
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991                   TAG: 9102180309
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

STUDENT WINS ELITE STATUS: ALL 4 ACADEMIES WANT HIM

For more than a year, Frank Gaillard II slaved over tedious letters and essays and sweated through interviews with top military officials.

He even got wisdom teeth pulled to pass rigorous physical requirements.

The payoff for the 17-year-old senior from Salem High School in Virginia Beach was big: He was accepted to all four U.S. military academies. It is an achievement few high school seniors in the country can match.

Each of the service academies admits just 11 percent or less of its applicants.

The Army, Navy and Air Force academies all require a congressional or a presidential endorsement. Gaillard received a presidential nomination for all three.

Fewer than 250 students each year are invited to more than one academy, said Lt. Col. Rollie Stoneman, director of selections at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

An honor student and a student council member, Gaillard ranks 37th in a class of 610 at Salem, with a 3.65 grade-point average. Teachers said those achievements are significant, but Gaillard's dedication is exemplary.

"He really does have a desire to excel and he's very serious about his plans for the future," said Elaine Benwitz, a counselor at Salem.

"It takes a lot of stress out of the senior year" to already have acceptances, Gaillard said. "Now, I can concentrate on my studies."

He is waiting to hear from other schools, including Harvard, and plans no final decision until March.

Gaillard has already had an introduction to military life: his father is a retired Navy lieutenant commander. The elder Gaillard was often out to sea during his childhood.

"I've had a lot of experience in the military," the younger Gaillard said. "I've been brought up under it."

Gaillard said the Persian Gulf War has made him think about dying - a part of military service that he hadn't really considered back when he prepared his applications in September.

At any of the academies, he would graduate as an officer obligated to five years of military service.

"It's a war and war is never pretty and you never really want to become a statistic," he said.

by CNB