Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
IRT the cadet and the religious pressures he faced at the USMA - much like a similar situation at the USAFA several years ago, maybe we would have had to have been there to fully understand his position.
Richard 
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He certainly wrote a lengthly explanation of his position. I appreciate anyone who stands up for a minority view even if unpopular. I may not agree with them, but it is a hard path. That he gave up says that he thinks he can make a statement that is stronger by giving up or that he just wimped out.
His SA is what I would question and for that I am glad he was not commissioned. He should not lead men -- perhaps ever, certainly not now. I was recommended to West Point by some pretty good names (Patch/Bradley). I enlisted before my application was processed. I had limited SA at 17 years of age in a small town and a family of battlefield commissions and OCS and no Google. As a female, I did not want to take a slot that a male could potentially have in what I felt was our top school for officers who could fight in combat. I did not research enough to know about the mix in Army branches that make up the graduating classes. But I did have enough SA to know that West Point is strong on tradition. The cadet should not have been surprised that this was the case.
The other area, and most important that I think he missed, is the SA that said his country has been at war for the last decade. Maybe I am getting grouchy here, but all these clubs and organizations and requests for t-shirt funding... is that what cadets do? I am feeling really good about my enlistment just now
We did make T-shirts for the Nijmegen march out of our pockets and sold them for extra cash. The Dutch Army funded all our drinks buying them at a ridiculous profit margin.
