Looking to kick off an OPD/LPD in a couple months, and I know there’s a lot of ways to answer this question, but I’m specifically looking to answer with “because it wins wars”. Candid conversations with officers and enlisted, some dating back to my LT days, pondered why we even bother with officers at all. Some think a military would be more effective if you had to reach each subordinate rank before a superior rank – i.e. why should a 15 year SFC take orders from a 1 year 2LT? Starting with “it wins wars” is probably the shortest path to legitimacy, and would give the introduction of this program a nice hook – something in the form of “the Romans, Mongols, and even Napoleon’s Army featured the most effective and expansive military force of their time, and instantiated officers in manners analogous to our current program – emphasizing education early for those with potential could be seen as a system serving to mentor a demographic”. I realize that tentative sentence is likely very wrong, but it’s the amount of punch I want to open this program with. Specifically with the number of company grade officers choosing REFRAD over a career, I hope this program might help retain our heavy hitters.