well ace I merely offer an opinion, unless the 1st amendment has been suspended on this board. And the SA people don't need an excuse to trash talk because I hear it all the time, tired of all the cracks about 'cheap imitation' and 'state imposters". Based on my many years of military experience serving with SA grads who have inflated egos and questionable leadership skills I reiterate my statement and tell you in no uncertain terms the taxpayers are getting a raw deal. I find it interesting that a Naval Academy grad once told me he would rather hire a VMI or Citadel grad because in his experience they are better workers and leaders; careful about shooting the messenger.
You see, the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States only pertains to an individual's interactions with a government entity (it is incorporated and applied to interactions with state governments via operation of the 14th Amendment).
This forum, as a private entity for forum members, can establish whatever rules it wants as regards to what is allowed to be posted. So, no, the cops aren't going to arrest you for posting what you did. They also aren't going to arrest me for posting my disliking of what you said (also protected by the First Amendment, by the way). The forum mods might, however, take issue with you trashing the federal service academies on a website called "Service Academy Forums."
I'm a VMI grad and have military experience as well, and I served with people from the service academies and all other commissioning sources. Good officers and shi#ty ones from all places. Your comments to the contrary are broad generalizations that do not match my experience or that of the officers I served with.
That
one USNA graduate might have said something to you regarding a preference for hiring SMC graduates is hardly an unequivocal endorsement of VMI and The Citadel as being "better" institutions in comparison to the USXAs. Your posting of your experience doesn't make you the "messenger" of that overall sentiment. It is your opinion (you are only the "messenger" with regard to the one interaction).
If I had to guess, I'd venture to say most USXA graduates would not feel the same way as your one cited Naval Academy alum. At any rate, one can be proud of VMI and Citadel's repuatation without throwing sticks and stones at the service academies. They USXAs have produced countless officers for our Armed Forces. I somehow don't think they were/are
all arrogant sh#theads. I'm sure there were some, but I've known plenty of arrogant VMI grads, too.
If a USXA grad calls your school a "cheap imitation," then tell him or her to "fu$k off." Simple.
It never happened to me in the service, because most of the USAFA guys I worked with were good dudes. In fact, I found them more likely to relate to my college experience than that of a ROTC grad from State U. (again, though, it really didn't make a difference where someone went to college in evaluating performance). Plenty of times, when just talking about school experiences, a USAFA guy would say "did you guys do XXX, too?" or whatever. There was curiosity and mutual respect. I'm not going to say that I didn't run across one or two dingbats from the service academies, but that's on those individuals and is no reason to condemn the institutions. I'm sure there is a USXA grad out there who can tell you about meeting a dingbat from VMI, but again, that isn't a reason to close the school down.
All that said, you are certainly free to dislike the service academies. Maybe, though, "Service Academy Forums" isn't the best site for those feelings.