You're right! It's been extremely hard not to be biased especially since I've been deployed with the Army a few times over my 23 years of AF service. My advice to him so far has been to envision where he wants to be 6 years from now. USMA and USAFA are both great schools--but you're not going to be a fighter pilot graduating out of WP! Heck I'm a Preppie--it was the best thing for me. That extra year seems so long as a HS senior--but it is miniscule over a 20+ career. Actually its a bonus, because the year counts as a year in service, so even though you have the same rank date as all your future USAFA classmates-you have an extra year in service, so your pay raises are a year earlier than the classmates who did not go to prep school. That's cool--but the network of friends you develop at the pschool--really helps out when you get to USAFA, we had a tight bond to rely on when we needed inspiration, focus, academic help--prep school for me was incredibly helpful in my graduating from AFA. Congrats to your son! Fingers crossed that we meet during PSchool Parents' Weekend!