Once a staple of American society, military schools are a dying breed, with fewer than thirty remaining. Historically, most military academies existed in the South and along the East Coast. However, Colonel Thomas A. Davis pushed this tradition westward when he founded the San Diego Army and Navy Academy in 1910. Davis pioneered a novel education and leadership training structure for young men that predated the Boy Scouts and JROTC Program. From this single institution sprang the Brown Military Academy, Davis Military Academy, San Diego Military Academy and more. Author Alexander Mui chronicles the endurance of this revered academy through countless trials, wars, economic depressions and the nationwide military school decline until it remained the last traditional military academy west of the Rocky Mountains.
