Many people here don't seem to understand

You don't have to serve in army after graduating from west point. One can still go to graduate schools or find a job after coming out of westpoint. But it is almost impossible to get the kind of training one can get from west point in any other school. The kind of leadership and discipline is invaluable especially for a young man. If I were a boss, I would hire a west point graduate over any ivy league student. Actually the winner on Donald trump "apprentice" show several years ago was a west point graduate. He won the job running trump's company in chicago.