Introduction to United States Service Academies
United States Service Academies, institutions of higher learning that train young men and women to become commissioned officers in the armed forces. The graduates of these institutions become regular, rather than reserve, officers. The academies are:
U.S. Military Academy
(popularly called West Point, or Army), West Point, New York.
U.S. Naval Academy
(popularly called Annapolis, or Navy), Annapolis, Maryland.
U.S. Coast Guard Academy,
New London, Connecticut.
U.S. Air Force Academy,
near Colorado Springs, Colorado.
West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy are accredited four-year institutions that grant bachelor of science degrees. Faculties consist of Army, Navy, and Air Force officers and, at West Point and Annapolis, civilian professors. The academies participate in athletics and other activities with civilian colleges. Social life is more restricted than at civilian colleges, but there are dances and a variety of extracurricular activities. Army's mascot is a mule; Navy's, a goat; Air Force's, a falcon.
Students at the Military and Air Force academies are called cadets. Naval Academy students, including women, are midshipmen. Cadets and midshipmen are members of the armed forces and are under military discipline. They wear uniforms and have their own student officers.
There is no charge for instruction, quarters, or medical care. Cadets and midshipmen buy some of their clothing and books out of their monthly pay.
Graduates of West Point must serve at least five years with the Army; Annapolis graduates, five years with the Navy or Marine Corps; Air Force Academy graduates, five years with the Air Force. A limited number of graduates of each school are permitted to accept commissions in other branches of the armed forces. After graduation, an officer may do advanced study at a civilian university or, later, at one or more of the graduate schools of the armed forces. These include Army, Navy, and Air war colleges, the National War College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Admission
RequirementsApplicants, with certain exceptions, must be United States citizens. They must be unmarried and remain unmarried until graduation. They must be 17 to 22 years of age and of good moral character. Candidates must pass rigid physical examinations. A high school education, or its equivalent, is required by all three academies. Candidates must pass various mental and aptitude tests.
AppointmentsWest Point, the Air Force Academy, and Annapolis each have a maximum authorized strength of 4,417 students. Actual enrollments are somewhat lower. Most of the service academy vacancies are filled by direct appointments open to all qualified citizens. Each United States representative and senator can have five appointees in the Military Academy, five in the Air Force Academy, and five in the Naval Academy at any one time. The Vice President is authorized to appoint several individuals to each academy, and several are appointed from the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. An unlimited number of children of winners of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, can be appointed to each academy by the President.
In addition to direct appointments, there are several hundred appointments each year of persons in the following categories:
- Members of the Regular Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force.
- Members of Reserve or National Guard units.
- Children of members of the regular armed forces.
- Children of servicemen who were killed in action or died of wounds in past wars.
- Honor graduates of military or naval schools.
- Members of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program (Annapolis only).
In addition, a small number of Filipinos, Canadians, and Latin Americans may be admitted to each academy. Foreign students receive degrees but not commissions.
Until 1976 only men were admitted to the three academies.
The Military Academy
The military reservation at West Point covers 16,000 acres (6,475 hectares), extending west from the Hudson River. The Point is a V-shaped stretch of land formed by a bend in the river. Near the bend is the Plain, consisting of the parade ground and athletic fields. Central Barracks (built 1851, 1882, 1921) and Thayer Hall and other academic buildings are south of the Plain.
Also of interest are the museum in Thayer Hall; Flirtation Walk, along the river; two Revolutionary War forts, Clinton and Putnam; and the Great Chain that was stretched across the Hudson during the Revolution to hinder British navigation.
The Military Academy is under jurisdiction of the Department of the Army. The superintendent is ordinarily a lieutenant general. Course work includes academic study, military science, and physical education. Bachelor's degrees are offered in biological science, business, communications and the arts, computer and physical science, engineering and environmental design, and social science. Summers are spent in field exercises and combat training. Graduates are commissioned second lieutenants.
The U.S. Military Academy was established in 1802 on the site of an important Revolutionary War fortress. Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, superintendent from 1817 to 1833, is called the Father of the Military Academy. He developed high standards of teaching and discipline, and made West Point the leading engineering college in the United States. For decades West Point graduates were virtually the only trained engineers in the country and were responsible for building many of the nation's roads, bridges, railways, canals, and harbor installations. As civil engineering schools grew after the Civil War, emphasis at West Point shifted to a broader program of military, scientific, and liberal arts studies.
