Condolences and Congratulations

Maplerock

Maplerock

Proud to be an American
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What a remarkable time of year this is. Many celebrating that BFE and others receiving the TWE with chagrin. My family has been through this process twice, and is about to begin a third campaign.

Wonderful are the feelings when the BFE arrives. Great satisfaction for the young man or woman in realizing a dream come true. A dream that has been fueled by years and years of hard work, clean living, and good luck. Tremendous and well deserved pride for the parent. You raised a fine young person.

On the other hand are the families that have worked just as hard and sacrificed just as much only to see their DD or DS open that letter that they had feared would come. A crushing blow for most. Of course they can apply again, and they can persevere if they persist in shaping their future whether it includes an academy or not.

I ache for those that have tried so hard and come up short. Plan B's and C's come into play, and the self esteem of gifted young people take a hit.

Even more heartbraking are those that fail the DODMERB physicals on their way to fulfilling dreams of being military officers. The fallback plan is much more harsh for them. No military career without that waiver. This is a cruel and harsh blow. My heart goes out to you.

It is easy to celebrate the well deserved appointments, but let's not forget the gifted many that don't receive them. That mixture of hard work, preparation, and talent was surely there, and with a little luck they too may have been issued an appointment.

All of you that suffered the disappointment of not being selected already know that to even be in the mix indicates a wonderful type of kid... one that has the tools to succeed.

My best to you all. Everone of you are winners! :thumb:
 
Great post^

I would just like to add a couple things.

If your dream is to be an officer in any of the services, the dream is not lost with the TWE.

An appointment to a SA, a ROTC Scholarship, they are only a couple of the vehicles that will take you toward that dream.

The military is filled with great officers that did not attend a SA or had a scholarship. These officers found other paths to achieve their goals, all ending up at the same finish line.

A cadet at my son's school that is graduating this year did not get his appointment nor a scholarship, he spent his first two years at a CC before transfering to a public state university. Joining ROTC as a junior he excelled, he will now graduate and commission as an Infantry Officer finishing in the top 2% in the country.

While it can be disappointing not to get your first choice, it's not the end of a dream, only the beginning of a different path.

Good luck to all of you, and I agree, you're all winners.
 
Maplerock said:
It is easy to celebrate the well deserved appointments, but let's not forget the gifted many that don't receive them. That mixture of hard work, preparation, and talent was surely there, and with a little luck they too may have been issued an appointment.

All of you that suffered the disappointment of not being selected already know that to even be in the mix indicates a wonderful type of kid... one that has the tools to succeed.

My best to you all. Everone of you are winners! :thumb:
Click to expand...


Thank you for this post. We are blessed that my DS received an appointment to USAFA, but were completely prepared for it to go either way. In fact when we heard that two USAFA appointments were given within our Congressional District, Plan B was looking very likely.

The amount of time and energy these young men and women put into the application process, in addition to what they do at school, in ECs, and in the community to be a competitive applicant is incredible. You all should be extremely proud of yourselves! When I brought my DS to his Congressional and Senatorial interviews back in November/December, I was amazed at the caliber of applicants. I told my DH that my faith in our youth was restored. If these are our future leaders, we are in good hands.

God bless you all as you go on to the next stage, whether it is at a SA, ROTC, University, or whatever you decide!

All the best,
Jill
 
My DD is a graduate of the Naval Academy. My Son applied for two years with nominations each year. Didn't get an appointment either year. He is currently SIP and pursuing his commission. I want to pin those Bars on him next year with as much pride as I had for the first one in the stadium. One more to go!
 
The greatest part of this thread; is the "under-tone". Receiving an appointment to the academy, or an ROTC scholarship, is NOT THE GOAL!!! Or at least, it "shouldn't be" the goal. The goal SHOULD BE, any/or/some of serving your country as a commissioned officer; a career in the military; an advanced education that will help you get the career you want; basically where you want to be 20+ years from NOW. The academy, ROTC, etc... are just paths to get you there. There are many paths to get you where you want to be 20+ years from now. The academy or ROTC is only 4 years of your life. That's nothing in the span of time. But, in your 80-100 years of life, those 4 years, whether it's the academy, ROTC, civilian college, enlisted then reapplying, or any other path, will have a significant affect on your life and your goals.

I know some believe the academy can be a goal; short range goals; etc... Yes, we could be talking semantics. But a very wise old man, a long time ago, told me that when I set goals, the best way to do it is to look out to when I am about to die. When I'm 80, 90, 100 years old. "What do I want to be REMEMBERED for???" By my children, family, friends, neighbors, society, etc... Then, working backwards, set goals to reach that place where I'll be remembered the way I want to be. Continue working backwards until you reach your present life. I know it's hard to always know what you "Want to be when you grow up", but you should know HOW you want to be remembered. Once you know that, it doesn't matter what your "JOB" is. Any job potentially can help you fulfill your goals.

Best of luck to everyone. Whether you received an appointment or not, I hope you all follow your dreams, reach your goals, and when the ride is over, you are remembered the way you wanted to be.
 
That is...

Good advice for us all ChristCorp!
 
Good evening everyone,

This is a tough week...a lot of folks are getting the "bad news" and as a person that has "been there" in his past, I know how this feels.

But it's not the end of the world; not even close! There are SO many options; especially if your goal is to be an officer and to serve!

I wrote a good post some years ago...but in my age, I can't seem to find it so here's the VERY SHORT version.

In a box in my "office" at home, alongside certificates, a few medals in boxes, and some other "I love me" items that accumulate in 30 years of service...there are 5 letters; TWE's we call them now. They extol me as an amazing young man, top of my class, etc...etc...

And then each one says: "we regret to inform you..."

BUT...in that same box (it's one of those big plastic things you get at an office store) are some nice folders that look like the ones you receive in the military when you get a decoration; the one that holds the citation and the paperwork.

In them are appointments to the USAFA/USMA/USNA/USMMA Classes of 1983 (And in that same box...is a TWE from USCGA...informing me that I'm a fully qualified ALTERNATE to the USCGA Class of 1983...if any openings occur. They didn't.). They came after I turned down my AFROTC (Equivalent now to a type 1) scholarship with a guaranteed UPT slot and went to school for a year at Northwestern Prep. In my class of 58 were about 45 "sponsored" candidates, the rest were "freelancers."

Only 4 didn't receive appointments. ALL of us made amazing improvements in our SAT/ACT scores. And all of us had a focus: military officer. The four that didn't receive appointments, ALL received ROTC scholarships.

It can be done...if that's truly your goal, there are SO many avenues to achieve those gold bars...but you have to want it that badly.

I'm happy to keep helping ANYONE in ANY way I can!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
 
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