Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

What sort of officers succeed, by commissioning source?

Robin Walther, a typically well-informed reader of this blog, points out a more recent study that seems to confirm the findings of the thesis I passed along yesterday. This is his summary: It shows a positive correlation between NROTC and promotion to Maj, LtCol and Col; a negative correlation between OCS (OCC/PLC) and all three ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
586423_090424_ricksBB2.jpg
586423_090424_ricksBB2.jpg

Robin Walther, a typically well-informed reader of this blog, points out a more recent study that seems to confirm the findings of the thesis I passed along yesterday.

Robin Walther, a typically well-informed reader of this blog, points out a more recent study that seems to confirm the findings of the thesis I passed along yesterday.

This is his summary:

It shows a positive correlation between NROTC and promotion to Maj, LtCol and Col; a negative correlation between OCS (OCC/PLC) and all three promotion rates; and is mixed for the Naval Academy and the various enlisted commissioning sources.”

I keep on hearing cadets and West Point alums demanding data. OK, we’ve seen some. Now, do you have any evidence that academy grads make better officers? If not, why are we asking the taxpayer to pay almost three times as much for them?

woodgrinder/Flickr

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

Read More On Academia | Education

Latest

What Cities Can Tell Us About Geopolitics

The Original Authoritarian

Russia’s Military Cruelty Begins With Its Own Conscripts

Is There Such Thing as a Global South?

What Milei’s Dollarization Plan Would Mean for Argentina’s Economy
See All Stories

Editors’ Picks

  1. 1
    Russia’s Military Cruelty Begins With Its Own Conscripts
  2. 2
    It’s Time to Reconsider Turkey’s NATO Membership
  3. 3
    The Shortest Path to Victory in Ukraine Goes Through Crimea
  4. 4
    How Will This War End? How Can the Next One be Prevented?
  5. 5
    Is There Such Thing as a Global South?
  6. 6
    The Best Books for Understanding the Israel-Hamas War

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.

Trending

  1. How Will This War End? How Can the Next One be Prevented?
    Roundup
    Zaha Hassan, Daniel C. Kurtzer, Omar M. Dajani, Diana Buttu, Peter R. Mansoor, Daniel Levy, Ehud Olmert, Eugene Kontorovich, Elliott Abrams

  2. Is There Such Thing as a Global South?
    Analysis
    C. Raja Mohan

  3. Russia’s Military Cruelty Begins With Its Own Conscripts
    Argument
    Kristaps Andrejsons

  4. Commerce Needs Cash to Curb China’s Chips
    Report
    Robbie Gramer, Rishi Iyengar

  5. The Original Authoritarian
    Review
    Daniel W. Drezner