A blog post written by a former Student-Advisor for the Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (M-VETS) was cited in a recent article by Kyle Rempfer in the Military Times titled, “Service academy graduates could see longer military obligations.”
The article discusses a review by the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding the mandatory service requirements for graduates of the U.S. military academies. Rempfer notes that the Committee will be examining the service requirements in light of the fact that those requirements have not changed in 20 years despite an increase in cost per graduate of nearly 20 percent. In addition to the rising education costs, Rempfer noted the Committee’s concern regarding “recent studies suggest[ing] service academy graduates have lower junior officer retention rates than other officer commissioning sources.”
The M-VETS Student-Advisor wrote the cited Blog post in May 2018, entitled “The Most Bang for your Buck: Are the United States Military Academies the Most Cost-Effective Way of Producing Officers?” The Blog post stated that the cost of a graduate of the U.S. military academies was four times as much as a graduate who earned their commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) or Officer Training School (OTS) and questioned whether this increased cost was justified. In his article, Rempfer cited the Student-Advisor Blog for this fact. The Military Times article can be viewed at the following link:
Regarding the Student-Advisor’s Blog post being used as a source in the Military Times, M-VETS Director, Timothy MacArthur, stated: “This is an incredible result for the Student-Advisor who wrote the Blog post. The Military Times has a worldwide following and is a highly respected news outlet. To be used as a source by a reputable author and/or organization is precisely the reason M-VETS has the requirement for Student-Advisors to write these articles.”
To read the Blog post written by this Student-Advisor, as well as other Student-Advisors posts, please visit the “Blog” page on the M-VETS website.