While I have never applied to West Point, I have inquired about their admissions process and their requirements for attending their academy. I also personally know two people who have applied to the school, and as a matter of fact one of them just graduated and has gone on to fulfill the military part of his agreement. So while I don't claim to know everything about what's required and what's expected from an applicant to West Point, I do have a fairly good idea as to what's required to get into West Point and somewhat of an idea of what it takes to maintain good academic standing while attending West Point.

To address the issue of what John Kerry said, well he may have or may have not intended to dis the troops. But as Sicilian Babe correctly pointed out in her post above, either way he does need to apologize to the soldiers that are fighting on the front lines of a very hard and cruel war. To me it should not matter if a person supports the war itself or doesn't support the war. Either way we all must support the people who are over there fighting the war. Supporting a soldier who is fighting in a war should be the top priority during wartime. As civilians who are not walking in the boots of those soldiers, we should not make the same mistakes that were made by the people back home during the Vietnam war by blaming or dissing the soldiers who are over there fighting. We need to support them no matter what. It is important that the enemy sees that the American people are behind the troops. And it is even more important that the soldiers know that the American people are behind them so that they can go out on the battlefield with confidence, defeat our enemy, and get back home safely.