<p>There was a very good letter I read last year about this time addressed to a candidate at both USNA and USAFA relating to this subject. The writer was a pilot, USNA grad that had also spent time (a couple of years) in the AF on some shared agreement. Anyway it was very interesting and not what I expected. I would have thought USNA would be the way to go and this spoke to opportunities in both settings. I think, based on this letter, there were more technical opportunities relating to “flying” at AFA. Compare course loads etc. This graduate told the candidate to look at later life and what they wanted. Did they want to be at sea for 6 months at a time? Did they want to be with families at holidays? They talked about people you would work with and their backgrounds/enlisted personnel. I was surprised that it wasn’t as complimentary to the Navy as I would have thought. It was an excellent letter and if I find it I will post it. The bottom line was where does your heart lie and what are your long-term goals. With changes in routes to astronaut training in this day and age it’s probably best to look forward and not back at history. The end conclusion was AFA was the way to go and it very much surprised me since at first read I thought the writer waould say otherwise. It was only one person’s opinion and can be debated forever but since this is an information-gathering site I thought I’d post a little about what I read.</p>