It is that time of year when medical and dental schools announce “matches” for residency programs. Back in the day (1970s) is apparently wasn’t so much of a production – at least according to my sister who became a doctor in the 1970s. Of course, “signing day” was not a big thing at high schools when student scholarships were announced. Things change and it is good to celebrate.

The United States Naval Academy has its own version. It was called Service Selection Night when 1st class midshipmen (seniors) went by class rank and picked their first assignment following graduation and commissioning. My classmates were worried that there would not be any “slots” open for flight school or that a particular ship home-ported in Pearl Harbor, San Diego, Norfolk etc. It was a exciting. In case you were wondering, the nuclear surface and submariners had to be interviewed by Admiral Rickover well before this so we already knew our first assignments.

Today was Service Selection Day at USNA. It is somewhat the same but also different in many ways. Upon graduation and commissioning in May 2026, the Class of 2026 assignments (for the 1,012 graduates) are:

205 Surface Warfare Officer
221 Naval Aviation (pilot)
158 Submarines
39 Naval Flight Officer (NFO)
32 Navy SEALs
26 Various Cyber Specialties
16 EOD
11 Intelligence
10 Medical Corp
10 Supply Corp
8 Information Technolgy
5 Civil Engineering Corp
3 Oceanography
1 Aviation Maintenance

185 Marine Ground
72 Marine Aviation
10 Marine Cyber Warfare

Good luck and all the best.