Why a service academy?

VasilyZaytsev

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Joined
May 11, 2021
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Hello all, just joined, and have a 9th grade son who has wanted to join the military since he was little. We are learning right now, and truly appreciate the posts and info. We understand the differences with ROTC and service academy. But a question for you all; Why did you choose....? Like why USAFA, or why USMA? It's a question I've asked many people, such as, why did you become a doctor, or why did you take that college course? You can serve your country, or become an officer via ROTC or OCS, so why did you want to attend a service academy? Right now, he just knows he wants to join the military. I think this will help my son understand more about the process, goals, and types who attend these schools. Thanks
 
Welcome!

I encourage your son to take ownership of the process and dive deep into the websites for the pre-comm programs you mentioned. There are videos, detailed descriptions, links, photos, etc. The SAs have sports camps, STEM camps and rising senior summer programs.

The Service Academies are full-on immersion active duty military training (USMMA is different in many ways, worth researching). Some are ready to dive right into that at 17. Some want the “regular college experience,” while using ROTC as their pre-comm program to prepare for a commission. Some attend Senior Military Colleges to get the feel of a regimented program while pursuing ROTC. OCS folks get their degree and apply to OCS.

Different aspects feel right to different people. Multiple commissioning sources provides a diversity of backgrounds. All sources produce outstanding, average and below-average officers.
 
As the parent to a son who ran the application gauntlet successfully only to wind up declining the appointment, I agree with Capt MJ...this needs to be your son's journey. My DS was first interested in USNA when his friend did NSS (live, not virtual) and came back with great stories. He applied for and did NSS virtually 2020 and, again, really liked it and continued the application process. USNA kept messing up his application, however, and I think that played into his ultimately declining the appointment. He also applied to USAFA with the hopes of being a pilot and because they have a stronger civil engineering program, but he was medically dq'd. Underlying applying to the service academies were 1) the desire to serve his country and 2) the excellent engineering programs available. In the end, he decided he could find other ways to serve and discovered his own state school has a highly regarded School of Engineering that was tailored to his interests.

The hardest part in this whole journey for DH (a marine) and I was sitting back and "allowing" our son to choose his own path. Watching him mature over this last year has been worth it, however.
 
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