Army's Alternative Professional Program - Graduate from West Point to NFL?

[Harrier Dude]

I think it's bullshit.

The academies are there to produce quality leaders for the armed forces. Sports are ancillary to that, not a purpose in and of themselves.

Let's at least be honest about this. While some recruiting benefits could be realized from this boondoggle, this is just a smokescreen to get better athletes at the academies so that they can be more competitive and please the alumni. This is about winning games. Not about recruiting or creating a positive image.

I'm not academy guy, nor do I have a personal issue with the young men involved.

I just hate it when somebody in the government comes out with a program with a particular stated purpose, when the truth is about a completely different (and often wasteful, as in this case) unstated one.

Do you know what would create a positive image for the youth of today? A talented young athlete who chooses to serve his country as a leader of men instead of reaping huge financial rewards for playing sports.

Pat Tillman comes to mind, but that's a whole different story.

 

[xj220]

I always laugh when I see your avatar, Thisguy. This program will definitely create resentment among the cadets there. I know at the Academy, the footballers were starting to get a lot of preferential treatment and rifts were forming. Guys were getting out of a lot of stuff because they played football. Total shitbags who have no place at a fastfood joint taking out trash were being retained for honor violations because they were "essential" to a team. We all know the missions of our respective academies and none of them include pro sports team. Now, if a player has such a unique talent that cannot be overlooked, they can be given the option to opt out early if the Navy feels they "deserve" it, I think, but only after serving some term.

 

[Redux]

Give him choice, discharge with full payback of education plus interest the TAXPAYER paid for or take charge and carry out the POD Staubach style.

 

[SemperGumbi]

Does anyone know if this will actually be applied to all sports, or just the big football/basketball and maybe baseball/track? I'm envisioning a professional squash player having a hard time selling this to the Army.

 

[hokieav8r]

Tough argument. Sports serve a great purpose at the academies and they compete at a level, where everyone they play has the opportunity, though rare, to compete at the professional level when they are done. I say rare, because there are 117+ teams in D1A alone that carry at least a 110 personnel roster and the NFL draft is 7 rounds of 252 players. Not every player drafted even comes from D1A. Roughly, every team has on average 15-25 seniors in a season. The draft is not limited to seniors either. Lets say 20 by 117 teams(D1A only), that is a 1 in 2340 chance of getting drafted, if you are one of those 20 personnel on one of those D1A only teams. Chances, very slim. 30% of players drafted are cut or done after the first year. If an academy has an athlete that can stack up in that draft, then I think they deserve the right to pick that opportunity, and also, tie them to a buy out clause, they certainly shouldn't get their education for free. Trust me, it is rare for an academy player to get drafted, but it does happen, and the press alone from that event, is a great example of positive exposure of the Military schools. The recruiting is good as well. Like what was mentioned with Staubach, who doesn't know he played for Navy Academy, and there are tons of kids that were huge fans that probably put their application into the academy for that guy alone. My support, in this case, would be not to suppress the kids once in a lifetime shot at a rare opportunity if it is truly there. It wouldn't come again. Staubach was a rare example amongst a couple of others. My .02.

 

[JoelMac]

I think this is a wise policy pertaining to the bigger Army recruiting picture. The army has not been meeting recruitment quotas and has subsequently lowered standards for enlistment. Given the Army’s current manpower commitments abroad (not to mention the recent saber rattling about Iran), the Army should be doing whatever it can to increase its positive exposure.

I see this policy as foremost a marketing action. The Army is as much a brand as private companies like Apple Co. and Starbucks. The problem with the Army brand right now is that it is largely perceived negatively by the public because people associate it with the Iraq war and death. But if there were a few token star athletes on WP teams that make it to the pros and are impact players, that would undoubtedly boost the Army's greater public image. Let’s not forget that they would still be committed to recruiting for 2 years and if their "star power" leads to recruiting success then whose to say they aren’t doing their job? The WP cadet is a tool to be used to benefit the Army in whatever way it sees fit, whether that’s on the battlefield or the football field.

