History Main / MilitaryAcademy

*** VMI is the last SMC that does not accept any civilians in any form, and also is the only one that awards only bachelor's degrees. VMI was the last to admit no women until [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Virginia ordered to take female cadets by the Supreme Court]].

* Officer Training/Candidate School: A shorter course intended for officer candidates who already have a Bachelor's Degree and merely need the military training necessary to function as an officer. Often used for [[GentlemenRankers educated enlisted servicemembers]] [[UpThroughTheRanks to advance to the Officer's ranks]]. This style of academy is the closest to a [[BootCampEpisode Basic Training or Boot Camp]] for officers. Very popular during large wars where the existing officer corps is too small, and/or the traditional academy too slow, to effectively command all parts of a military that is rapidly expanding or having to replace heavy combat losses.

Often within a military service, there is some [[InterserviceRivalry tension and/or friendly rivalry]] between graduates of each type. Traditional academy alumni might be elitist "Ring Knockers" who look down on "13-Week Wonder" Officer Candidate School graduates, whereas those OCS grads who were formerly enlisted servicemembers might disdain all those who became officers "the easy way" without getting experience serving in the ranks.

This should not be confused with Basic Training or Boot Camp, which is a crash course for turning civilians into enlisted soldiers. Basic Training is aimed at the lowest common denominator and is intended to teach the most basic military skills; typically they take a few months to complete at most, whereas a military academy typically takes several months or years to create a new officer [[EnsignNewbie (not that it always helps them succeed!)]]. Compare with MilitarySchool, which is a military institutional environment for junior high and high school students that typically does not graduate its students directly into the military. Also compare SpaceCadetAcademy, which is a Military Academy InSpace.

Essentially, the school where a military officer learns his or her trade.

In the American military system, the official service academies provide military training while simultaneously training undergraduates for their Bachelor's Degree. There are six such Federal Service Academies. In addition, there are a number of academies, known as Senior Military Colleges, which are regular universities (one private, five public), as well as Military Junior Colleges (two public, three private). The defining trait of the military academy is that the students are kept in an institution where military standards and discipline are pervasive. For example, many civilian schools host ROTC programs which train officers, but these are not academies because they are not institutional training environments. Dedicated military academies maintain prestigious reputations and have high standards for admission.

A military academy comes in three forms:
* Undergraduate Officer Training: Where students are taught to be officers while simultaneously achieving a Bachelor's Degree.
* Officer Training School: A shorter course intended for Soldiers who already have a Bachelor's Degree. Often used for educated Enlisted Soldiers to advance to the Officer's ranks.
* Staff College: Effectively, military grad school. Where officers are trained in the administrative and policy areas of their profession, for high-level command, perhaps even General rank. Also attracts the more academically minded officers, who may write articles there. These may also be open to civilians (typically career diplomats and defense officials approaching the highest echelons of their fields) and foreign military officers. It is not at all uncommon for serious academic research into security studies and international relations to come out of a military staff college.

This should not be confused with Basic Training or Boot Camp, which is a crash course for turning civilians into enlisted soldiers. Basic Training is aimed at the lowest common denominator and is intended to teach the most basic soldiering skills. Compare with MilitarySchool, which is a military institutional environment for junior high and high school students. Also compare SpaceCadetAcademy, which is a Military Academy InSpace.

** United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Famous for being the newest major academy, its beautiful chapel, and [[BlingOfWar fantastic cadets' uniforms]] designed by Creator/CecilBDeMille.

*** "Military" also used to somewhat regularly be used to refer to things related to armies and their activities, whereas "naval" referred sea-related activities and obviously the navy.
** United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland: Also trains [[SemperFi Marine]] officers.

** Undergraduate officer training and officer training school are ususlly the same thing under the Soviet doctrine, called a ''voyennoe uchilische'' (military teaching facility). The Soviet military ''did'' need many more junior officers than its American counterparts, due to lack of a [[SergeantRock professional NCO corps]], many positions that in other armies would've been filled by [=NCOs=] were considered a junior officer's billet, and on the other side the Soviet standing army was gigantic. The military academy is another beast of another stripe, attended by senior officers and providing doctorates in military sciences, necessary if you want to be a general. There are also military schools attached to civilian universities, called ''voyennaya kafedra'', a kind of ROTC that train MildlyMilitary {{Ensign Newbie}}s that go then straight to reserve; after the fall of the Union, they aren't as numerous and remain only in several universities.

