I take it back

Remember my other post bashing air cadets? I've decided to take some of it back.

I've recently noticed the Great Divide between cadets. It's very much an aristocratic organization, without the favoritism and inheritor properties. What does that mean? Let me explain:

You have the "Bourbons" on one side, and their obnoxious attitudes are a force multiplier that makes them seem more common than they really are. These guys are the "aristocrats"; they seek power, and will informally follow a leader (who seems to be the most obnoxious of them all). They will consolidate their hold on the classroom in one specific corner, and so that entire area is contaminated by their influence. As time goes on, the peer pressure on the group forces more and more cadets to join them, until they've reached the shy kids, and intelligent kids. Once they have hold of the classroom, they will take control of the canteen. Though they do nothing bad, they do not have the same respect for orders as the other cadets. Though they still follow orders, they do not have initiative, and will often try to socialize instead of being productive. As a result, the squadron overall suffers in quality, and cadets are alienated.

These "Bourbons" provide a foil for the rest of the squadron, and seems to give them a force multiplier in terms of intelligence. Any cadet who's not part of this social group instantly becomes 500x smarter for some reason. Eventually, these cadets will band together and form their own social group to counter the aristocrats, as a sort of "backbone" to the squadron. A failed squadron is one in which this group did not form, and allowed the Bourbons to take over the politics of the squadron.

The Bourbons can be very influential, as time goes on. Though there is a statistically higher chance for the Bourbons to ditch cadets, their force multiplier is much larger than the Backbone group. The cadet program generally filters the Bourbons down, with the end result being a squadron run by responsible cadets. There is also a noticeably higher efficiency for those squadrons where the Bourbons are successfully suppressed by the Backbones.. An issue with the politics between these two groups is also the same issue in world politics today: the shifting view of the everyman. There seems to be a generation gap for every squadron; one generation has a larger Backbone than another, or vice versa. Thus, the banding of the Backbones must reverb down the ranks, in order for a squadron to be successful.

That's it, that's all, folks. Good night and good hunting.

Oh, and these are just my personal thoughts.