Delayed Service for athletes...

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Another point, Gator: By the time your pro career ends, you're likely married with young children. Not the best time to do your mandatory service either.

In reality, the best time to do your service is right after you graduate. All of that you learned in a military academy is current and fresh in your mind when you go to serve, so you're of the most use to the service. You're accustomed to the discipline and expectations of military life, and as you pointed out, you don't have any injuries which would prevent your service.

I just don't see ANYONE going into military service after a successful pro sports career. I don't see multi-millionaire athletes, with family obligations, doing 5 years as a military officer. These athletes will try to buy their way out of it.

Last but not least is the message it sends. When young men and women enrol in West Point or Annapolis, they are making a commitment to their country. Many are setting out on a lifelong path of public service. JFK said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". West Point and Annapolis are the educational institutions which live that ethos. Trump is saying "Your promises to your country mean nothing. Get it while you can".

Just as JFK's words reveal the kind of man he was, so do Trump's.

That's odd! By the time I finished my Navy service obligation, I had been married for 5 years and had two children.

My daughter's Army service obligation is up next August, and she is unmarried with no children. It all depends on the individual.

Would you have started you service obligation with a wife and two children? My father-in-law left the Navy when his second child was born.

I did somewhat, with a wife and one on the way. I was married a year before I was commissioned and had a daughter two months afterward.

My third and last child was born three weeks before I left active duty ten years later.

Your father-iin-law leaving the Navy when his second child was born was his guarantee that he would be there for the conception of anymore children rather than just the birth. He wanted to make sure the children he was supporting were his!

"He wanted to make sure the children he was supporting were his!"

probably you are making a joke BUT

I lived near a navy base and there was this bar where the wives went to get picked up when the sailors were out to sea.....(not by me)


AND


there are MORE bordellos near military bases than ANYWHERE ELSE in the WHOLE UNIVERSE!


AND

prostitutes say that they look forward MORE to republican conventions (as opposed to democratic) because conservative republicans spend a lot more on whores!

All of this is true.

In the Marines you could tell when a unit deployed as there were a lot more new women at the E Club. And Marines have quint little sayings like "nobody is married after 50 miles" and "what happens on deployment, stays on deployment".

The best though was at the end of my last WestPac, the Chaplin from our base in the states flew over for a briefing at the end of the 6 months and told us that if something happened not to feel obligated to tell our wives and then he flew back and had a briefing with the wives and told them not to ask questions they did not want answer to. Quite the man of God he was

Was the "Chaplin"'s (sic) first name Charlie perhaps?

 

[rightwinger]

They signed a contract and agreed to a commitment to the US Armed Forces.

Unless they have an unusual hardship, their honor demands they fullfill their committment, regardless of the money the could possibly make going pro.

Who is to say they get drafted and suffer a career-ending injury in their first two or three years. Then they have no pro career and cannot return to the military with a handicap.

Bad policy and to my thinking, if these cadets or midshipmen renege on their oaths, then they are not fit to be officers and leaders in our Armed Forces.

They make a commitment to serve their country and possibly die in its defense

That is a higher calling than pro sports and to suggest otherwise is insulting

 

[Dragonlady]

So, if you play kickball or hittyball real good, you can shirk your commitment to the taxpayers who funded you. But ONLY if you play kickyball or hittyball real good. If you are brilliant and could slide into a research head position somewhere...tough shit,learn to play kickyball or hittyball.

Cool.

Of course you can’t make millions becoming a research scientist.

 

[rightwinger]

So, if you play kickball or hittyball real good, you can shirk your commitment to the taxpayers who funded you. But ONLY if you play kickyball or hittyball real good. If you are brilliant and could slide into a research head position somewhere...tough shit,learn to play kickyball or hittyball.

Cool.

Of course you can’t make millions becoming a research scientist.

To Trump, money is the only thing that matters

Why should an athlete have to pass up millions just to do something as insignificant as serving your country?

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Of course you can’t make millions becoming a research scientist.

Sure you can, if you discover something very useful and own the patent for it.

 

[rightwinger]

There was a time when athletes, movie stars and rock stars were required to serve their country
Ted Williams went twice
Elvis had to serve at the prime of his career
Ali refused and had to go to the Supreme Court

Trump seems to think it is demeaning if a pro quality athlete has to serve their country

 

[my2¢]

From what I understand the scholarships to military academies are extremely limited. I simply wish that the most deserving individuals earn those scholarships. I can't venture a guess if or how Trump's policy will affect that fairness but I'm liberal enough to try change and see how it works out.

 

[rightwinger]

From what I understand the scholarships to military academies are extremely limited. I simply wish that the most deserving individuals earn those scholarships. I can't venture a guess if or how Trump's policy will affect that fairness but I'm liberal enough to try change and see how it works out.

