[alum]

He MAY have done some prior service. It IS true that some of the fresh-out-of-high-school cadets at the federal service academies AND the ROTC programs look askance at the prior enlisted men. My H was a professor at one of the federal service academies and was a commander as a company and field grade officer. While he respected the fact that these prior-service cadets moved up out of the enlisted ranksand obviously excelled militarily, many of them couldn't handle the academic rigors of the academies. I can't speak for ROTC but it probably would vary upon the academics of the specific major and of course college/university.