How to approach nomination

Monarchs'19

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Oct 11, 2018
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First of all I must say that how valuable all the guidance and wisdom from the veterans and long timers of this forum has been for the success of our DS. THANK YOU ALL. Single most important advice he took it by the heart was “keep working hard and have a plan B”. At this step of the process, we are looking forward to your advice on how to approach nomination in following scenario:

  1. He received LOE from the West Point on Oct 9th. Came back from his overnight visit to West Point very excited and resolute to join the West Point. According to him after talking to professor and cadets, he is sure that his long term career plans as an officer will be better fulfilled at the West Point.
  2. He received LOA from the Navy on Nov 16th. Also, he attended NASS last year.
  3. He received LOA from the Air Force on Dec 1st. He took a day tour of the AF during his sophomore year.
  4. His LOE or LOAs are contingent on receiving the nomination ONLY. There is no other open condition, DoDMERB, CFA etc.
  5. For his backup plan, he has applied to colleges with ROTC programs only. His ultimate goal is to serve his country either going thru the Academy or ROTC route.
  6. Little background on us…. we have a deep rooted military background family. With such mindset, our son will love to be part of any academy and serve the country. But, his preference is the West Point.
  7. He submitted his nomination application to California senators and our congressman very early and marked Air Force as his first choice for all three.
  8. He have not heard anything yet from senator Feinstein or Harris. He heard from the congressman office that interview will be in mid of January.
Question is how he can communicate with the senator’s office while they don’t have any contact details?

If anyone knows, based on the past years record, if California senators coordinate nominations, i.e., to spread the wealth?

Most importantly, how he should approach this critical step to get a nomination for the West Point?
 
I am totally puzzled as to why he listed USAFA as his first choice if his first choice is actually USMA. He's likely get only a nomination to USAFA as a result of this. Be sure the MOCs are aware of the LOAs. It's risky, but if he's good enough to get an LOA from two academies be can probably be accepted by the third without the LOA. Maybe he'll luck out and get a nom to all three so he can sort out his decisions later, but he should be prepared to make them now. Is he really willing to serve in the Air Force or Navy if it comes to that? Does he know what he would like to do in each service? Good luck.
 
He listed USAFA as his first choice (in the early stage of the application) for a single most reason I can think of ... that was getting influenced by his grand-uncle's life, who was a career Air force Officer. Later on as he started doing more research on his goal at and beyond the academies, visiting West Point and others and talking to professors, coaches, he is realizing it will be the West Point that will provide him the best opportunity. He wants to be a cyber security expert. Military technology has always intrigued him, and the recent rash of headlines regarding national cyber security only reaffirmed his interest. As you said, he should rather decide now .. he is resolute to join the West Point and have decided this especially after he came back last week from his overnight visit.
Question is how he should let MoCs know about it? Should he tell them I received LOA and LOE from xyz and request to get nominated for the WP or just inform them about getting the LOE from WP and requesting for the nomination? Also, problem is that there is no contact details for senators, other than snail/FedEx mail. Also, I have not seen any information on this forum or otherwise, if CA senators coordinate the nominations or not?
 
Well, an LOE doesn't really carry any weight so I don't know if I would count on that achieving anything. It can never hurt to ask about a nom to West Point. You can find contact information for your Congressman and Senators online. Try here: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
You should ask for the MOC's nomination coordinator.

BTW, I'm pretty confident he can find a path to cyber in any of the services, should West Point not work out. That being said, what one majors in generally has nothing to do with their job in the military. One's job is determined by the needs of the service at the time, and the cadet or midshipman's position on the OML.
 
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