There are also benefits to providing top high school recruits incentives to play for the service academies. Winning programs produce loyal fans. I went to USC and it seemed that all of LA would bandwagon on Trojan football, especially during winning seasons. And even though I can’t speak the language of half of Los Angeles' residents, the one thing we have in common is USC football.

One last thing; it’s very true that many collegiate athletes are far from being Einsteins. But the argument of making them payback the Academy for its expense to educate them doesn’t hold water since a winning team will easily recoup costs to operate a collegiate team and educate its players through ticket sales and merchandising revenue.

 

[Catmando]

I initially had mixed emotions, but thinking about it more, I don't now.

If you saw the draft on ESPN, you would have seen incredible respect, enthusiasm, and unusual time allotted to this fine athlete and individual, and to the Army. By far the most respect for any 7th round pick (or even up to the lower 1st round for that matter) I have ever seen – from both analysts and the mixed crowd. More importantly, you would have seen an impressive and articulate man reflect great credit upon his academy and service on live TV to millions. The Army cannot buy outstanding PR like that.

I recall a lecture I once heard long ago by one who scoffed at the notion of PR and recruiting. He seriously (and vehemently) proposed shutting down and disestablishing the Blue Angels. And while most of his points were indeed valid, his conclusion was wrong.

His arguments back then:

1. "We are in a war, and are losing aircraft. The 7 Blue Angel aircraft need to be in the fleet right now, replacing lost aircraft and fighting the enemy, not going around 'showing off' to kids and civilians."

2. "The Blue Angel pilots are highly trained, skilled, and experienced pilots. The Navy has invested a great deal in them. If they are not flying in the fleet and fighting the enemy, then they need to be instructing those who will, and not be wasting their talent. They owe the Navy more."

3. "The team's maintenance personnel are some of the best, and we are short top-line, experienced people in the fleet. These maintainers desperately need to be in the fleet maintaining aircraft to launch against the enemy."

4. "In sum, all these people signed on for military duty, and their equipment is made for war, not show. We are at war right now and all those men and equipment need to be in it, fighting the enemy, where they belong."​

Fortunately the lecturer, and many who held similar opinions did not prevail in shutting the Blues down.

************************************************************************************************

Army safety Caleb Campbell obviously cannot compare to the Blues. But as an individual in a smaller way, he has the opportunity to fulfill the same needed mission as the Blue Angels. And today was an excellent start.

Recruiting, and representing your service to a vast public audience is an important and vital mission. It should make little difference if you complete that mission in your 1st or 3rd tour. But as a 7th round pick, he is probably not likely to make the team - just as most Navy pilots have the opportunity to be a Blue or to be naval recruiter too, but will not quite make that team either. Regardless, you are selected for duty, not given your druthers.

I watched Roger Staubach play for the Goshawks in Pensacola while he served his time. Certainly an exceptional naval officer, it was still a shame he had to wait five more years to finally become an NFL rookie at age 27. The Navy could have "selected" him for better duty, but didn't. OK, so be it. But long after his active duty, he still serves his Navy extremely well as few others can, because of his NFL success.

Then there are others who should never be given the opportunity, just like other officers shouldn't be selected or detailed for certain billets either.

Not all can do it, nor should they all be given the opportunity to do it. But if an individual has the talent and correct military bearing to reflect favorably upon his service – as Campbell appears to have – and is in keeping with that service's recruiting and PR mission statement, then I have no problem with it.

 

[DixieTexian]

This basically comes down to whether you are a idealist or a pragmatist. Ideally, the academies don't need this, but pragmatistically, it will help them.

 

[insanebikerboy]

As a side note Eckel was turned down for this program and was subsequently ad sept from the navy when his ship realized what LACK OF quality of officer they had on their hands.

Fixed it for you.

