Whistle Pig said:
It strikes me as possibly lacking focus ... OR ... that one's focus is on an SA education vs. the real endgame. The mission of each SA is distinctive from the others and specific. Heaven forbid if the applicant envisions a "free" education. Indeed these are magnificent gifts to their recipients, but not without cost.
There is some overlap but this too is a question with which I struggle constantly and, hence, my snide remarks above. I only applied to one Academy, my son only applied to one, and most of my friends only applied to one.
Realizing the most pre-induction ambitions will change, I still give more credence to the "all I have ever wanted to do is sit in a foxhole" than to the "all I have ever wanted to do is serve my country anyway possible". The anyway possible, of course, raises the "free education" flag as also does it the "I am not really focused and haven't really looked into the various career paths enough to make a decision" flag. My cousin will be graduating from the Academy in May. Ever since I have known him, it has been F-18s. Since selection night was in November and he would know his flight school date, I asked him at Christmas when it was, just to see if he had listened to any of my "get there early" advice. Guess what? He is going subs. The sub bonus did it, I guess.
My son, at the age of six, trick-or-treated in a Blue Angel flight suit, when asked by his BGO, a helo pilot, what he would do if he didn't get jets, since most didn't, and would have to fly something like helos. He told the BGO that he would, to avoid any further military commitment, shoot his foot off. A helo pilot myself, I cringed. Four years later, when interviewing for career selection with the senior Naval Aviator stationed at the Academy, a P-3 pilot, he was asked the same question. The Captain, Director of Admissions, a company classmate and personal friend, received the same answer. I am sure during flight school after less-than-stellar flights when he was politicking for a reflight, he threatened the same thing to his instructors. Bottom line, I don't have a one-legged dependent; he is flying jets. I know he is living his life-time dream.
Because I am a black-and-white person, I will give a quicker nod to a candidate such as my son than the other, even though I feel that it is wrong.
For anything other than a specific focus, no matter how absurd and how likely it is to change, I spend a lot more time digging to ascertain true motives. And I am usually surprised to find they are just as focused as someone willing to shoot his foot off if he cannot have his first choice.
Sigh.