In 22 years I got a chance to reenlist two times for an assignment I wanted, rest of the time was left up to Big Army
Via WFB
The United States Navy brought back the draft on Jan. 30.
On this cold Thursday in Annapolis, Md., 243 Naval Academy students, who will become surface warfare officers (SWOs) when they graduate in May, packed tightly into an auditorium, surrounded by admirals, captains, family, and friends. They were there for ship selection night.
A camera crew from the Defense Department sat outside waiting to interview the Navy’s next ensigns. The festivities had all the pomp of the NFL draft but with two key differences: These players drafted their teams, and they actually have to graduate from college. SWOs are in the minority. They have 800 classmates—future Marines, SEALs, engineers, submariners, and pilots—who do not have the option of picking their first jobs.
The students plucked ship names from a draft board, posed mid-stage to display their choice, shook hands with the senior officers playing league commissioner at the podium, then donned caps bearing their new team name.
All eyes were on Brynn Umbach, a bubbly Texas blonde two weeks shy of her 22nd birthday, 5-foot-five, weight undetermined, blue eyes, sandy hair pulled tight in a bun. Umbach emerged at the top of the heap, according to the Naval Academy’s Overall Order of Merit rankings, a measure of academic, military, and physical performance.