JAMO4:
I wasn't making a judgment on the Service Selection of the USMA football players, the folks who post on the Scout.com Army board were. Presumably, most are USMA grads, parents and fans of Army Football.
I don't "grade" the choice that Mids and Cadets make in terms of the branch they choose. I leave that to others who think one branch trumps the other. Personally, I think the practice is counterproductive to unity in the Armed Forces and is the main reason for destructive intra and interservice rivalries.
You're right on the Marine thing. The limit used to be 1/6 of the graduating class could go USMC (BTW, they're Mishipmen at USNA, not Cadets
). Evidently, the limit has been removed to allow more 2LT's from USNA, which I think is a good thing.
ASO is available to all the Academies, but currently USMA is the only school really pushing it. To me, it's a slippery slope we don't want to go down. As my "dear old dad" used to say, "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." True enough, it's up to the Secretary of the Army to decide how to run his service, I just happen to think it's the wrong thing to do, and it won't pass the "smell test" when people realize what's going on.
My gut tells me that it will be eliminated in the not too distant future, but I am completely aware that my opinion is just that - my opinion.
USNA D&G