To: Parents From: Current Cadet

Thelaman99

5-Year Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Messages
76
Parents,

I know for some of you this may be an already experienced process and for some that are new to the game, an exciting and wild one. Every child, has a different experience when applying to any of the service academies and a parents role can be significant. As someone who had some difficulty with my parents during the application process, this reading resonated with me. I posted it already in the USAFA channel but I thought it would be nice to post it here as well so parents can also get a chance to read it. It is written by a current cadet, and I feel as though it may benefit parents to read. Thought I would share it. Please feel free to email me with any application questions. I am currently at USAFA, but I can hope to answer any questions.

https://medium.com/@Tedac/the-birth-of-an-aspiration-d1d2f835dc97
 
I sincerely hope that Cadet is taking a creative writing class, along with English as well. I'm no Tolstoy, but honestly that was painful to read.

Back to the subject, however! It is nice that his/her youthful exuberance hasn't been crushed by the workload and long hours that is SA life. That sort of wide-eyed desire to serve can be a factor in turning parents around, who aren't too keen on the idea in the first place. I expect that there are more than a few parents who immediately jump to the conclusion that little Johnny or Jane could actually have to make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country. It is probably that one thing that makes them bristle against the idea. Can you blame them? Their job for eighteen years was to keep their kids safe, and seeing them take this sort of step is seemingly contrary to that.

A desire to serve and a willingness to put up with all the crap that comes along with serving, is difficult to communicate to people who haven't done it. Some will never get it.
I blame Top Gun. When parents who haven't served think of that movie, they don't think about Maverick at all. They think about Goose. ;)
 
I sincerely hope that Cadet is taking a creative writing class, along with English as well. I'm no Tolstoy, but honestly that was painful to read.

Back to the subject, however! It is nice that his/her youthful exuberance hasn't been crushed by the workload and long hours that is SA life. That sort of wide-eyed desire to serve can be a factor in turning parents around, who aren't too keen on the idea in the first place. I expect that there are more than a few parents who immediately jump to the conclusion that little Johnny or Jane could actually have to make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country. It is probably that one thing that makes them bristle against the idea. Can you blame them? Their job for eighteen years was to keep their kids safe, and seeing them take this sort of step is seemingly contrary to that.

A desire to serve and a willingness to put up with all the crap that comes along with serving, is difficult to communicate to people who haven't done it. Some will never get it.
I blame Top Gun. When parents who haven't served think of that movie, they don't think about Maverick at all. They think about Goose. ;)
I have a sneaking suspicion the OP is the author.
 
I sincerely hope that Cadet is taking a creative writing class, along with English as well. I'm no Tolstoy, but honestly that was painful to read.

Back to the subject, however! It is nice that his/her youthful exuberance hasn't been crushed by the workload and long hours that is SA life. That sort of wide-eyed desire to serve can be a factor in turning parents around, who aren't too keen on the idea in the first place. I expect that there are more than a few parents who immediately jump to the conclusion that little Johnny or Jane could actually have to make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country. It is probably that one thing that makes them bristle against the idea. Can you blame them? Their job for eighteen years was to keep their kids safe, and seeing them take this sort of step is seemingly contrary to that.

A desire to serve and a willingness to put up with all the crap that comes along with serving, is difficult to communicate to people who haven't done it. Some will never get it.
I blame Top Gun. When parents who haven't served think of that movie, they don't think about Maverick at all. They think about Goose. ;)
I have a sneaking suspicion the OP is the author.

I'll be honest I did not write that. I just really resonated with it because I was in a similar predicament. The least I can do is share it and maybe it pertains to someone else's experience as well.
 
I just had a little chuckle at this - my husband was just telling our daughter about his ASVAB score and was told "you can do anything..." and he perked up and said "fighter pilot!" (like most teen boys in the late 80's) and they said...."except that. You don't have 20/20" and his dreams of being Maverick were crushed...so he chose the Seabees instead. :)
 
Yep, was among the many "teen boys" in the 80's wanting to fly fighters! Couldn't fly but made a 23 yr USAF career anyway. :)
 
"Top Gun" did help inspire me to get my act together in college and go to flight school. The Army wouldn't release me for my Navy OCS/flight school slot, but I did get a slot for Army flight school.
Ironically, 35 years later I found myself flying rubber dog crap out of Hong Kong on a freighter.
 
Back
Top