Yeah, teamwork matters when you have a mission to accomplish. When it's time to "Army" everyone is there for each other. But when it's time to "University," not so much. Our class rank determines a big part of our career, including the branch of the Army we are assigned, and our first post upon graduating, from Italy and hawaii all the way down to Alaska. Before graduation, our "order of merit" dictates who gets to seize opportunities like internships, study abroad programs, military specialty schools like Ranger, Sapper, and Airborne, and the positions of leadership within the Academy that go all the way to First Captain at the top of a 4,300-strong Corps. So, given the pressure, there is not a lot of incentive to sit down in the library and discuss existentialism over coffee. It makes the friends you choose that much more important. The other most contributing factor on the lack of dialog is the professionalism side of things, where discussing religious, political, and sexual matters in uniform or with other cadets may not fare well for unit cohesion in the short-term.
I hear you. Performance is important, and so is team spirit. Still. Soul is important. Maybe the higher-ups want a husk with skills in firearms, but I imagine that you want to be alive, not just living.
Hah, you're telling me. I spend a lot of my time on the internet browsing art, music and fashion because it's the opposite of my actual life :D Although my appreciation for precision and turning chaos into black-and-white formula has grown a lot.I imagine that you want to be alive, not just living.
I'm guessing "opposite" here does not mean "being opposed to".