Hey everyone, current student ('25) here participating in a roundtable with several high-ranking university administrators today as part of a student leadership conference.

I'll have about 20 minutes at a table with newly resigned commandant Michaelis and will probably be able to get in a couple questions. I didn't even know who this guy was until last week since I'm not in the Corps, but many of my good friends are, including two yell leaders and a former Corps Commander. Anyways, yall know more than me, so I am taking suggestions for questions that you want answered. Please remember that as a current student, my questions need to be phrased respectfully and not too pointed towards the former Commandant. I will try to post his answers later as well.


TLDR: **If you have a question for former Commandant Michaelis, please put it below with a little bit of background on the question to help me understand the situation! I'll try my
best**.

Dont bother. He is no longer a factor.

Do you have advice or lessons for young adults on how to avoid professional regrets?

I would ask him if his intent day 1 was to dismantle the Corps as us former Cadets know it, or if it was merely an unfortunate side effect of his awful extreme policy implementation?

I would follow that up by wanting to know if he lives in such an echo chamber that he truly thought what he was doing was right for Aggieland / The Corps, or if he simply didn't care what all the former Cadets were saying and in his hubris decided to pursue his awful policies anyways.

That's where I'd start.


Edit to add: Do not be intimidated to ask hard questions of people in positions of authority. He is a retired 1 star who just got fired, he is a Mr. just like you. If you have a hard question to ask him, let him have it and don't let him squirm out of it.

Oh my. This should be a fun thread.

Ask him if he believes that merit is a basis for advancement or is that basis what situation or group you were born into

By no means afraid to ask hard questions, trust me. Did one of these last year with Bjork and I think I actually got him a little ticked off when i asked him about his record as AD and how so many of his subordinates have NCAA violations on their record. (I know a whole lot more about the athletics department, roommate was formerly on the football team too). Just want to keep a level of decorum and not make myself look like the kid that pissed off the Corps Commandant in front of 60 other student leaders.

Can I get a little background on the transformational changes that he was trying to make? I know basics about the "consolidate the fish" thing where they are essentially a separate block of the Corps for a semester until getting put into outfits, what else?

Background?

Again, why bother beating a dead horse? Save your questions for someone who will be around to impact A&M in the future

Confrontation makes you look bad, not him, and accomplishes nothing

Part of my wanting to ask hard questions is to grow as a leader myself. It's actually why I was chosen to participate in this conference in the first place, to learn lessons from important administrators, former students, and stakeholders at our university. I agree that I am the one with reputation to lose from this, and that is why I am trying to ask for background and thinking of ways to ask these questions respectfully. I don't believe that since his tenure as Commandant is over the value of experience he has is also lost. I want to learn as well

He has been kicked upstairs. Just ask him if he will ashamedly back up to get his paycheck.

Part of being a leader is knowing when the dead man walking is officially dead, and when to lay off. Like firing a bad employee and giving them the generic good luck in the future remark instead of following them to the parking lot with a marching band.

I might lob him a softball and ask if he might have done anything differently in hindsight or what he felt still needed to happen. Might give you insight into whether he realizes he F'd up or if he still doesn't get it

America has by far the strongest military, most advanced technology, and most capable fighting men in the world and yet we can't seem to win a war against enemies that have yet to figure out toilet paper. Additionally, leftists have infected much of our military leadership. Do you think that is a mere coincidence?

"During your time as Commandant you proposed changing the structure of the Corps of Cadets by segregating the incoming freshman in the Corps from the other classes. Was this decision based on feedback you received from other military and business leaders because the Corps was no longer producing quality leaders, or solely based on a personal perception of how to make improvements during your tenure?"

UnderoosAg said:

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Part of being a leader is knowing when the dead man walking is officially dead, and when to lay off. Like firing a bad employee and giving them the generic good luck in the future remark instead of following them to the parking lot with a marching band.

I might lob him a softball and ask if he might have done anything differently in hindsight or what he felt still needed to happen. Might give you insight into whether he realizes he F'd up or if he still doesn't get it

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My thoughts exactly

hdoggy said:

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By no means afraid to ask hard questions, trust me. Did one of these last year with Bjork and I think I actually got him

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First, I was wondering why somebody from Iceland would have come to Texas A&M.
Second, I already forgot about that moron as AD and was tripping out because I didn't realize that Bjork had a sex change. I used to think she was kind of cute in the 1990s.

In your new role as special asst/admin to the President, do you have any substantial tasks in your job subscription or are you pretty much like R.C. Slocum was when he was promoted "up" to that position and do what you want, when you want to as long as you are available for photo ops?

BREAKING NEWS: The guy isn't showing up anymore. Sending Commandant Chief of Staff instead. Loser

He's a general and a combat veteran.

Who are you and what have you done?

Along those lines, an interesting question would be to ask him to compare and contrast his experience with the care, feeding and training of newly enlisted Army recruits (primarily in support roles) at Fort Jackson versus college students with a variety of majors and military leadership interests in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.

Follow up question would be what were the differences between the two with respect to the influence of organizations and leadership outside of his command.

