I’m just confused on how the army, navy, and air force have college football programs? Why do the marines not have one? How do these work? Are these future soldiers that are studying before taking military jobs? I’m just unsure.
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army,navy, and airforce have officer “colleges” where they pull their athletes from
the other branches have similar structure; but not to the scale of army/navy/airforce
I’ll caveat with I was in the military for over 20 years. However I was not an athlete.
In the academies, it works just like regular college. Some kids get recruited and other kids can walk on to try out.
The expectation is that you will graduate college and join the military afterwards.
However, I’ve heard of athletes that were good enough to play pro and the military sometimes will allow postponements so they can play and then finish out their military commitment.
Once you are in there are still programs for athletes, think of people making an Olympic team or demo teams for the service.
The reason why the marines don’t have a team is because the marines fall under the department of the navy. They attend the naval academy.
Answer: There are actual colleges for the Army (West Point in West Point, NY), Navy (Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD), and Air Force (Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO). They are accredited 4 year colleges with athletic programs and you can graduate with a degree in a number of fields. There is a service requirement attached to the education (5 years mandatory service in the associated branch).
My dad was a Naval Academy graduate (’64) and was required to serve during the Vietnam War. You are not required to attend the academies to enter the service, but doing so gets you a guaranteed officer rank upon graduation.
Should note these colleges are very hard to get into because they have academic and physical requirements. And a limit on the number of people they take from each state each year.
Also they are all free to attend, which is a nice bonus.
The Marines don’t have a football team because they go to the same school as Navy. Naval Academy graduates can go into the Marines or the Navy.
So the Army (West Point in NY), Navy (Annapolis in MD), and Air Force (Colorado Springs, CO) academies work like colleges. They are extremely high quality colleges, very hard to succeed in. But when signing up at these academies and getting accepted, you sign your military contract too.
The academies are there primarily to produce Officers for the branch. It’s the primary way officers are made. Remember the officer career track is separate from enlisted members of the forces.
The Marines don’t have their own, because they are not their own branch. The Marines are a sub-unit of the Navy. So you can have Marine officers coming from Annapolis i believe! Marines *ARE* Navy, they are just so important and special in their role that they get treated like their own thing in many ways.
For sports, it works the same as other non-military schools. West Point goes out and recruits student-athletes just like Clemson does. However, any cadet joining WP will have to sign up for that military contract after graduation. This is why you dont see big stars come out of Navy or Army generally. The big scouted star players would rather go to a bigger “fun” school and play ball and then go pro in the pro sport league. Cant easily go pro if you have to go into the military for 6-8 years of your sporting prime…
This is why Army and Navy always have a whatever team. They aren’t beating Ohio State lol, but they play each other and that’s a great rivalry game because of the similar skill level.
Cadets go to academy for the amazing education *AND* their dream of being an officer in the military. If you dont want to join the military, you DO NOT go to these academies lol
The majority of all college players never play professional football. They are playing the game because they enjoy it. This applies to the military academies as well. The plan is to be a commissioned officer in the military, but you also happen to play football.
Marine officers go to the Naval Academy.
They’re the NCAA teams for the US Military Academy (West Point), Naval Academy, and Air Force Academy. The Coast Guard and Merchant Marine also have service academies but they play in D3. The Academies are degree-granting undergrad colleges in addition to being military training institutes, and their players are college students as well as active duty members of the military. When they graduate they’re commissioned as officers in their respective services. The Naval Academy also commissions officers into the Marine Corps (about 25% of each graduating class).
At the collegiate level, these are specifically the teams of the respective service academies – the USMA at West Point, the USNA at Annapolis, and the USAFA at Colorado Springs. Students at these institutions are either cadets or midshipmen, and they are officers in training while also getting their degree. Because the Marine Corps is a part of the Department of the Navy, and the Space Force a part of the Department of the Air Force, their cadets/midshipmen attend the USNA/USAFA.
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