U.S. Air Force Academy graduates throw their hats in the air in celebration as the Thunderbirds fly overhead signaling the end of the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony at Colorado Springs, Colo., on May 30, 2007. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates delivered the commencement address to the 976-member graduating class. DoD photo by Cherie A. Thurlby. (Released)From The Wall Street Journal:
WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged the nation's future Army officers to question authority, challenge conventional wisdom and work to avoid the dangerous "groupthink" that often takes root in military circles.
In a commencement speech Saturday to a packed football stadium at this storied military academy, Mr. Gates told hundreds of West Point graduates that the Army's traditional consensus-driven culture was ill-suited to the complex challenges of modern warfare in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The defense chief encouraged the cadets, who will soon be commissioned into the Army, to tell higher-ranking officers what they needed to hear, as opposed to what they wanted to hear.
"The higher up you go, the stronger the pressure to smooth off the rough edges, paper over problems, close the proverbial ranks and stay on message," he told the cadets and their families. "The hardest thing you may ever be called upon to do is stand alone among your peers and superior officers."
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My Comment: I agree with Sec. of Defense Gates .... but what he is recommending is easier said than done.
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