* In Ender's Game the academies most students move to after graduating Battle School.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'': Kate Kane was the Brigade Executive Officer at West Point, but resigned after refusing to deny her lesbianism or out her female partner (in the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" era where homosexuality in the US military was forbidden but not actively inquired into). Several comics include flashbacks to this time in her life.

* While not all Imperial Guard officers in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' attend the Schola Progenium, and not all who attend the Schola go on to military careers, all of the Guard's Stormtroopers and Commissars, and the warrior-nuns of the Adepta Sororitas, are trained there. The Schola is set up specifically to teach the orphaned children of the Emperor's servants, Guardsmen, arbitrators, and the like. Considering [[CrapsackWorld the setting]], there's no shortage of students. In fact, Schola is usually seen as a goal in itself. After all, it provides food, shelter and, let's be honest, its education is almost as good as it gets.

** The Staff College at Camberley (now defunct), replaced with several institutes

* The Royal Military College of Canada, in Kingston, ON, trains officers for the whole [[UsefulNotes/CanucksWithChinooks Canadian Forces]]. Now there's also the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean (English: Royal Military Collage Saint-Jean).

* Parodied in ''Discworld/{{Eric}}'', where an Ephebian EnsignNewbie passed the Academy with flying colours in Valadictory Poetry and Military Grammar. As opposed to [[CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough his sergeant]], who hasn't had an education, but simply spent the last forty years fighting people and monsters.

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* [[ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} Kate Kane]] was the Brigade Executive Officer at West Point, but resigned after refusing to deny her lesbianism or out her female partner (in the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" era where homosexuality in the US military was forbidden but not actively inquired into). Several comics include flashbacks to this time in her life.

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* Certain flashbacks in ''[[Series/Batwoman2019 Batwoman]]'' take place at Point Rock Academy, a fictionalized version of West Point.

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This should not be confused with Basic Training or Boot Camp, which is a crash course for turning civilians into enlisted soldiers. Basic Training is aimed at the lowest common denominator and is intended to teach the most basic soldiering skills. Compare with MilitarySchool, which is a military institutional environment for junior high and high school students.

* Carol Danvers attends the US Air Force Academy in ''Film/CaptainMarvel''.

* The main setting of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'': The Officer's Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery, located at the centre of the continent of Fódlan. The player chooses from one of three classes of students to teach, and it is where the player spends most of their downtime.

* An Officer Academy is due to be the setting of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses.''

* Will/Ed in ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars: Dark Conflict'' (''DaysOfRuin'') (damn inconsistent dubs) was attending a military school before [[AfterTheEnd the meteor shower]] and was the only survivor.

* The Kate Kane version of ''ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}'' was a cadet at West Point, but resigned after refusing to deny her lesbianism or out her female partner (in the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" era where homosexuality in the US military was forbidden but not actively enquired into). The comic includes flashbacks to this time in her life.

* ''Film/{{Annapolis}}'' depicts life in a military academy, although its portrayal is particularly inaccurate.

** The Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, while it is an university specializing in science and engineering, retains a heavy military character. The students are technically officers, undergo military training, and wear a very sweet 19th century officer uniform (with a [[NiceHat bicorn]] and a sword)

* Staff College: Effectively, military grad school. Where officers are trained in the administrative and policy areas of their profession, for high-level command, perhaps even General rank. Also attracts the more academically minded officers, who may write articles there. These may also be open to civilians (typically career diplomats and defense officials approaching the highest echelons of their fields) and foreign military officers.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'', the students of Class VII attend Thors Military Academy, a prestigious Military academy in the [[VestigialEmpire Erebonian Empire.]] [[spoiler:It also helps to prepare them for [[CivilWar what's to come.]]]]

* In ''Manga/GunkaNoBalzer'', Baselland's Royal Military Academy takes in teenagers as cadets for three years and graduates them as regular or reserve officers. [[spoiler: When an uprising happens the students (rather than the regular army or police) are mustered to quell the insurgents.]]
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', OZ both develops mobile suit technology, and also trains the larger Alliance Mobile Suit Troops (as well as its own) at its Lake Victory Academy [[spoiler: at least until a Gundam burns the academy to the ground]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'', the students of Class VII attend Thors Military Academy, a prestigious Military academy in the [[VestigialEmpire Erebonian Empire.]] [[spoiler: It also helps to prepare them for [[CivilWar what's to come.]]]]

* The Franchise/StarTrek universe has Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, which has been the focus of a young adult books series and a ComicBook series.