(a) Each midshipman shall sign an agreement with respect to the midshipmans length of service in the armed forces. The agreement shall provide that the midshipman agrees to the following:
(1) That the midshipman will complete the course of instruction at the Naval Academy.
(2) That upon graduation from the Naval Academy the midshipman
(A) will accept an appointment, if tendered, as a commissioned officer of the Regular Navy, the Regular Marine Corps, or the Regular Air Force; and
(B) will serve on active duty for at least five years immediately after such appointment.
(3) That if an appointment described in paragraph (2) is not tendered or if the midshipman is permitted to resign as a regular officer before completion of the commissioned service obligation of the midshipman, the midshipman
(A) will accept an appointment as a commissioned officer in the Navy Reserve or the Marine Corps Reserve or as a Reserve in the Air Force for service in the Air Force Reserve; and
(B) will remain in that reserve component until completion of the commissioned service obligation of the midshipman.
(b)
(1) The Secretary of the Navy may transfer to the Navy Reserve or the Marine Corps Reserve, and may order to active duty for such period of time as the Secretary prescribes (but not to exceed four years), a midshipman who breaches an agreement under subsection (a). The period of time for which a midshipman is ordered to active duty under this paragraph may be determined without regard to section
651 (a) of this title.
(2) A midshipman who is transferred to the Navy Reserve or Marine Corps Reserve under paragraph (1) shall be transferred in an appropriate enlisted grade or rating, as determined by the Secretary.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1), a midshipman shall be considered to have breached an agreement under subsection (a) if the midshipman is separated from the Naval Academy under circumstances which the Secretary determines constitute a breach by the midshipman of the midshipmans agreement to complete the course of instruction at the Naval Academy and accept an appointment as a commissioned officer upon graduation from the Naval Academy.
(c) The Secretary of the Navy shall prescribe regulations to carry out this section. Those regulations shall include
(1) standards for determining what constitutes, for the purpose of subsection (b), a breach of an agreement under subsection (a);
(2) procedures for determining whether such a breach has occurred; and
(3) standards for determining the period of time for which a person may be ordered to serve on active duty under subsection (b).
(d) In this section, commissioned service obligation, with respect to an officer who is a graduate of the Academy, means the period beginning on the date of the officers appointment as a commissioned officer and ending on the sixth anniversary of such appointment or, at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, any later date up to the eighth anniversary of such appointment.
(e)
(1) This section does not apply to a midshipman who is not a citizen or national of the United States.
(2) In the case of a midshipman who is a minor and who has parents or a guardian, the midshipman may sign the agreement required by subsection (a) only with the consent of a parent or guardian.
(f) A midshipman or former midshipman who does not fulfill the terms of the agreement as specified under section
(a), or the alternative obligation imposed under subsection (b), shall be subject to the repayment provisions of section
303a (e) of title
37.
