Well, this explains his low record for nominating people to the academies.

He doesn’t want them to change their lives.

Pfc. Rangels unit was in retreat and in doing so left the flank exposed leaving US Marines out in the open at Chosin Reservoir, where they were encircled by the Chinese Army.
The Marines were told they too would have to retreat.
To which they responded, “Retreat hell, we’re just fighting in a different direction!”
“They are in front of us and behind us …….. on our left and right. They can’t get away now!”

The US Marines brought back all their dead and wounded and 90% of their weapons and gear. Everything else was destroyed in place.

These Marines are referred to in the history books as “The Chosin Frozen.”

From wikipedia:

“Rangel then enlisted in the United States Army, and served from 1948 to 1952.[16] During the Korean War, he was a member of the all-black 503rd Field Artillery Battalion in the 2nd Infantry Division.[17] In late November 1950, this unit was caught up in heavy fighting in North Korea as part of the U.N. forces retreat from the Yalu River. In the Battle of Kunu-Ri, Rangel was part of a vehicle column that was trapped and attacked by the Chinese Army.[17] In the subzero cold, Rangel was injured by shrapnel from a Chinese shell.[18] Some U.S. soldiers were being taken prisoner, but others looked to Rangel, who though only a private first class had a reputation for leadership in the unit. Rangel led some 40 men from his unit, during three days of freezing weather, out of the Chinese encirclement; nearly half of the battalion was killed in the overall battle.[19] Rangel was awarded a Purple Heart for his wounds and the Bronze Star with Valor for his actions in the face of death.[20] He was also awarded the Presidential Unit Citation,[21] the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, and three battle stars.[20] In 2000, Rangel reflected with CBS News that “Since Kunu Ri – and I mean it with all my heart, I have never, never had a bad day.”[17]

Rangel would later view his time in the Army, away from the poverty of his youth, as a major turning point in his life: “When I was exposed to a different life, even if that life was just the Army, I knew damn well I couldn’t get back to the same life I had left.”[22] After an honorable discharge from the Army at the rank of staff sergeant,[16] he returned home to headlines in The New York Amsterdam News.”

PA-LEEZE!!

Chuck looks out for himself while Marines look out for the whole.

There are the select few that wiggle on the border. Such as Rev. Wright and his ilk. Murtha is another sorry case and waste of skin.

“But while the burden is ultimately on students to apply, academy leaders and others said elected officials should be doing more to publicize the opportunity by doing such things as visiting schools.”

Isn’t affirmative action intended to have “leaders in society” search out those that are underpriveliged (sp?) and help them fill out an application? Seems to me a visit to each high school to deliver applications to the top X% of the graduating class would be affirmative action of the best kind, with a later follow-up to collect the applications and help with filling in the applications. Isn’t that constituent service? Staff could do it.

But maybe that would eliminate the mystique of “victimhood.”

Without question, the most important development in the past half century has been the change in the composition of the electorate in the United States and Europe, and in particular the steady increase in the proportion of nonwhite voters. In the US this trend began with the Kennedy Immigration Act of 1965, but has been mainly in evidence during the last 35 years. It is a direct result of increased immigration –– legal and illegal –– from Third World countries, but in particular from the Islamic countries of the MidEast, North Africa, and Asia.

This development is directly responsible for the electoral success of Democrats such as Velazquez and Pelosi –– a success that has little to do with the ideology of Liberalism, which is a thick load of Marxist codswallop that only a fool would swallow.

Instead Liberal success is the direct result of combining racial/identity politics with a program of importing a new electorate –– an electorate that lacks a strong tradition in the principles of republican constitutional government, and that is frequently more malleable, more amenable to manipulation, and more receptive to socialist doctrine –– through open borders, mass migration, and amnesty.

It should, therefore, come as no surprise to anybody that many of the New Americans have little interest in our national defense or attending the service academies, inasmuch as –– like their representatives in Congress –– they often lack a sense of loyalty or attachment to America, or to Western Civilization and Christendom in general (of which the United States was, at least until recently, the strongest component).

The idea that disinterest in the military academies is the result of inadequate schools is ridiculous. Indeed, education actively exacerbates their feelings of alienation and estrangement.

Liberals, in their approach to education, adamantly reject any education in the time-honored traditions, heroes, history (i.e., the true, glorious, and uplifting history), hallowed beliefs, institutions, manners and principles of conduct –– all of those really important things that instill cohesion, pride, and loyalty in the social order, that instill patriotism and willingness to fight and even die for one’s country. Indeed, these things are treated as errors and prejudices, which it is the duty of the public schools to ferret out and eradicate.

Elites need to be protected, and the rubes need to risk their lives to do it.