Cadet cadre lead basics through Jacks Valley training
Cadet 1st Class Jared Cruz checks in with Leadership Readiness Course cadet cadre at Jacks Valley July 24, 2023. The cadet cadre executes the Basic Cadet Training mission under the supervision of enlisted and officer experts. (U.S. Air Force photo by Blaire Brush)
By Randy Roughton
U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.- The young men and women who arrived at the U.S. Air Force Academy a month ago learned what it takes to survive and thrive here, thanks to the cadets who’ve already experienced Basic Cadet Training teaching them. The cadet cadre members are not only teachers but mentors and motivators.
“We’re there to provide the basic cadets with the instruction and training required to bring them from civilians to military members, ready to enter the academic year at the U.S. Air Force Academy,” said Cadet 1st Class Jared Cruz, a cadet cadre leader. “We help them prime those critical thinking and leadership skills and teamwork that’s going to be crucial for them to start their freshman year at the Academy.”
The cadet cadre executes the Basic Cadet Training mission under the supervision of enlisted and officer experts.
U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 2nd Class Osaro Aihie teaches assault course procedures to basic cadets at Jacks Valley July 18, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rayna Grace)
Tackling Jacks Valley
On their 27th day of training, Aggressor Squadron basic cadets crawled with their faces touching the dirt as they made their way to the final obstacle on the Assault Course — what some instructors call “the crown jewel” of the training.
During the Assault Course, basic cadets are expected to crawl through tunnels, under barbed wire, and through mud, carrying M-16 training weapons. As they approached the end of the course, the cadet cadre continued the motivation they gave basics throughout their time in Jacks Valley: “You’ve got more to give. Keep your cheeks in the dirt.”
The basic cadets emerge on the other side of the final 3-foot-high wall, with mud covering them nearly head to toe. Many of them turn back to read the sign above the wall in red: “Only the Strong Survived.”
During their time at Jacks Valley, the basic cadets live in field conditions and eat their meals in a forward operating base version of the Mitchell Hall dining facility, said Master Sgt. Alex Rose, Basic Cadet Training program manager. Basic cadets complete 11 courses, including assault, confidence, land navigation and obstacle courses, as well as expeditionary, medical and weapons training. They encounter barbed wire, mud, tunnels, walls, and water and sometimes get to a point where they think they can’t continue.
“That’s where the cadet cadre tells them they can do more than they think they can, and to push through it,” Rose said. “And they do.”
U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Savannah Neal encourages basic cadets to pick up the pace on the assault course at Jacks Valley July 18, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Trevor Cokley)
Role Models
“As part of the U.S. Air Force Academy’s mission to develop leaders of character, we use Basic Cadet Training as an opportunity to enable our [junior and senior] cadets — who receive specialized training to prepare them as BCT instructors — to refine their leadership and management skills,” said Brig. Gen. Gavin Marks, Academy commandant of cadets. “Our basic cadets are in great hands during this critical step on their path to joining the profession of arms.”
Cruz received that specialized training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. He returned to become a flight commander during Basic Cadet Training and now wears a black rope that signifies his role as training staff.
During the most challenging courses, such as the assault and obstacle courses, cadet cadre members often run along with basic cadets who might be struggling to finish. The cadre demonstrates teamwork and other concepts that are a major part of succeeding at the Academy.
“They are being role models on that course, somebody that those basics aspire to be one day,” Cruz said. “That’s what it was like for me when I was going through it. I was aspiring to be like my cadre, and I am the way I am today because of them.”
U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 2nd Class Alexander Stepney corrects basic cadets during the obstacle course at Jacks Valley July 18, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Justin R. Pacheco)
The Long Blue Line
Completing the assault course and the rest of the second phase of Basic Cadet Training at Jacks Valley has been an experience all Academy graduates have shared since the Class of 1970 marched to the training complex in June 1966. The program is designed to teach basic cadets to use teamwork while they push themselves beyond their perceived limits safely, Marks said.
“World-class is our standard because as [Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q.] Brown says, ‘Good enough today will almost certainly fail tomorrow,’” Marks said. “We cannot, we will not, accept less than our world-class standard, and this begins for the Class of 2027 with Basic Cadet Training. What they learn here will shape the type of cadet they will be while at the Academy and, ultimately, the type of air or space officer they will become.”
The basic cadets marched 5.5 miles back to the Cadet Area with about 200 alumni July 28. The Class of 2027 will have one week of training remaining before they take the Academy Honor Oath and join the Cadet Wing at the Acceptance Day Parade Aug. 9.
See photos of Basic Cadet Training on Flickr.
U.S. Air Force Academy cadet cadre members instruct basic cadets over the final obstacle on the assault course July 18, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rayna Grace)