Memphis9489
15-Year Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2008
- Messages
- 1,389
If one were to poll the fleet several years ago for the one single trait that defined most USNA grads, ‘Arrogance’ would probably lead the list. Admiral Fowler recognized this and, when he checked on board, commenced a push for “confidence with humility”, the term I think he used. Where does this attitude come from and why does it appear to be worse at USNA than the other two S As?
Also, I think a lot of non-Academy officers are overly defensive and oftentimes put a pejorative label on their Academy peers for no other reason than their own, self-imposed, insecurities.
The dirty little secret is that many of these non-Academy officers either applied to a service academy and didn't get accepted -or- knew that they could never get into the academy because of their lackluster credentials - but would have loved to have attended ... if they could have.
Which reminds me of Shakespeare quote, "Me thinks the man doth protest too much."
West Pointers and USAFA grads face the same kind of discriminatory accusation of "arrogance" and elitism that the Naval Academy grads get. I don't think it is unique to the Naval Academy in any way.
Are there arrogant Naval Academy grads? Sure!
I think there are arrogant Harvard grads. I think there are arrogant Stanford grads. There is always this pitfall when one graduates from a school that is perceived as prestigious and elite. I'm wondering if an officer, who graduated from Vanderbilt's NROTC program, would be any less prone to exhibit "arrogance."
Is it common -or- something running rampant throughout the fleet? Is it a real problem? Nah.
I can think of so many other, more important, issues to address than perceived "arrogance" of Naval Academy grads.