2nd Annual Academy Night

On September 14, Squadron 45 will hold its 2nd Annual Academy night.  Rebecca Hartmann from the office of Congressman Ken Calvert, Major Marcel Smith from the Air Force Academy, and Lieutenant Paul Saba, Graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy will be present. 

You will be learn the process of nomination and application to attend these distinguished institutions.  If you are considering applying to one of these institutions, the earlier you begin the process the better. 

Contact Captain David Frymire at dlfrymire@gmail.com with any questions regarding this meeting.

Congressional Nomination

Every year Congressman Calvert has the opportunity to nominate ten candidates per vacancy at each Academy (no Congressional nomination is needed for the United States Coast Guard Academy). Candidates should apply for nomination and admission simultaneously in the spring if their Junior year of high school.

Congressman Calvert's nominations are made on a strictly competitive basis. Therefore, he has established a Academy Nominations Selection Committee that will determine nominations based solely on the candidate's qualifications. Candidates are judged on their scholastic achievements, leadership performance, athletic participation, community service, and motivation.

If you wish to be considered a nomination to a Service Academy, please contact my Riverside Office at (951) 784-4300. The deadline for applications is November 1st of each year. If November 1st falls on a weekend, the deadline is moved up to the previous Friday.

TheUnited States Air Force Academy
Designed for the future, the United States Air Force Academy campus boasts state-of-the-art facilities, including laboratories, observatories and a library containing over 700,000 volumes. Other landmarks include the cadet chapel with its seventeen spires that soar 150 feet toward the Colorado sky. Spanning 18,000 spectacular acres nestled against the Rocky Mountains, the Academy draws thousands of visitors from around the world each year.

The Air Force Academy Mission is to educate, train and inspire men and women to become officers of character, motivated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation.

The Air Force Academy Vision is to be the Air Force's premier institution for developing leaders of character.


West Point
The United States Military Academy
Renowned as the world’s premier leader development institution, West Point accomplishes its mission by developing cadets intellectually, physically, militarily, ethically, spiritually, and socially. The student body, or Corps of Cadets, numbers 4,400 and each year approximately 1000 cadets join the Long Gray Line as they graduate and are commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the U.S. Army.

Recent acknowledgments of our success include Forbes.com pronouncing West Point as the Best Public College or University in America for undergraduate education, U.S. News and World Report calling us the Best Public Liberal Arts College in the country, and the Princeton Review designating the Academy as one of the 100 Best Value Colleges for 2009.

The Academic Program consists of 31 core courses which establishes the foundation for elective courses that permit cadets to explore in greater depth a field of study or an optional major. All cadets receive a Bachelor of Science degree, and are fully prepared meet the intellectual requirements of a leader in today's Army.

The Physical Program at West Point includes both physical education classes and competitive athletics. Every cadet participates in an intercollegiate, club or intramural level sport each semester. This rigorous physical program contributes to mental and physical fitness.

The Military Program begins on your first day at West Point. Most military training takes place during the summer, with new cadets undergoing Cadet Basic Training - or Beast Barracks - the first year, followed by Cadet Field Training at nearby Camp Buckner the second year. Cadets spend their third and fourth summers serving in active Army units around the world; attending advanced training courses such as airborne, air assault or northern warfare; or training the first and second year cadets as members of the leadership cadre.

Ethical, Spiritual, and Social development occurs formally and informally throughout your 47 months as a cadet. These include formal instruction in the important values of the military profession, voluntary religious programs, interaction with staff and faculty role models, and a vigorous guest speaker program. Cadets also develop ethically by adhering to the Cadet Honor Code, which states "A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."

Admission is open to all young men and women, and is extremely competitive. You will be evaluated on your academic, physical and leadership potential. Those candidates who are fully qualified receive appointments to the Academy.

The United States Naval Academy
The Naval Academy was founded in 1845 by the Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft, in what is now historic Annapolis, MD. The history of the Academy has often reflected the history of the United States itself. As the U.S. Navy has moved from a fleet of sail and steam-powered ships to a high tech fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and surface ships as well as supersonic aircraft, the Academy has changed also. The Naval Academy gives young men and women the up-to-date academic and professional training needed to be effective naval and marine officers in their assignments after graduation.

Every day, as the undergraduate college of the naval service, the United States Naval Academy strives to accomplish its mission to develop midshipmen “morally, mentally, and physically.”

About the United States Merchant Marine Academy

A glimpse at a map of the United States shows us that we are a maritime nation. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean; to the west, the Pacific; off our southern border, the Gulf of Mexico; in the north, the Great Lakes; and crisscrossing our states, great rivers like the Mississippi and other inland waterways.

Every hour of every day, ships of all types ply the waters in and around our nation. They leave our ports laden with U.S. goods bound for foreign markets, or arrive in our harbors with merchandise and materials for American consumers.

There are tankers traveling along the west coast with raw petroleum for our refineries; Great Lakes vessels loaded with iron ore, coal or other minerals for America's industry; huge containerships in Eastern ports, their box-like containers filled with manufactured goods; general cargo ships in the Gulf unloading pallets of coffee and crates of fruit; tugboats pushing and pulling barges carrying the Midwest's grain.

These kinds of vessels, owned by U.S. companies, registered and operated under the American flag, comprise the U.S. merchant marine. This fleet of highly productive ships is a major part of our system of commerce, helping guarantee our access to foreign markets for sale of our manufactured goods.

Moreover, in time of war or national emergency, the U.S. merchant marine becomes vital to national security as a "fourth arm of defense." Our merchant ships bear the brunt of delivering military supplies overseas to our forces and allies. The stark lessons of twentieth century conflict prove that a strong merchant marine is an essential part of American seapower.

The nation's economic and security needs met by the U.S. merchant marine are compelling. Today, the United States imports approximately 85 percent of some 77 strategic commodities critical to America's industry and defense. Although we, as a nation, account for only six percent of the world population, we purchase nearly a third of the world's output of raw materials. Ninety nine percent of these materials are transported by merchant vessels.

A ship at sea does not operate in a vacuum. It depends on a framework of shore side activities for its operations. This industry includes companies which own and manage the vessels; ports and terminals where cargo is handled; yards for ship repair; services like marine insurance underwriters, ship chartering firms, admiralty lawyers, engineering and research companies; and increasingly today, inter modal systems of trucks and railroads to distribute goods around the country.

But the most important element in a productive merchant fleet and a strong transportation industry is people - men and women who are intelligent, dedicated, well-educated and competent.
The purpose of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is to ensure that such people are available to the nation as shipboard officers and as leaders in the transportation field who will meet the challenges of the present and the future.