Yes, NAPSters are considered active duty. They are paid the rank of E-1 unless they are prior enlisted and then the priors are paid their current rate less any special duty pay they were receiving.
Some civilians come in as an E-2 if, as in my case, they've had two years of JROTC. From what I've read in other threads, Eagle Scout offers a similar opportunity.
When I graduated NAPS, it was as an E-3.
Oh my you aren't kidding! This I never would have guessed. I confess, I am not big on watching daytime talk shows and don't recall ever having watched his show.
Yep. Montel is both NAPS and USNA, and proudly so. He briefly had a phenominal TV series where he played a USNA grad who returned to his former High School as the Principal. It didn't last one season, I'm sorry to say. In every episode, he wore something USNA. It was one hell of a free ad campaign.
As for his daytime talk show, I've not seen much, but what I have seen has put him WAY above all the other garbage that passes as intelligent talk on daytime TV. He puts Oprah and the rest to shame.
If my sample size is so small that it skews the data, I'm willing to be corrected, but he has always struck me as a pretty stand-up guy.
I don't know if he was actually the first black to graduate NAPS or not.