Muddled priorities

[unixronin]

OK, so you want to become an officer in the Army.  You make it into West Point, you graduate ... and then you go to play pro football for the Detroit Lions?

Uh, no.  This is wrong, IMHO.  You volunteered, you got your way paid through West Point, you committed to serve; now it's time to serve.  You want to play pro football, you can do that after you get out.

Comments

[johnkzin.livejournal.com]

There's two paths here:

1) Become a spokesperson for the service, and serve time as a reservist (which is what I think David Robinson actually did)... in essence, you've just become a recruiter. I think they only offer you this option is it's likely that you'll become successful and popular enough that you being a spokesperson is going to be win for them.

2) Any academy service graduate is allowed to not serve, as long as they pay the academy back for their tuition/expenses/etc. It is in the rules/regulations/etc. for the academies (I remember being surprised by it when I was looking in to going to Annapolis... surprised because ROTC cadets/midshipmen don't get the same choice; once committed and paid for, you're committed and paid for: deciding to "not get your comission" means "you'll go enlisted instead of comissioned").


And David Robinson wasn't the first either. I don't remember what exactly Roger Staubach (sp? Dallas Cowboys QB from the late 60's and early 70's) did wrt to his Navy service, but he was an Annapolis grad as well.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

1) Become a spokesperson for the service, and serve time as a reservist (which is what I think David Robinson actually did)... in essence, you've just become a recruiter.

Good point.

2) Any academy service graduate is allowed to not serve, as long as they pay the academy back for their tuition/expenses/etc.

Yeah, that'd work too. But one way or another, you need to either honor that commitment or pay back what you received for it.

[radarrider.livejournal.com]

Here's what I know about at least the Air Force Academy back in the late 80's. You could attend for up to two years and then walk away if you want. You would be required to pay back some expenses, but that's pretty much it. Some people did just that because they would get three years of college credit in just two years, then leave and go one more year to a civilian college to obtain their bachelor's degree.

However, if you showed up for the first class of your junior year, you immediately incurred an "active duty obligation." If you then decided to leave the academy, you were required to serve as an enlisted member of the Air Force for a period of time. As you can imagine, this was an extremely rare occurrence.

[argonel.livejournal.com]

That's what my father did actually. 2 years at USAFA, then spent one more year earning a BS in industrial physics. This was around 1970 though.

[lwj2.livejournal.com]

Mr. Staubach served four years active duty after graduation from Annapolis.

http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=201