It would be a punch in the gut to the alumni as well as strong military advocates. I can live with it if the other military schools keep us just as strong while the students pay their own tuition.
Face it, The Academies aren’t going anywhere. Too much tradition and too strong an alumni base. Besides, how can you argue with Lee and Grant and Eisenhower and Patton and Schwarzkopf and Nimitz and Mitscher and Halsey and on and on? The Academies do what they’re intended to do: produce superior officers and eventually senior military leadership.*
*: not entirely objective here; my son is a 2011 USMA graduate. And it’s about the best thing he ever did.