Military Civilians

I just wanted to highlight Send R.O.T.C. Back to School, a recent op-ed from the NY Times, which urges Obama to make invest more in ROTC and help the military recruit on campus. What I found interesting was not the rah-rah-military attitude but the connection the author makes between elite civilian universities (specifically Yale) and the military.

But rebuilding a connection between America’s military and its most selective colleges is about more than providing exceptional opportunities to exceptional young people. It is, ultimately, about our military’s relationship to its civilian leaders.

And then later on more explicitly:

My students understood that many of the cadets they met would soon be at war. And without my saying it, they also knew that the decisions leading to war are made by elite civilians like themselves.