Pilot shortage?

[wink]

To go back to what NAPS is, or its value, just today I got word two of my candidates this year got NAPS appointments. One is Navajo. Impressive young man. His family lives in a suburb with very poor performing unsafe high schools (I am familiar because my sister was a counselor in one of them). This kid's father is a postal worker. His mother does not work outside the home. They drive this kid and his twin brother 2 hours round trip each day to one of the very best schools in the state, a private Jesuit school. Because of the poor preparation he got from the public middle school, he struggled his first year or two in the demanding college prep course he found at the private school. His last two years were very good, but his GPA never recovered. He did not take the SAT/ACT because of COVID. He was a varsity cross country runner, but quit to concentrate on his academics, which hurt his application a good bit. He is proud of the Code Talker heritage. He feels an obligation to serve and promote military service to other Natives. I'll spare you more details. I think he will be a great Navy officer.

The other guy, is a nationally ranked wrestler recruited by the USNA wrestling team. So yeah, maybe it is a red shirt thing. But he is Hispanic, from a high school lacking top academic credentials who has produced less then a dozen candidates in my 20 years and NO selects. USNA is likely interested in getting a Mid from that school to generate further interest in other students and support from teachers. This guy was also great. He deserved an appointment.

These young people would not get into USNA without NAPS. And as long as USNA exists, you can't just relegate certain folks to ROTC or OCS as a gateway to a commission denying them the most elite option.

 

[picklesuit]

To go back to what NAPS is, or its value, just today I got word two of my candidates this year got NAPS appointments. One is Navajo. Impressive young man. His family lives in a suburb with very poor performing unsafe high schools (I am familiar because my sister was a counselor in one of them). This kid's father is a postal worker. His mother does not work outside the home. They drive this kid and his twin brother 2 hours round trip each day to one of the very best schools in the state, a private Jesuit school. Because of the poor preparation he got from the public middle school, he struggled his first year or two in the demanding college prep course he found at the private school. His last two years were very good, but his GPA never recovered. He did not take the SAT/ACT because of COVID. He was a varsity cross country runner, but quit to concentrate on his academics, which hurt his application a good bit. He is proud of the Code Talker heritage. He feels an obligation to serve and promote military service to other Natives. I'll spare you more details. I think he will be a great Navy officer.

The other guy, is a nationally ranked wrestler recruited by the USNA wrestling team. So yeah, maybe it is a red shirt thing. But he is Hispanic, from a high school lacking top academic credentials who has produced less then a dozen candidates in my 20 years and NO selects. USNA is likely interested in getting a Mid from that school to generate further interest in other students and support from teachers. This guy was also great. He deserved an appointment.

These young people would not get into USNA without NAPS. And as long as USNA exists, you can't just relegate certain folks to ROTC or OCS as a gateway to a commission denying them the most elite option.

Wait...I’m not elite?!

 

[Jim123]

Wait...I’m not elite?!

But... at OCS they told us about the whole crockpot vs pressure cooker thing, that we were getting four years of college-level courses-that-don't-count-in-your-GPA naval science squeeze into in thirteen twelve weeks! Elite pressure cooker!!

 

[robav8r]

Would encourage all of you to read the AF diversity report for some context. It just reaffirms my own understanding that the demographic discrepancies inherent in the force are cast by society well before anyone gets near an accession or aviator training program. Disparities exist, to be sure but .mil policies are not responsible for those disparities. As leaders it’s still our duty to find and seek out where we can add balance and promote and advocate for qualified folks from under represented backgrounds...

Careful now Chuck, the current SECDEF and his following might disagree with you . . . .

 

[wink]

Wait...I’m not elite?!

That was "most elite." We are still elite. On the spectrum, as it were .

 

[PhrogLoop]

...But it's current mission, which is primarily a combination of supporting diversity numbers and supporting competitive Div 1 sports is more debatable.

Good info, and interesting context about how the mission evolved. But what’s the argument against the current iteration of the mission? I’m all for USNA improving diversity and athletic excellence. Not looking for an argument, but I’m interested to hear another point of view.

 

[DanMa1156]

it's not. for class of '24, only 79 had any prior military experience. of those, only 18 went direct to USNA, 61 went to NAPS.

there were 198 total from NAPS, 137 of them with no military background. Of those 137, a very large majority are either varsity redshirts (mostly football and lacrosse) or diversity candidates.

there is a stat that USNA throws around, that " 1/3 or midshipman have some post HS education", maybe that's the point of confusion.

