Uncompromising Honor sequel

Another quote is Service of the Sword first 2 pages, Abigail starts midshipman cruise at 22 after 3 years at Saganami.

My thinking about Prolong is about what John wrote.

Here is some more:

Not sure why "fresh out of high school matters" other than one forgets what one learns over time so if you go course work heavy... it is easier, but relearning is surprisingly fast in comparison.

And if we are talking Officer school, what you want are people who can lead people, not brainiacs who can calculate almost as good as a computer... Brainiacs as technicians are far better. And here EXPERIENCE, life experience matters, a LOT. There is a reason most politicians or those who are in charge of businesses are all ~ in their 50's and no this is not because they kissed ass to get there either. Yea yea, some did, but most did not. We do learn as we get older how NOT to accidentally stuff both of our feet in our mouth at the same time continuously like guys do in their 20's... Instead we only stuff our foot in our mouth every once in a while instead of EVERY single time we open our mouth.

Thus with prolong, I could see militaries giving priority to older people and suspressing anyone who is young from officer track. I sure as heck would for any position not in the marines/army anyways. Only reason today they have an AGE LIMIT is because they want to have PAYBACK period after they graduate as getting INTO a high enough position to pay the military back requires TIME, LOTS of time.

Has been a military approach since the Roman time.
How does an officer pitch camp? Sergeant "Pitch camp".
Officers make broad strategic decisions, non coms make tactial ones and implement them.

I had a somewhat unique experience, being headhunted into our Army as a senior civilian in my late fortys, to fix a serious problem (the reward for doing a good job is more work).
Not the same you might say, except that I was placed immediately into the chain of command at a LtColonel level (SO1 Fin), rising to Colonel then acting 1 Star (DG). It was interesting, in that I had no trouble being accepted by most, but the young Lieutenants sometimes didn't get it (soon learned). Seeing a 2 Star finger poke a brash young idiot across an Officer's Mess telling him the facts of life was interesting.
Senior NCOs are highly respected with good reason, and are often technically smarter than the officers they notionally serve under. However perspective is important, and an officer should look at the broader picture.

tlb wrote:

tlb wrote:The US Air Force Academy has the following age requirement: "Be at least 17 but not past your 23rd birthday by July 1 of the year you enter the Academy". I do not understand why that might change even if we had prolong, because the system would still want them reasonably fresh out of high school.

Jonathan_S wrote:The Saganami Island Academy wouldn't be the right place for them -- but with prolong allowing people time for two or three full consecutive careers you might well have people interesting in joining the navy in their 60s. Some would have some relevant experience from the Merchant Marine and might be able to go straight through OCS. But I wouldn't be surprised if the RMN had some kind of preparatory school for folks who don't need the college education part of the Academy, but still need to learn certain knowledge and skills before being ready for OCS.

I doubt, with lifespans in the 200+ range that Militaries are going to restrict themselves to only accepting folks reasonably fresh out of high school. They may not have made the transition yet (though manpower shortages during parts of the Wars might have pushed the RMN to) but as societies fully adapts to prolong, and multiple careers over ones life become the norm, I'd expect militaries to create paths for them to be one of those later careers.

I am sure you are correct, but their entry point is unlikely to be the Academy; it will either be OCS or specialty schooling. Still (with a few exceptions) the military life, particularly as a junior officer or enlisted personnel, is more suited to someone in an earlier stage of their life. An warrant officer or NCO would be a better starting spot for the more experienced entrant.

Currently, the US military has a 2nd (and more common) way to enter as a officer than the Academies - they hire out of Universities up to the age of 26 (last I checked). A university 4 year graduate would be placed in Basic, run through a Sargent's course, followed by OCS, then a specialty school. (The USAF tried to scoop me in the mid 90's after I paused my Master's work - in retrospect, I should have jumped at the chance, but at the time their approach scared me off.)