Lots of folks have griped over the years about the college graduate
requirement, but the fact is that modern aircraft (and the integrated
weapons system in which they operate) are very complex and the degree
offers an indication that the individual will be able to deal with the
complexity. Additionally, there are more than enough candidates who
meet the criteria that it doesn't need to be modified.

Often in my life I've had occasion to point out to youngsters that you
don't get a degree to prepare yourself for a career. You get a degree
so that you can be in that group of people who are considered worthy
of trying out for a career.

Before about 1942, to be accepted for pilot training as a commissioned
officer, you had to have two years of college behind you--this in a
time when the army and navy were drawing from a pool of young man
who'd grown up in the the Great Depression. A bachelor's degree in say
1939 was about as rare as a PhD today. So being selective is nothing
new for the air forces.

This requirement was of course relaxed during the war, and men like
Chuck Yeager (who'd trained under a special program for
sergeant-pilots) managed to become pilots, officers, and gentlemen
without the two years of college. But most of them, if they stayed in
the service postwar, went sent back to college by the Air Force or
managed a degree on their own, through the Univ of Maryland or similar
programs.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com