West Point superintendents have included Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, John M. Schofield, Douglas MacArthur, and Maxwell D. Taylor. Two Presidents of the United StatesUlysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhowerwere graduates of the Academy.
The Naval Academy
The Naval Academy Yard (campus) at Annapolis covers 329 acres (133 hectares) on the banks of the Severn River. There are more than 200 buildings, including Bancroft Hall, one of the largest college dormitories in the world. John Paul Jones, the Revolutionary War naval hero, is buried in the chapel. The Nimitz Library is noted for its special collections on sea power and physics.
The Naval Academy is under the control of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. The superintendent may be a rear admiral or a vice admiral. Bachelor's degrees are awarded in communications and the arts, computer and physical science, engineering and environmental design, and social science. In the summer, midshipmen take part in training cruises and combat exercises. Graduates are commissioned ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps.
In the early years of the U.S. Navy there was no formal program of instruction for prospective officers and most of their training was at sea. Shore-based schools were established in the 1820's but were ineffective. In 1839 a naval school was founded at Philadelphia, and its success led to the establishment of the Naval Academy in 1845, largely through the efforts of George Bancroft, then secretary of the navy. The Academy took over the buildings and grounds of Fort Severn, an Army post in Annapolis.
The Academy was temporarily moved to Newport, Rhode Island, during the Civil War. It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900's. The Academy was granted authority to confer degrees in 1932. Graduates of Annapolis include A. A. Michelson, first American to receive the Nobel Prize in physics; explorer Richard Byrd; Admirals George Dewey, Chester Nimitz, and William Halsey; and President Jimmy Carter.
The Air Force Academy
The Academy occupies an 18,325-acre (7,416-hectare) site near Colorado Springs, on a mesa at the foot of the Rampart Range of the Rocky Mountains. The buildings are modernistic, functional structures of marble, glass, aluminum, and steel. Vandenberg Hall, the cadet quarters, contains 1,320 rooms. The Academy uses nearby Peterson Air Force Base for cadet navigation training flights.
The Air Force Academy is controlled by the Department of the Air Force. The super-intendent is an Air Force lieutenant general. Bachelor's degrees are awarded in biological science, business, communications and the arts, computer and physical science, engineering and environmental science, and social science. Summers are spent in basic and specialized aviation training. Qualified candidates are expected to take pilot training after graduation. Graduates are commissioned second lieutenants.
Congress authorized creation of the Academy in 1954. Until 1959, when the first class was graduated, the Air Force received a large number of graduates each year from West Point and Annapolis. The Air Force Academy occupied temporary quarters at Lowry Air Force Base until 1958. The first full-size class of 750 cadets entered in 1959.
Admission
RequirementsApplicants, with certain exceptions, must be United States citizens. They must be unmarried and remain unmarried until graduation. They must be 17 to 22 years of age and of good moral character. Candidates must pass rigid physical examinations. A high school education, or its equivalent, is required by all three academies. Candidates must pass various mental and aptitude tests.
AppointmentsWest Point, the Air Force Academy, and Annapolis each have a maximum authorized strength of 4,417 students. Actual enrollments are somewhat lower. Most of the service academy vacancies are filled by direct appointments open to all qualified citizens. Each United States representative and senator can have five appointees in the Military Academy, five in the Air Force Academy, and five in the Naval Academy at any one time. The Vice President is authorized to appoint several individuals to each academy, and several are appointed from the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. An unlimited number of children of winners of the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration, can be appointed to each academy by the President.
In addition to direct appointments, there are several hundred appointments each year of persons in the following categories:
- Members of the Regular Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Air Force.
- Members of Reserve or National Guard units.
- Children of members of the regular armed forces.
- Children of servicemen who were killed in action or died of wounds in past wars.
- Honor graduates of military or naval schools.
- Members of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program (Annapolis only).
In addition, a small number of Filipinos, Canadians, and Latin Americans may be admitted to each academy. Foreign students receive degrees but not commissions.
Until 1976 only men were admitted to the three academies.
