The Few, the Proud, the Infantilized
The Few, the Proud, the Infantilized
by Bruce Fleming
The U.S. military-service academies — at West Point (Army), Annapolis (Navy), Colorado Springs (Air Force), and New London (Coast Guard) — are at the center of several debates, both military and civilian. The military is downsizing, and the federal budget is under scrutiny: Do the academies deserve to continue?
They’re educational institutions, but do they actually educate, and furthermore, do they produce “leaders” as they claim to? And are they worth the $400,000 or so per graduate (depending on the academy) they cost taxpayers?
After all, we already have a federal program that produces officers — an average of twice as many as those who