Cadets on Campus: History of Military Schools of the United States Thomas J

Naval War College Review Volume 72 Article 15 Number 2 Spring 2019 2019 Cadets on Campus: History of Military Schools of the United States Thomas J. Gibbons John Alfred Coulter II Follow this and additional works at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review Recommended Citation Gibbons, Thomas J. and Coulter, John Alfred II (2019) "Cadets on Campus: History of Military Schools of the United States," Naval War College Review: Vol. 72 : No. 2 , Article 15. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol72/iss2/15 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Gibbons and Coulter: Cadets on Campus: History of Military Schools of the United State BOOK REVIEWS 119 each other to survive and thrive, people military schools throughout the United are naturally fractious, routinely fighting States over the past 216 years� What re- with one another rather than cooperat- ally makes this book unique is the extent ing� Political realism shares this outlook� of Coulter’s research� He provides a By contrast, much contemporary just comprehensive review of all the military war thinking begins from a secular legal- schools that have been established across ist perspective, which is more optimistic the United States� The appendices, and idealistic about human nature and notes, and references are a testament the ability of rules and norms to create a to the research Coulter conducted to just society� Morkevičius argues that this prepare the manuscript� He provides modern idealism is responsible for both both history and analysis to demonstrate a pacifist tendency in modern just war the impact of each of these schools on thinking, which can weaken its power to American history� As a graduate of the create norms, since states are unlikely to U�S� Military Academy, I was fascinated give up the use of force entirely, and an to learn about the important role that interventionist tendency, which leads to the graduates of military schools concepts that challenge sovereignty, such have played in our nation’s history� as the responsibility-to-protect doctrine� Initially, Coulter lays the foundation While the motives are laudable, she and explains the elements of military asserts, these trends risk marginalizing school culture in terms of Edgar the influence of just war thought� Schein’s organizational culture model Practitioners will find the argument using artifacts, espoused values, and of this book interesting and will underlying assumptions� Artifacts benefit from exposure to Islamic and include the cadet uniforms, rank, and Hindu just war traditions, which insignia� Espoused values consist of are likely less familiar to them than the cadet honor codes and leadership the Christian tradition� Scholars values� “According to Edgar Schein, will enjoy the rigorous research and the final and most powerful element careful textual analysis� Whether one of organizational culture is shared agrees with its thesis or not, the book tacit assumptions which result in challenges readers and engages them perceptions, feelings, and behaviors in an important dialogue about how that are learned and taken for granted power, religion, authority, and norms and are not debatable” (p� 4)� These interact in the international arena� elements make the military schools unique and give them a special place DOYLE HODGES in the history of American education� Coulter tells the story of how just a few men, such as Major Sylvanus Thayer, USA, and Captain Alden Partridge, Cadets on Campus: History of Military Schools of USA, who worked together in the early the United States, by John Alfred Coulter II� Col- years at West Point, were instrumental lege Station: Texas A&M Univ� Press, 2017� 464 in the growth of military schools pages� $50� and colleges across the United States� J� A� Coulter has done a masterful job Partridge’s subsequent court-martial tracing the evolution and history of and removal from West Point laid the Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2019 1 NWC_Spring2019Review.indb 119 2/25/19 10:40 AM 120 NAVAL WAR COLLEGENaval REVIEW War College Review, Vol. 72 [2019], No. 2, Art. 15 groundwork for him to establish a percent reduction in the nation’s military military school in Norwich, Vermont, schools” (p� 250)� Military service was which later became Norwich University� clearly not the same badge of honor “Partridge would eventually be associ- that it had been after previous wars� ated with the citizen soldier concept Recently, however, there has been a and years later be known as the father resurgence in the number of military of ROTC [Reserve Officers’ Training schools� “Starting in 1999 and continu- Corps]” (p� 38)� Thayer implemented ing until at least 2014, the decline in the systems still in use today, including number of military schools and their a rigorous academic curriculum enrollment ended, and these indicators and the West Point honor code� “As have reversed” (p� 239)� There are a superintendent at West Point, Sylvanus number of reasons for this� Charter Thayer would lead that institution from schools increasingly are adopting the 1817 to 1833� In that role he firmly military school model as a means of established an ethos and standard of improving students’ character� Women education that led to the expansion of also have integrated seamlessly into the military school concept well into many of the programs� For example, the the current century” (p� 35)� Thayer and first captain at West Point last year was Partridge planted the seeds of military a female who eventually was accepted education that would grow and prosper as a Rhodes Scholar� Finally, the public across the country� The students taught image of the military profession has by Thayer and Partridge would go on to improved radically, according to recent establish military schools and colleges Gallup polls (p� 240)� Each of these throughout the United States on the factors contributes to the resurgence of basis of the model they developed� military schools in the United States� Coulter does a superb job explaining Coulter’s research and storytelling how the growth and expansion of indicate a level of scholarship that military schools and colleges is tied to few achieve� My only criticism is that events in U�S� military history� He notes it would have been useful to have that “[b]y far the greatest impact on more background on the history of military schools of the United States has military schools in other cultures for been war” (p� 249)� Except for a slight comparison� Are the military schools in decline immediately after the Civil War, the United States unique, compared with the number of military schools increased the models established in other cultures? steadily from 1802 through 1926� Thus, If so, what makes them unique? it reached its peak after World War I; the Coulter has done an exceptional numbers declined steadily after World job tracing the history and factors War II and the Korean War� But it was that influenced military schools the Vietnam War and the ongoing at- across the United States� I would mosphere of social change that sounded recommend this book wholeheart- the death knell for several military edly to anyone interested in learning schools and colleges� Coulter writes, about the military school model� “The political impact of the Vietnam War, along with a cultural shift among THOMAS J� GIBBONS young people, was responsible for a 65 https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol72/iss2/15 2 NWC_Spring2019Review.indb 120 2/25/19 10:40 AM.

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