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As far as the best and the brightest goes - look at Craig Mullaney, West Point grad, Rhodes Scholar, Combat Platoon leader. After one tour he called it quits.
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Not sure what your point is here. In fact, many have written various pieces about how the watering down and multiplying of standards is a, perhaps the principal cause for 5 and divers like Mullaney, who btw was a shining star ...and #2 in his class.
Lastly, it's a bit superscilious proclaiming to be sufficiently all-knowing about what "Americans want."
If you want to make some kind of point look no further than the USNA where the director of the admissions diversity effort is a 5 and diver too. Quit the Navy, probably making 2 or 3 times what he made the month before his departure. So much for calling and commitment. Probably sitting in the same desk he had while wearing a uniform.
And let's remember ...we can debate the validity of qualifications till the cows arrive on the Yard. They are the quals the Navy has determined work best and for generations. Anecdotes of deviations abound and change or prove nothing. The implication of those who like to use those illustrations is "screw up, don't perform, etc....and you'll be a great leader." The Navy does not agree. They are merely interesting wind stories.
And on another note, the end game would suggest that Custer merited his spot, thus validating WP's determination that no matter his latter rise, the Academy's assessment was indeed, right on the $. Not only did he get himself scalped, but also every man in his charge. Some might suggest the same of McCain, brave as he was in incarceration, and his tanking 2 aircraft while practicing to become a USN flyer.