Little more than 30 years ago, when Admiral Arleigh Burke was the Chief of Naval Operations, he spoke to a roomful of Navy captains who had just been selected for rear admiral. They undoubtedly expected to hear words of high praise for having attained the pinnacle of flag rank; instead, Admiral Burke left them momentarily stunned:
"In the eyes of the Navy," he said, "you are old men!"
He went on to explain that only the most promotable of them would remain in active service for as many as ten more years; most would be gone years sooner. The quarter-century or so of achievement that had brought them to this point served only as prologue to a few brief years when they would have the power and influence to get the things done the Navy most needed doing, before their time on center stage expired. Therefore, their sense of commitment and dedication to the Navy had to be stronger and more intense than ever.
No one could make such a statement with more force and clarity than Admiral Burke. The epitome of honor and integrity, he has always lived for the Navy, and probably could not conceive of any other existence. With unwavering physical and moral courage—in World War II combat and in the Pentagon wars that followed—he set the moral tone for the U.S. Navy, including my generation of midshipmen, then on the verge of graduating from the Naval Academy into one of the most tumultuous periods of American history.
Looking back, I see that my classmates and I probably were more closely attuned philosophically to Admiral Burke's generation of naval leaders than today's midshipmen are to mine—even though my days at the Naval Academy fell roughly at midpoint between Admiral Burke's time and today. Since those early 1960s, the effects of a long and divisive war, along with rapid and profound technological advances and social upheaval and still other wars, have brought about an acceleration of change that makes the generation gap a fact of life rather than a mere sociological concept. It is ironic that such a gulf in understanding between succeeding generations was first foreseen by the masterful science-fiction author Robert Heinlein, himself a Naval Academy graduate. I wonder if he ever thought that his prediction would hit so close to home.
My biggest challenge as Superintendent of the Naval Academy in guiding the total personal growth of each midshipman has been to maintain equilibrium among the competing demands of academic, athletic, professional, and personal development requirements. In the face of continuing change, it is a never-ending balancing act. Change is generally beneficial, but the change we have experienced also has fostered a complacency that takes for granted the principles upon which the Naval Academy—and the nation—were founded.
Clearly, today's midshipmen are bringing to Annapolis far different sets of cultural values and expectations than those of my generation. An instructive case ill point has been the perennial issue of falsifying age on identification cards, in order to buy alcohol. This always had been an honor violation, and several midshipmen have been dismissed for it. Those who doctor their cards know that in doing so they are accepting the risk of dismissal; yet I am concerned that more than a few within the Brigade today believe the issue is more of a bureaucratic nuisance than the abandonment of one's personal integrity. The recent investigation spotlight has revealed similar attitudes in a cheating incident, in which too many of the participants managed to rationalize away honor violations—even after admitting misconduct—with little or no remorse. Such a gap between basic sets of understanding about the principle of honor is totally unacceptable, and I recognize that the responsibility for bridging that generation gap does not belong to the midshipmen; it is mine and I accept that responsibility.
Amid all the change, one principle has remained rock-solid: Admiral Burke's concept of committed and dedicated service to the Navy and the nation is intertwined so tightly with personal honor and integrity that they can never be separated. What value is such service otherwise? And what better place to inculcate such values—while providing first-rate intellectual, professional, and personal development—than a service academy? Other high-quality schools may provide comparable or even in some cases superior academic surroundings, but only the service academies can serve as repositories for their services' full array of customs and traditions, ideals and honor—sources of pride for their graduates and of inspiration for their cadets and midshipmen. Many universities might react strongly to evidence of widespread cheating, but how many also would see their way clear to deal with other, more sensitive issues of personal integrity—which the service academies must deal with in no uncertain terms?
