Wait...what? West Point???? (Sorry, long!)

I've shared earlier that J finally got a job, well, an internship. He's interning in the District office for the Congressman for our district. It's been a great fit for him so far. I don't think he really understood what a great position it was until he got in and saw the other interns (there are 6 of them) were kids from Harvard and GWU, etc. He's been loving it and really soaking up talking to the full-time staffers and volunteering for all the extra stuff (he's working 3 parades on July 4th!). He'd love to be able to keep working there through the school year. Last week he happened to mention that he's always thought about joining the Army after graduating. He's thought about it for years and recently went down to the recruitment office to find out about his options. Anyway, I guess there's a staffer whose full-time job is choosing who gets the appointments to the service academies- an older woman about 70, who's been doing it for decades and whose first appointment pick is about to retire as a 2 star general. She lit up and asked J if he would let her administer a couple tests, psych inventories and whathaveyou, when he came in on Fri, to see if he really was a match for the military and if the Army was the right branch for him. He said sure and thought it would be interesting. He told me about it earlier in the week. Fri afternoon he came back late from work and burst in the door excited and agitated saying "WE HAVE TO TALK!" So, his results showed he's a great fit for the Army. She said he's a 100% fit. She also said she reviewed his transcripts and application and resume (such as it is) and asked if he'd ever considered West Point. Well, he's already halfway through college so...no, he hadn't? She told him that you can enter West Point as late as 22yrs, 364 days old and if he'd consider it, he could finish his current degree at his university and then enter West Point as a college grad at 22, and essentially start over and get another degree there. She said from what she's seen of him and the tests and his transcripts, he's a shoo-in for the appointment if he can pass the background checks, interviews and physicals. On one hand, those are some pretty big ifs. On the other hand, J is excellent at interviews and is a very gifted athlete. She said if he wants it, he has to start NOW and he has to be SURE, because she really sticks her neck out for the kids and it's a hugely involved process that takes months. He would have until the beginning of Oct to complete everything and there is a lot to do. Her reputation is on the line and it's a huge commitment for them as well as for him. For him it's the next 12 yrs of his life: two to finish college, four at the academy and five yrs service after that. He'd be 32 when his commitment ends! Fri, he was shocked and confused. Sat, he spent deep in thought and talking to his closest friends and advisors: us, his best friend, his gf, a few others. We all said it's his decision and we'd respect and support him either way. My advice was only to proceed if he's 1000% sure, because saying no will mean he'd miss this opportunity, but saying yes and then quitting would be a thousand times worse. I said it has to 1000% yes or it has to be no. Today, he called me (Little J and I flew out yesterday to my sis in CO) and said he's going to do it. He's sure, he's excited, he's nervous and he knows it's over a decade commitment, but he says he'd be an idiot to say no. He says he knows it will change him, but he thinks for the better. He says it feels like a choice between a life of OC money-chasing mediocrity, or a life of great challenge, meaningful service and incredible opportunity. He says he thinks it will be the hardest and best thing he ever chose. I'm just...stunned. On one hand I'd be more proud than I can say. On the other hand, there are still a lot of tests he has to pass and hoops to jump through. It's a hard thing to conceive of *actually* happening to my kid. I'm a little disbelieving, a little emotional, but yet also proud and hopeful. I'm somewhere between speechless and rambling. Mostly I'm just stunned. J? West Point?? What?????