Great Movies
I'm an Air Force Academy cadet, and I just wanted to make sure you know that you're right [in your review of "Annapolis"], cadets having relationships with officers is really not a good thing. It's called fraternization, and it's against the UCMJ, so the officer can actually go to jail for it.
Also, "fratting" between the freshmen and upper classes, at least here, has serious consequences as well. (You might not be going to jail, but you're packing your bags and going home.) Rules on that and alcohol consumption are fairly strick here (as a result of the 2003 sexual assault scandal.)
The fact that the movie focuses on boxing at Navy is kind of entertaining for me. Traditionally, our boxing team beats the crap out of Navy. Wing Open is big here, but it's not an-end-all-to-be-all event. At the end of the day, beating an upperclassman in the ring won't be a reason for retention.
Telling the truth about our lives would not make for good entertainment. I get up, go to breakfast, try not to sleep through 4-5 hours of class, march to lunch about half-way through the day, work-out, spend roughly 3-4 hours dealing with my squadron and my job in it, possibly do a night time activity, and somewhere in there keep my room and uniform clean and do between 3-8 hours of homework a night. I'd say the average cadet goes to bed between 12 and 2 am.
On days when I don't do work, I go out and drink as much as possible before coming back by 10:30 room inspections. I've spent more than one Friday cleaning my room and more than once marching through the snow.
Our freshmen do push-ups and memorize military facts, but it's really just to get them used to being stressed. I might not have an upperclassman watching my every move now, but I have about 400 extra duties than I did as a freshman. My everyday life is boring. Even so, I've had amazing opportunities here and have received a top-notch education. (It might be free in terms of I don't pay money, but I've paid for this education.)
Kate Lockhart
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