As a BGO, I agree with previous posts, that's it's really hard to predict who will get appointed and who won't. As far as NAPS, it's original mission of supporting fleet sailors with the potential to become officers is certainly justified. But it's current mission, which is primarily a combination of supporting diversity numbers and supporting competitive Div 1 sports is more debatable.

Thanks for the clarification. My point remains then that NAPS should be abolished and its mission could be replaced at USNA itself or through a less expensive prep program.

 

[Griz882]

Thanks for the clarification. My point remains then that NAPS should be abolished and its mission could be replaced at USNA itself or through a less expensive prep program.

I’ll do you one better. They should close all of the academies (as full colleges) and make each the home for a six to eight month officer training school much like Sandhurst in the UK. You could also use the campus for advanced officer development courses.

 

[SlickAg]

I’ll do you one better. They should close all of the academies (as full colleges) and make each the home for a six to eight month officer training school much like Sandhurst in the UK. You could also use the campus for advanced officer development courses.

Would be interesting to see how many scholarships you could fund with the cost-savings as well. I would advocate for some sort of NROTC or other officer development while getting a baccalaureate degree followed by attendance at such an institution. I think that alone would help in recruiting a more diverse officer corps because you could get people who weren’t pointed in the military’s direction after high school.

What’s the name of the USNA professor that advocates for shutting it down? And does he extend his argument to all service academies or just USNA?

 

[Griz882]

Would be interesting to see how many scholarships you could fund with the cost-savings as well. I would advocate for some sort of NROTC or other officer development while getting a baccalaureate degree followed by attendance at such an institution. I think that alone would help in recruiting a more diverse officer corps because you could get people who weren’t pointed in the military’s direction after high school.

What’s the name of the USNA professor that advocates for shutting it down? And does he extend his argument to all service academies or just USNA?

I know who you mean, but I can’t remember the name. It is a commonly discussed theme but tradition is really strong so such a path is unlikely.

 

[johnboyA6E]

Prof Bruce Flemming is the guy. If you google him you'll find a whole bunch of articles either written by him or about him in papers like the Capital Gazette in Annapolis and elsewhere.

He made quite a name for himself by blasting the Academy and NAPS over and over wherever he could. He was also a big proponent of getting rid of the Service Academies and replacing with something like Sandhurst.

He had several articles with a lot of data about NAPS as well. Not the most popular guy, he eventually got booted from USNA over a sexual harassment claim (sending creepy pics of himself to female mids) but was eventually reinstated, but still not teaching actual classes I think.

 

[DanMa1156]

I’ll do you one better. They should close all of the academies (as full colleges) and make each the home for a six to eight month officer training school much like Sandhurst in the UK. You could also use the campus for advanced officer development courses.

I have considered the value of this in the past and it bubbles up in my mind every few years.

 

[Griz882]

Prof Bruce Flemming is the guy. If you google him you'll find a whole bunch of articles either written by him or about him in papers like the Capital Gazette in Annapolis and elsewhere.

He made quite a name for himself by blasting the Academy and NAPS over and over wherever he could. He was also a big proponent of getting rid of the Service Academies and replacing with something like Sandhurst.

He had several articles with a lot of data about NAPS as well. Not the most popular guy, he eventually got booted from USNA over a sexual harassment claim (sending creepy pics of himself to female mids) but was eventually reinstated, but still not teaching actual classes I think.

That’s the guy, but I think he won his case and is still there (although not teaching).

 

[Flash]

I’ll do you one better. They should close all of the academies (as full colleges) and make each the home for a six to eight month officer training school much like Sandhurst in the UK. You could also use the campus for advanced officer development courses.

Which would do away with ROTC and OCS as well, making the academies glorified OCS's like Sandhurst. That would be a drastic shift in how we handle officer training across the board, one that ironically may end up costing just as much if not more than the academies do now if almost officer candidate has to go through the same 6-8 month accession program.

It isn't just Sandhurst either, much of their initial military training is set up differently than ours. What works for them doesn't mean it would work well for us, notably most other Commonwealth countries with larger militaries have the American-style system of military academies that are also universities in addition to utilizing other commissioning sources.

 

[Brett327]

Would encourage all of you to read the AF diversity report for some context. It just reaffirms my own understanding that the demographic discrepancies inherent in the force are cast by society well before anyone gets near an accession or aviator training program. Disparities exist, to be sure but .mil policies are not responsible for those disparities. As leaders it’s still our duty to find and seek out where we can add balance and promote and advocate for qualified folks from under represented backgrounds...

This is the most lucid, enlightened thing you've ever said on this site, Chuck. Did you go on a Ayahuasca retreat recently?