Here’s a good question

11BRAVO

10-Year Member
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Dec 3, 2009
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My cousin attended HS in northern VA. His father was a navy captain. He received a nomination to the naval academy in 1976 but from a WV congressman. His nomination was even listed in the local WV newspaper among other local WV kids. Were the rules different in 1976 or for children of officers? Or did his father unethically list him in a region where the competition was much less qualified? He never lived nor attended school in this WV congressional district. I guess this also makes the congressman look a little fishy too.
 
I have read on here recently that you can actually ask for a nom from any congressman, it is not "illegal" but they usually refuse to offer the nom because their office thinks that it is not allowed and would rather give it to their own constituents.
 
Not sure of the specific example you mentioned, however active duty members can be legal residence of a state without living in that state, as long as they have at one point lived in that state and declared it their legal resident (car registration, driver's license, voter registration, etc...). Perhaps the parent was a West Virginia resident. Active duty children can request nominations from the state their parents are legal residence or in the state in which they currently reside. When DD was trying to figure out where to request nominations, MOCs gave her different answers, but in general, it was in agreement the most ethical was to request nomination from the state which you (or parents if under 18) vote, however either was allowed. Maybe that sheds some light on your question.
 
This does sound like a matter of residency. As a Navy Captain (O-6) he was a career officer with ~20+ years of service. As such, it is plausible that the cousin moved around in support of his dad's career and truly never lived in WV. Given the proximity to the Pentagon, Virginia as a whole is probably one of the most competitive areas for Service Academy appointments and nominations. To me, it would make sense to leverage the home of record for the nomination in this case because it would be advantageous to the candidate and still permissible under the rules.

I have no first hand knowledge on the validity of the assumption that technically anyone apply for a nom from an out of district or out of state MOC. If this were permissible, I would have to think we would hear about it more often. The home of record scenario seems perfectly valid though. Behind the scenes, yes, the Academy can assign nominations to other MOC because of vacancies on that MOC 5 student allocation at DOD schools. This is an administrative function however and not something the candidate has control over nor can they request it.

Related - not related... applicants to USMMA can apply and receive for a nomination from any MOC in their state -- not just their district. I received a NOM from a different congressional district than I lived because they had a vacancy, the Liaison Officer had a good relationship with their office, and I was outside of the initial nom application window for the cycle.
 
I have read on here recently that you can actually ask for a nom from any congressman

One of the things you will find about applying to any SA is there are lots of people who provide misguided opinions even if they have no idea what they are talking about.

That gets mentioned on here every so often, usually by someone acting as an armchair lawyer taking some of the legal wording out of context. MOC's each set their own rules for who can apply. Every one of these I have ever looked at on their website says something like "must be a legal resident of that state".........(or something similar) in their application criteria. From a practical standpoint, if you could apply for a NOM regardless of where you lived, don't you think people would try to 'game' the NOM system and apply to some state were there are few SA applicants?

Always use official sources for information about what is permitted in the current year since the rules can change. Don't assume the personal opinions you read online that aren't supported by other knowledgeable individuals are correct.
 
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