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When you're drilling ... and they start playing the national anthem and you're out in front of a whole big group, it's all quiet where you are, and you're saluting. And slowly you can hear everybody singing to the national anthem ... Ithink it's one of the best feelings I've ever felt here. The pride and the patriotism, I just love it."

Tom Wagner,West Point

When it comes to sending students to the U.S. service academies, East Grand Forks Senior High School is on a roll. Last year, Class of 2003 graduate Tom Wagner was appointed to West Point. This year, Chris Cowger, who will graduate in May, has been chosen to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy.

"I just have a lot of respect for all the service men and women," said Cowger, 18. "I think it's an honorable profession. When I kind of asked myself what I wanted to do with

my life, I couldn't see anything else that would suit me better than being in the military."

To the limit

Being chosen to attend one of the nation's service academies on Uncle Sam's dime is an honor and a privilege, but it isn't for everyone. In exchange for getting a top-notch education, students often are pushed to their limits academically, physically and emotionally. The first year, especially, can be a time of intense stress.

"Sometimes, you have to decide what's more important," said Wagner, currently completing his first year at West Point, "getting sleep or getting all your homework done."

Well represented

Northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota have sent more than their share of students to the service academies.

Currently, six students from this area are enrolled at U.S. Military Academy inWest Point, N.Y. Five are at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.; four attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and one is at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn., according to service academy records.

Thief River Falls alone has six students in the academies. When one student gets into one of the academies, it seems to set a precedent that gets other students interested in applying, said Bill Stock, a counselor at Thief River Falls Lincoln High School.

That's what happened, at least in part, at East Grand Forks Senior High School, where Tom Wagner's appointment to West Point encouraged Chris Cowger.

"I didn't think about applying to any service academies until I heard about Tom and what he was doing, because I look up to Tom a lot," Cowger said.

Wagner's selection to West Point came through the office of Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and when Wagner graduated, a representative from Peterson's office was there to say a few words.

"Tom stood on the stage, and he got a big standing ovation," Cowger said. "He said that was the greatest feeling in the world."

The plebe year

The first year at West Point probably is the toughest, Wagner said in a telephone interview.

"You have to perform to a certain standard, and you have to be in uniform all the time. I can't wear civilian clothes unless I take a pass, and you can get one pass a semester that you can take over one weekend."

Plebes the first-year cadets have duties such as delivering laundry to upperclassmen and picking up trash. Then there's "asking knowledge" (in which upperclassmen grill plebes to recite from a book about the academy) and dozens of other rules to follow. Give the wrong answer, forget the proper greeting, and you can expect to be called out and yelled at.

"I'm kind of sick and twisted," Wagner said. "I kind of think it's fun when they yell at me. You get conditioned. They do it so many times, it just becomes normal."

There are rules about dating, too. Freshmen can't fraternize with older students, and if a person of the opposite sex visits your room, your door must be open to 90 degrees, and you cannot sit on the same surface. Getting caught having sex in the barracks means automatic dismissal from West Point.

Then, there are academics. Wagner's taking calculus, a psychology class especially developed for West Point, chemistry, information technology and computer programming, history and literature.

"It's a real change from high school, because in high school you could get all your homework done, no problem," said Wagner, who's on the Dean's List. "But here, they put so much on you, it's not impossible, but it's really hard to get everything done."

'Glad I'm here'

So how's he doing?

"I'm glad I'm here," he said. "I'm definitely glad. There's always times when you wish you were at a regular college and back with your friends and everything. But I know this is the best place for me. It's not fun when they yell or whatever, but that's just part of your training. Eventually, you will be that person, leading, whether you're going to be yelling or not. It's just the type of leadership you take on."

Then, there are the intramural sports and drilling, done on alternating days. Most people don't like drilling, Wagner said, but parts of it remind him why he wanted to attend West Point.

"When you're drilling, when you're in an actual parade, and they start playing the national anthem and you're out in front of a whole big group, it's all quiet where you are, and you're saluting," Wagner said. "And slowl, you can hear everybody singing to the national anthem. People just start singing, and I think it's one of the best feelings I've ever felt here. The pride and the patriotism, I just love it."

There are other things to appreciate as well. For a guy who "never got around much," Wagner has visited Philadelphia, Boston and New York City since he enrolled at West Point. The facilities and equipment at West Point, from the computers to wireless connections, are first-rate. For fun, there's the Plebe Club, a cafe during the week where they show movies on weekends. Sometimes, there are hops or dances. Cadets can bring their own dates, and students from other local colleges are invited.

About to graduate

Midshipman Cassidi Resse, who graduated from Grand Forks Red River High School in 2000, is at the other end of the service academy experience. She will graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy on May 28. About 20 family members and friends will fly to Annapolis for the commissioning week festivities, which will include a garden party, formal dances and two parades.

"The whole town of Annapolis fills up," Reese said.

A physics major, she will graduate with a bachelor of science degree and then take her oath of office as an ensign in the Navy. After taking time off to come home, going fishing in Canada and attending a friend's wedding, she will work briefly in the physics department at the Naval Academy. Then, Aug. 6, she'll report to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla., for flight school.

"I got my first choice, which was Naval flight officers (training,) and that is based on class ranking and interview process," she said. "I won't actually be flying aircraft. If I get the aircraft I want, I will be sitting in the back seat handling weapons and navigation."

In the movie "Top Gun," that would make her Goose, she said.

What she expected

Was the Naval Academy what she expected?

"Yes and no," Reese said. "I don't really know what I expected, I guess. I just always wanted to go into the military. Would I do it again? Yes. But it's not something I would want to do again. In five to 10 years, I'll look back, and I'll be very pleased that I did it. Right now, I want to move on and graduate."

One semester, she took 24 credits. That was really rough, she said.

"I don't really know why I did it," she said. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Reese entered Annapolis with seven courses validated. Graduating from Red River and from the Grand Forks Junior ROTC program, she was well prepared academically and for some of the military routine, she said. Just knowing how to shine her shoes properly, how to make her uniform look good and how to march were helpful, she said.

Reese led Red River's Junior ROTC program her senior year. Still, she felt "very timid" when she arrived at the academy.

"The first time I had to march myself through a maze to be promoted, I had to call out in a loud command voice," she said. "I was very scared for quite a while. But I got used to that. Then, directing squads and platoons, it was a very good confidence builder."

It may seem strange, but four years of spit and polish and pressure to perform has taught her to be a lot more relaxed, she said.

"I've just gotten to roll with the punches a lot better. You come here, and you realize how much is outside of your control. There's nothing you can do about it. You can get real angry about it. You can get all stressed out. Or you can say, 'Hey, that's how it's going to be,' and live with it."

Good people

One of the highlights of her time at Annapolis was meeting good people and making lifelong friends, she said. Another was an aviation cruise on which she got seven back-seat rides in a Hornet fighter jet, "the best experience of my life so far," she said. The Hornet can go supersonic and can be used in combat against other aircraft, on strike missions to drop ordnance, and to launch laser guided bombs.

Women remain a minority at the Naval Academy, where the student body is about 85 percent male, 15 percent female, Reese said. In her class, she was the only female physics major.

"When I say I met some of the best people and made some of the best friends here, I'm referring to the other midshipmen in my major," she said. "For the most part here, the men are great."

Reese is aware of the stories about discrimination against women and even sexual assault in the military, but she saw no hint of that at Annapolis, she said.

"There are a few, a very small minority, who have issues with women serving in the military, not just women serving in combat," she said. "Thankfully, it's a very small minority. I try to ignore them."