<p>shogun: Thanks for the response. I personally have struggled withy the give and take of personal relationships versus training quality. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. The way I phrased the statement was misleading, and I apologize. What I meant to say was that ROTC graduates are not flawless by any means. After graduation, both ROTC and WP graduates go through the exact same training. I the case of the PL’s BOLC, IOBC, and Ranger school (one of the West Pointers, however failed out of the latter). Both WP graduates and ROTC grads seemed to have equal tactical knowledge, that is to say still trying to understand the basics and working out their leadership mold (a PL’s job is to learn for the first few months from his PSG and NCO’s, in my opinion). The leadership mold taken by the two groups was quite different. the Wet Pointers ran their units like Beast Barracks (yelling, hazing, etc…), after all, that is the leadership style they were used to emulating. The ROTC officers, since they never had the experience of hazing, treated their soldiers like adults. The response from the two groups was essentially polarized. Imagine this: you are a PFC who just returned from Iraq. You receive a new PL who comes in and tells you how to fight in combat and then yells at you when you politely disagree. When you do legitimately get jacked up, rather than solving the problem discreetly and efficiently, you haze him like he is a plebe. On the other hand, a new Pl comes into a unit where 80% of the men have a combat deployment under their belt, and you’ve been through the mean training grounds of Benning. You take knowledge from them, accept certain changes that weren’t taught to you in OBC, drive on. If some one is jacked up, fix them, but do it in a manner that is professional. Like it or not, the Army is a profession. Just because it isn’t at a desk with a tie, doesn’t mean your employees are any less human. I heard a statement from another cadet today at the football game, “I respect H-2’s chainof command because they are willing to sacrfice morale for room standards.” There’s something wrong there.</p>
<p>To the other parents that commented on visiting their cadets over PPW. I remember my PPW. It was one of the best weekends of my first year. I had similar sentiments as them. I was fired up and proud to be a cadet. Keep reminding them why their there, and why they want to fight. Don’t let the jerks keep them down. Everyone is wired different, and I think I’m a three-prong for a two-prong outlet, right now!</p>