Our nation has traditionally and rightly placed the highest expectations on its service-academy graduates, partly because of their demanding training regimen, partly because of their tight focus on issues of honor and integrity, and partly because of their strong sense of commitment. To ensure that Naval Academy graduates will continue to meet these expectations in the future, a Strategic Plan—developed by the officer and civilian faculty, staff members, and midshipmen— was published in June 1992. The Strategic Plan acknowledges that the focal point of all effort expended at the Naval Academy must be to develop midshipmen morally, mentally, and physically, to provide the naval service and the nation leaders of character. Any endeavor that fails to contribute to that end must be evaluated, then corrected or discarded as required. The Strategic Plan is subject to continuous scrutiny, and already has seen several updates and improvements in the three major areas of Academy life:
Academics: For the past quarter-century, the Naval Academy has offered variety in major fields of study, evolving to its current level of 14 technical and 4 non-technical majors. Because of the rigorous core curriculum, which is strong in science and engineering, all midshipmen graduate with accredited Bachelor of Science degrees, as they did before the majors program was introduced. After completing a recent three-year-long review of the core curriculum, we have reduced the academic load somewhat, but midshipmen still carry 17-19 credit hours per semester. There are no easy courses and no easy majors. At the Naval Academy, everyone works but John Paul Jones, resting in his elegant crypt beneath the Academy Chapel.
The Naval Academy's engineering laboratories are the finest to be found anywhere at the undergraduate level. All courses are taught by full-fledged faculty members— not graduate teaching assistants—and extra instruction is always available. The faculty is balanced evenly between civilian professors with doctorates and officers with at least master's degrees in their disciplines—a practice that goes back to the school's founding in 1845. Class size remains small, averaging fewer than 18 midshipmen per section. The Naval Academy has had a Rhodes Scholar for each of the past two years, and other midshipmen have won Marshall, Fitzgerald, Pownall, and Zipf scholarships. Twenty more each year initiate their graduate education while still midshipmen. In the Strategic Plan, the faculty members of the Naval Academy are challenged with the task of taking this wonderful academic system and creating a new partnership between student and teacher, to produce an environment that fosters leadership, creativity, and a lifelong thirst for knowledge in each graduate.
Athletics: Rigorous physical development has long been a staple of Naval Academy life, and will continue focusing on a lifetime of personal fitness. At present, about one midshipman in four participates in varsity intercollegiate competition (18 male and 11 female varsity teams), and every midshipman engages in some form of organized physical activity at the intercollegiate, club, or intramural level each semester. Virtually all intercollegiate varsity athletes and most of the others are involved in year-round strength and conditioning programs.
With regard to NCAA competition, the Naval Academy (and our alumni) must remember that the most important by-products of athletics are the leadership principles absorbed on the field of play—not just pride in having winning seasons and beating Army.
Professional Development: The recent change in this area has been the most significant. From Plebe Summer to summer training to precommissioning service indoctrination, the thrust of revisions made has been to emphasize ideal leadership concepts and instill in all midshipmen Vice Admiral James Stockdale's philosophy of "Moralist, Jurist, Teacher, Steward and Philosopher." Because the successful leader must be a selfless person, midshipmen must consider, first and at all times, the impact of each thought, word, or action on their command and those who live and work around them, before considering any personal benefits they may accrue. Leadership training is conducted over a four-year continuum, with formal instruction reinforced by practical experience in running the affairs of the Brigade in Bancroft Hall.
Because most military-specialty training is conducted after graduation, the Naval Academy is able to concentrate on the personal development of midshipmen. At the recommendation of our Board of Visitors, we have established a Character Development Center, headed by a senior Naval Academy graduate—Colonel Mike Hagee, U.S Marine Corps—who reports directly to me. The Center coordinates all aspects of character development, going well beyond the Honor Concept to include the faculty's continuum of ethics instruction, the Navy's core values program, and our own command-managed equal-opportunity program.
The goal of this unprecedented concentration of effort and resources is to produce high-impact junior officers for the Navy and Marine Corps who will prove inspirational for their seniors, subordinates, peers—and the nation at large. Midshipmen at the Naval Academy today are being held—properly so—to a higher standard than most of them have ever before experienced. Some have faltered; others will falter as they proceed further down the line. But most are thriving as they receive continuous guidance and encouragement to achieve their highest potential.
There are times in life when adversity sounds a wakeup call—and a call for action. We are heeding that call. I have every confidence that Admiral Burke—and the generations of Navy and Marine Corps men and women who share his commitment to integrity, honor, and undying devotion to a life of service—will continue to take pride in the graduates of the Naval Academy and all the service academies. In our relatively short span of remaining active- duty service, my generation will keep working hard to make it happen.
A 1964 graduate of the Naval Academy and its 54th Superintendent, Admiral Lynch is a surface warfare officer who also has served as the Navy's Chief of Legislative Affairs.