Newtothis: Excellent post.
Too many people have 2 big misconceptions.
1) Many, Most, a lot, whatever, of athletes are a bunch of dumb jocks. They can definitely find "some", but they don't want to recognize how a large number of athletes, (MAJORITY in the academies), are NOT dumb jocks. They are just as, if not more competitive than the non-jock.
2) The academies stress how they want "Well Rounded" individuals. And contrary to what many think, the varsity letter athlete and/or the D1 level recruited athletes, are MORE well rounded than those who weren't as involved in athletics. The traits and attributes of a serious and competitive athlete, makes the individual a much more well rounded and desirable candidate.
Athletics is probably the closest non-military activity that is related to "Real World" military life. Even more so than Civil Air Patrol and JrROTC. When it comes to the real military and accomplishing the mission, none of the customs and courtesies, dress and appearance, or any of the other formalities of the military (or CAP/JrROTC/Scouting) mean anything. What gets the mission accomplished, is "THE TEAM". And while teamwork and such can be learned, an individual who has been doing this for 10-15 years already, are a much more well rounded and desirable individual.
Do the academies also care about D1 athletics? Yes. It would be naive to think otherwise. Most universities only have a set number of sports that they can "Afford". The academies provide all possible athletic opportunities. The air force has 27 Inter-Collegiate sports for their students. That's not counting the "Club" sports they also offer. This is way more than almost any other university would offer. And it costs money for this. The Big D1 programs like football pays towards ALL of these sports. So yes, the academy cares about their D1 programs. Without that, the rest of the student body would suffer with some activities not even being made available, let alone the funding required.
Life is not perfect. Anything you present, can be shown to have some areas that need improvement on. There is no question that the academy's athletic programs need some improvements too. But to believe that D1 athletics isn't an attribute and benefit to the academies is ignorant. And there is no argument that can be made to compare the CG and MM academies and how they don't have D1 athletics and they do fine. They don't have D1 athletics because they have 20-25% of the student body, and there's no way they could compete at the D1 level with the pool of applicants they get applying to the academy. I would say that air force, navy, and army barely make the D1 caliber level. And that's with having 1000-1300 cadets each year coming to the academy.
Sorry for the passionate and long winded post. But it's getting real old hearing people complain about the academies and their D1 sports. (Obviously we're talking air force, army, and navy). These arguments do not take into account the positives that these sports, athletes, and programs bring to the academies. People don't want to admit that the reason 85%+ of all cadets got varsity letters in high school, is because that level of competitive athletics makes for a BETTER applicant to the military academies. Even in the enlisted corp, a good percentage of new recruits were involved in competitive athletics in high school. It's just a natural fit with the military.
Anyway; there are some individuals at the academy who probably shouldn't be there, but that's not just athletes. We have 4.0gpa 34ACT appointees who enter the academy, and for whatever reason, they are incompatible with the academy and military life. There are some individuals who have a 3.5gpa who become some of the best cadets and officers there are. And I don't mean to put him on the spot, but there are some individuals (Who post on this forum), who attended the prep school and then academy, and became one of the finest officers in the military. So while there may be some individuals who shouldn't be at the academy; don't narrow it to athletes and the prep school. That is a lame argument. I don't want an academy or officer corp made up of all the 4.0gpa, #1 class ranked, 36 ACT, etc... nerd, I prefer the 3.85 gpa, #10 ranked, 30ACT, who is also on 1-3 varsity sports teams, does volunteer work, has compassion, is involved in other clubs and activities, etc...