July 8, 2021

Academy expands roster of enlisted faculty members

Master Sgt. Bonnie Rushing is the latest noncommissioned officer to be added to become a member of the school's faculty. (Air Force Academy photo)   By Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - The Air Force Academy’s latest enlisted faculty member will begin teaching cadets this summer. Master Sgt. Bonnie Rushing from Glen Burnie, Maryland, will teach air power and joint operations in the school’s military and strategic studies department. She began her Air Force career as a language specialist. “Enlisted personnel make up over 80% of our active duty force and, as faculty, we...

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July 7, 2021

Prep School to welcome appointees

(photo/Trevor Cokley) U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Basic training for approximately 237 young men and women appointed to the Air Force Academy Preparatory School begins July 9, 2021. Scores of Prep School appointees are scheduled to arrive for in-processing at 7:30 a.m. The appointees take the oath of enlistment, meet their military trainers, get haircuts and receive military uniforms, among other activities. Basic training at the Prep School is 21 days. The appointees earn the title “cadet candidate” once they graduate from basic training and transition to the academic year. The design of...

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June 25, 2021

Basic cadet training starts for AF Academy’s class of ‘25

More than 1,100 young men and women arrived at the Air Force Academy June 24, 2021 to begin basic cadet training, six weeks of rigorous mental and physical challenges. (Photo / Joshua Armstrong) Story by Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs  U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - The global COVID-19 pandemic may be on the decline, but the Air Force Academy took no chances when more than 1,100 young men and women reported to the school for basic cadet training, June 24. The trainees arrived between 7 a.m.-noon, were given facemasks and immediately tested for the coronavirus. Academy...

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June 24, 2021

‘We go together’: AF Academy to send cadets to South Korea for semester

U.S. Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark (right) chats via livestream with Lt. Gen. Sung Chun Choi, superintendent of the Republic of Korea air force academy, June 22, 2021. The generals discussed the semester exchange program allowing U.S. Air Force Academy cadets to study at the Korean air force academy. Story and photo by Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Republic of Korea air force academy will begin hosting cadets from the U.S. Air Force Academy for a semester of study later this year. The semester exchange program is...

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June 22, 2021

New summer course focuses on combating future threats

by Ashley D. Murphy, Strategic Communications Air Force Academy cadets now have another opportunity to learn more about our nation’s emerging challenges in a new Summer Innovation Course. The course, hosted by the Academy’s Institute for Future Conflict, is designed for rising sophomores to practice applying skills and knowledge gained through their studies to various potential future conflict scenarios. The course integrates cadet leadership experiences with academic exposure, and shows cadets how to take an innovative and multi-disciplinary approach to the dynamic and evolving nature of future conflict. “Following this course, cadets will have a better understanding of how to...

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June 21, 2021

‘So many moving parts’: Academy’s field engineering readiness lab concludes summer operations

Story by Ray Bowden, Photos by Trevor Cokley U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - The top civil engineer at the Air Force Academy was excited to have the school’s field engineering readiness laboratory – FERL - in action May 31-June 19 after the lab shut its doors last year due to the global coronavirus pandemic. “You can feel the collective enthusiasm for FERL this year and it’s not just coming from cadets,” said Col. Joel Sloan, head of the Academy’s civil and environmental engineering department. “We’re all enthusiastic because this,” he said with a smile, referring to the hustle and bustle...

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June 18, 2021

10th Air Base Wing update: Academy’s host unit gets new commander

Lieutenant Gen. Richard Clark, superintendent of the Air Force Academy (left), and Col. Christopher Leonard, commander of the 10th Air Base Wing, June 18, 2021. Story by Ray Bowden, all photos by Joshua Armstrong U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - The 10th Air Base Wing at the Air Force Academy gets a new commander as the school adjusts to the declining effects of the global coronavirus pandemic and adapts to producing officers for the Space Force. Colonel Christopher Leonard took charge of the wing, the school’s host unit, during a ceremony on the 10th ABW headquarters’ front lawn, June 18....

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May 26, 2021

The Breakdown: Air Force Academy releases class of ’21 stats

By Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Air and Space Forces expanded with the commissioning of more than 1,000 newly minted Air and Space Force lieutenants, March 26. In all, 1,019 Air Force Academy graduates received their diplomas in a graduation ceremony at Falcon Stadium, with 114 of those graduates commissioning into the Space Force. The Breakdown This information is based on data from the Academy’s operations and analysis office released May 25. -- 1,508 men and women in the Class of 2021 received appointments to the Academy and 1,216 were inducted to...

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April 30, 2021

Cadets study Americanness through new interdisciplinary minor

By Ashley D. Murphy, Strategic Communications U.S. Air Force Academy — Cadets can now dive deeper into understanding the country they are preparing to serve and defend. American Studies has been added to the list of minors available to cadets; making the U.S. Air Force Academy the first and only service academy to offer such a minor. “It is always important for future officer-citizens in a democratic country to know and grapple with the complex truths about their nation. But given everything that is happening in our country, it is hard to imagine a more pressing time for such a...

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December 1, 2020

Cadet joint domain exercise incorporates cyber, proves successful

by Ashley D. Murphy, Strategic Communications U.S. Air Force Academy cadets successfully accomplished the first run of the Joint All Domain Environment (JADE) exercise - including cyber as an additional, critical domain. During the exercise, cadets acted as members of an Air Operations Center (AOC), directing two other cadets as remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) pilots during an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission leading to a simulated kinetic strike on an ISIS leadership meeting. Cadet Cyber Team members served as a cyber effects cell and cyber liaison officers who were providing cyber ISR to help track the target, and identify who was actually at the meeting....

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