Those who want to attend a service academy should have an interest in military strategy because that is the reason that these institutions exist. Even if you want to enter the Naval Academy as a finance officer, your career would revolve around warfare. So even before you enter an academy, it is important to learn about the fundamentals of war to appreciate the role of our nation’s Armed Forces and its ranks of officers.

Right now, your degree of knowledge may vary: from a rudimentary understanding from what you’ve seen in war movies to a mediocre perception gained from reading books on military history and playing strategy games such as Age of Empires and Commandos. An advanced insight into military strategy only comes from direct experience in the field. Therefore, until you do become a commanding officer and you are able to see and experience the various principles of warfare, the best thing you can do is continue reading about it.

The following are two informative websites that I have found on this topic of military strategy.

First, the Ucadian Articles of War has a well-organized index of concepts and terms in warfare. The most interesting section on this website are the actual Ucadian Articles of War, which is an Australian philosopher’s own outline of the concept and the practice of war. The author says that the purpose of the Ucadian Articles is to “state clearly that in all things such as war, there exists certain fundamental rules that remain the same, no matter what the age, no matter what the technology or the participants.” Keep this in mind while reading military history from the era of ancient China or the Roman Empire, because everything that happened to armies and navies hundreds of years ago still applies to modern war.

Also, the author writes this cogitative message in the article declaration which is relevant to service academy candidates:

It is therefore the hope in constructing the articles, that students of war and military training will reflect on them, learn them and refer to them in their destiny. For only in truly understanding the nature of war, can there ultimately be hope of lasting world peace.

Although the Ucadian website has not been fully completed yet, another reason to visit are the free copies of classical war books such as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War and Mao Tse Tung’s Guerilla Warfare.

The second website on warfare is Bellum. This website focuses on topics in modern warfare such as fire support, blitzkrieg, military units, and weaponry. Other than that, the main reason for mentioning Bellum is its extensive library of classical war books, including Tao Te Ching, Book of Five Rings, and The Influence of Sea Power Upon History.

Bookmark and read the above websites to better understand your purpose as a military officer.

The two common paths to becoming an officer in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the Merchant Marine are the respective service academies and ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) programs at civilian colleges. Most candidates for these service academies debate the following question at one point in the application process: Should I go to a service academy or do ROTC instead? We featured an article that pointed out some pros and cons of ROTC in What If You Don’t Get Into Your Service Academy Of Choice? Here is a closer, detailed inspection of the major difference between the Academy and ROTC.

The focus of the rest of this article will be on West Point, but the information below applies to all of the other service academies: the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, and the Merchant Marine Academy.

The college experience

Whether you are a cadet at USMA or a cadet in Army ROTC, you will graduate in four years with a butterbar (2nd Lieutenant). However, the paths to that commission are significantly different because of the college lifestyle.

In a service academy, your day, week, and entire school year will be laid out for you. For instance, at West Point, your classes are scheduled back-to-back, you formally eat in the Hall with everyone else, you have mandatory intramural practices, and then you do homework for a scheduled time and sleep when the lights go out. This process is repeated day after day, and then over the “summer vacation” you have to attend various types of training. This is the strict military discipline that a service academy instills in you for the leadership development program.

On the other hand, in an ROTC program, you still have military training along with ROTC classes, but other than that you get to lead a normal college life. In regards to a social life, ROTC is better if you place importance on going out regularly with friends, dating girls/guys, and having more free time for other hobbies and activities you may enjoy.

But the service academy is not a place where you will become socially retarded. You will develop friendships and connections like no other during your time there. These bonds are not trivial or superficial because these are the people who are sharing the same hardships at the academy with you and those experiences will never be forgotten.

Better academics

The service academy is superior in military and leadership training, but with an up there is always a down. You will be more academically enlightened by attending a civilian college with an excellent program for your choice of major.

The academics are challenging at a service academy — no doubt about that — but in a different type of way. The difficulty comes by the workload. For instance, at West Point, cadets are in going to classes from 7:30 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon. On top of that, they get demanding loads of homework for each night. What is gained through rigorous studying for grades is lost in “out of the box” critical thinking.

At a civilian college that has a ROTC program, you will enjoy the privilege of having famous professors who are innovators in their fields. Most notably, the service academies lack professors who have Nobel Laureates and have published papers in respectable journals and written their share of textbooks. With the quality of the instructors alone, there is a great discrepancy between the academic experience at a service academy and in a ROTC program at a university like MIT.

