On Dec. 15, shortly after Army football’s 12th consecutive loss to the U.S. Naval Academy, the superintendent of West Point, Lt. Gen. Robert Caslen, announced that he was considering institutional changes to build a winning program. “When America puts its sons and daughters in harm’s way, they do not expect us to just ‘do our best’ . . . but to win,” he wrote. “Nothing short of victory is acceptable. . . . Our core values are Duty, Honor, Country. Winning makes them real.”
See if you can follow along on the logic of this chick with me. Ms Caslen argues that there is a direct link between victory on the football field and victory on the battlefield. This babe thinks it appropriate to allude to people dying in armed warfare in the same breath as people playing a field sport. How can we, she asks, expect our sons and daughters to die for their country if we don’t also expect them to win football games? After all, winning on the gridiron is the same as winning on the outskirts of Baghdad. Winning on the outskirts of Baghdad isn’t real; it only becomes real when Army is also winning football games. Words like duty honor and country are hollow cliches until we beat Navy.
Does it worry you just a tad that the people running the nation’s defense don’t grasp the difference between football and warfare? Does it worry you just a tad that operational logic is in the hands of people who are, uh, nuts?
February 27th, 2014 at 6:51AM
Still more contemptible: duty, honor, and patriotism have no value as ends in themselves, but only as instruments towards ‘winning.’ Cromwell’s axiom: necessity hath no law.
But – as Aerosmith would put it – the dude (does not look like a lady).
February 27th, 2014 at 8:11PM
Have Air Farce and Navy cut standards in order to win? (I’m thinking they have, but I really don’t know).
I graduated with Bob Caslen from West Point in 1975, and I knew Lance Betros when I was there.
This change is a mistake and will lead to more problems.
February 27th, 2014 at 9:07PM
JND : Air Farce. LOL.