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Trump is considering allowing service academy athletes to serve their military requirements after their athletic careers are over. at least he said he is.
Not trying to get overly political but considering he got multiple deferments himself to avoid service in Vietnam it would be sort of hypocritical of him to take the opposite stance.
Bone spurs in his feet I think it was.
from what i've seen its a great recruiting tool to have the service academy guys playing in the pros. Its recruiting for both the military in general and for the individual academy itself. When the players sign with a team they get moved to the reserves and serve their military obligation during the off season. Also good points above about the money situation. One of the easiest disciplinary measures is to withhold pay. So once someone is financially secure, aka millionaire, from outside resources the military usually separates them with or even without consent as they lose their ace in hole on keeping people in check. I knew a person whose mom won the lottery and he wouldn't take a single dime because he wanted to stay in.
For me, whatever is best for the service academies. If letting them go pro and serve after the fact allows the most highly qualified to attend without affecting the outcome of the greater good than let them go pro.
Meh... mole hill, I won't make it a mountain.
I say leave it up to the military branch. They could keep them "enrolled" being an ambassador as they play for whatever professional sports team. If they want to.
I posted earlier that I think a pro sports career will produce a better officer candidate than coming straight out of an academy. Life experiences will be invaluable for such athlete/officers. I'm fine if they fulfill their commitment later than earlier.
You’re talking about so few people that this would be applicable to, so why not let them go pro?
I’m a service academy grad, who’s still serving on active duty. As a teenager/young adult, athletics more than anything lead me to a service academy since the head coach’s of my sport recruited me there. So maybe that’s others motivations to sign up as well...
Obviously, I grew somewhat fond of the military aspects since I’m still choosing to serve.
Yes. But they pay back tuition costs.
No. The purpose of each Service Academy is to train Officers for our military. In return they provide an excellent education at no cost to the entrants in return for taking on the obligation to serve our country once the future Officer's undergraduate education is completed. Being an exceptional athlete is not a reason to delay fulfilling the obligation. If a standout athlete wants to be a professional, they should go to a program that is designed to prepare them for that undertaking and not take a place from a young person whose goal is to serve our country.
The military disagrees with you. Precedent has already been set with this.
Won't happen. The services don't want somebody 10 years later after all that mental training and conditioning. But there is a way around it. If a player in whatever sport declares for the draft early and drops out they don't have to serve if they don't graduate...if I remember correctly.
I said it earlier but every one skipped it. They get put in the reserves and serve their time on the off season.
I think they can opt out by repaying everything/all expenses involved in their education and any signing bonus they initially got from the military.
That wouldn't work either. A reserve/ guard soldier needs a certain amount of time on duty for a year. Also, yearly training requirements are needed beyond just individual training on a yearly basis, so this proposal wouldn't work either.
Its not a proposal, this is what they do. David Robinson was in the Naval Reserve and did his time on off season. The yearly requirements are one month a year. There is also what they call the IMA program which is fairly new and you get to pick when and where you want to do your reserve time. Pretty good deal from the folks I know who do it
Robinson's case was completely different and back in the 80s, a lot has changed. While on paper that might brief well, but it is a complete and total disservice for the command to which they would belong to and the Soldiers that would be serving underneath them.
Its just how the reserve works. They come in and you have to retrain them on everything and then they leave shortly after getting spun up. Not a big fan of it but its the big picture thing of having a manpower source you can call up in times of emergency.
swilkerson. If it was most anybody other than Trump I'd give him or her the benefit of doubt, but with The Donald I have no doubt this was a political decision. This is a guy who wrote The Art Of The Deal in the middle of losing more money over the 80s than any other private citizen. He's the guy who said he didn't like John McCain because he preferred soldiers who didn't get captured. Last but certainly not least he's the guy who had his father bribe the family doctor to say Donald had bone spurs to get out of service.