Posted on: Monday, December 20, 2004
Cadets say their career goals override any fears of battle
By Frank Oliveri
Gannett News Service
First-year cadets at the U.S. military academies seem to have personal interests and career goals that trump any concerns they might have about danger on the battlefield.
Seth Harrison • Gannett News Service So drawn to flying is Kuamo'o-Peck that he didn't know what his obligation to the Air Force would be after graduation in 2008.
He was unfazed when he learned that he would be in uniform for 10 years after completing flight training.
"I hope to make a career of this," he said. "The time doesn't make a difference to me."
DeCarol Davis, 18, of Woodbridge, Va., decided to attend the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., despite the fact that it was a significant step away from her artistic streak.
"No one expected me to go to a military academy," she said. "The war scared me more than anything else."
But Davis was drawn to the Coast Guard's mechanical engineering program and its people.
"The people here are beyond selfless. They're probably the most beautiful people I will ever meet," she said.
An emphasis on homeland security places the Coast Guard squarely on the front lines of U.S. defenses, she said, but her classmates don't talk much about it.
"I think people ignore it," she said. "But when the time comes, they are going to lay it down for their country."
Members of the Army have been laying it down in Iraq since the beginning of the war. Sixteen alumni of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point already have died in combat there. Four others have died in the broader war on terrorism.
Elissa Wilson, 18, said she and her classmates are well aware of what's at stake.
"As Army officers, we know we're going to do the bulk of the work," the Troy, N.Y., native said. "Even if the war is over, at some point in our careers there will be a war we'll serve in."
Wilson said she and other cadets don't "put a lot of stock" in numbers that indicate applications to West Point are down.
Wilson was drawn to West Point because she had a strong interest in learning Arabic and because the academy emphasizes "the whole person," physical and mental.
"I didn't see that in civilian universities," she said.
A cross-country runner, Wilson enjoys the rigors of training. She sees her future as an interpreter.
The war had little effect on her decision to attend the academy.
"I thought about it, but it didn't really impact my decision much," Wilson said.
"I think I would have wanted to become an officer regardless of the situation. As a soldier you are ready to do what your commander tells you to do."
Take Kekoa Kuamo'o-Peck, 18, of O'ahu. In seventh grade, he joined the Civil Air Patrol and then the ROTC when he entered high school. He wanted to fly. And this summer at the Air Force Academy, he is scheduled to get his first chance with a parachute jump and a glider ride.
West Point cadet Elissa Wilson says she thought of the Iraq war, but it had little effect on her decision to attend the military academy.
