Harvard to Allow Army ROTC on Campus

As stated before Harvard is not creating a on campus det...there will still be xtown to MIT. Once again no "fraud, waste, and abuse there. You seem to be missing the point of these Ivies returning to their military support and their history of producing officers since before this country was founded. All that was pointed out here was perhaps the hypocracy or "back pedaling" that these Ivies are doing pertaining to their "re-acceptance" / "recognizing" military service after 40 years of nada.

As far as "reverse snobbery" I was not talking about active duty peers so much as the civilian or retired military who have already voiced their negative judgement. We have already experienced this without saying a word. My daughter is starting to already avoid answering "where are you going to college this fall?". Instead she politely says "a small college back east".
Believe me! She understands what's ahead in ROTC and comes from a military family who knows "Service before Self".

Being active duty for now for 22 years, we have seen negative comments about elitism towards others whether it's AFA or HYP grads. It's just part of human nature.
 
tbg...both great stories!:thumb:
One of the fighter pilots in our last squadron would blush with embarrassment every time one of the guys made fun of his alma mater Harvard. This guy was "mayor" of the roll call in the squadron bar and would get heckled. It was hilarious and he took it well! Obviously he had to take more Jeremy Weed shots than normal.:wink:
 
Too much drama here- let's try to keep this from being personal.

I can look at this from multiple perspectives. From one perspective- it's a "don't do us any favor's" perspective which I think is probably where Scoutpilot is coming from. Truthfully- the entire timing -allowing ROTC to "return" contingent on DADT repeal really struck me wrong as their policy was so hypocritical for years. (If it bothered them so much - how did they manage to take all of those DoD contracts and how were all of those LTColonel's and Colonels going to the Kennedy School? Clearly they had disapproval of the military for public consumption ("see how moral we are:first we threw them off because we didn't like a war that a President committed the Army to, then kept them out because we didn't like a military policy imposed by Congress- so to demonstrate our superior moral understanding publicly we won't allow anyone to wear those horrid uniforms on campus nor will we grant any elective credit or exempt any misguided students from any requirements in order to pursue their morally suspect career choice" ), but their "conscience" clearly stopped at the cash register). So all of their spin about validating the military as public service rings badly on a lot of military ears , and most of all on the ears of people who have had a decade of sacrifice which included years away from their families and frequently dying while Harvard played their game of "holier than thou" as long as they didn't get monetarily penalized for it; and the spin of some - (not all by any means though) sounds suspiciously like "rewarding the Army" for making the Harvard approved correct choice (Of course - if that is really the case then what happens if they decide that they are again morally outraged by some decision that the faculty senate doesn't like? Do they walk again in a high moral dither?)

But -on the other hand: Harvard students are a collection of talented, passionate and well educated young people who have a great deal to offer - as do their peers in every other school . The fact that Harvard will now allow and facilitate them to pursue getting a commission just as their peers do at MIT, BU, Princeton, UVA, VMI, Norwich or UT Pan American not to mention the 300 other schools that offer ROTC , should be good news for the Army because good people who will be good soldiers come from all of those places and Harvard students should share in the opportunity. It's good news not because they are Harvard grads with some mythical superiority to the rest of us mere mortals, (Believe me I have met my share of boneheaded Ivy Leaguers just as I have met plenty of boneheaded West Pointers and VMI Keydets and Georgetown grads etc... ), but because they should have the privilege of serving if they want and are qualified to do so, just like the rest of us. So from my perspective- the more kids from all walks of life who have the chance to serve- the better off the Army and the country is. Shared military service is a tie that binds the country together, and brings different and complimentary perspectives to the Army and so we should encourage that service among all sectors of the society- the well-to-do as well as the first generation immigrant working class and everyone in between.

BTW as several others have pointed out- this is a Crosstown agreement with MIT. The Army isn't setting up a new Battalion so I don't understand what some of you are talking about suggesting that this is an added expense in a tight budget.
 
Last edited:
Bruno, Bravo!! You have a standing applause from here. Thank you and well said!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top