<p>So i just finished watching TV did you guys know the naval academy was the toughest academy in the country?</p>
<p>Gotta love hollywood. I'm definetly going to the movie in my Army jacket.</p>
<p>no i didnt know that... haha. its nice to see a movie about the academy though. i always get west point (usna/usafa) whats that? oh, military, so why did you take the SAT and try hard in school again? its not hard to get in right...</p>
<p>Thats the opposite of me. When I first said USMA, my buddies were like, "Whoa, West Point?! Are you sure? Don't you need like a Senator to recommend you and stuff?!" and etc.</p>
<p>Btw, how many ppl start files at USMA? Cuz the movie, Annapolis, said 50,000 apply to USNA.</p>
<p>That's bs, it's less than 10,000 on their website. And every kid who started to apply for SLS or NASS "opened a file".</p>
<p>Well the movie is just a crappy remake of An Officer and A Gentleman. Hollywood garbage.</p>
<p>USNA applications usually hover around 12,000. 1500 appointed, 1200 attend. On average.</p>
<p>Funniest line in the trailer is: "Most don't survive!" </p>
<p>Just so you aspiring West Pointers know -- the mids are acutely aware of the absurdity of this movie (but still looking forward to it). As my kid said: "Gosh I must have missed the part of Plebe Year where ships get blown up..."</p>
<p>At the Air Force game last fall (right after the trailer was released) the mids created a video spirit spot: "50,000 apply, 1200 are deemed worthy, the rest.... go to Air Force" Ouch.</p>
<p>Yea well... The amount of spirit videos produced about that movie at West Point is amazing. There were some REALLY good ones.</p>
<p>Where can I get a hold of some of those videos? It would be kind of cool to get a glimpse the informal side of West Point. I'm guessing they're not going to be on next weeks "New Release" list, but I'm sure they're funnier than most of the junk coming out of Hollywood.</p>
<p>There was a post with a link to the videos sometime after the Army-Navy game.</p>
<p>I wonder if the movie shows the air conditioned rooms at USNA - maybe they don't survive because they freeze.</p>
<p>BigGreen: Haha! Actually, when I went to NASS the air conditioning was turned off for all of the nights up until the last night there. The first four nights were okay, but that last night was freezing. I woke up and put on my sweats to stay warm. I like the heat and humidity...</p>
<p>No one can see those videos because they don't portray the necessarily professional spirit that USMA would like people to see. The ones on the Army-Navy game link are crap. There were some GREAT ones that they showed in the Mess Hall.</p>
<p>Oh, and by the way--the movie isn't actually filmed at Annapolis--I think it's filmed either at Norwich or somewhere in Canada.</p>
<p>Think its filmed in Philadelphia- the city of brotherly love. Now all you kay-dets be nice to your brothers in blue and don't be mad just 'cause they have a little A/C in the summer!</p>
<p>"I do a lot of research for all of my roles," says Franco of his method. "If I feel close enough to a character, sometimes too much preparation can be damaging. But I definitely didn't know anything about boxing and I didn't know anything about being in the naval academy." </p>
<p>Turns out they didn't need to. And while Franco won't be entering tough guy boxing competitions, he feels he captured the required pugilist posturing. "I understood training isn't just sparring," he says. "The trainer has mitts that you hit and you can jump rope. And then when I did spar there's a headgear with a bar that goes across the front that protects you." </p>
<p>But you can still get hurt. "Yeah," says Franco, nodding. "You can get hurt. And I did. </p>
<p>"I sparred with some pros in the ring and they went pretty easy on me," he continues. "But then I got a little cocky one day, and I said I wanted them to let me feel what a real punch was like." </p>
<p>So? "So this guy hits me," Franco recalls, "and my jaw felt like it was crooked for the rest of the day even though it was straight." </p>
<p>Naval academy research was the easy part, although Franco discovered the stress on the first year "plebes" is incredibly intense </p>
<p>"The discipline of the Annapolis military training is hard, and probably the most difficult part for me," Franco says. "But really it seems like the mental stuff required and the mental attitude one needs is really difficult, too, and would be the hardest part for me." </p>
<p>Franco smirks. "And include all the math and physics requirements that you need to have. And I can't believe that these teenagers, basically, are committing themselves like this at such a young age. I have great respect for them."</p>
<p>My son, the cadet, says it's even worse in the Air Force. He says their TENTS are air conditioned!!!</p>
<p>innovation and technology=progress </p>
<p>Through history, and against all odds, armies have triumphed with advanced technology! ;)</p>
<p>well the airforce may have airconditioned tents, but it's the navy that gets rocked to sleep everynight! ;)</p>
<p>you know what is freakin rediculous? that show jag. they make a show about the military and they make it about sf? rangers? eod? seals? chaplains? medics? combat controllers? infantry? pilots? no, they make it about lawyers. just pause and think about how lawyers ruined this country. and they make a show about lawyers.</p>
<p>lawyers ruined this country eh? interesting</p>
<p>Where's Bill when we need him?</p>