How will the Russia-Ukraine war threat affect the academies?

[Candidate39]

Could the threat of war caused by Russia possibly invading Ukraine affect interest in service academies? During war times throughout history, has there been less desire to join the military?

Thank you for your time.

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

I doubt the somewhat distant chance of a serious war will have any impact at all.

Lets face it in my life time we have had troops deployed to combat a lot. In fact most of the time.

WW2 ,Korea , Lebanon , Grenada , Vietnam for years, The very serious Cold War, the war on terror, Iraq, AStan, Ect Etc.

Did long wars like WW2 or Vietnam impact admissions at the SAs? I am sure for better or worse they did.

 

[prospective2019]

Good question. We all came here thinking we were going to Afghanistan anyways, so for most of us it's no change.

 

[Heatherg21]

Great question by an inquiring young mind.

Throughout history a call to arms has actually increased participation in my opinion. The Greatest Generation came forth post Pearl Harbor. Korea and Vietnam were not as easy to get on board with. Far more controversial. Neither officially acts of war declared by Congress. But those who donned the uniform amidst controversy, confusion, lack of mission focus and protest gave life and limb with the Flag of our nation on their shoulder. They too deserve all praise and our gratitude. An apology for their treatment post service.

9-11 gave rise to patriotism and a desire to serve unlike anything since WWII. An all volunteer force which in many ways takes their place as another great generation. 20 years of repeat deployments with confusing and ineffective rules of engagement. And an American populous who kept going about their trivial lives with little thought to the sacrifices made by less than 1% of our citizenry. Yet they kept standing up.

I firmly believe our country continues to foster patriotism and a can do/ will do attitude and that will continue.

My grandfather accepted his appointment to USNA in ‘34 with rumors of war. He retired a decorated submariner.
My father accepted in ‘64, his first cousin in ‘62, with the drums of conflict in the jungles of Vietnam.

Our son, accepted in 2020, while the war on Terror was festering —still.

I don’t say any of that from a braggart perspective. But just to show that generations of Americans have accepted the opportunity to serve despite the climate that exists in the moment they raise a hand and swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.