It’s been an amazing weekend, mostly not in a good way. For one thing, the S.O. has now discovered that just about all of her expensive perfumes had been stolen by our packers in Germany. She swears and maintains that she has been in every box and they are not there – and they were there before we left. A lot of them were gifts from me and were not cheap.
I should have spent it on Scotch for myself instead.
On the national scene, there is little news that is good, especially the Sunday afternoon sellout of the Kurds to the Turks by the erstwhile foreign policy hacks in this twisted and demented White House. In a fit of pique, the orange monster destroyed years of hard work by diplomatic and military professionals who fostered a good relationship with the Kurds and who were supporters of US Troops in Iraq and elsewhere.
Hell of a job, Donnie.
Meanwhile, closer to home, it was Parent’s Day at my alma mater. I usually use the word “beloved” in that phrase, but the last two years and watching the reprehensible actions of some supposedly honorable men have cured me of that. For better or worse, its just the place I went to college now. An important part of my life to be sure, and one that laid foundations for the rest of my life. I wear my ring with pride and the knowledge that I earned it as did the rest of my classmates who crossed the stage that bright sunny day in May some 40 years ago.
However, the passage of those 40 years has changed my perspective on that and other periods of my life quite a bit.
This is why I was able to look with bemusement at a raging argument that has been going on about the banning of a “tradition” in receiving the cherished band of gold in the days leading up to Parents Weekend. The tradition that was banned was that of taking the glasses of champagne you got in conjunction with receiving the ring and smashing them against your company letter.
Now, in 1978 when I received my ring, no such “tradition” existed. Neither did the greater sin ( in my humble opinion) of making the presentation of the ring a public presentation in the field house with parents, girlfriends, and others in attendance. The receiving of the rings was a private ceremony, held where it should be held, in Summerall Chapel, with only members of the faculty who were themselves alumni and the members of the Class in attendance.
We then had the dinner for our class in Coward Hall, followed by a quick change into civilian clothes, and a journey across the Cooper River to the Beach House and severe inebriation.
After which most of us drove back across that same narrow bridge. ( In retrospect, not one of the smartest things to do – but MADD wasn’t a thing yet.). That too was a “tradition”.
That tradition, in the passage of the years, is now dead as a doornail. As are other things that we considered an essential part of the Citadel Experience.
Because times and society changed.
Now had I been asked to comment 20 years ago on the merits of this banning of a “cadet tradition”, I would have been one of those loud individuals bemoaning the death of the once-great institution. I still have the canceled checks from giving to the Citadel Defense fund to “Save the Males”.
It is money I still think was well spent even though it outrages a certain subset of humanity. Nonetheless, time passed and society passed my viewpoint by, for better and for worse. If you have been a long-time reader here you know I have plenty of commentary on the items that have been for the worse. Martin van Kreveld is still proudly on my bookcase.
And make no mistake, the disgruntled alumni on the Citadel Alumni boards on Facebook and elsewhere have bigger things to complain about. Most specifically, a decision made by my classmate and now Citadel President to move people around to other companies after completion of the Plebe Year. There are economic reasons for this, and while I do not agree with it, I do understand the logic behind it. For one thing, attrition is not equal between battalions and unlike during my era, the college starts off each year full. They have done that good a job of recruiting young people to attend. It’s a load balancing attempt and a berthing issue.
But it also has an albatross attached to it, namely – “Its what the military academies do.” To a Citadel graduate, those are fighting words and certainly not a good reason to do anything. I, and they, will be happy to tell you to your dying day, “The Citadel is NOT West Point!”
On this too, in my younger years, I would have argued loud and long against this change to “tradition”. And I do think it will serve to diminish the bonds of friendship and respect that are formed when you are with the same classmates for all four years of a shared experience.
But I just can’t get as fired up about it as I once would have. The extra 20 something years of life experience have changed my perspective on things a great deal.
It’s not 1979 anymore and the market that The Citadel has to appeal to is very different from that we boys who grew up in the shadow of Vietnam and the Cold War had to deal with. This is a wired generation that has grown up watching the forever war in the background along with the political decline of their very nation unfold before their very eyes. They face dismal economic prospects long term and have the distinct possibility of getting to my age in much poorer shape than our parents did.
The College has to compete for talent. Period. So I am prepared to forgive my classmate for decisions that he has to make. And I also have to objectively wonder if the military system of the Citadel ( or the Service Academies for that matter) can survive over the next 20 years. Because the fundamental change to the “system” and “tradition” occurred in society 26 ( and 43 for the academies) years ago – and it cannot be undone. Society decided, again for better or worse, that men and women no longer have distinct roles to play in society. Once that decision was implemented, the decline of the “system” was inevitable. It has been seen at the Military Academies and you can see it at the Citadel and even at VMI, who among the senior military colleges has fought hardest for a “hard” system.
The basic makeup of the Academy system from their inception in the 1800s was that of a series of emotional stressors geared at only one gender. And for some 150 years, it produced a consistent product and one that generations could take pride in the fact that their sons were experiencing mostly the same experience they did.
That’s not the case any longer. So like it or not change ( or decline depending on your perspective) is inevitable.
There is no going back to the old days. And as a result, it may be worth asking the question as to whether the system of Senior Military Colleges and Academies is sustainable in the long run. The numbers would tell you that it is. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that it is not and that the experience is not that of our predecessors or that we had “back in the day”.
The Citadel will survive as a college or even as a subset of a larger University of Charleston. ( Excuse me while I barf now). But whether I or anyone else likes it, the underpinning experience is going to change. And the disgruntled graduates like myself are moving on – so it won’t have the graybeards to heckle it in one more generation.
As much as it pains me to say it, it may be time to shift to a new model, one perhaps built on a Sandhurst model of military training that happens after university graduation. The reasons for this merit a separate post.
Then again, it’s worth noting that many folks who attend The Citadel do not go into the service. My viewpoint is as one who knew he was going in the service from day one, wanted to fly and see the world, and made my choice of an institution on that basis. In hindsight, it might have been that a different path might have served me differently, and better, over the long term.
I’ll never know if that is true or not. And 40 years from now, the Class of 2020 may ask themselves the same question. Life marches on. And traditions change. As I said, for better or for worse.
So while I think the naysayers have some valid points, the pace of change will continue. Personally, I’d like to see some well-financed and well-placed graduates restore a tradition that existed when I attended The Citadel. Namely, the state paid a lot more of the tuition costs then it does now. As a result, I did not graduate deep in debt. Today’s generation of cadets deserves the same opportunity. So let’s attack that, shall we?