| Why Indoc?????
Even though I know this training is valuable, learning examples of how and why have been reaffirming as I sit by worrying while our kids endure such hardships. To that end, my USNA plebe parent-friend sent me the below passage that I found uplifting:
FOURTH CLASS SYSTEM
I'd like to chime in with my two cents on the 4th Class System, as I
experienced it. My plebe year was during 79-80 and, although it was
probably not as draconian as that of the more senior members of this forum,
it appears to be considerably different from what exists today. As I went
through it, I did not understand how cutting a pie into nine equal pieces
would help an officer lead soldiers into battle. The myriad of disjointed
memorizations, ludicrous tasks and perpetual panic mode seemed to have very
little to do with the profession of arms. I maintained this attitude
throughout my upper class years and I was definitely not a flame, although
fairly stern and consistent. I kept this perspective as a junior officer .
right up to the moment I commanded a cavalry troop in the Gulf War.
One night, at around 0100, we conducted a passage of lines to assault an
airfield. We had gone almost 60 hours without sleep and it was raining with
a vengeance (yes, rain in the desert . lots of it.) Our own artillery was
falling short and landing amongst us. One of my Platoon Leaders was heading
off in a tangent to the direction he should have been following. The
squadron main body was drifting too far North. My driver was heading
straight for a ravine. A tank in my 4th Platoon threw a track, and we found
ourselves in the middle of one of our own DPICM minefields. The objective
was spotted on our right flank (instead of in front of us, where it should
have been.) Almost no maps existed for our area of operations, and my boss
was perpetually screaming for me to change to his frequency (an
impossibility with the wonderfully designed, single-transmitter command
tanks.) A half dozen spot reports were coming in from my troops (all
critical.) My INTEL NCO had a critical update, my XO had a critical update,
my OPS NCO had a critical update, my 1SG had a critical update, my gunner
had spotted dismounts, and the regimental commander was forward with us
adding his own personal guidance. Visibility was almost zero. There was a
suspected use of chemical weapons. Regimental S-2 reported 500 heavily
armed Republican Guards on our objective (later determined to be a squad of
American engineers,) and I had a moderate to severe case of dysentery.
It was during this little slice of heaven (of all places) that the 4th Class
System was illuminated to me in all its glory. Its goal was not harassment,
ridicule, or punishment. Its goal was to train the neural network to deal
with an overwhelming amount of disjointed information, quickly process that
information, categorize it, and make rapid, sound decisions. At that
moment, I would have gladly given a month's pay to the genius who devised
the 4th Class System. It provided me with a priceless gift to sort the
significant from the insignificant and do my job in a much better fashion.
From my perspective, THAT is the rationale behind the system. It trains
your brain in a non-lethal environment to sort through the mess, bring some
order to it and continue functioning. It is an extremely nasty world out
there, and part of the Academy's mission is to train graduates to survive
and excel in that world. We are NOT doing the graduates any favors by
sugarcoating things and putting a happy face on everything. There is still
plenty of unadulterated evil, brute force, and chaos to go around.
Pretending it isn't there will not make it go away. I sincerely hope that
there are enough qualified people to deal with the future chaos and brute
force quickly and effectively enough to protect our interests and keep it
off our shores. Don't dismiss the 4th Class System as an archaic
anachronism. I have found it to be one the most valuable training programs
I have ever undergone.
Just my 2 cents .
Bo Friesen
Major, U. S. Army, USMA '83
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