EVERYONE attending a military academy is on a scholarship
It is very, very competitive and takes a Congressional appointment to the academy

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

From what I understand the scholarships to military academies are extremely limited. I simply wish that the most deserving individuals earn those scholarships. I can't venture a guess if or how Trump's policy will affect that fairness but I'm liberal enough to try change and see how it works out.

At West Point, the students actually get paid to go there. True story.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

From what I understand the scholarships to military academies are extremely limited. I simply wish that the most deserving individuals earn those scholarships. I can't venture a guess if or how Trump's policy will affect that fairness but I'm liberal enough to try change and see how it works out.

The vast majority of cadets and midshipmen receive their nominations through their Congressional representatives. The bar is set very high and most that do get selected are already athletes with stellar academic records.

I was an alternate for two nominations to the USAF Academy out of high school. The next year, I went to school on a Navy ROTC scholarship I won while enlisted in the Navy.

 

[Dragonlady]

There was a time when athletes, movie stars and rock stars were required to serve their country
Ted Williams went twice
Elvis had to serve at the prime of his career
Ali refused and had to go to the Supreme Court

Trump seems to think it is demeaning if a pro quality athlete has to serve their country

Trump thinks that when you sign an agreement to serve, you should be able to toss the original contract when you get a better offer.

If you have any dreams of being a pro athlete, you shouldn’t sign up for West Point or Annapolis. Then you won’t have a pesky commitment to serve.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

There was a time when athletes, movie stars and rock stars were required to serve their country
Ted Williams went twice
Elvis had to serve at the prime of his career
Ali refused and had to go to the Supreme Court

Trump seems to think it is demeaning if a pro quality athlete has to serve their country

Trump thinks that when you sign an agreement to serve, you should be able to toss the original contract when you get a better offer.

If you have any dreams of being a pro athlete, you shouldn’t sign up for West Point or Annapolis. Then you won’t have a pesky commitment to serve.

You do realize that there is a third service academy, right?

Where are the contracts being tossed?

 

[Andylusion]

President tells Army-Navy players that service can be deferred until after pro careers

On Saturday, the current Commander-in-Chief touted while attending the annual Army-Navy game a shift in policy that permits athletes at the service academies to delay their service.
President Trump told the players that they now have the chance “to make a fortune, and after you’re all finished with your professional career, you’ll go and you’ll serve and everybody’s thrilled.”

What do you all think...good policy or not?

Maybe we can get something other than the normal split on this one...

I say it is bad policy for two reasons...

First, it says that making your fortune is more important than serving your country and full fulling your commitment to the country.

Second, what if their career last 20 years and they are 40 plus when they enter active duty? What if they are injured and no long qualify to be on active duty?

I think this just sends a bad message.

I don't think I know enough about this issue to make a conclusive argument... however...

First, I don't understand why someone would join up, if they didn't want to join up, because they had a pro-career.

At first glace, none of your arguments really matter to me. I don't care if someone wants to do a pro-career in sports or not. We have a volunteer military. If you want to join, join. If you don't, don't. If you'd rather be tossing baskets, then go throw some baskets.

And how old you are, doesn't matter much to me either. If you are able to do the job, then do the job. If not, then don't.

Again... it's all volunteer.

Where the problem comes in for me, is that we're talking about West Point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the entire point for the existence of West Point, is to go into the military.... right?

And not just go into the military, but you are being trained to be a military officer.... right?

And correct me if I'm wrong, but for those who are able to get into West Point, they are 100% funded by US tax dollars... is that correct?

There is no tuition at West Point. No food cost. No housing cost. No costs whatsoever. It's like the ultimate in free-rides, paid for by the US tax payers.

that is one heck of an investment.... to that person run off to play games. Is that why I lose 20% of me income in taxes? So we can prepare a guy to be ready for his pro-sports career?

If that is what he wants to do, he can go get a scholarship at a state university, and get signed on for a pro-career there, and not cost the tax payers $50K for an elite military education.

Unless there is more to this story than what is written here, I'm against this.

 

[Dragonlady]

There was a time when athletes, movie stars and rock stars were required to serve their country
Ted Williams went twice
Elvis had to serve at the prime of his career
Ali refused and had to go to the Supreme Court

Trump seems to think it is demeaning if a pro quality athlete has to serve their country

Trump thinks that when you sign an agreement to serve, you should be able to toss the original contract when you get a better offer.

If you have any dreams of being a pro athlete, you shouldn’t sign up for West Point or Annapolis. Then you won’t have a pesky commitment to serve.

You do realize that there is a third service academy, right?

Where are the contracts being tossed?

I have no idea how The service academies work. They have no impact on Canada.