Regular vs reserve commissions

Graduates of the service academies all receive regular commissions, whereas reserve commissions are generally given to ROTC graduates. Hence, the word Reserve in ROTC. To clear up any misunderstandings, a reserve commission does not mean that an officer serves in the Reserves. The difference between a regular commission and a reserve commission is that a regular officer has:

• Better chances for promotion
• Protection from reductions in force (i.e. being laid off from active duty)
• The opportunity to serve longer
• Eligibility for medical, dental and disability benefits

ROTC officers do graduate right away with regular commissions, but on a very selective and smaller scale than the service academies.

Preference for special schools

I am not sure what special schools are available at the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy, but West Point graduates do get special preference for special combat schools such as Ranger School, Airborne School, and Air Assault School. However, ROTC officers have the same opportunities for special schools, but they must make sure they are “at the head of the dragon” by displaying excellence in their battalions or detachments.

Unsure about a lifelong military career

Joining ROTC for a military career is a smaller investment, not only because it is 4 years of active duty as opposed to the 5 years required by the academy, but also because you leave yourself open to many options with a well-rounded education.

Benefits as academy alumni

There is a military term called ring knocker, which refers to an academy graduate who lets everyone know about his or her alma mater by knocking the class ring. As it may seem, the term has a negative connotation to the haughty swagger of many academy graduates. This is looked down upon by other soldiers, fellow officers and superior officers who are not academy grads, and can give you a bad reputation in the field. Many West Point grads who I have spoken with who served the minimum required years have said that there is a lot of dislike towards West Point grads. One of them said, “I don’t blame them, because West Pointers have a lot of pride and we’re not afraid to show it.”

Focus on combat arms

There are many branches in the US Army such as Armor, Artillery, and Infantry. West Point focuses on sending its cadets to the combat-oriented branches of the military like the aforementioned branches, instead of supplementary branches like Finance and Medicine. At West Point, there is an attitude that if you don’t go Infantry you’re something of a cop-out.

Don’t think about service academy vs ROTC

Lastly, I want to add that your decision should not be made on a service academy vs ROTC basis. Meditate about which schools fit your preference. Your decision may have to be made among the Military Academy at West Point, Dartmouth, or the University of Texas — each of these schools have very distinct personalities. Both Dartmouth and UT Austin both offer high quality ROTC programs, so your choice will ultimately come down to which school you like better.

Good luck in your decision. I trust that you will choose what’s in your best interest.

Also, if you have more particular knowledge about the other service academies and ROTC programs besides West Point and the US Army, please contribute to this article by emailing us at info@getintoacademy.com.

The military has a drastically different culture compared to the civilian world, and along with it a language of its own. If you are clueless about military terms while you listen to soldiers speak to each other, it can seem like a foreign language.

If you are a person who likes to question everything, you may be asking why the military has its own slang. Slang is a form of code, and using a secret terminology unifies a group of people when the meanings are understood only among themselves. The military may be subtly encouraging the use of slang as an effective method of increasing troop morale and camaraderie. Also, some slang is borne out of necessity when a descriptive or proper word does not exist in the civilian language.

So study the vocabulary before you enter the service academies to save yourself the embarrassment when you don’t understand what an upperclassmen is saying to you. This will also help in the long run, since this is knowledge that you’ll use for the rest of your military career.

Here’s a quick test. Do you know what the following words mean? If you can answer at least half of them, you are on the right track, but there is still room to improve. If you don’t know any, you better start flipping through the online dictionary of military terms.

1. Cow
2. Klicks
3. Squid
4. Boodlers
5. Supe
6. Zoomie
7. Candidiot
8. Turnback
9. Coastie

Many candidates make the mistake of applying to a single service academy. I did the same thing; I applied only to the US Military Academy at West Point and asked for a congressional nomination only for that academy. Luckily I was accepted, instead of being stranded without any back-up options. But what if I had not received the appointment to West Point? From what I’ve seen, here’s what every candidate should do regardless of their choice of service academy.

Apply to other service academies

This was unthinkable to me. Like a race horse galloping with blinker hoods, I only wanted West Point and that was it. However, you must convince yourself that all the academies serve the same purpose: to serve and defend our country. Although you can have a preference, you shouldn’t get too caught up with the various branches of the military. If you are a true patriot with a goal of becoming a leader in the United States Armed Forces, any officer training program at a service academy would suffice for your purposes.

