<p>If we cadets have come off as a bit harsh, I’m sorry, but try to understand our intent. I can virtually guarantee that each of us saw something that scared us. Every year, people come to USAFA with the goal of being a great fighter pilot. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that. In fact, this is one of the best places (THE BEST, IMO) to pursue that goal. However, some of these people will put on “blinders” and focus almost exclusively on their end goal. When people put on those blinders and stare intently at those F-22s at Langley, the reality of USAFA tends to come in from the side and give those people a hard whack on the head. Some cadets manage to react well, readjust, and continue on, but others get “KOed” by reality. I’ve seen people with lots of flying experience and a serious passion for flying nearly get booted for poor academics. I’ve seen others get in honor trouble and get kicked out. I don’t want that to happen to anyone here!</p>
<p>Don’t take our words as attempts to crush your dreams. We don’t want that AT ALL. What we do want is to caution you about becomming too focused on the end goal, at the expense of the steps to get there. To me, your initial enthusiasm about getting a fighter slot, ENJJPT, soaring, soaring sooner than currently allowed, etc raised a big, red flag in my mind. I thought, “Wow, this guy is getting ahead of himself. ENJJPT, etc. is a great goal, but when you have not even inprocessed, it is about 5,000 steps down the road.” Having a solid plan is good. Knowing the details is good. Focusing on steps 4501-5000 before step 2 has the potential for great harm. I don’t want to see you fail/almost fail because of those “blinders.”</p>
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<p>B&P and USNA69, if you are going to fight, please take it outside.</p>
<p>Technical skill is very valuable to a leader. It does not automatically make them a good leader. I’ve seen great leaders with only a rudimentary understanding of the tasks their followers performed, but they did well because they had vision and GREAT people skills. I’ve seen others who were extremely skilled, but made horrible leaders because they could not communicate well. I’ve also seen leaders who were respected because they werer skilled, even though their social skills were a bit rough. Leadership has many critical aspects. If a person is entirely missing one of those aspects, they will NOT be a good leader. That being said, skills and talents are not binary. There is a long continuum both in being a talented stick and being a socially adept communicator.</p>