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When the assignments were made official last month for the 992 members of the class of 2006, 209 were placed as officers with the Corps - the most in the school's 161-year history. . . . Having a surplus of mids who want to be Marines has been a change from the Vietnam era. In 1968, the Marine Corps failed to meet its quota for the first time in academy history.
Forty five graduates were turned away because the Marine's limit was reached.
More:
Naval aviation remains the most popular choice among midshipmen, but a growing interest in Marine duty - in spite of its dangers - has been under way for several years, even as applications to the academy have dropped sharply in recent years, a development blamed by some on the Iraq war.War has always been a deterrent to service among those who desire to join for all the wrong reasons.
That description does not apply to Jake Dove:
The thrill of being in the action in Iraq or in any combat situation is something he and a lot of people think about, said Dove, 22, but it's not the primary consideration."My father was a paratrooper in Vietnam, and talking to him definitely de-glamorizes what happens out there," he said of combat situations. "It's something that has to be done, and I'd like to be the one that does it. I'd like to be the one that leads Marines in a combat environment."
