Grandson attended summer session at USNA from which came his interest in SAs. He has not visited USAFA, has an appointment but is undecided as he is waiting to see if he gets a USNA appointment. He wants to visit USAFA and then weigh career options, deployment questions, and family friendly considerations before making a choice.
At this point, his research is mixed. He loved his ALO interview: he was a younger officer with a family. In contrast, his BGO was much older, divorced and negative on family--"the Navy owns you." Several AF people have told him that AF is the most family friendly of the services.
He's had contact with a fairly recent USNA grad who tells him that career options are much better in the Navy and other Navy people claiming that if one is not a pilot, you are a 2nd class person in the AF. He's talked to an AF Col from our community who didn't like the Academy, said he went with a bad attitude as his choice was driven by parental pressure, but loves the AF and finds the career choice he made to be very rewarding (not a pilot.)
In short, if grandson is representative of other "undecideds" the issue appears to be 17/18 year olds on the precipice of an important decision between services and which is the best choice, especially when faced with conflicting information.
I think this especially true if the family--like ours--has no prior military service and so lacks an understanding of the differences in the service branches and the career options presented by each.
