- Joined
- Nov 25, 2007
- Messages
- 9,295
I see! Thanks. I was reading it as "the percentage selected for separation..."
Well, I might argue with the results part. If you look at the very recent Majors involuntary separation board which was predominately based on derogatory info (DUIs, really bad OERs, reprimands, etc…) the break down by source of commissioning was: (% of Majors separated by source)
USMA: 2.6%
ROTC Scholarship: 5.4%
OCS: 7.3%
ROTC non Sch: 9.7%
Inter service transfer: 16%
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B87O4lCzt8ZDTFdlaWRoT0t0ajQ/preview?pli=1
Here is twist on the debate - how much does it cost each of us taxpayers to keep a cadet in a Service Academy for a year? Using the $100,000 cost per year divided by quantity of tax payers 216,000,000 (random internet search said 216M taxpayers in 2008) = .0004 for each of us to send a cadet to a SA for one year. Now multiply this by say 4,100 for the Corp of cadets and it costs $1.90 per year, per taxpayer to keep the entire Academy running. Your 4 year commitment to fully educate and train those attending a Service Academy is $7.60.
Someone showed me this illustration when combating the old adage that your child is getting a free education on the back of the tax payers. The example I read recently on FB was this person flipped a 50 cent piece to the individual and said, "Here you go, this should cover your out of pocket cost of my child attend a SA". Using my numbers above it may be closer to 2 cents for one cadet for 4 years.
I'm willing to pay a $1.90 a year to keep our Service Academies.
I'm all for keeping the SAs but wonder if the 'free everything' plus a stipend should continue. Would things really be different if the SAs had student fees and supply-your -own health insurance, and housing/meal plans? I suppose one would have to exempt all the D1 recruits, or things would go down hill.
I'm interested to know if ROTC cadets are under UCMJ. Anyone know?
No, they're not. Cadets and midshipmen at USCGA, USMA, USNA and USAFA are all under UCMJ. USMMA is not. ROTC is not.
I certainly won't pretend to be expert with the curricula at each of the SAs. That being said, I thought for the big three at least there is not all that much role-specific stuff taught during the academic year.
DD will be taking a soaring class (gliders training) in the spring at USAFA. She's also required to take AF engineering (aircraft design, etc.) - seems pretty role-specific to me.