I didn’t have to ask my son to snap out of the idea of going to a service academy, which I would do (it was just unimaginable coming from my background). It never came up. I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that we threatened to send him to a military camp so many times when he was a kid. 
But in all seriousness, service academy is definitely not for everyone. He would be miserable living with that kind of structure. Incidentally, years ago, his Choate off-campus interviewer had been on a ROTC scholarship and at the time had completed his services and was working towards his MBA. An impressive young man.
I’m not sure which Army FormerCK joined. He seems to have a ton of free time, more than at BS. And he’s loving his experience there. The first three weeks of basic training, maybe not so much, but he actually enjoyed the last three weeks of “Beast.”
Off topic, but I will also add my .02 to the generations of former students/parents who say that they or their kids found college a breeze after BS. According to kiddo, many of the cadets are pulling all-nighters and finding the academics at the academy to be like a fire hose, but he says Choate was way worse all around. He validated out of several of the classes that are considered Plebe killers, so he is enjoying the academic year. Go Choate!
pan: We are so NOT a military family (well, we are now) and were absolutely appalled when kid brought this up junior year (many here remember me posting how we were probably the only parents praying our kid would NOT get into his top choices), but we knew enough not to try to snap him out if it (as if we could) and alienate him. Service academies weren’t even an option in our minds. But we knew that he’d be 18 by the time appointments came out ,and we’d have absolutely no power to stop him, so we just watched him navigate totally on his own a process that puts applying to civilian colleges to shame. By the time that appointment came, we were humbled and in awe of his choice. It’s not one either of us would or could make, but pride leaks out of my eyes when I think of what our son has achieved.