More Pictures... Because I Can

I am "done" with my USAFA updates, but as I looked through my pictures there were some things that I had wanted to share and hadn't... so... I decided I should share them.

This picture is me at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.


The Prep School at the USAFA is something I didn't really talk about on the blog (because all we did was drive past it), but the reality is that for many students the prep school is a one year transition into the USAFA.

There were two other things that I forgot to talk about when blogging over the last week.

The first was in the chapel. I thought it was interesting that the 2nd pew in the
chapel is roped off and there is a candle lit in the center of the row as a way to honor of all prisoners of war and those listed as missing in action. No matter how many people are trying to squeeze into the chapel that pew remains a standing and impressive tribute.


The second component that I didn't point out was the fact that the cadets live in their dorms as a squadron - which is a combination of males and females. Each squadron has their own logo and you can see them on the cadet jackets as well as in the dorms.


I was also excited today because I received a note from James Johnson, the cadet who I blogged about yesterday. He had found my blog and the video clips through a friend. (Yes, I know, it doesn't take much to make me happy.)

USAFA - Day 3

The final day at the United States Air Force Academy was definitely one of my favorites. No, we didn't sit in a simulator or have lunch/ dinner with cadets, but we heard presentations from two incredible cadets and the second young man, James Johnson, absolutely amazed me.

For day three we started at the USAFA Airfield. It was interesting to learn that the cadets are the primary instructors for other cadets. They are responsible for 94% of the flight training and 95% of the parachuting trainings. The first cadet who talked to us was a senior at the USAFA and he is a soaring instructor. That means that he is responsible for teaching other cadets how to fly the glider airplanes (no power source). He was interesting to listen to and honest in his responses - he talked about what he has learned through the experience and the importance of being able to stay calm when you are teaching other cadets how to fly because they "are trying to kill you" and yet you have to wait until the last possible moment to take over and save the plane. He said you don't want to scare them away from flying and you want them to learn how to correct their own mistakes and keep improving. Evidently there are teams that compete - like a cross country soaring team - where they try to fly far distances by using the air streams and air currents to move their planes. It was interesting. Here is a picture of a glider airplane being towed behind another plane.

The second young man that we heard from was a parachuting instructor. He is known as a jumpmaster and he is a trainer for other cadets. James is a junior at the
USAFA. He had never jumped out of a plane before his sophomore year at the USAFA, but he now has 260 jumps (including one the morning before he spoke to us) and is responsible for teaching other cadets how to safely jump from (perfectly good) planes. Interestingly, he is responsible for everything from training the other cadets on the ground to also helping them when they are up in the back of the plane preparing to jump. He is on the headset with the pilot, he holds them at the doorway before they jump out of the plane, and then, after all of the cadets have jumped out of the plane he jumps out after them. Clearly he is good at what he does because he is a member of the USAFA's "Wings of Blue" demonstration team. (That is why he has a blue uniform instead of the more common green version.) As a member of the demonstration team he is one of the individuals who would jump into stadiums, etc. He was entertaining and poised and incredibly confident making it a joy to listen to his experiences. I have lots of video clips (although if I would have been taping more instead of just listening there would be even more) from this segment of the trip - obviously because I thought it was so interesting and I can't decide on just one to share with you - so I hope you enjoy them because I have a lot of them. :-)

The first clip is James introducing himself. I think you will see what I am talking about with his confidence.

He was open to answering questions and one of the other counselors asked him what went through his mind on his very first jump. Here is his response.

Obviously, things can go wrong when jumping out of a plane. James talked about several different safety elements. He said that they average one reserve ride every thousand jumps. (By reserve ride he meant needing to use your reserve parachute.) In this clip he introduces a backup system. And in this clip he talks more about the Cypress system and what would happen if you were unconscious as you were falling from the plane.

In this clip he answers the question, "Is it like a rollercoaster?"

This final clip is one of my favorites and I started recording as he talked about the ground hurting and (I think) it is entertaining.

