Waiting 2020

PT Doc said:
With all due respect, your post is a perfect example of what the original poster was talking about. You "don't have time" to be bothered reading past threads that more times than not, will answer your question. Yet, you expect the Moderators or senior members to give THEIR time giving the same answer they gave earlier in the week, last week, the week before and so on. They are incredibly gracious with their time and knowledge. The technology is working just fine. You are able to access up to date information. You just feel entitled to have it spoon fed to you. Maybe the reason the majority don't post is they take the time to read and find the answers to their questions already answered multiple times.
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Lighten up, Francis
 
Dr. Strange Love said:
Once when I was lost I asked a policeman to help me find my parents. I said to him, 'Do you think we'll ever find them?' He answered, 'I don't know, kid. There are so many places they can hide.

View attachment 3835
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I went to see my dentist. I told him: Doc my teeth are yellow! What can I about it?--he told me to wear brown neckties! I tell you I don't get any respect.
 
PT Doc said:
Really?
You really thought what I said was harsh?
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Not harsh - just unnecessary.

I've been watching this discussion, trying to stay impartial. But, objectively "tryingmynest" and "plebemom..." have made some very some very astute points.

I'm just not a fan of piling on. (And a huge hater of the term "snowflake" for that matter...)
 
Just Dad said:
I went to see my dentist. I told him: Doc my teeth are yellow! What can I about it?--he told me to wear brown neckties! I tell you I don't get any respect.
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Nobody likes me very much either, ya know. Even as a baby my mom wouldn't breastfeed me------------------ she told me she liked me as a friend!
 
tryingmybest said:
trying to make sense of a very foreign process that assumes that parents will be informed and involved
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The process does not assume or require the parents be informed and involved. That is not to say that they should not be BUT, the
person that must be informed and involved is the CANDIDATE. You may feel that it is too difficult or serious for your child to manage but I can assure you that there are candidates, and not just a few of them that actually do exactly that.
For instance, I've seen a number of candidates whose parents were not in favor of their son/daughter joining the military even at a Service Academy and told their child that if they wanted it that it was up to them. I've even know of a candidate whose foster parents were opposed to their candidacy because they would lose their state provided $$'s and that kid did it with NO adult other than their BGO and a coach from their school.
 
From what I understand, there are “Special” warfare communities available in the military. Or is that not the politically correct term to use anymore?

My kid eats bacon like everyone else, one slice at a time.

I’m just here so I won’t get fined.
 
OldRetSWO said:
The process does not assume or require the parents be informed and involved. That is not to say that they should not be BUT, the
person that must be informed and involved is the CANDIDATE. You may feel that it is too difficult or serious for your child to manage but I can assure you that there are candidates, and not just a few of them that actually do exactly that.
For instance, I've seen a number of candidates whose parents were not in favor of their son/daughter joining the military even at a Service Academy and told their child that if they wanted it that it was up to them. I've even know of a candidate whose foster parents were opposed to their candidacy because they would lose their state provided $$'s and that kid did it with NO adult other than their BGO and a coach from their school.
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My son did it with no help from me. And he didn’t come to this site at all.

The fact is the instructions were excellent.
 
justdoit19 said:
So what are the 3 categories of recruited athletes? I’m standing in the LONGEST line EVER at sams club...
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I hope that you stocked up on pre-cooked, crumbled bacon goodness while you were there.
 
A1Janitor said:
My son did it with no help from me. And he didn’t come to this site at all.

The fact is the instructions were excellent.
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DoD Medical exam questions and all...?
I would make a sound wager that MOST applicants have significant parental involvement on their SA applications. Why would a parent NOT be involved in the process behind the second most important decision a 17/18 year-old child will make in their life???

We've had kids do the "normal" civilian college thing and kids do the SA thing. We have been very involved in all of it. Only makes sense to us.

Also, my kid has found the instructions to vary widely from "excellent" (for USAFA), to "not-so-excellent" (for USNA). I have to agree.
 
TexasAggie204 said:
DoD Medical exam questions and all...?
I would make a sound wager that MOST applicants have significant parental involvement on their SA applications. Why would a parent NOT be involved in the process behind the second most important decision a 17/18 year-old child will make in their life???

We've had kids do the "normal" civilian college thing and kids do the SA thing. We have been very involved in all of it. Only makes sense to us.

Also, my kid has found the instructions to vary widely from "excellent" (for USAFA), to "not-so-excellent" (for USNA). I have to agree.
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I don’t remember any questions asked about medical. We knew he was in perfect shape - he had no illnesses or medicine. He knew he would automatically fail the medical with his color blindness.

But what questions would a candidate have filling out medical?

He asked my opinion on things ... when he should schedule the CFA, which day should he select the senator interviews (the told him he could pick any day he wanted because it was just the staff), should he apply to other schools, etc. Mostly logistics questions because I drove him.

Certainly he had me read over essays, etc. Just like I read all his essays in high school. We talked strategy of which teachers should he use for recommendations. I was an active parent in his high school career - but he read all instructions and did all the work.

Honestly I think the whole process was explained well - I do not remember him having any problems going through the process.

