I've been told repeatedly, the "U.S. Merchant Marine" isn't an organized entity,so I'm not sure how a "merchant mariner" is connected directly to you, unless we're talking "very loosely."
Of course, the Revenue Cutter Service also pulled from the Navy and merchant marine.
That comment, however, is that while USMA, USNA, USAFA and USCGA are military academies, USMMA is not. That's not an insult. 100% of the people who graduate are the four academies I listed are officers in the U.S. military.
I won't attempt to help you with your insecurities. You picked your school and you should be proud of what USMMA has done and continues to do. It's not a military academy, so don't get all bent of out shape when someone points that out, especially when your nomination process is set out by the Secretary of Transportation. You and your KP friends wanted to point out "military this, military that"... ok... well KP isn't military. Sorry. It's a service academy, sure, and a damn good one.
And wonderful, USMMA carries a battle standard, I'm sure they fought bravely.
But it's hard to take you seriously when one second KPers walk to talk about how the U.S. Merchant Marine is a some vague entity that isn't in decline because... it couldn't be... then the next minute talk about how the nomination process should have congressional oversight because of the oversight of the military, and then get angry when it's pointed out, USMMA is a federal service academy, not a military academy.
It is not an insult to say an institution is not "military." There are five branches of the military: USA, USMC, USN, USAF and USCG. There are seven uniformed services: USA, USMC, USN, USAF, USCG, USPHS and NOAA. I don't see USPHS and NOAA getting bent out of shape when people say they aren't military.
There are five service academies: USMA, USNA, USCGA, USMMA and USAFA. There are four military academies: USMA, USNA, USCGA and USAFA. In LARGE PART, USMMA is graduating less military leaders than the schools with 100% military leaders graduating. Not sure why this makes you angry.