<p>raimius:</p>
<p>first off, the “back-when-it-was-hard” is very true. granted, sometimes it was worse than others, but overall the nature of society today does not allow the hard times that older classes went through.</p>
<p>second, not to say your 4 dig year was a joke, but being in the squad you were in last year (and hearing that this year is going much the same as last year), i would say that your 4 dig year was relatievely easy when compared to some other squadrons. i have been working to make things tougher around here, to almost no avail. when your freshman squad is easy, it makes the whole place a lot easier.</p>
<p>now granted, academics are very tough. but academics are tough at most high caliber colleges. so that’s no different than civilian college. although we march a little more and wear uniforms every day, i do not see a huge difference between what we gain from here and what an ROTC attachment gains. this leads to the bigger question of “Are the academies even worth it economically?” ie, is the difference in amount spent on cadets in academies really worth the outcome? sure stats like “more grads are generals” can be used, but who’s to say that person would not ahve been general no matter what path they had taken?</p>
<p>sorry if this raises a big debate, but its how i feel. i’m not saying we should abandon the academies, i’m saying we should make them worth the extra investment</p>