Add that you're an astute young lady and your perception of what caused the current disconnect is IMO very accurately addressed in your first paragraph...

It wasn't always this way and it doesn't need to be but it will almost certainly remain as is until the Baby Boomers retire from their tenured positions and / or a major war erupts. There is a slight natural tension between between the academy and the armed forces, it ebbs and flows with societal changes and it is relatively cyclical. The current state of tension is nothing to worry about, all things considered. As Selil showed, it isn't a universal thing and it's really just a minor annoyance -- with the only real side effect being adverse to the academy (and the presumed goals of many of those tenured souls ), not the military -- where it does exist.