<p>I “HATE” long posts almost as much as I “HATE” PMs since no one reads either, but since there is a thick layer of frost on the golf course and I have nothing better to do, I will try to salvage this thread from the ad hominem quagmire into which it has sunk.</p>
<p>Everyone who reads these forums becomes an emissary for the Service Academies, all of them. And from the number of readers who have read this one, not all of whom are here for the train wreck, I am sure, there is interest across the forum on what are the attributes of USMMA for those desiring a career in the Navy. So, jasperdog, it does transpire beyond the immediate needs of the OP. Next year when a parent in the supermarket check out line asks a parent on here now, that since her child had applied the previous year, what does she think of USMMA. We have KP2009 stating that it is better than USNA for future Naval officers, suzannegra saying that it should never be a part of a back up plan, jasperdog saying it is a great place to become a CEO of a Fortune 50 company since one can bypass the constraints of an O-1’s measly pittance, several stating that it is a great place to go for those who are undecided what they want to do with their lives, and a great place to “serve” ones country and get rich in the interim. And we cannot ignore SeaCadet running around screaming; “shoot the messenger, shoot the messenger.” If I heard any of these, I would cringe.</p>
<p>First off, lets address the “best” issue. Each Service Academy is a laboratory for its respective service. Each of the myriad of attributes necessary to become an outstanding officer can be tweaked and manipulated here like nowhere else. Any perceived shortcoming of graduates can be identified and corrected. To reduce this for USNA to a couple of leadership seminars and the ability to make a motivational speech is totally irresponsible. USNA is a laboratory for the US Navy and USMMA is the same for our Merchant Marine fleet, and their respective goals are far from the same. So, which procurement source makes the “best” officers. If we established a performance bell curve for all the grads of each source, USNA, senior military colleges, maritime schools, NROTC, and OCS, the peak of USNA is to the right with others falling in line to the left. Sure there is overlap but both the “best of the best” and the mean/average of USNA will always be the best, with maybe an occasional anomaly but since we have never had a USMMA CNO, I doubt it. Again, a myriad of attributes, hundreds of them, that make a great Naval Officer of which except for a very few, are better served at USNA. And the ones that are not are mitigated by the typical JO assignment and career path.</p>
<p>Secondly, lets address the “undecided” issue. Many things drive one to succeed. I don’t think one can deny that probably the two most prevalent is the desire to succeed/fear of failure. Typical of a lot of Type ‘A’s. Failure is not in their vocabulary. Even when told to stand in the corner for ‘timeout’ as a five year old, they had to be the best. These individuals will succeed anywhere. Secondly, there are those who are goal driven. They need a goal. The more specific the better. From our own personal life to hundreds of business axioms, striving to meet a goal is important to all of us. No one can convince me that the vast majority of those who want to serve their country have not developed some rather specific ideas about how they want to do it. I equate much of the undecidedness to a lack of education and research. A service academy which uses this as an asset is really providing a crutch rather than offering an asset.</p>
<p>Thirdly, service to ones country. A real slippery slope. I feel there are degrees of service. And I doubt that I am the only one who feels this way. Someone who basically signs over their entire life as they see it at the age of eighteen is not the same as someone who signs away four years for the opportunity to make a great salary, work at their own whim, and be represented by a union. And, personally, with everything going on today I will respect the WP candidate more than the same USNA contemporatry, and both a lot more than the undecided candidate heading off to USMMA.</p>
<p>As I have stated before, USMMA provides a critical and invaluable service to our MSC fleet. Don’t try to make it into something that it is not.</p>
<p>Frost is clearing up. Golf awaits. (jasperdog, were you really attempting to criticize me because the MMA forum is not my number one priority in life. Still haven’t figure that one out). And probably no one read this far anyway. Let the ad hominem attacks begin.</p>