Service academy athletes are not allowed to bypass — or postpone — their required two years of active-duty service to pursue a professional career, a rule enacted during the Trump presidency. President Trump is trying to change the rule, he said this week.
In 2017, the United States Department of Defense rescinded an Obama administration policy (from 2016) that allowed service academy and ROTC athletes to play professional sports immediately following graduation instead of serving a minimum commitment of two years.
"Our military academies exist to develop future officers who enhance the readiness and the lethality of our military services," then-chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said in a written statement in May 2017. "Graduates enjoy the extraordinary benefit of a military academy education at taxpayer expense."
While presenting the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the Army football team on Monday, Trump suggested the policy could be reversed.
"I mentioned this to [Army head coach Jeff Monken], and its a big deal . . . I'm gonna look at doing a waiver for service academy athletes who can get into the major leagues like the NFL, hockey. And they'll serve their time after they're finished with professional sports," Trump said.
"Can you imagine this incredible coach with that little asset because I would imagine that would make recruiting a little bit easier? We're gonna, on behalf of the coach, who's a tremendous guy, we're gonna look at a waiver for the service academies."
It's unclear if Trump actually spoke with Monken and is looking at reversing the two-year-old policy (and if the Department of Defense would support a reversal), though if it passes, it would be a significant rule change.
UPDATE: The Pentagon responded to Trump's announcement by saying nothing has changed.
“No service shall make unique or special arrangements pertaining to the initial assignments for [military service academies] or [Reserve Officer Training Corps] graduates that are not typically available to other such graduates,” Pentagon spokesperson Jessica Maxwell said.