My main involvement was understanding the waiver process ... the how’s and why’s for the colorblind waiver, history of waivers, etc. But that was after the application was finished.

It is possible his mother helped him answer medical questions - we are divorced. She was the parent that met with the BGO - I had nothing to do with that aspect.

The only contact I had with the BGO was to thank him after he was offered an appointment. He was a great guy - my son spoke highly of him.
 
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OldRetSWO said:
DoD Medical exam questions and all...?
I would make a sound wager that MOST applicants have significant parental involvement on their SA applications. Why would a parent NOT be involved in the process behind the second most important decision a 17/18 year-old child will make in their life???
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Attendance at Service Academy must be 100% a Candidates decision. I would venture to guess that most Plebe Summer drops, as well as academic year failure have some element of pressure to attend. Being a Plebe is tough, being a plebe when you don't want to be there is even tougher.

Parental support is fine...but pushing and helicoptering is not. At 17/18 kids should be able to set goals and achieve them. I'm sure parents help with applications and medical background, but I draw the line when parents call me asking to set up interviews, or asking about the status of the the application,
 
PT Doc said:
With all due respect, your post is a perfect example of what the original poster was talking about. You "don't have time" to be bothered reading past threads that more times than not, will answer your question. Yet, you expect the Moderators or senior members to give THEIR time giving the same answer they gave earlier in the week, last week, the week before and so on. They are incredibly gracious with their time and knowledge. The technology is working just fine. You are able to access up to date information. You just feel entitled to have it spoon fed to you. Maybe the reason the majority don't post is they take the time to read and find the answers to their questions already answered multiple times.
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@PT Doc :

I just have to come back down here to let you know that you are assuming far too many negative things - as with oftentimes happens on a public forum of thousands of strangers interracting with each other, all with their own opinions, etc...

  • Before becoming a member last month asking all sorts of horribly offensive, redundant questions, I have been a 'lurker' since January of this year. I estimate I have spent well over 30 hours reading every stickey on every forum, even the ones not for USNA! Hopefully this threshhold will meet your particular criteria to now not be considered a 'spoonfed' snowflake anymore ☑☑☑

  • I am very grateful for this forum! It has been an invaluable source of information and ease during this (very short) college application season for my very special snowflake ;). I would like to take this moment to extend a very grateful thank you to the moderators who have handled and maintained the thousands of snowflake parents (I guess this would include me now, too ??) swarming on this site, year after year, each more entitled than the last year's group. What a job!!! This leads me to my next point......

  • After paying domain renewal fees for "serviceacademyforums.com" every year, I am prrreeettttyy sure the site is monitized and hopefully all moderators are receiveing some kind of reisdual income from every click and the high traffic patterns around this time of year from the SA applicants/visitors. I would very gladly donate to the site, as I consider it a type of subscription of very worthy information, at least during this season in our family's life.

  • In my time as first a middle school, then a high school libriarian it literally was my job is to teach kids how to not be spoonfed information on the internet. One must not only evaluate the source of data out there, but also the age of it. Data expires! If you have a minute to spare ( I gave at least 1,800 minutes reading them) look at the dates of the site "stickeys" ....some go back over 13 YEARS, so yes, in my particular line of work, knowing data does expire, that would make me take pause to 'ask fresh'.

  • Search engines are only as good as the data going in to them... if you ask the 'wrong' question, you will very likely get the 'wrong' information. If you do not know the 'magic word' to use, then you will not get the answer you are seaching for. This will happen until a user becomes more familiar with the language of the subject (another shout out to the awesome Acronym list)

  • If any moderators are reading this, is it possible for questions to be vetted before members are allowed to post to the site? Would it be more work? Yes and not....This may save you time in the long run to not have to (redundantly) answer the same qeustion over and over? I don't know, but it did occur to me as a possible solution.

  • Have a great day @PT Doc and a wonderful weekend! I hope you have learned more about my actual post's intention after reading this (if you even have - but since I am not a snowflake, I certainly do not expect you to take the time to learn about the real person typing back to you on the keyboard.

 
I see the application as the first of many hoops a candidate will have to jump through in their military career. Should a candidate be accepted, their parents won’t be there to help them through Plebe Summer, Plebe year, the PRT, Physics, Double E, etc. and they definitely won’t be there to help a young officer lead sailors and marines in life/death situations. They will be a remote voice of love and support, but they won’t be able to help them with their responsibilities.

I’m all for some guidance and support from parents, and I understand the natural instinct is to be involved with your kids’ lives as much as they’ll allow, but if your son/daughter is ready to join the military, then they are an adult and are capable of taking the lead with their application. Again, nothing wrong with some helping to prep your kids on their interviews, proofreading essays, etc. but don’t lose sight of the fact that this is 100% THEIR responsibility.
 
[QUOTE="Hopeful Plebe Mom, post: 694514, member: 50038" Maybe a person can be on this forum a little tooooo long and it just becomes a place to bash new people who do not have to time to sit and read a 10 year old “sticky “ post or 8-year old threads.

