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

[fruitylips.livejournal.com]

And all in all, this is way more valuable to the Army than 1 more 2nd Lt who they know is out as soon as possible.

Roger Staubach, BTW, was a 10th round draft pick in 1964. He served his military commitment. He debuted as an NFL rookie in 1969.

David Robinson was drafted in 1987 and served 2 years of his commitment. The Navy waived the last 3 years. His height (7'1") was a real problem in assigning him to many normal Navy jobs. He served in the reserves and recruiting for quite some time after going into the NBA.

There really isn't anything all that odd about this. Also, it really hurts the Academy's recruiting for top athletes. You can certainly make the argument that this is irrelevant to the school's mission, but this ignores the fact that football and basketball programs are the best general marketing tools that schools have available, not to mention the revenue that a successful program generates.

Certainly the value of a new graduate (Robinson was a Lt JG) is nothing compared to the recruiting potential of a big sports star. I don't see where the academies aren't getting their monies worth to let a few go like this.