Officers are great not because of their commissioning source or their education, it is how they can translate orders into action. It is how they treat the people they serve with. There are great tacticians, but that doesn't correlate into great leaders and vise a verse.
I'm going to return Pima's favor and agree 100% with this, and I'll even take it a step further.
In my day, Midshipmen really weren't exposed to enlisted personnel in any significant way, certainly not in a way that helped instil a respect for an immutable law of JO Leadership:
YOUR PEOPLE CAN SUCCEED WITHOUT YOU, BUT YOU CANNOT SUCCEED WITHOUT YOUR PEOPLE.
Therefore, if you treat your people like plebes, it doesn't matter if your father is the CNO, you are fifth-generation USNA, and that you graduated at the top of your class.
YOU WILL FAIL. If, however, you treat your people well, look after them, and earn their respect, then
YOU WILL SUCCEED, even if you attended ROTC at Podunk U. and graduated as the anchor man.
As little as I can offer in terms of current information about the Service Academies, this is one area that I can pontificate on for HOURS and still be current: YOUR PEOPLE CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU AS A JUNIOR OFFICER. Not only CAN they, but they WILL. An officer who is arrogant, aloof, disinterested, and therefore not seen as a person worth following will not be backed up in the event of a mistake (and EVERYONE makes TONS of them at first), no matter how technically or tactically brilliant they are. OTOH, an officer who isn't the next Bull Halsey in terms of technical knowledge and tactics WILL be backed up by his men when he makes a mistake.
If you will permit me an anecdote, and one which I hold dear...
I was not the finest Naval Officer ever to sail the ocean blue. Not even close. I was, at best, average. I won't bore you with the reasons why, but I just didn't have the same fire in the belly I had while at USNA. That said, I did the best I could to get by but....... BUT........ I LOOKED AFTER MY FOLKS.
One day I was getting grilled by my (insert a long string of well-deserved expletives) Department Head when my Chief stepped in and said, "Wait a minute, sir. You're being unfair. Mr. Zaphod transmitted those instructions just fine, but one of my guys didn't follow through. I'll take care of it, but please take my boss off the hook."
When Chiefs talk, the wise shut up and listen.
Later that day, I spoke to my Chief and asked him why he'd done that. After all, I HAD screwed up. He'd totally pulled my ass out of the fire.
"Well, sir...... You may have been a screwed up DIVO, but you're OUR screwed-up DIVO, and you take good care of us, so...."
You see? Your men will cover for you IF they respect you and IF the mistake in question can be addressed by THEM. The catch, of course, is EARNING that respect. How do you do that?
If they have problem, LISTEN. If they ask for help, GIVE IT. If they have a question, ANSWER IT.
By the same token, this doesn't mean BABY them, either. A leader is one who can balance being a father figure with being an *******. If you are too much of either, then you will breed contempt because you will be seen either as a total jerk or a pushover. Neither is good.
My guys knew that they could come to me with problems, questions, issues, etc., and that I'd listen and do my best to help. They knew that when the crap was coming downhill, I'd be there to take it for them. HOWEVER, they ALSO knew that if they screwed up, I wouldn't be happy and would say so. They knew I had standards and that I expected them to be met (Well, the CHIEF set the standards until he taught me to set my own, but they didn't know that at the time -
).
Notice that not once in any of this did the fact that I went to USNA vs. ROTC come up.
Get it?
ETA: One important thing - I believe USNA graduates SHOULD perform better, that they SHOULD outshine non-USNA officers. There is NO EXCUSE NOT TO. You attended one of the finest colleges in the country FOR FREE, you were IMMERSED in Naval education and training, and you were ostensibly taught for FOUR YEARS how to be a LEADER. If you DON'T shine, then it's YOUR fault!
A shame I learned this later than when it would have mattered.
A shame so many NEVER learned it, or did so poorly they REALLY messed it up for the rest of us!
