Originally Posted by CrowneVic

That's because your breadth of experience is limited.

How about Richard Bong (#1 WWII ace, Medal of Honor recipient)?

How about Chuck Yeager (ace)?

How about George Herbert Walker Bush? Do you know who that is?

How about the thousands of other pilots that never had a degree and were responsible for making the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, the best aerial fighting forces on the planet?

The military pilot who had a degree was the exception, not the rule, up until Vietnam and later. The degree started being (generally) a requirement for commissioning as an officer. Since all pilots (Army excepted) are commissioned officers, that requirement also became a prerequisite to get into flight school. This requirement became more prevalent with the thinking at the time, as airplanes evolved from props to jets and the commensurate technology advanced.

Up until at least the early 2000's, which is when I left the service, the Navy still had the NAVCAD and AVROC programs. NAVCADs only had to have two years of college to go to AOCS, get commissioned, and then onto flight school. The college requirement is a more modern development. No college was required previously.

I am way out of touch with the military these days, but as far as I know, the NAVCAD program may still be around.

And, no, NAVCADs were/are not limited to certain aircraft types. Both my squadron and another FA-18 squadron in my Air Wing each had a NAVCAD on board.

My closest personal friend in flight school was a NAVCAD. He was a stellar performer, and had jet grades if that was the direction he chose to go, but he wanted helos, as that was the community he came from when he was a prior enlisted guy. George Bush was also a NAVCAD (18 years old), and returned to school to complete his degree after the war.

The degree is really a tool used to limit the applicant pool and live up to some HR symbol of dedication on the civilian side, and other ideologies on the military side. Unless you are looking to send someone to Test Pilot School, which requires an advanced knowledge of mathematics and aerodynamics to get through the academic portion of the course, a degree does not make you a better pilot.

Heck, up until the 60's, even a lot of test pilots didn't have a degree.

Try telling all those thousands of guys they are slow learners, can't think ahead of the airplane, and have a hard time in flight school.

Yes, I have a degree.