re: Graduates of Service Academies or military colleges

This matches my experience as a retired AF officer, with a brother and a son who are graduates of the Naval Academy (who I don't feel are socially stunted themselves; YMMV).

The main thing to remember is that the most important reason for someone to go to an academy is that they want to command Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, or Marines. That's what the academies are built for. If that isn't what a person wants to do, then the pain of the academies is not the right place for them. (This is more true of Annapolis and West Point than USAFA, and that's due to the imbalance of pilots that come out of USAFA that don't really command anyone for the first 10 years of their career. But, again, YMMV)

Hope this helps.

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- Academy
Pros: Really smart, really well-schooled on what it means to be an officer, very good with processes and thinking through problems
Cons: Can be socially stunted and disconnected from the culture, language, and views of their enlisted

- ROTC:
Pros: Most balanced between being book smart and street smart, good social skills
Cons: ROTC programs vary a lot, and there are some poor ROTC programs that produce some really shitty officers

- OCS:
Pros: A lot of former enlisted go through OCS, so both they and those who go through OCS with them tend to be really, really good tactically; sympathetic to and protective of their soldiers
Cons: The former enlisted especially can be too big of micro-managers and too much like an NCO rather than an officer; some of the younger OCS guys might not be too solid with processes and some of the higher-order thinking that senior officers need

Just generalizations - it's a huge organization and you see all types from all commissioning sources.

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