Thomas Hauser on Sports: Remembering the Journey

West Point Revisited

The outpouring of mail I received in response to “Hypocrisy at West Point” led to this follow-up column. West Point Revisited Earlier this month, I wrote an article entitled “Hypocrisy at West Point” that called into question a policy known as the “Alternative Service Option.” In relevant part, that policy states, “Army cadet-athletes now have options to pursue professional athletic opportunities thanks to the U.S.Army’s “Alternative Service Option” program. If cadet athletes are accepted into the program, they will owe two years of active service in the Army, during which time they will be allowed to play their sport in the player-development systems of their respective organizations and assigned to recruiting stations.” In other words, aWest Point graduate sufficiently skilled to play professional sports can pursue his athletic career without interruption.As a trade-off, he must recruit other young men and women to enter the military and face the risks inherent in combat that he has not faced. Since the “Alternative Service Option” was inaugurated in 2005, six cadets have sought to exercise it. The spotlight is currently on Caleb Campbell, who captained the 2007 Army football team and has pro potential. Recently, Campbell told the Dallas Morning News, “I think this is a great opportunity to get all-star kids into the academy, because they’ll know they still have a chance to play football after they leave the academy. Some [NFL] teams wanted to know if I’d be able to play for sure.They wanted to know if I’d have to go to Iraq if I got called up. Do we invest all kinds of money in a player just to let him go? Now all the teams have the understanding I can play football. My duty right now is to play football .” “Hypocrisy atWest Point” engendered a remarkable response.On the day it was posted, I received more than one hundred emails, the overwhelming majority of them from graduates ofWest Point and Annapolis. I also heard from the parents of quite a few young men and women now serving in the military and graduates of the Air Force Academy.Writing THOMAS HAUSER ON SPORTS 119 about the “Alternative Service Option” has turned into a rewarding experience for me, in large part because of the dialogue I’ve had with so many graduates of the service academies and their families. The Annapolis alumni who wrote to me were close to unanimous in opposing the alternative service option.A majority of West Point graduates also disliked the program. Many of the correspondents had questions about my own background and beliefs, so here’s a thumbnail sketch. I’m sixty-two years old.I attended college and law school at Columbia. In 1967 (after antiwar protests led the school administration to cancel an invitation to the United States Army to recruit on campus), I invited the Army to recruit at Columbia in my role as president of the graduating class.Although I thought the war inVietnam was wrong, I believed (and still do) that a strong military is essential to our national security. I was a practicing attorney for six years.Then I turned to writing. I consider myself a liberal on social issues, moderate with regard to foreign policy, and an economic conservative. I don’t think that “conservative ” means letting financial institutions run wild, running up hundreds of billions of dollars in budget deficits, and cutting taxes for rich people in a time of war. I believe that there is a place where the values of well-intentioned people with different mindsets coincide. I did not serve in the military. I’ve always respected the military and understand that, properly employed, it safeguards our democratic way of life.The young men and women who attend the service academies have unique motivation and talents.The defense of our country is in their hands. I have no reason to question Caleb Cambell’s character. He’s following the rules as he found them. I have a problem with the rules. It’s precisely because I understand how important the United States Military Academy is that I’m troubled by the “Alternative Service Option.” I’m also troubled by the fact that the current administration hasn’t asked the American people as a whole (and particularly wealthy Americans ) to make greater sacrifices in a time of war.The war in Iraq is being conducted in a manner that ensures...