Here is Dave's recently published letter to the editor in the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph.
"A lengthy article in the New York Times - by former Gazette reporter Dave Philipps - detailed the objections being raised by some parents and doctors over the requirement that all plebes at all three military academies engage in boxing other cadets as part of their training.
All the objections relate to the slim probabilities for "head concussions" suffered by some cadets from such training, in spite of very heavily-padded gloves and careful supervision over the bouts by academy training officers.
This pressure for "softening down" cadet combat training - especially West Point training for future Army officers, infuriates me. West Point's Superintendent explained that such training is used to get cadets - future officers in such as infantry branches - used to dealing with their fears of being harmed or defeated by enemy opponents.
I well remember the value of my boxing bouts as a cadet 70 years ago in instilling in me the will to win before being plunged immediately after graduation into a year of violent combat in the Korean War. I not only survived but was able to lead my platoon and company through a series of combat victories where we were massively outnumbered. Forty of my classmates were killed in that war. But I am still standing. And still willing to confront any ISIS suicide bombers today.
Let the combat experienced officer-instructors at our academies dictate the best way to prepare their cadet charges for leading in war and stop listening to the hand wringers.
Retired Col. David Hughes