The way technology works today is to be able to access up-to-date information relevant to your particular situation. NO ONE is required to respond to a post, especially if they feel annoyed by a question being asked for the 10th time or feel the need to “tell off” someone by saying “just SEARCH IT already and enjoy reading the 1000 results!” Just keep scrolling by and enjoy the ad revenue coming in.... or find another website moderating job that is more suited to your current interests ! I am understanding why only 10% of applicants post here now, geeze 😜[/QUOTE]

Yep, maybe I have hung around too long, and I do get annoyed by some of the repetitive questions..but I often feel the need to weigh in to correct the numerous errors and misperceptions that float around here. I try to temper my comments, but frankly I really don't care if I trigger someone when I tell the hard truths. I don't know anything about the structure of this site, or whether there is any revenue generated (I don't think so), but in response to HPM's comment to keep scrolling ....it works both ways. If you don't like what you are reading...keep scrolling.

It is unfortunate that what was a promising thread got hijacked because someone's feelings were hurt, and now we've got new Members trying to tell the Moderators how to run the site, and telling long time contributors to leave. Sad :( !

BTW -- before denigrating the Sticky as old , you should be aware that one of the long standing members here recently reviewed and edited the Stickys. There is a reason they are there . Also, keep in mind, the Admissions process doesn't change all that much over the years.
 
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Old Navy BGO said:
[QUOTE="Hopeful Plebe Mom, post: 694514, member: 50038" Maybe a person can be on this forum a little tooooo long and it just becomes a place to bash new people who do not have to time to sit and read a 10 year old “sticky “ post or 8-year old threads.

The way technology works today is to be able to access up-to-date information relevant to your particular situation. NO ONE is required to respond to a post, especially if they feel annoyed by a question being asked for the 10th time or feel the need to “tell off” someone by saying “just SEARCH IT already and enjoy reading the 1000 results!” Just keep scrolling by and enjoy the ad revenue coming in.... or find another website moderating job that is more suited to your current interests ! I am understanding why only 10% of applicants post here now, geeze 😜
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Yep, maybe I have hung around too long, and I do get annoyed by some of the repetitive questions..but I often feel the need to weigh in to correct the numerous errors and misperceptions that float around here. I try to temper my comments, but frankly I really don't care if I trigger someone when I tell the hard truths. I don't know anything about the structure of this site, or whether there is any revenue generated (I don't think so), but in response to HPM's comment to keep scrolling ....it works both ways. If you don't like what you are reading...keep scrolling.

It is unfortunate that what was a promising thread got hijacked because someone's feelings were hurt, and now we've got new Members trying to tell the Moderators how to run the site, and telling long time contributors to leave. Sad :( !

BTW -- before denigrating the Sticky as old , you should be aware that one of the long standing members here recently reviewed and edited the Stickys. There is a reason they are there . Also, keep in mind, the Admissions process doesn't change all that much over the years.
[/QUOTE]


Kind of hard to have a conversation when my post from this morning (#34) was blocked by the moderators. It was very complementary, if you would only unlock it!
 
A1Janitor said:
I don’t remember any questions asked about medical. We knew he was in perfect shape - he had no illnesses or medicine. He knew he would automatically fail the medical with his color blindness.

But what questions would a candidate have filling out medical?

He asked my opinion on things ... when he should schedule the CFA, which day should he select the senator interviews (the told him he could pick any day he wanted because it was just the staff), should he apply to other schools, etc. Mostly logistics questions because I drove him.

Certainly he had me read over essays, etc. Just like I read all his essays in high school. We talked strategy of which teachers should he use for recommendations. I was an active parent in his high school career - but he read all instructions and did all the work.

Honestly I think the whole process was explained well - I do not remember him having any problems going through the process.

My main involvement was understanding the waiver process ... the how’s and why’s for the colorblind waiver, history of waivers, etc. But that was after the application was finished.

It is possible his mother helped him answer medical questions - we are divorced. She was the parent that met with the BGO - I had nothing to do with that aspect.

The only contact I had with the BGO was to thank him after he was offered an appointment. He was a great guy - my son spoke highly of him.
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What you describe here is not exactly "no help from me"...

So you obviously DO understand the importance of some involvement. Honestly, I read our kid's college/SA essays, but have NEVER read a HS essay. What would the purpose be of that??? They've gotta make their grades on their own, right?

Interesting that you describe yourself as an "active HS parent", but decided to cut in clean for something way more important like college/SA???

Hard for me to understand...
 
Old Navy BGO said:
Attendance at Service Academy must be 100% a Candidates decision. I would venture to guess that most Plebe Summer drops, as well as academic year failure have some element of pressure to attend. Being a Plebe is tough, being a plebe when you don't want to be there is even tougher.

Parental support is fine...but pushing and helicoptering is not. At 17/18 kids should be able to set goals and achieve them. I'm sure parents help with applications and medical background, but I draw the line when parents call me asking to set up interviews, or asking about the status of the the application,
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Who said anything about "pushing" or "pressure". I'm a veteran and know very well what the military and plebe system is all about. I would never try to convince a child of mine that the military is the path for them or not. However, I'm a pretty well organized and operationally sound individual, and I find the process of applying to multiple academies more than even a very dedicated and focused 17 year-old young man can be expected to do without parental support.
 
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