We did get to see some people from the Army that were being trained by the cadets at the USAFA jump from a plane which was fun to see. It was also interesting to learn that there are all different sizes of parachutes (canopies) and the different sizes determine how quickly you move down to the ground - the better you get the smaller canopy you can use allowing you to reach the ground faster.

After we finished at the airfield we concluded our day with a presentation by the Director of Selections, Mr. Rollie Stoneman. He reviewed for us the different avenues that students can seek nominations for the USAFA (and the other service academies). They ultimately offer appointments to about 1600 students (out of the 9500 students who are qualified and receive nominations) with the intent that about 1300 of those students will actually attend the USAFA. He stressed that they are looking for students of good moral character who will ultimately be able to serve as officers of character. Applying to an academy is a rolling process and generally begins in the spring of your junior year. Basically, when selecting a student to offer an apointment they are considering their Academic composite score (GPA, Strength of Curriculum, Verbal and Math Standardized test scores - think ACT/ SAT), Extra-curricular composite score (athletic and non-athletic activities), Candidate Fitness Assessment, USAFA Liaison Officer Evaluation, Teacher Evaluations, and Medical Qualifications and then a panel looks at all of those pieces and determines if the students should be offered an appointment to the academy. If you are interested in learning mroe about the details and what it will require in order to be competitive for a service academy, please stop in and see me and we can review the information that they shared during this program and the trip as a whole.

(One off the topic side note - the server FINALLY came back up this afternoon - THANKFULLY! It will probably take me a little while to get through the ton of e-mails that were awaiting me when I was finally able to read them. Please be patient. Thanks!)

USAFA Day 2 Revisited - Part 2

FYI: I have been having some technical difficulties this weekend. I cannot access the school e-mail system (they took the server down on Friday at 4:00pm and it still isn't up) so if you are sending me e-mails and hoping that I would respond, please know that I cannot get back to you until Monday.

So, back to the USAFA. The afternoon of day 2 included a presentation by the Dean of Faculty, General Dana Born. It was interesting to hear about the true college side of the USAFA. The students who elect to attend an academy certainly get a world class education. They have 250 classrooms and labs, 10 research centers, an 8:1 student to faculty ration, an average class size of 15 to 17 students, and nationally recognized programs.

Like nearly all colleges, the USAFA includes a core curriculum that every student must complete. Unlike other colleges, their core curriculum is 102 semester hours (18 English, 27 basic Science, 5 Phys Ed, 1 First Year Experience, 6 Military Studies, 21 Humanities, 24 Social Sciences)and then they have their majors and classes specific to their majors on top of that - an additional 45-46 semester hours. They have 32 majors and 2 minors that students can pick from and everyone will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree with approximately 147 total semester hours.

General Born also talked about the summer and unique programs that students can participate in such as a summer research program, some of their international programs, a scholars program (think even higher honors level for the honors students), and the academy exchange program (where students from West Point or the Naval Academy can be exchange students for a semester with a student from the USAFA.) They have a student services center to help students who are struggling in classes and they reported that their faculty are very accessible and open to helping students.

Following graduation she said that 60-80 students go directly to graduate school, 520 go to pilot school, and up to 38 go to dental, medical, or nursing schools. (They have nearly a 100% acceptance to medical school.) The other students enter career fields based upon their majors. All of them are commissioned officers in the Air Force.

She discussed characteristics needed to be successful: Drive, motivation, and an inner fire. Dedication. Time Management (Self-discipline). Stress management. Willingness to use available resources. And she also pointed out that if a student's grades drop below a 2.0 in any area then they are placed on probation and are not allowed to go anywhere.

One of the pieces that was addressed throughout the different presentation was the USAFA Mission and Core Values. Their mission is to educate, train, and inspire men and women to become officers of character, movitated to lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation. Their core values are: Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do. You see and hear the mission and core values throughout the USAFA.

After General Born's presentation we were taken to the Warfare Lab (Simulator) where we had a chance to "fly" a plane. Two educators were in each plane and each person had the opportunity to be the one controlling the plane with a TON of help from the Air Force instructors who stood over our shoulder trying to keep us from crashing. (Note I said *TRYING* as it isn't that easy!) Here are pictures from outside of the simulator.

