West Point Prof Pens Blistering Takedown of U.S. Military Academies

[rangerrebew]

West Point Prof Pens Blistering Takedown of U.S. Military Academies

There's a reason, Tim Bakken says, why the U.S. hasn't won a war in 75 years.

February 17, 2020|

12:01 am
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

What do you call a civilian law professor who, after successfully filing for federal whistleblower status to keep his job teaching at West Point Military Academy, proceeds to write a bombshell book about the systematic corruption, violence, fraud, and anti-intellectualism he says has been rampant at the historic institution for over a hundred years?

Well, if you are part of the military leadership or an alumnus of the storied military academy, you may call him a traitor.

But if you are anyone searching for reasons why the most powerful military in the world has not won a war in 75 years, you might call him a truth-teller. And a pretty brave one at that.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/west-point-prof-pens-blistering-takedown-of-u-s-military-academies/

[sneakypete]

Yes,and no.

He IS right in the respect that West Point and the other academies are "company schools". They treat the children of serving General officers like Royalty who can do no wrong,and the others as cattle with no right to an independent thought. It is,in effect,a private trade school ran on government money.

Also,affirmative action is a VERY large part of the problems with the service academies today. Remember the photo of the Hispanic WP grad who raised his traditional dress uniform coat to reveal a CPUSA T-shit under it,and a hammer and sickle liner in his hat?. He did this while smiling,and not worrying at all about negative consequences because he KNOWS he can't be punished for it,and if he is,that he will win a multi-million dollar discrimination law suit.

The sad,sad truth is that politics should have NOTHING to do with a service academy,and that politics rule all of them.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

He IS right in the respect that West Point and the other academies are "company schools". They treat the children of serving General officers like Royalty who can do no wrong,and the others as cattle with no right to an independent thought. It is,in effect,a private trade school ran on government money.

I'm a Navy graduate, and this simply isn't correct.  Yes, it is true that if you're the child of a general officer, especially an academy grad, you may get cut a few extra little breaks if you get busted for something.  But that's a tiny percentage of mids, and it is that overwhelmingly larger percentage that dominates the internal leadership of the Brigade of Midshipman.  The same rules applied to all of us, and class rank (which determined your branch and desirability of your first assignment) was determined by factors that had nothing to do with who your father was. I've got friends who made flag rank, and literally not one of them was the child of a flag officer.

I'd also say that civilian professors tended to know remarkably little about how the military aspects of USNA -- much less the active duty Fleet and Marine Corps themselves -- actually operated.  And after reading that article, I can say with some confidence that this particular professor has his head up his ass.  Just read this, and consider what he's really saying here:

In addition to losing wars, “the military’s loyalty to itself and determined separation from society have produced an authoritarian institution that is contributing to the erosion of American democracy,” writes Bakkan, who is still, we emphasize, teaching at the school. “The hubris, arrogance, and self-righteousness of officers have isolated the military from modern thinking and mores. As a result, the military operates in an intellectual fog, relying on philosophy and practices that literally originated at West Point two hundred years ago.”

Bakken contends that West Point and the other U.S. military academies is first “on the assembly line,” providing cultural and social firmament for this separate world. It is where young men and women are indoctrinated and conditioned to be “of the body” and become career-long missionaries of the system. It has been like this for as long as the schools have had their place, yes, but as the civilian-military gap has grown significantly post-Vietnam, it endures less and less scrutiny from its federal minders and enjoys more reverence than it deserves from the public at large. This has led to the creation of an unaccountable hierarchy based not on merit, but on what Bakken calls “the primacy of loyalty.”

This guy is a leftist tool who is pissed off that the military hasn't yet (thank God) adopted the  "modern thinking and mores" of the rest of society.  He is criticizing military virtue, and arguing that it isn't virtue at all.  So things like patriotism, belief in American Exceptionalism, etc., are all things this guy wants to destroy, and he's pissed that the military is hanging on to them.

[sneakypete]

I'm a Navy graduate, and this simply isn't correct.  Yes, it is true that if you're the child of a general officer, especially an academy grad, you may get cut a few extra little breaks if you get busted for something.  But that's a tiny percentage of mids, and it is that overwhelmingly larger percentage that dominates the internal leadership of the Brigade of Midshipman.  The same rules applied to all of us, and class rank (which determined your branch and desirability of your first assignment) was determined by factors that had nothing to do with who your father was. I've got friends who made flag rank, and literally not one of them was the child of a flag officer.

@Maj. Bill Martin

Well,I was speaking primarily of West Point, circa 1960's,and the RA asshats I had dealings with in the conventional army. Back then there were very few WP grads in SF because it wasn't a career branch,and was actually considered to be an assignment that could hurt your career.

The few Annapolis graduates I ran into were the fathers of my elementary school classmates I went to school with in Virginia Beach in the 50's.

BTW,I do not personally know of any Army officers making flag rank in the 60's who WEREN'T trade school grads whose family weren't connected to WP in one way or another.

And the competition for a slot in a career enhancement advanced school was tough if you weren't a WP grad. Never heard of one of them getting turned down,though.  And ya gotta admit,if you are going to wear stars,you MUST attend those schools to learn what you need to know about command and command concerns at that level.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

@Maj. Bill Martin

Well,I was speaking primarily of West Point, circa 1960's,and the RA asshats I had dealings with in the conventional army. Back then there were very few WP grads in SF because it wasn't a career branch,and was actually considered to be an assignment that could hurt your career.

The few Annapolis graduates I ran into were the fathers of my elementary school classmates I went to school with in Virginia Beach in the 50's.

BTW,I do not personally know of any Army officers making flag rank in the 60's who WEREN'T trade school grads whose family weren't connected to WP in one way or another.

And the competition for a slot in a career enhancement advanced school was tough if you weren't a WP grad. Never heard of one of them getting turned down,though.  And ya gotta admit,if you are going to wear stars,you MUST attend those schools to learn what you need to know about command and command concerns at that level.

Well, I'll just say that I know a lot of generals' kids who don't make general themselves, and a lot who aren't generals kids who do.

The other point is to reread what that professor was actually saying.  He's attacking the entire concept of military virtue because he's a leftist who is angry that the military is the most prominent national institution that is still predominantly conservative.  Yes, there has been more affirmative actions, etc.,   But he's not complaining about too much affirmative action.  He's complaining about too little.

He's anti-military.

[sneakypete]

He's anti-military.

@Maj. Bill Martin

NOBODY is more dogmatic than the "open-minded left."

[txradioguy]

Well, I'll just say that I know a lot of generals' kids who don't make general themselves, and a lot who aren't generals kids who do.

The other point is to reread what that professor was actually saying.  He's attacking the entire concept of military virtue because he's a leftist who is angry that the military is the most prominent national institution that is still predominantly conservative.  Yes, there has been more affirmative actions, etc.,   But he's not complaining about too much affirmative action.  He's complaining about too little.

He's anti-military.

He sounds like one of the professors that influenced Spenser Rapone.