<p>Ann, I disagree. When people you know, people you had classes with, people you lived in company with, go overseas and don’t come home, it becomes pretty real. When you talk on instant messenger to friends from '04 and '05 who tell you what their platoons are experiencing in Baghdad, that commitment becomes pretty real. </p>
<p>Yes, there is no way to fully understand the realities and horror of combat until you are there, but the reality of the commitment is something very real and something that is with you each and every day.</p>
<p>If anyone took my last post as preaching, I am sorry, it was not my intention. I was simply trying to emphasize how real this all is. I just irks me that every year people come here with no commitment to the Academy or the Army (and I was not accusing anyone on this board of that) and they quit before cow year, and totally qualified candidates who would make great officers dont ever get the chance to realize their dream of coming to West Point.</p>