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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November 26, 2020

Academy superintendent celebrates Thanksgiving with cadets

U.S. Air Force Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark speaks to cadets during a Thanksgiving Dinner in civilian attire in Mitchell Hall, Nov. 26, 2020. Clark encouraged the cadets and all at the Academy to be thankful for their friends, families and fellow cadets, as the Academy continues to function safely despite the coronavirus pandemic. He also thanked the Mitchell Hall staff for their care and concern for cadets and their efforts to provide them a full-course holiday meal. (U.S. Air Force photo/Joshua Armstrong) Story by Ray Bowden, photos by Joshua Armstrong U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- U.S. Air Force...

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November 25, 2020

Air Force Academy cadets earn prestigious scholarships

Cadet 1st Class Aryemis Brown, recipient of the Rhodes scholarship. Staff report, Nov. 25, 2020 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Two seniors at the Air Force Academy received celebrated international scholarships this week. Cadet 1st Class Aryemis Brown, a humanities and legal studies major, received the Rhodes scholarship, and Cadet 1st Class Emily Berexa, an aeronautical engineering major, received the Holaday scholarship. Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark said the Holaday and Rhodes scholarships are “incredibly competitive” and "require enormous amounts of talent and preparation.” “Congratulations to Aryemis, Emily and their families, and thank you to all who helped prepare them...

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November 24, 2020

Cadets research cyber security through virtual partnership project

By Ashley D. Murphy, Strategic Communications U.S. Air Force Academy – As part of a continuing summer research program project, two Systems Engineering cadets are partnering with a major non-profit organization by developing cyber security for projects in the development phase; and they’re doing it all virtually. Cadet 1st Class Brynn Feighery and Cadet 1st Class Ryyan Reule have been partnering with other MITRE Corporation interns under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) since May, providing Systems-Theoretic Process Analysis approach to identify and analyze potential security hazards. This allows the cadet team to better understand and elicit requirements necessary...

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November 20, 2020

Air Force Academy’s contact tracing program proves vital

Photo/Trevor Cokley   U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs, Nov. 20, 2020 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- To ensure the health and safety of cadets, Airmen and families on base, the Air Force Academy has and continues to stringently apply all health and safety precautions in accordance with local, state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. To combat the recent COVID surge in Colorado, Academy leadership has implemented two rounds of 100% testing of the Cadet Wing over the last three weeks, and is limiting staff and faculty interactions with cadets to the greatest extent possible. Cadets are...

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November 9, 2020

Training Turnaround – MTIs join USAFA team in effort to better prepare future military leaders

by Jeff Holmquist, Association of Graduates When Brig. Gen. Michele Edmondson assumed the role of United States Air Force Academy commandant of cadets in the summer of 2019, she arrived just in time to witness Basic Cadet Training for the incoming Class of 2023. She appreciated some of the training techniques and tactics of upperclass cadre — handed down from one class to another for years — which contributed to what many felt was the heritage of the institution. However, with Brig. Gen. Edmondson’s steep military training background and experience, she was excited to evolve training and parallel it to...

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November 3, 2020

AF Academy’s energy conservation saves tax dollars

By Ray Bowden, Nov. 3, 2020 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force Academy saved taxpayers more than $1 million by clamping down on energy use at the 18,000-acre installation. The school’s energy bill for the 2020 fiscal year was $5.5 million, a more-than $1 million drop from its $6.7 million energy bill for the fiscal year 2019. Daniela Lawrence, the Academy’s facility planning and sustainability manager, said that decrease comes on the heels of measures taken to protect cadets and staff when the coronavirus pandemic began to spread across the U.S. earlier this year. “We saw a...

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