The Military Academy
The military reservation at West Point covers 16,000 acres (6,475 hectares), extending west from the Hudson River. The Point is a V-shaped stretch of land formed by a bend in the river. Near the bend is the Plain, consisting of the parade ground and athletic fields. Central Barracks (built 1851, 1882, 1921) and Thayer Hall and other academic buildings are south of the Plain.
Also of interest are the museum in Thayer Hall; Flirtation Walk, along the river; two Revolutionary War forts, Clinton and Putnam; and the Great Chain that was stretched across the Hudson during the Revolution to hinder British navigation.
The Military Academy is under jurisdiction of the Department of the Army. The superintendent is ordinarily a lieutenant general. Course work includes academic study, military science, and physical education. Bachelor's degrees are offered in biological science, business, communications and the arts, computer and physical science, engineering and environmental design, and social science. Summers are spent in field exercises and combat training. Graduates are commissioned second lieutenants.
The U.S. Military Academy was established in 1802 on the site of an important Revolutionary War fortress. Colonel Sylvanus Thayer, superintendent from 1817 to 1833, is called the Father of the Military Academy. He developed high standards of teaching and discipline, and made West Point the leading engineering college in the United States. For decades West Point graduates were virtually the only trained engineers in the country and were responsible for building many of the nation's roads, bridges, railways, canals, and harbor installations. As civil engineering schools grew after the Civil War, emphasis at West Point shifted to a broader program of military, scientific, and liberal arts studies.
West Point superintendents have included Robert E. Lee, P. G. T. Beauregard, John M. Schofield, Douglas MacArthur, and Maxwell D. Taylor. Two Presidents of the United StatesUlysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhowerwere graduates of the Academy.
The Naval Academy
The Naval Academy Yard (campus) at Annapolis covers 329 acres (133 hectares) on the banks of the Severn River. There are more than 200 buildings, including Bancroft Hall, one of the largest college dormitories in the world. John Paul Jones, the Revolutionary War naval hero, is buried in the chapel. The Nimitz Library is noted for its special collections on sea power and physics.
The Naval Academy is under the control of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. The superintendent may be a rear admiral or a vice admiral. Bachelor's degrees are awarded in communications and the arts, computer and physical science, engineering and environmental design, and social science. In the summer, midshipmen take part in training cruises and combat exercises. Graduates are commissioned ensigns in the Navy or second lieutenants in the Marine Corps.
In the early years of the U.S. Navy there was no formal program of instruction for prospective officers and most of their training was at sea. Shore-based schools were established in the 1820's but were ineffective. In 1839 a naval school was founded at Philadelphia, and its success led to the establishment of the Naval Academy in 1845, largely through the efforts of George Bancroft, then secretary of the navy. The Academy took over the buildings and grounds of Fort Severn, an Army post in Annapolis.
The Academy was temporarily moved to Newport, Rhode Island, during the Civil War. It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900's. The Academy was granted authority to confer degrees in 1932. Graduates of Annapolis include A. A. Michelson, first American to receive the Nobel Prize in physics; explorer Richard Byrd; Admirals George Dewey, Chester Nimitz, and William Halsey; and President Jimmy Carter.
The Air Force Academy
The Academy occupies an 18,325-acre (7,416-hectare) site near Colorado Springs, on a mesa at the foot of the Rampart Range of the Rocky Mountains. The buildings are modernistic, functional structures of marble, glass, aluminum, and steel. Vandenberg Hall, the cadet quarters, contains 1,320 rooms. The Academy uses nearby Peterson Air Force Base for cadet navigation training flights.
The Air Force Academy is controlled by the Department of the Air Force. The super-intendent is an Air Force lieutenant general. Bachelor's degrees are awarded in biological science, business, communications and the arts, computer and physical science, engineering and environmental science, and social science. Summers are spent in basic and specialized aviation training. Qualified candidates are expected to take pilot training after graduation. Graduates are commissioned second lieutenants.
Congress authorized creation of the Academy in 1954. Until 1959, when the first class was graduated, the Air Force received a large number of graduates each year from West Point and Annapolis. The Air Force Academy occupied temporary quarters at Lowry Air Force Base until 1958. The first full-size class of 750 cadets entered in 1959.