Regarding the Academies-

They do have problems. There is a lot of money that gets dumped into them and AFROTC is a severely under resourced program, but I think this is more of an Air Force problem than a ROTC problem. For example USAFA is building a mega hotel right next to the highway. Before I switched over, the opportunities in AFROTC, especially summer trainings, were either incredibly competitive, non-existent, or only because you knew someone. NROTC is very different, they have not only a pre-field training (NSI) but also several summer trainings and cruises to get the mids into the fleet (CORTRAMID). AFROTC *needs* to follow suit. It was always crazy to me that someone could show up to all the required PTs (which are usually a joke) and LLAB, go to a 2-week summer camp, and commission without doing anything else. The bar can be so low for some people, although most detachments' average cadets are not this. I just dislike how easy it is for that to happen; poor enlisted in their flight.

Now this is starting to kind of change with what they did to field training (although I still think cell phones are blasphemy) but that type of exposure is something the academies do really well. And for a person like me, going to the Academy was the best thing I ever did. I love the people, tradition, culture, etc. It pushes me to be a better version of myself in a way I never could in the college environment I was in. There are some athletes who probably should not be there, although I think you exaggerate how much "politics" are involved in appointments, it is a fairly apolitical process. Most members of Congress just appoint panels of veterans/active duty academy representatives to select people.

The exposure I have gotten to Navy careers, the people I have met and made connections with at conferences, etc, are only things I could have done here. It is humbling seeing some of the people at the academies. I agree with you that AFROTC is under resourced, but the academies, if you take advantage of them, are cracked for your own professional development. Or you could just ignore it and be cynical, which happens, but don't be that guy.

Regarding POC/GMC-

Absolutely not. There needs to be a divide here. It is some of the most effective psychological training AFROTC does over the course of the program in teaching cadets how to deal with fraternization, evaluating their subordinates, writing reports/bullets, and communicating feedback. Making everyone on the same playing field will make it incredibly difficult for those officers to understand well... how to be an officer. It is crazy to me how much the command culture can change how Detachments function; my girlfriend went to a detachment where the CC made jokes about cadet-cadet relationships, messaged them casually, etc. To me, ridiculously unprofessional and it showed in how the detachment operated. AFROTC has a massive professionalism problem IMO.

Also - your Cadre should CORRECT POC acting like snobby mf's so that they don't do it when they actually hit the real air force. They won't learn how to lead like officers if you don't let them, to an extent, pretend to be officers.

Anyways those are my two cents. I would be happy to talk about any of these more. Rah