My mom, a counselor in Northeastern Ohio, was also on the trip and she and I were in the simulator together - here is a picture of us with our Air Force instructor.
Sadly, we both crashed when trying to land the plane, but when flying, I had a chance to do some "rolls" in the air. It was entertaining. Since I don't know how to shorten this clip down, if you just watch about the first 30 seconds you will see me navigate the plane and do my first roll. (I tried to have the video show up on this site directly, but it didn't work so I put it up on You Tube. Here is a link.) It was fun...

After they kicked us out of the simulators we went to see the library. It is a library - it was pretty (especially their 6 story spiral staircase) and it has lots of books - basically like you'd find at any other college. I loved looking around at the different groups of kids in the library and thinking that aside from the uniforms they could be at any college campus. I later found out from one of the cadets that most of the people hanging out in the library are typically freshman because that is one of the places where they can get away from all of the upperclassmen eyes of their squadron leaders.










We had dinner in Mitchell Hall again (where all of the cadets eat their meals.) Dinner is their most relaxed meal of the day. The cadets are not assigned specific seats and they have a buffet style for dinner including a few hours to eat vs. the 20 minutes to get in, be seated, start, and finish at breakfast and lunch. Dinner is also not a mandatory meal. One of the counselors from North Carolina had a student (Matt M.) join her for dinner and she kindly allowed me to sit with them and so I had a chance to ask a lot of questions and learn a ton more through that conversation. Because it was a more relaxed setting and the cadets were not on such a tight time schedule it was nice to be able to ask questions and not feel like you were taking away from their only down time in the day. He said that eventually he would like to be a politician and he will be fantastic - he was personable, engaging, and kind in answering so many questions. I really enjoyed being able to talk with him at dinner.

After dinner we attended a performance by the USAFA Cadet Show Choir. They performed for about an hour. It was interesting, two of the young ladies were from Ohio, but both of them are actually students at the USMA and the USNA, but are at the USAFA this semester as exchange students.

Clearly, it was a packed day, but it was enjoyable. I learned a lot - both from the official presentations and from the two cadets that I had lunch and dinner with during the day.

USAFA Day 2 Revisited - Part 1

Hello! I am home again, safe and sound. I ended up running out of time in the day to update not to mention struggling with problems connecting to the internet and downloading pictures the last two days so I wasn't able to post updates during the trip, but still wanted to share. So here is what I would have told you about Day 2 of my trip. :-)

We started out the morning with a presentation by the Commandant of the USAFA
cadets. General Susan Dejardins was a 1980 graduate of the USAFA (and I think that she was one of the first females to graduate from the academy.) She shared information about how the USAFA is structured and the opportunities available to the cadets.

One of the pieces that she (and many others) discussed with the honor code which is a central component of the United States Air Force Academy: "We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does." It was interesting to learn that the cadets run the investigations and make the initial recommendations. In talking to the cadets one of them talked about it being relatively easy to take care of yourself and make sure that you do not lie, steal, or cheat, but when you see it in someone else and have to turn them in (the whole "nor tolerate among us" part) is when it gets really hard because this person is often a friend and someone that has helped you through basic training, etc. I had some very interesting conversations relating to the central foundation that the honor code plays in the formation of the cadets into Air Force Officers.

After listening to the presentation by the Commandant, we were paired with a current cadet at the USAFA. I was honored to meet Brian Campbell, a WKHS graduate who is now a senior at the USAFA.


Brian is majoring in Business Management and minoring in Spanish. He allowed me to attend two classes with him and I had lunch with him and the members of the football team that are at the same assigned table. (Brian is very tall - as you can see - and very kind. He was a football player at the USAFA until blowing out his knee and having reconstructive surgery last spring.) Sitting through classes was very interesting because it is so similar to any other college class with a few exceptions. There are obvious differences (everyone is wearing a uniform) and not so obvious differences (no one is text messaging or has cell phones with them). It was also interesting to learn that you "don't skip classes here!" which is a difference from most colleges where there are some classes people will skip. Their academic courseload and the standard that these individuals are expected to maintain are impressive! Actually, every cadet that I met and spoke to were absolutely impressive and I loved talking to them!

