April 1, 2019

AFRC general, Air Force Academy football standout, reflects on career

Brig. Gen. Christian Funk, a 1985 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, chats with Troy Calhoun, head coach of the Air Force Falcons football team.  Story and photo by Master Sgt. Chance Babin, Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs, April 1, 2019 ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Brig. Gen. Christian Funk has come a long way since his days as a standout defensive end on the Air Force Academy football team in the early 1980s. From fighter pilot to wing commander to his current assignment as the deputy director of strategy, concepts and assessments for the deputy chief of...

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March 26, 2019

Sections of Santa Fe Trail on Academy to close for repairs March 27-April 25

(U.S. Air Force photo/Mike Kaplan) U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Several small sections of the New Santa Fe Trail on the U.S. Air Force Academy will close March 27- April 25 for required Federal Emergency Management Agency repairs. One of the lengthiest closures will be from March 27–April 3 at the Tri-Intersection bridge, while crews complete bridge work and re-establish the trail. Repairs include trail resurfacing, culvert repair, replacement of eroded slopes and correction of the concrete located at the Monument Creek low water crossing. Academy officials advise New Santa Fe Trail users to...

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March 21, 2019

Air Force Academy cadets test sensors designed to improve warfighter abilities

(U.S. Air Force photo/Joshua Armstrong) Story by Ray Bowden, March 21, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- General Norman Schwarzkopf once said, “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.” Cadets at the Air Force Academy took the former Gulf War leader at his word when they helped the Air Force and one of the Academy's research partners, a public firm specializing in biology and applied physics, test a prototype of a human-behavior sensor designed to check their perspiration, March 12. The sensors, designed by GE Global Research, one of many Defense Department research partners, were...

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March 20, 2019

Academy eSports team wraps up 1st season

(Courtesy photo) Story by Jennifer Spradlin, March 20, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force Academy eSports team finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference Finals after falling to Boise State and the University of Nevada in Las Vegas March 15-16. Mountain West stood up League of Legends eSports in February 2018, including 10 teams divided into two separate divisions. The top two teams from the competition in Las Vegas advanced to national-level competition. League of Legends, also known as LoL, is a multiplayer online battle arena game. “The League of Legends World Championships [last year] had more...

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March 19, 2019

Academy welcomes newest ‘Cadet for a Day’

U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet for a Day, Je'Moni Ford. (U.S. Air Force photo/Joshua Armstrong) Story by Jennifer Spradlin, March 19, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Je’Moni Ford, a local area fourth-grader, loves to play the drums. Two years ago, his parents noticed something on his ring finger, which his doctor initially mistook for a friction blister from his drumsticks. It turned out to be Sarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer. Je’Moni endured six surgeries to remove the cancer and reconstruct his hand. He had to relearn how to tie his shoes. But he never gave up on playing...

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March 18, 2019

Air Force Academy senior leader and cadet candidate break innovation barriers

U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Yann Wollman (left) and Col. Houston Cantwell, the Academy's vice superintendent, present their idea -- the “What’s Up” App for event planning -- to senior leaders during the first Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Innovation Rodeo, March 1, 2019, in San Antonio, Texas. (U.S. Air Force photo by Armando Perez) Story by Jennifer Spradlin, March 18, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- These days, you don’t have to be a science major or a faculty researcher to make a difference in the research arena and solve problems for the Air Force....

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March 18, 2019

Air Force Academy cadets honor fallen graduate

(U.S. Air Force photo/Darcie Ibidapo) Story by Jennifer Spradlin, March 18, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force Academy honored Capt. Mark Weber, a 2011 graduate killed in a helicopter crash while serving in Iraq, on the one-year anniversary of his death with a memorial and dedication ceremony March 15. “His sacrifice represents the truest form of selflessness a service member could have,” said Cadet 3rd Class Riley Holt the lead ceremony organizer. Weber, formerly of Cadet Squadron 12, began his Air Force career as a contracting officer but later became a combat search and rescue officer....

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March 15, 2019

Air Force Academy’s Class of ’22 gets ‘recognized’

(U.S. Air Force photo by Cadet 1st Class Emily Graves) Story by Jennifer Spradlin, March 15, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Class of 2022 marked their formal induction into the Cadet Wing March 9 after taking on the rigors of Recognition. Recognition is an intensive military training assessment that includes a variety of physical, mental and emotional challenges to measure how well the cadets have performed as individuals and team members since arriving for Basic Cadet Training at the Academy in June. “Recognition is not something you are given, it’s something that is earned, and that’s really special...

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March 8, 2019

Academy cadet patents sensors on “Freedom Cane,” an anti-fall device

By Jennifer Spradlin, March 8, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Population Reference Bureau estimates the number of Americans aged 65 and older will more than double by 2060, straining healthcare resources while creating a growing market for electronic healthcare aides. Cadet 2nd Class Mary Hood started her journey to develop a technologically advanced anti-fall device, or “Freedom Cane,” while preparing for her high school science fair in 2015. A guest speaker at the fair left the students with a bit of engineering advice: help one, help many. If the students could find found a solution to help...

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March 8, 2019

Cadets grab attention on world-wide debate stage

U.S. Air Force Academy Cadets 1st Ciera White (left) and Class Samantha Potter (Courtesy photo from Gina Iberri-Shea) By Ray Bowden, March 8, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Two senior cadets have made a name for themselves and the Air Force Academy on the global forensics competition circuit. Air Force Cadets 1st Class Samantha Potter and Ciera White have debated against students at Harvard and Stanford, the universities of Oxford and Cape Town, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and others in the last year. “Forensics is not about dead bodies -- it’s a debate program,”...

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