In reaction to the “cheating scandals” being reported in the US Air Force and Navy, Dr. Martin Cook, Admiral Stockdale chair of professional military ethics at the US Naval War College, became the first to cite the well-known military culture of “cooperate and graduate.”

In Navy pilot school, for example, it’s well known that the “ambient culture” is “cooperate to graduate,” Cook says. “If we all share our answers and ‘cooperate to graduate,’ then that’s what most people are going to do. So you shouldn’t expect most individuals to deviate from that.”

Unfortunately, he leaves the impression that means cheating. “Cooperate and graduate” — at its core — is a reference to teamwork. That hasn’t stopped Read more