While the guy is a classmate, I think it's BS he made it through 4 years. Talk about football greasing the skids for that guy.

 

[xj220]

One thing that irks me is that the service academies are so competitive to get into that if you start introducing this pool of people who's primary concern is sports, you're going to start rejecting candidates who want nothing more than to be a woop or a mid. Now, there's no telling how each person is going to do, but there's a much greater chance that the really motivated candidate will do better than the one who's trying to go pro. I don't want to see slots wasted on someone who's there for reasons other than to become a military officer and lead people.

 

[Oh-58Ddriver]

I think it's bullshit.

The academies are there to produce quality leaders for the armed forces. Sports are ancillary to that, not a purpose in and of themselves.

How is this so different than the World Class Athlete Program that all of the services have? Is a Soldier/Airman/Marine/Sailor's job not to serve their country wherever duty calls? (if you are not familiar, a quick google search will do the trick - basically, the WCAP gives Soldiers/Airmen/Marines/Sailors the opportunity to live and train at Olympic Training Facilities for a year or two before the Olympics if they are in the top tier of their sport)

This will not have that big of an impact in reality. It will merely allow the one cadet every 5 years who qualifies to do something special. They are not shirking responsibility - the Army will get its time back.

I went to grad school right after West Point on a scholarship - some classmates thought I was getting out of the suck, or getting preferential treatment because of grades. Well, fast forward a few years and when they were all getting out because their obligation was up, I was doing 15 months in Iraq. Same thing will happen here.

 

[BlackBearHockey]

I think this is a wise policy pertaining to the bigger Army recruiting picture.

I guess that's my biggest problem with it: I don't buy the recruitment BS. Are you telling me that some young kid will go enlist because an Academy football player was selected in the 7th round of a draft? Are you recruiting for the Academy? If that's the case, who are you recruiting? Another football player who wants to go pro, or a cadet who wants to be in the Army?

Catmando, I'm not so sure I would compare the football player to the Blue Angels... in any stretch. The Blues are known nation wide and attract millions of people each year... what is this football player going to do? Visit a few high schools in the offseason? The Blue Angels reflect the precision and badassness of the Navy, the football player reflects good football. Now, if he were some shit hot first round pick and you wanted him to be the "face" of Academy athletics, I might reconsider my stance. Who cares about #99 on a 100 man roster?

 

[NUFO06]

If someone has that kind of talent and gift why should we not let him/her play. If an extremely crazy smart person came to the academy would the NSA or some special program not take him from the army.

Dont hate the playa...hate the game.

 

[IrishTiger]

Some Bullets On Army Alternative Program

1. What is the mission of West Point , USNA etc. ? Is it to supply
athletes to the NFL ? Who is paying for the education of the Cadets at West Point ?
2. Does a person attending any of the Service Academies get more in real value than just the "so called" cost of his/ her education ?
3. Compare the images in the eyes of the American Public of Roger Staubach, David Robinson ("The Admiral") and Pat Tillman versus that of Kyle Eckel ?
4. Does the current US Military policy play into this ?
- All volunteer military; No "DRAFT" (There should be)
- Standards greatly reduced to meet enlistment goals which reduces
the experience and expectations of potential officers
- Repeated deployments to war areas resulting in a majority of WP
Officers opting out of the military after their initial commitment is
fulfilled

 

[hokieav8r]

Military Draft?!

The Army came up with the policy, most likely because the big green machine saw a large benefit for the Army. It is not like this single person, or a few cadets who saw that they could have a chance in the pros polled the Army and said, "Please big Army, won't you change the policy so I can get out of my obligation in order to play in the NFL?" The Army did this, not the players/students/cadets. The Army is not the first to do it either. This discussion should not lead to a discussion about the military draft either. The last thing I want to do is go down range and have to look both ways because some punk who didn't want to be there was forced to go.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3361402&categoryId=2459789&n8pe6c=2