Trying “to Anesthetise the Faithful” – Rod Dreher, TAC Blogger Good Bye, Boy Scouts – Melissa Mackenzie, The American Spectator Medical Doctors Discuss How Kids w/Gender Dysphoria are Being Harmed – L. McArtor, Strm The Unfunniest Senator – Scott W. Johnson, City Journal Legutko On The Death Wish Of Modernist Christianity – Rod Dreher, TAC Blogger With NFL Protests, Trump Prove Christians Can Win Culture Wars – Rch. Nelson, The Fdrlst How Vulgarity Normalizes Predators – Leah Libresco Sargeant, First Things Racist? No: Scant Evidence Support Trendy Implicit-bias Theory – Heather Mac Donald, CJ Google Honors Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards as Modern-Day Hero – Mic. Bilger, LN Even If Trump’s Threat Against NBC Isn’t Serious, It’s Still Destructive – Dv. Harsanyi, Fdrlst Australia: I’m Same-sex Attracted & I’m Voting No on SSM – James Parker, Mercatornet America Divided: Starts with the Democratic Party – David Azerrad, The American Spectator Trump Changes Obama Policy, Confirms Human Life Begins at Conception – Micaiah Bilger, LN Exploring the Work of Three New Poets – Fr. Dwight Longenecker, The Imaginative. . . Twitter Reverses Censorship of Lawmaker’s Pro-Life Video – Eric Lieberman, The Stream […]

a. vietvet
Monday, October 16, AD 2017 8:32am

i think i have stumbled into a coven of pinko liberals,,,,,,,,we need senator marco rubio and more congressional officials to fully investigate west point and the army with the passion of TAIL GUNNER JOE,,,but i know it is too late., INFILTRATION began in earnest with FDR AND truman and the commie left believes in sublime incrementalism. Yes even the vatican has fallen. A wise eastern orthodox prelate observing the sadness and dismay of american catholics over the jesuit francis, was to have said, “YOU ARE OF THE RIGHT FAITH,,,,YOU ARE JUST IN THE WRONG CHURCH,” i agree, and am well educated by the jesuits, but my roots are ukrainian orthodox. ZPOROZCIE!

a. vietvet
Monday, October 16, AD 2017 8:47am

TO; TOWNIE DON MCCLARY,,,,it’s obvious you are from mayberry, never enter a battle of wits,,,,,UNARMED. tail gunner joe was after more than what your little mind can understand, AT EASE AND AS YOU WERE, DISMISSED!

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Tuesday, October 17, AD 2017 2:38pm

The auto-bio subscript to Spencer Rapone’s essay, “The Syrian Revolution of 1925: A Gramscian Redemption”, offers this background on [2nd] Lt. Rapone:

“Spenser Rapone is a US Army infantry officer and recent graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the DSA’s Veterans Working Group, and Socialist Alternative. In addition to his political activity, Spenser has marched alongside activists of various other leftist organizations.”
http://www.hamptoninstitution.org/the-syrian-revolution-of-1925-a-gramscian-redemption.html#.WeZpM4de5LM

[Hampton Institute is a pro-Antonio Gramsci “think-tank” encouraging a Gramscian-style Marxist Revolution. It is named after a failed black Marxist, Fred Hampton, who died in a shoot-out with the police in Chicago in 1969].

In his own words.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Tuesday, October 17, AD 2017 5:18pm

I hate to say this, but some of this may have been forseen when women were admitted to the Academies.

The integration of women into the main body of the military (as opposed to auxilliary forces like the WAVES) was a project of Margaret Chase Smith, ordinarily a sensible New England widow. I think the problem is, the effective addition of fighting manpower to recruiting women therein is quite small, and if I’m not mistaken the women’s proportion has been propped up by gender-norming certain performance scores. They’ve been behaving this way institutionally, it’s because politicians (and judges) have insisted on exploiting the military for social engineering projects. If we’re serious about the military, that stops. We can take advantage of women’s vocational skills in uniformed and civilian auxilliary corps without trying to remanufacture women into fighters.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Tuesday, October 17, AD 2017 5:30pm

He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America,

The dregs of what Michael Harrington wasted much of his life on. Harper’s had an article ca. 1997 written by a lapsed DSA member about the organization’s sad demographic evaporation – moving from one hq to a smaller and seedier one that they could still afford, &c. I’m surprised they still exist. One of the other descendants of the old Socialist Party disappeared when its chairman died in 2005. He’d run it since it’s founder had retired and it had long been just a PO Box. The third descendant was for years a project of a man named McReynolds who made a great public point of his homosexuality as he aged. It’s now a hobby organization run by a graduate student at Chapel Hill and some guy in Jersey. I’m surprised they are still a shadow of a going concern and that Harrington’s outfit still exists as well. One of it’s luminaries is Barbara Ehrenreich, whose presence in any venue is a good reason to run screaming across the state line.

Onanistic bunch.

TomD
TomD
Tuesday, October 17, AD 2017 10:51pm

“the fact that only 7% of U.S. youth meet military enlistment requirements today (per this month’s Naval Institute Proceedings) so it is more likely his type will be overlooked.”

“Not buying. During our last bout of military conscription…” – Art Deco
Yeah, go ahead and cite statistics from the early 1970’s. No urine tests for drugs, no Ritalin, few anti-depressants, few gang tattoos. Sorry to say, times change and military requirements change with them.
Then again, your complaint is with the Naval Institute writers and editors, not me.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, October 18, AD 2017 5:25am

Yeah, go ahead and cite statistics from the early 1970’s. No urine tests for drugs, no Ritalin, few anti-depressants, few gang tattoos. Sorry to say, times change and military requirements change with them.

Even among my contemporaries, among whom petty drug use was notably more common than is the case today, the majority would have passed a urine test administered without warning. Mary Jane hangs around in your system for weeks; traces of cocaine disappear in a few days. Roughly 7% of the male population is taking anti-depressants at any one time (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db76.htm). Roughly 8% of the male youth population is taking ritalin (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html). Even in Los Angeles, only a single-digit minority of the male youth population have anything to do with gangs. These things will reduce the number of suitable recruits, they’re not going to reduce the number 10-fold.

Doug Hlousek
Doug Hlousek
Thursday, November 2, AD 2017 11:35am

This really hit me hard! As a graduate of the CG Academy, I understand the scenarios you describe, but the actions, reactions and lack of action go totally against my experiences. Personally, I learned self-discipline and respect for authority during my four years and I’m proud of what I’ve become because of that experience! I can feel your frustration and total disbelief for what is occurring.

Raymond Gueret
Raymond Gueret
Thursday, November 2, AD 2017 8:24pm

Who was the president for the past 8 years and who said that he will fundamentally change America. Unfortunately, politics plays heavily in the military, especially for Field Grade Officers and this is the result.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, November 2, AD 2017 9:29pm

Managed to miss this the first time around, but– I can’t find ANYTHING in Proceedings about an enlistment eligibility rate that’s almost a quarter of the previous report (’09, I think?) of only 25%, and THAT stat was mostly due to failure to graduate high school— when I was in boot camp in ’01, we had a GED program. I was EPO, I worked with the guys and gals on that.
Also, there is a waiver program. You can have… I think up to two, but my info is quite old these days.

Foxfier
Admin
Friday, November 3, AD 2017 10:18am

Forgot to add that it is perfectly normal to have waivers; my husband had one for being “underweight” because he was obviously in good health. (It went away when he magically shrunk an inch on the bus to bootcamp. 😉 )

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top