Military Academies Must Train "Officers and Gentlemen"

The last few months have seen shocking and disappointing revelations about conditions at the US Air Force Academy. Over the past ten years, there have been 56 reported rapes of female cadets by male cadets. Some observers have estimated that there may have been as many as 100 unreported rapes.

Even worse, some of the female cadets who have reported the rapes claim that their charges have not been taken seriously or have been covered up. Some even claim to have been reprimanded for reporting the assaults.

Under political pressure, the Air Force has recently announced the replacement of several top administrators at the academy. Predictably, some US Senators have called for appointment of female officers to fill those positions. That implies that men are incapable of understanding the heinous nature of rape. I think that approach to the problem is intended only for the sake of appearances and doesn't address the true problems at all. It also shows a scary lack of concern for the quality of the officer corps, by placing a "politically correct" view of gender ahead of the academy's mission.

Other legislators have correctly pointed out that rape is a serious crime, not just an infraction of academy regulations. Rapists and anyone who obstructs the process of catching them must be severely punished, regardless of rank. No reasonable person could argue with this position. Certainly I hope that each alleged assault will be fully investigated with this in mind.

Enforcement of the law among officers and cadets is important, but I think there must be a deeper problem at our military academies for this situation to have arisen. The cadets are supposed to be among our nation's finest young men and women. How can so many of them even consider indulging in such behavior? Our military officers have authority over enlisted personnel, and make split second decisions on the use of powerful weapons. Are the academies producing officers worthy of such a trust?

Western militaries, including our own, have approached the need for responsible officers by fostering a concept of "officers and gentlemen." There are many ideas of what constitutes a gentleman. People as far from our western tradition as the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius have written on the topic. But the early American lawmakers who incorporated the western concept of "gentleman" into our military culture were primarily Christians. They were thinking in terms of the "Christian gentleman."

I would define a Christian gentleman as one who has some degree of power which he uses in a judicious manner, as gently as the situation calls for. He emulates the behavior of Jesus Christ, the prototype of the Christian gentleman. Christians believe that Jesus holds absolute power and authority.

In the hands of anyone else, such power would be dangerous to everyone. In His earthly life, Jesus used His power only for the glory of God the Father, and the benefit of man. He was verbally harsh and even physically aggressive when necessary (as in the cleansing of the temple); but kind, gentle and forgiving when possible.

As our world gets more complex and confusing, our officers will need even more the moral foundation of ladies and gentlemen in order to deal with military situations. We need to ensure that the concept of "officers and gentlemen" pervades our military academies. It has become a joke in some circles that someone has been made a "gentleman by act of Congress." It is true that neither Congress nor a military academy can make a gentleman, or a lady. Only good parents can do that. The academies' responsibility is not to produce gentlemen, but to recruit them and teach them how a gentleman thinks and behaves in a military context.

The situation at the Air Force Academy should serve as a wake-up call. Let's see to it that our future military forces are led not only by officers, but more importantly by gentlemen.