We toured the dorm and saw a freshman dorm room compared to the dorm room of two juniors.














A freshman dorm is very different from an upperclassmen dorm - most freshman have 3 cadets per room instead of 2 as with the older students. They also have to maintain the fitted made bed look all the time (instead of the comforters you see in the room with the juniors.) Also, for the record, the last room is the room next door to the room where the student was showing us his room - so you can see that they really *do* require *all* the freshman to maintain their rooms in this way.

See how much stuff the juniors are allowed to have - refrigerator/ tv etc. One of the speakers (can't recall exactly which one) said that when the cadets arrive at the USAFA they take away all of their freedoms and give them back to them when earned as privileges.














One other huge difference that we saw between the freshman and the rest of the students was obvious during class changes. Freshman are required to run on the marble strips instead of just walking through campus anywhere they want. They are also not allowed to wear their backpacks - they must carry them in their hands. They must greet upperclassmen as they pass them on the sidewalk. There were lots of differences in how formal they must be during meals as well. For example, freshman eat at attention and are not allowed to look at anything other than the seal on their plate unless given permission to be at ease by the person in charge of the table (someone higher ranking in their squadron.) The athletic teams are a bit more flexible in these regulations, but there were not any freshman at my table to ask that question directly - it was just my general impression. This formality during meals is only during breakfast and lunch - dinner is optional so the cadets do not have to eat with their squadron and so the freshman do not have to eat at attention. Here is a picture of freshmen on the marble strips.


Not trying to drag this out, but I have so much more to tell you as this is only half of Day 2 and I know tomorrow morning is going to feel REALLY early (since it feels like it should be 2 hours behind the time here in Ohio...) so I am going to cut this short and post about the afternoon and evening experiences tomorrow.

USAFA Day 2... Sort of

Hi! Today was Day 2 at the USAFA and it was a great day. I had a chance to attend two classes and have lunch with a Kilbourne grad and current USAFA senior, Brian Campbell. I have lots of pictures, but unfortunately am unable to upload them tonight. Check back tomorrow for a full update about all of the events of the day.

Hope everything is going well for you at Kilbourne.
See you soon!

USAFA Day 1: Chapel & Athletics

We started our "official" tour of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) today. They drove us throughout the base a little bit before we went to the admissions office and had an overview presentation by a few new Lieutenant's who graduated from the USAFA last May. The Colonel who is in charge of the entire admissions process also talked with us briefly and answered some questions. The "official" admissions briefing is on Wednesday - this was basically just his opening welcome.

We next went to the Chapel. (And, let me forewarn you, this is just the start of the pictures!) The Chapel is one of the most well known structures at the USAFA. You can see it from afar and it is a central point on campus.

Me with the back of the chapel.

This is a view walking into the chapel.

I know that this may not seem as impressive or exciting to see small on this blog, but one of the things I really liked was the view out the windows from inside of the chapel - out one side of the chapel you see mountains in the background and out the other side you see the campus and the planes in the middle of campus. Pretty cool.

The chapel is actually more than just 1 chapel. There are six separate chapels within this one facility. The largest one is the Protestant chapel which is pictured above. In each of the two floors below that there are 3 more chapels - we were able to see the Catholic, Jewish, and Buddist. (Pictured Below)

Later in the day we had the opportunity to visit the athletic facilities. They were very impressive - remember, this is a Division 1 school. Approximately 23% of all of the Cadets at the USAFA participate in intercollegiate athletics. They have 27 D-1 Sports here. Everyone is required to participate in athletics in some way - it can be through club or intramural sports.

You probably can't read it very well, but this sign has their athletics motto - "Air Force Athletics... Tomorrow's Leaders Forged Through Competition Today"

The three pictures above include: An indoor track and field with an impressive mural, some of the outdoor courts, and (of course) the training room.

And, in case you had any question about the facilities and how well they compare with other D-1 Schools... check out their weight room below. WOW!