So try to shake off your tunnel vision and apply to as many service academies for a back-up plan. Every academy gets thousands of applicants each year, and even if you are highly qualified, you may not make it because of the fierce competition among the candidates. You greatly increase your chances (by more than 75%) by applying to other service academies. This is a secret trick that is used by students applying to the Ivy League universities and also highly recommended by counselors at The Princeton Review.

Apply to civilian colleges and sign up for a ROTC program

Among the different paths to officer-dom, the most popular way is joining a Reserve Officer Training Corp program at a state or private college. If you don’t make it into a service academy, doing ROTC is a fine choice. There are several advantages to joining ROTC:

• Enjoy civilian life at a civilian school: dating girlfriends/boyfriends, hardcore partying, studying what you want.
• No-risk trial period to see if the military is right for you.
• Better academic environment in some cases.
• Significantly decreased possibility of hazing.
• Less strict observance of an honor code.

However, don’t be mistaken by the points above that life as a ROTC cadet is jolly and stress-free. The training and discipline in a ROTC program can be just as demanding as what is available at the service academies. Also, if you screw up by drinking-and-driving or lying to an officer, you will get kicked out of the officer training program just as quickly as you would at West Point.

In addition, becoming an officer through ROTC will not set you back in your military career, at all. Although many academy graduates dominate the top ranks, there are just as many ROTC graduates who make it; just look at Colin Powell who completed ROTC at the City College of New York.

Apply to the Prep School affiliated with your service academy

If you don’t make it to the service academy during the year of your application, the prep school is where the dedicated few trickle into. Many candidates quit after they fail and go off onto their alternative paths of life. But those who truly want to get into an academy take a sigh, strap themselves back up, and walk off to the prep schools. Here is more information regarding the prep schools:

• West Point (USMA) Prep School
• Naval Academy Prep School (also serves as prep school for the Coast Guard Academy)
• Air Force Academy Prep School
• Merchant Marine Academy Prep School at NMMI

You achieve success by improvising to the current situation, and this holds true especially in entrepreneurship and marketing. The current situation in the military is the Middle East: Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 156,000 US troops are active in Iraq alone. So one of the smartest things you can do right now for a career in the military is learn Arabic.

There is a serious shortage of Arabic translators for both the United States Armed Forces (conflict in Iraq) and the FBI (terrorism). To confront this situation, last year the US Military Academy invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into expanding its Arabic language major to teach the language and the culture to cadets. Also, this year the Naval Academy is starting to offer Arabic as a course for its midshipmen. This is clear evidence that there is a massive demand for soldiers who are able to speak and understand Arabic.

What’s in it for you?

So do yourself a favor by studying Arabic before entering a service academy. This is especially important for candidates entering the Military Academy and the Naval Academy, because they will be particularly involved in the Middle East conflict. The most apparent benefit for this is an increase in your salary. For example, there is a $10,000 bonus in the Army for those who speak Arabic and agree to work as a translator. But for you patriots who place duty and honor over finances, you are increasing your value in your service to the United States of America by distinguishing yourself as an exemplary asset to the military.

If you want to learn Arabic, the most effective way to self learning is to use a proven program such as the Rosetta Stone. Instead of getting hung up on the same textbook or audio tapes for endless months, Rosetta Stone is an interactive software that US Diplomats and NASA use to quickly pick up multiple foreign languages. See how you can learn Arabic quickly and effectively with Rosetta Stone Arabic Level 1.

What is special about Rosetta Stone?

Rosetta Stone’s popular method is called Dynamic Immersion, where the software utilizes techniques that you unconsciously used to master your first language when you were just a child. Another unique aspect about Rosetta stone is that it covers all 4 areas of language learning, which many language products out there fail to comprehensively cover:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

The price tag on this program is not cheap. However, considering how much a credit costs at a private or state college, the Rosetta Stone language program is the best value for your money. Plus, what you get in a classroom at a university cannot possibly match up to the professional quality of instruction in the Rosetta Stone software after more than 14 years of refinement. Well-respected organizations like Lockheed Martin, Exxon and the US Department of State are among the users of Rosetta Stone. Visit them on the web here: Rosetta Stone