Interesting Debate

There’s a somewhat interesting argument going on between West Point and Foreign Policy magazine that you can find here. FP magazine published retention figures for the Class of 2002 that they apparently failed to validate (a.k.a the Jason Blair syndrome). Their claim of 60% attrition at the 5 year mark was rebutted by West Point, who claims only 40% attrition — less than Class of 2000 and 2001 rates.

Not only will FP magazine not provide their “objective and independent source”, but the editor, Mike Boyer, is requesting that West Point provide assignment details for every member of 2002 so FP can independently analyze and verify the data.

Mike is obviously not a West Point grad. If he were, he’d understand that when you’re caught red-handed, “no excuse, sir” is always an appropriate response.

Alex

Pentagon Wounded Warrior Event

I received this story from Gabe Marriott (yes, our venerable classmate who, among other feats, was the only person in the class to briefly lose an eyeball in Plebe Boxing). He validated the story with his former company commander who is currently serving at the Pentagon. It’s written by LTC Robert Bateman, and published by Joe Galloway of the McClatchy Washington Beareau.

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Classmate Update

And we’re finally caught up! I’m pleased to bring you the most recent classmate updates I have, the newest of which came in less than a week ago.

Gabe Smith, a fellow G2 Gator, sent me the following:

Two weeks after graduation Janet and I were married in Charlotte, NC. After all of the fun at Fort Benning we moved to DC where I did my platoon leader and XO time with the 3rd Infantry (Old Guard). I was at the Pentagon on September 11th. After the Captain’s Course at Benning we moved to Fort Lewis, WA and deployed to Iraq with 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID. Read the rest of this entry »

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