TCBF said:
From what I have seen lately, I would say the greatest threat to the Canadian Forces consists of University Degrees wrapped in CAD PAT. Comes complete with a "Get Out Of Reality Free" Card, and a "License to Avoid Learning From The Past."
Tom
Interesting point of view. Consider this: every (EVERY) US Army or Marine officer fighting right now in Iraq or in Afghanistan has a degree. Some have two, and almost all General officers have post grad. Most did not get their degree from a military academy, but instead through a civilian university. How does having a degree make them worse officers? A degree (by itself) mght not make them better officers (but just in case, see below), but how does it make them worse?
Does a degree make a better officer? I never believed that when I commissioned in 1983: I was an OCTP guy, with no degree, as were many of my peers. Then, times changed and in 2000-2001 I completed a degree through the Army. When I was serving in Afghanistan last year, my place of duty was the HQ of US Combined Joint Task Force 76, the operational-level HQ for US forces in that country. One day I sat down with the Chief of Staff, a very long-serving and tough old Infantry Colonel. I asked him if he thought having a degree made any difference. What he said was basically this: up to abut Coy Comd, it probably doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of difference. But, after that, in command at battalion and above, in staff positions, in teaching positions at military educational establishments, in multi-national forces and HQs, in working with non-military agencies, and in designing campaigns, strategy or policy, he stated that the educational experience was invaluable not because of the "stuff" that was taught in university, but rather in the broadening and deepening of the minding and the training of its processes and habits. I still agree with this.
The fact that we have undoubtedly produced incompetent officers who have degrees is IMHO merely a correlation, rather than cause and effect. I would be much more inclined to lay the blame on a system that fail to weed out weak characters, incompetents and otherwise generally unsuited types, or that automatically bestows HM commission on someone just because they have a degree. There, in my view, lie the real problems.
Cheers