On the Bounce
As far as columns designed to provoke go, Tom Ricks’ latest effort has succeeded admirably:
Want to trim the federal budget and improve the military at the same time? Shut down West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, and use some of the savings to expand ROTC scholarships.
After covering the U.S. military for nearly two decades, I’ve concluded that graduates of the service academies don’t stand out compared to other officers. Yet producing them is more than twice as expensive as taking in graduates of civilian schools ($300,000 per West Point product vs. $130,000 for ROTC student). On top of the economic advantage, I’ve been told by some commanders that they prefer officers who come out of ROTC programs, because they tend to be better educated and less cynical about the military.
After covering the U.S. military for nearly two decades, I’ve concluded that graduates of the service academies don’t stand out compared to other officers. Yet producing them is more than twice as expensive as taking in graduates of civilian schools ($300,000 per West Point product vs. $130,000 for ROTC student). On top of the economic advantage, I’ve been told by some commanders that they prefer officers who come out of ROTC programs, because they tend to be better educated and less cynical about the military.Obviously, I’m not an expert, though James Joyner’s measured response sounds about right to me. Having said that, I’ve always wondered why a suggestion first put forward by Robert Heinlen – one of science fiction’s great pulp auteurs – has never been seriously considered. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers is not exactly great literature, but like so much of his other work, it includes a lot fascinating ideas on the nature of democracy, military service, and citizenship. In Heinlein’s militarized future, candidates only qualify for officer training after serving as NCOs. This is a fairly radical departure from traditional Western officer candidate schools, which generally induct individuals with no prior military experience, but it makes a certain amount of intuitive sense. Has any country ever tried something similar to Heinlein’s hypothetical OCS program?
actually i think Israel uses something like that model. Every citizen is conscripted into the mil. Those that do well go on to be NCO’s and then officers if they pass courses and have good marks from their soldiers and commanders. They do not have military colleges like west point, anapolis, etc. It certainly seems like it can work although there are major cultural issues and history to contend with.
While Ricks is often great on military matters i can’t take this seriously, regardless of whether it is an idea with merit. Our military can barely cut an unneeded super expensive weapons program, how could they ever even conceive of an idea like getting rid of the academies. Also many academy trained officers are knowledgeable and thoughtful, which is a benefit to us all.Report
Interesting. I wonder why more countries haven’t emulated that approach.Report
This has already been suggested, by Andrew Bacevich in The New American Militarism. In addition to the points Ricks argues, Bacevich is of the opinion that the separation of career military from the lives and experiences of civilians is very bad for the Republic.Report
Doctor Science –
Nice catch. Later in the article, Ricks suggests eliminating war colleges and integrating military students into the general academic population for similar reasons.Report
The DPRK (North Korea) does the same (everybody starts as the equivalent of privates; some are promoted to NCO and then officer). Considering what a complete cockup the country is, their military appeared to be (or did when I had reason to know in the early-mid 90s) frighteningly efficient, no snark.Report
We do have an OCS program for each of the service branches. OCS provides about 10% of all new officers in the Army, and a certain number of ROTC and USMA graduates are prior service as well, so the number of new officers with some enlisted experience is probably closer to 20-25%. The other services have an even higher percentage.Report
Tradition is the primary reason. We have also thought that officers benefit from a broader and deeper education, acquired before they begin leading. The best discussion I have seen on this is at Abu Muqawama, which should be a daily rad for some here.
SteveReport
steve –
Yes, I saw the entry at Abu Muqawama. His criticism of Ricks seems pretty spot-on, and I think it’s notable that Ricks’ original article doesn’t offer anything beyond anecdotal observations, many of which have been rebutted by military officers.
Having said that, I still wonder why emulating the Israelis (or the DPRK!) hasn’t been tried in the United States. Requiring promising officer candidates to serve as NCOs first isn’t mutually exclusive with providing officers with a comprehensive education.Report
I still wonder why emulating the Israelis (or the DPRK!) hasn’t been tried in the United States
Class. Both N. Korea and (at least historically) Israel try to be classless, we’re-all-in-this-together societies. The NCO/CO dichotomy in the US military was inherited from Europe, where it was a conscious, acknowledged division along feudal class lines.Report
Nice, Will.
True subversive guerrilla thought.
There is hope yet.Report