When our son sat us down junior year to tell us he was including USMA and USNA in his college list as his first choices, we tried everything in our power to dissuade him from doing so. But here’s the thing:
We didn’t lift a finger to support him during the application process but, by the time those appointments arrived, he was 18 and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it. His experience at USMA taught us something, though. It stripped us of our prejudices and misconceptions about the Army and military in general as we watched what that education produced in our son. When he commissioned in 2019, I posted:
We watched him graduate and commission on Saturday (my mom and I hooked on his new shoulder boards), the end of a long, hard 47-months. I’m no happier with the military than I was four years ago, and I still think he had better college options, but I’m coming to terms with the Army. He’s gotten much of value from his time at the academy. The education he received there transcends his degree. He’s lived a regimented, inspected, drilled, sober, uniformed life 24 x 7 for four years, never able to rest, never able to juggle every academic, physical, and military obligation perfectly, never quite able to measure up to the models of leadership in bronze and stone on those plains and in those halls. He chose a very tough way to get through college. But he has gotten through it with deep friendships and an education rich for its broadness and emphasis on character, integrity, duty, honor, and country. He has consumed all of it with determination, humility, and honors. He has reached his goal, and, for that, we are so proud of him.
He has served eight years as an officer in the cyber force, and I have posted much of his journey on these boards, most recently on The Bragging Thread as he prepares to rejoin the civilian world in two weeks. He’s come a long, long way since we dropped him off at West Point in 2015, and so have we. I must say now that we are thankful we couldn’t stand in his way.
I don’t have any opinion on where other parents stand or what they decide. If our son were 18 again (or female) and facing today’s military in this political climate, I would have even more concerns but, again, nothing you can do to prevent an 18-year-old from entering service. But, I would definitely encourage serving as an officer over an enlistee. And, as much as we tried to dissuade our son, the service academy route spared us college and graduate school tuition and taught our son valuable lessons in leadership and thought he could learn nowhere else. He became a very fine, highly respected officer and will have all those rights and privileges the rest of his days. He has no regrets, so neither do we.