My assumption is that the Army role was more interested in numbers and meeting basic minimum standards and also didn't have an alumni network. I'd be curious to hear him compare the two.

Please report back.

https://home.army.mil/jackson/

Quote:

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Welcome to Fort Jackson, the U.S. Army's main production center for Basic Combat Training. The installation trains roughly 50 percent of all Soldiers and more than 60 percent of women entering the Army each year.

Since 1917, when Soldiers were needed for World War I, Fort Jackson has a proud history of supporting our Army in times of conflict. That tradition continues today as the installation willingly accepts new challenges and stands ready to accept any additional mission in support of our nation's defense.

To provide the Army with trained, disciplined, motivated and physically fit warriors who espouse the Army's core values and are focused on teamwork is the post's primary mission. Accomplishing that mission means training in excess of 45,000 basic training and 12,000 additional advanced training Soldiers every year.

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Shoe97 said:

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"During your time as Commandant you proposed changing the structure of the Corps of Cadets by segregating the incoming freshman in the Corps from the other classes. Was this decision based on feedback you received from other military and business leaders because the Corps was no longer producing quality leaders, or solely based on a personal perception of how to make improvements during your tenure?"

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. This. Who approved your plan.

Velvet Jones said:

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He's a general and a combat veteran.

Who are you and what have you done?

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Does that make somebody immune from criticism?

Is it impossible for a combat general to also be a loser?

You were building those trans showers for yourself, weren't you?

aTmAg said:

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Velvet Jones said:

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He's a general and a combat veteran.

Who are you and what have you done?

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Does that make somebody immune from criticism?

Is it impossible for a combat general to also be a loser?

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He's clearly not a loser. Also, the people on these threads who have repeatedly called him a db and a pos should be ashamed.

And what's there to criticize anymore? Whatever plans he had didn't go through and he's gone.

Be better.

Velvet Jones said:

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aTmAg said:

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Velvet Jones said:

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He's a general and a combat veteran.

Who are you and what have you done?

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Does that make somebody immune from criticism?

Is it impossible for a combat general to also be a loser?

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He's clearly not a loser. Also, the people on these threads who have repeatedly called him a db and a pos should be ashamed.

And what's there to criticize anymore? Whatever plans he had didn't go through and he's gone.

Be better.

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lol. We have combat vets on this board. The truly courageous have no need for forum white knights. And they dont duck out from answering a few questions, either. Especially when one's schedule opens up as widely as this one recently has…

Ask him if he still harbors ill will for his fish who shaved his head during hell week….just in time for pictures he was taking for his upcoming wedding.

He also got a bit stabby during that incident but we'll let that slide for now.

Get Off My Lawn said:

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Velvet Jones said:

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aTmAg said:

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Velvet Jones said:

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He's a general and a combat veteran.

Who are you and what have you done?

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Does that make somebody immune from criticism?

Is it impossible for a combat general to also be a loser?

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He's clearly not a loser. Also, the people on these threads who have repeatedly called him a db and a pos should be ashamed.

And what's there to criticize anymore? Whatever plans he had didn't go through and he's gone.

Be better.

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lol. We have combat vets on this board. The truly courageous have no need for forum white knights. And they dont duck out from answering a few questions, either. Especially when one's schedule opens up as widely as this one recently has…

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It's one thing when fellow vets get mouthy but I believe the issue was that the "loser" comment came from a child who, at this point, has done nothing more than play soldier on campus. When he/she has actually had some time in service then they can get a bit more lippy.

Having said that…. If this person is prior service then all bets are off. Mouth off to your heart's content.

Be sure to use the terms "woke" and "leftist".

Velvet Jones said:

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He's a general and a combat veteran.

Who are you and what have you done?

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100% he deserves the respect the rank of general deserves. On the flip side, I deployed to combat with plenty of pieces of ***** That factor doesn't mean anything.
*by no means am I saying he is a piece of ***** Just stating that it doesn't give you any sort of immunity.

hdoggy said:

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BREAKING NEWS: The guy isn't showing up anymore. Sending Commandant Chief of Staff instead. Loser

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Like I said. He's not relevant anymore

JABQ04 said:

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Velvet Jones said:

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He's a general and a combat veteran.

Who are you and what have you done?

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100% he deserves the respect the rank of general deserves. On the flip side, I deployed to combat with plenty of pieces of ***** That factor doesn't mean anything.
*by no means am I saying he is a piece of ***** Just stating that it doesn't give you any sort of immunity.

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I agree with you. Prior/current service is different from a kid not old enough to buy a beer legally, who isn't prior service and isn't even in the Corps calling a Flag Officer a "Loser."

Was a comment deleted?

I didn't see anyone calling the general a loser.

And the OP explicitly pointed out that he isn't a cadet. So I don't know who is being accused of playing soldier

Again, I guess I missed the loser comment

CanyonAg77 said:

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Was a comment deleted?

I didn't see anyone calling the general a loser.

And the OP explicitly pointed out that he isn't a cadet. So I don't know who is being accused of playing soldier

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It's still there. About halfway down thread from the OP.

Look at the last blue post above.

Okay now it is two up, since aTm's turned blue.

hdoggy 8:52 a.m.