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My dear friend Whistle Pig - you know as well as I that life isn't fair. You also probably know that the "best" person for the job isn't always the "most qualified" - whatever that is. You also know the service academies conduct their admissions under the constraints of the nomination process.
Each academy has 170 slots available each year for enlisted folks. They are admitted under different standards than high school students. Where is the out cry?
Congress has determined that each entering plebe must not have reached their 23rd birthday - where is the age discrimination outcry?
Getting admitted is simple really - it's a competition. Be the best in your Congressional district and you are in. You can't get into Harvard that way. If I were a Congresswoman and submitted 10 names and the academy chose to admit the student with the SAT of 1400, a 2.5 GPA and no sports or EC's over several students who had SAT's of 2100, 3.5 GPA and were student body presidents and varsity team captains - that would be the last year I would use the competitive method. From then on I would use the Principle method. Other MOC's would too.
Each Academy has a certain number of slots available for children of disables veterans or who were KIA. This is dictated by Congress - not admissions. If such an applicant was black or white, male or female - they only have to show they are qualified to be admitted even if they are a "weaker" applicant than others.
No doubt the academy has made a concerted effort to increase recruitment of minorities - outreach to populations that are unfamiliar with military options, including service academies is to be commended.
Fleming has totally overblown his case.
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