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Oldest son is a Junior with a dream of getting into the Air Force Academy. He thought he'd take the ACT a few weeks ago - get a jump on things and see where he needed to work on stuff to improve his scores. He pulled a 29 composite his first time taking it.

He was the only Junior taking the test and now has a few Seniors "upset" with him that he outscored all those who took it with him.

I'm a bit proud of him.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

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Nice. Congrats to him and his bright future!

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congrats to him rev! you have every right to be proud.

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congrats rev!!!!!

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that's pretty awesome Rev, Congrats

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Awesome, Todd...give your son my congratualtions. :tu

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Very cool! Congrats!

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Very cool, but not surprising. Give Nathan my congratulations, Todd. :tu

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Congrats To Your Son, Todd! :D :tu

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Sweet, Todd - congrats

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Awesome Todd! Congrats to your son.

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Awesome job.

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Very cool, Todd.

It is obviously a genetic thing. :D

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Congrats to him!!!! You sound like a proud DADDY!!!!

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Congrats to you and your son. :tu :tu

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That is Great!!

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That's a good boy, Todd. :tu

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No doubt! It is from the maternal gene pool, for his mother is incredibly smart.

In fact, I only know of one really stupid decision on her part in the almost 30 years I've known her - she said, "yes," when I asked her to marry me.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

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Very kool, Congratzzz... :tu

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Of course, a good ACT score doesn't get you into any of our military academies. It may help, but there are other things that are even more important. The more important thing is the "nomination." All candidates that are accepted must have secured a nomination from one of the following:
The Vice President
U.S. Senators
U.S. Representatives
Delegates to the House of Representatives from Washington, D.C., Guam and the Virgin Islands
The Governors of American Samoa and Puerto Rico
The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico
The Resident Commissioner of the Northern Mariana Islands
The Secretary of the Army

There are a couple of them on the list that he simply canno secure, for he doesn't live in those areas. And I am sure there will be plenty of candidates vying for the limited number of nominations coming from Wisconsin.

So, even with that score (and he said he will be retaking the test to improve this score), there are no guarantees.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

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Congratulations to your son, and best of luck for his future aspirations.

My brother The Bird (Ret.) spent 26 years in Air Force blue, and late in his career they offered him a teaching position at Colorado Springs. As he had graduated college with plans to teach, I thought he would (and should) accept, but he passed on the opportunity. Had he gone, I might have had some backdoor pull for your boy. Oh well.

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:jdJust looked up some stats for the Air Force Academy class of 2014.

This is eye-opening.

Here is the profile for the Class of 2014:
Applicants - 11,627
Candidate Pool - 7,543
Qualified Candidates - 2,445
Offers of Admission - 1,566
Total Admitted - 1,294

By the way, that is 11% of applicants who made it. :jd


Here are the numbers for West Point
men women total
Applicant Files Started .11,198 2,756 13,954
Nominated .....................3,627 717 4,344
Qualifi ed (academically
& physically) ...........2,141 399 2,540
Admitted ........................1,049 212 1,261

By the way, that is 9% of applicants who made it.

Numbers for Annapolis are similar.

The US Coast Guard Academy only gets about 4000 applicants a years, but again, only 10% finally are accepted.

So, while Nathan may have laudable goals - and a good test score now - he still has a long row to hoe if he's ultimately to get in.

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Thanks for the thoughts, but I don't know that it works that way. The academies are very picky and follow strict adherence to their rules, "We follow orders, or men die."

Peace of the Lord be with you.

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I am certain there's a lot of truth to that. I also know there exists a military fraternity where "things get done". With some of the contacts my brother made (War College, Pentagon, Joint Service), he might have been able to grease a wheel or two. It would not have pulled an application from the bottom of the pile to the top, but it may have slipped one from the middle under the right eyes.

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This I do believe.

Thanks for the thoughts.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

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Congrats to your son and to you and your wife for the job done raising him. He has my prayers for admission to the AF Academy.:tu

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OUTSTANDING! I'm sure your US Rep. will be more than happy to nominate him. Just call his office.

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:tu:tu

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Congratulations to you and your son Todd!