What is a Federal Service Academy

Every year approximately 50,000 students apply to the five federal service academies in the United States. Surprisingly many people are completely unaware of what these schools are or the benefits they have to offer.

Officer Training School

The United States Military has three main ways of commissioning officers. The first is by sending enlisted members to their respective service's OTS (Officer Training School). This method allows men and women who enlisted and showed potential to be able to lead as an officer the chance to do so.

Military College

The second method is through ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps). This program allows students who are entering college to attend military classes and training exercises a few times a month while they are in school to get their undergraduate. At the end of the four years they would receive their commission and be 2nd Lieutenants or Ensign in one of the four branches of the U.S. Military.

A more intensive method of complete ROTC is to attend a Military College. There are a handful of SMCs (Senior Military College) in the United States. They allow students to participate in the Corps of Cadets and to have a daily chance to experience what the military is like before becoming officers.

It should be noted that the Army offers an Early Commissioning Program where students attend one of five Junior Military Colleges for two years and then are commissioned second lieutenants until they finish their four year degrees elsewhere, at which time they are promoted to first lieutenants. Valley Forge Military College and New Mexico Military Institute are two examples of schools offering this program.

Service Academies

The third route of commission is by attending one of the five federal service academies:

United States Military Academy, West Point (Army)
United States Naval Academy, Annapolis (Navy and Marines)
United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs (Air Force)
United States Coast Guard Academy, New London (Coast Guard)
United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kingspoint (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard)

These are federally funded, all expenses-paid, four year schools. Unlike the SMCs, every student who attends an academy is part of the corps of cadets. In addition, every student is on active duty in the military with all of the benefits and responsibilities that come with it. What are they?

Responsibilities

Fourth Class (freshman) year is the hardest for all of the academies. Freshman year is an opportunity for returning students to push the new cadets to their limits and make sure they all have what it takes to stay for four years.

Duties your freshman year can include things such as:

Waking Up Upperclassman
Taking Out the Trash
Cleaning Common Areas
Learning Military Knowledge About the School

At the end of your freshman year you are recognized. This is a ceremony in which the older members of your unit accept you as one of their own and from that point on you are all on a much friendlier basis. Every year your have new responsibilities. Freshman are in charge of themselves, sophomores are in charge of one freshman each, juniors are in charge of 6-10 freshman and sophomores, and seniors are in charge of about 30 freshman, sophomores, and juniors. These are minimum standards. One senior is in charge of every student at the school for example.

Benefits

While nothing in life may be free, rarely is anything without reward and this is the case with the academies. The biggest benefit is that students do not pay anything to attend the academies. They are given a full ride valued at $403,000 for the class of 2013.

In addition there are many opportunities to do things that the normal college student would never even imagine doing. Here are a few examples:

Visit Russia, China, Spain, Israel, France, and many other countries without any expenses.
Fly in a helicopter.
Learn to sky dive.
Fly Planes.
Jump from 10 meters (three stories) into a pool. (Required at USAFA)
Deploy to the Middle East for 30 days.

I will never forget standing outside waiting for lunch when I saw an F-15e fly over head and then watch a Helicopter come in, hover over the middle of campus, unload two men via rope, and then leave as quick as it came. You will never have an experience like that at Notre Dame.

Academics

It should be mentioned that in addition to being a great route to becoming a military officer, the federal service academies also boast some of the best educations in the country. This year West Point was ranked #1 overall and the Air Force Academy ranked #7 with Navy trailing at #20. This means that you get a free education that ranks higher than Harvard or Yale!

Athletics

Finally the last core of all the academies is their athletic programs. While all the academies average about 4000 cadets they still manage to put out 10+ Division I NCAA teams each. When you compare this to TCU who has 35,000 students, you can realize that physical fitness is prided at all of the academies.

Intramural sports are required if you are not a competing athlete and various gym classes such as Swimming and Boxing are required every semester for cadets.

Conclusion

There are many routes to becoming an officer in the military but Service Academies are traditionally considered the creme of the crop. Respectively they also have the highest standards of entry and the highest rate of attrition. 10,000 will apply for a spot at each academy every year. 1,300 will be accepted, and 800 will graduate. Do you have what it takes to be one of those 800?