Posted on Oct 3, 2016
I just visited West Point. Are the best Army officers often from West Point?
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Never ask an Officer if they are from West Point. If they are they'll let you know. Repeatedly.
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SSG Herman Bauman
Every West Pointer I ever knew wore the Ranger Tab, so even now I assume that an officer wearing a Ranger Tab is a West Pointer.
LTC Peter Plassmann correct me if I am wrong.
LTC Peter Plassmann correct me if I am wrong.
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SFC Bill Snyder
They have a Union: the West Point Protective Association. They take care of their own.
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SSG Rodney Richter
Generally correct but I did have a Platoon Leader who was #1 out of his class arrive in Germany and he listened to his more experienced NCO's. He was the exception rather than the rule.
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LTC Lane Altenbaumer
As an officer, my NCO's didn't get away with as much as they thought they should. As an OCS graduate (5-81), I have 10 years of enlisted experience as an 11 bang bang.
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CH (CPT) (Join to see)
They certainly make better LTs, given experience, but like the above commented mentioned, we’ve all seen the prior enlisted guy that gets his commission and coasts to retirement or starts every sentence with “as a prior NCO...”
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TSgt (Join to see)
Not sure I but that. I used to believe it but lately I’ve worked for shitty officers that were prior enlisted and currently work for a great officer from the academy.
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SFC Kenneth Hunnell
If West Point Officer's got rid of the God complex, they would be the very best.
This reminds me of my tour to Afghanistan, when i was there i came across a few Marines, they were outstanding. The ones i came across that never deployed, they came across as having a God complex.
After i was in Afghanistan for a while, i could tell if a Marine has been there a while or has deployed before. The ones that have seemed to figure out that they were not invincible
Not knocking on the Marines, just making an observation
This reminds me of my tour to Afghanistan, when i was there i came across a few Marines, they were outstanding. The ones i came across that never deployed, they came across as having a God complex.
After i was in Afghanistan for a while, i could tell if a Marine has been there a while or has deployed before. The ones that have seemed to figure out that they were not invincible
Not knocking on the Marines, just making an observation
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SPC Patricia K. (Williams) Elliott
My experience says prior enlisted usually make the best officers! Of course there are exceptions to every rule and I have met some very fine officers that went through OCS and the Academy!
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An Officer's particular commissioning source has very little to do with how "good" or "bad" they are. I graduated from USMA, taught the Officer Basic Course for 2 years and was an ROTC PMS for 4 years. I've seen a lot of good Officers and a lot of bad Officer's from every commissioning source. The quality of the Officer depends on who they are, not where they came from.
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They call 'em Cadidiot's for a reason. The best Army officer is the one that realizes he/ she is not the best yet but is willing to learn beyond college/academy. If you want to be the best, never stop learning.
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SPC (Join to see)
I feel like everyone should conduct themselves with a certain level of humility. No one knows everything, even the best leaders. The best leaders take this into account.
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The best Army officers, sure. But the best officers period come out of the Naval Academy. :)
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LTC Stephen Conway
SN Greg Wright - I knew of at least one of the Naval Academy graduates as an O-2 in the California Army Guard. Sad to say the USMC does not accept E7 Armor Put SGT. Master Gunners. My former Plt. SGT.worked as civilian at China Lake and he was being transferred to USMC facility on east coast and his experience was not acceptable to the USMC. If he wanted in to armor ,back in 2000, he would go in as an E2!.
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Maj John Bell
LTC Stephen Conway - No it was just a single semester. At that time there was a quota. I can't remember, but I think it was a total of six per service academy, including Coast Guard.
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I'm not a West Point guy...however, that being said...don't make the assumption that just because someone went to West Point that they are automatically better officers. I've worked (still do) with folks that got their commission thru West Point, OCS and ROTC. You have stellar performers out of each. You also have duds out of each.
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No. USMA produces many good officers. Other commissioning sources produce good officers. Both occasionally produce officers that are not so good. Plus, the idea of 'best' is subjective and these things just lead to debates and anecdotes ad nausea ;-)
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Oscar: We never know where the best officer will come from. Mustangs, direct commission, ROTC, Academies are just ways Army managerial and leadership employees are hired. It's not till any employee is fully train and tested before you know if they are cream or milk.
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West Point certainly has produced some very good Officers but then so has ROTC and also places such as Virginia Military Institute, Norwich, the Citadel, Texas A&M or even the former Pennsylvania Military College. In the final look after all the education and training it still falls upon the individual Officer to take full advantage of His education and training and be the best He can be.
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