United States military academies

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The United States military academies, sometimes known as the United States service academies, are federal academies for the education and training of commissioned officers for the United States armed forces. There are five or six U.S. military academies, depending on how strictly one defines the term:

United States Military Academy, also known as "West Point" and "Army", founded 1802
United States Naval Academy, also known as "Annapolis" and "Navy", founded 1845
United States Coast Guard Academy, founded 1876
United States Merchant Marine Academy, founded 1942
United States Air Force Academy, founded 1954
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, founded 1972

There is no dispute as to the status of the first five listed. The status of the sixth, the Uniformed Services University (USU), is more complex. USU specializes in training health care professionals for the U.S. military. However, the only program at USU that truly functions as a military academy is its F. Edward HÃÂ©bert School of Medicine. While it accepts military and civilian students, its graduates have a 7-year service commitment upon graduation. The graduate nursing program at USU is open only to commissioned officers. USU also operates graduate programs in biomedical research and public health; some of its specialties are only open to military personnel, while others are open to civilians as well, with no postgraduate service requirement.

The term service academies can be used to refer to all of the academies, apart from USU, collectively; however, in popular use, it is more often reserved for the three academies that play NCAA Division I-A football: Army, Navy, and Air Force.