When Brad Kelly first contacted the United States Military Academy, he made it very clear.
"I'm interested in West Point," he said, ". . . and I also play football."
The sport was secondary.
"It was my interest in going to a military academy," said the Exeter (N.H.) High School senior, "rather than their interest in getting a football player."
Not a bad one, either. On offense, the 6-foot, 5-inch 220-pound tight end was the primary target for an Exeter offense that focuses more on the run than the pass. On the other side, he was a menacing lineman, whom the Blue Hawks moved to middle linebacker for their final game of the season. He ended up snagging the game-clinching interception in Exeter's Division II championship victory over Bishop Guertin.
But at heart, he's a history guy who loves to read about legendary generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Douglas MacArthur. Walking through West Point for a college visit last year, he viewed their statues.
"The honor, tradition, and history of the place is just amazing," said Kelly, president of his class all four years. "One of their sayings is that much of the history we teach is made by people we taught, which means you go there to make history."
His father, Jay, was with him for the visit. He also took notice of the history.
"If you've ever been to West Point, you understand what an impact the place has on you," said Jay Kelly. "When you just drive through the campus, you get a chance to see monuments and pictures and realize it's a major force in American history. It's an honor and a privilege."
Brad Kelly can see himself leading other soldiers.
"I don't think there's a greater responsibility than other people's lives," he said.
Kelly is one of the country's 21st-century war babies, a boy on the cusp of adulthood whose world view has been molded by an age of conflict. He was a middle schooler when 9/11 happened, and in the six years since, he never quite understood the attack. He was always slightly confused about why this country went into Iraq, but at the same time, pulling the troops out immediately and hastily made no sense, he thought. Too much was at stake. Peace was obviously the best end, he figured, or at least more preferable than backlash in a region the country initially wanted to help.
Kelly had an Ivy League school, Brown, on his list of college choices, not to mention NESCAC schools Williams and Bowdoin. But for six months he weighed his intrigue with life at a military academy with the sensibility of living the life of a normal college kid.
Then it hit him.
"We're in an age where back in World War II the whole country was focused in on the troops, where nowadays it's very different," he said. "The news is full of [celebrity gossip], when there's troops dying for the country across the world, which is kind of ridiculous."
Football is still very much in the picture. And he will attend West Point after receiving word of his acceptance three weeks ago.
He's already started training for next season, skipping the basketball season to work on weight training, with the goal of putting on pounds to play at the college level.
He'll leave for basic training in midsummer, the six-week gantlet they call "Beast Barracks," where he'll be shooting rifles, wearing a uniform, learning marches, and the like. It will overlap partly with football training camp, but it'll be worth it.
"I think you have the opportunities there to kind of do the regular college lifestyle stuff," he said. "But I think you kind of have a higher purpose. Like you're there to be a leader."
