March 7, 2019

Healthy eating initiative at Air Force Academy designed to promote fitness, readiness

By Laurie Wilson, March 7, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Each year, more than 1,200 first-term enlisted service members are let go from the Defense Department for failure to meet weight standards. The Air Force Academy is working to decrease this number with its Smart Fueling Initiative. “We spend enormous time and energy conducting our physical training, but we also need to be training our cadets and Airmen how to fuel their bodies,” said Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria. The Academy is the flagship Air Force installation for the DoD’s Smart Fueling Initiative. Col. Shawn Campbell, 10th Air...

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February 28, 2019

Navigating back from suicide: Air Force Academy provides assistance to survivors

(U.S. Air Force illustration by Airman 1st Class Kathryn R.C. Reaves) By Laurie Wilson, Feb. 28, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --She sat motionless, hands gripping a luke-warm mug of coffee, trying to comprehend the shocking news that just devastated her world.  “I never even saw it coming,” she thought. This scene is more often than not a common experience for those left to cope in the aftermath of suicide. Maybe you’ve been here too. Last year, 58 active-duty Airmen and three reserve Airmen committed suicide, less than in 2017, but still troubling said the director of Air Force...

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February 26, 2019

AF Academy invites public to grand opening of new planetarium March 2

(NASA photo) U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs, Feb. 26, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  If you like things that fizz, pop, and smoke, you’ll enjoy an afternoon with the Air Force Academy’s special science guest, Steve Spangler. To celebrate the grand opening of the Academy’s new planetarium, Spangler will host a show at Arnold Hall, 3-4 p.m., March 2, followed by an open house at the planetarium, 4-4:45 p.m. Spangler is well-known for showing millions how make a geyser out of soda and a roll of Mentos. He's a regular guest on Ellen DeGeneres's popular TV show, with 20 appearances so...

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February 21, 2019

‘In the right place at the right time’: Academy cadet to be honored by Red Cross for helping driver in rollover accident

Story and photo by Jennifer Spradlin, Nov. 21, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  An Air Force Academy cadet will be recognized at the Red Cross Colorado Springs Hometown Heroes Dinner, March 14, after responding to a vehicle accident outside the North Gate last fall. Cadet 1st Class Kristen Nye, of La Center, Washington, said it had been a regular Monday afternoon and she was turning to base when a cement truck exited the freeway onto the roundabout, raised onto two wheels, and toppled onto its side. “It’s like something you would see in a movie. It hit so hard,”...

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February 19, 2019

Academy to host former SECDEF at Leadership Symposium

  U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs, Nov. 19, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.  – – Leon E. Panetta, former Secretary of Defense and director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is scheduled to be a keynote speaker for the annual National Character and Leadership Symposium at the Air Force Academy, Feb. 21-22. The annual event brings together thought leaders from diverse backgrounds to speak about the importance of sound moral character and leadership. Also scheduled to present are Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright and Caryl Stern, president and CEO of United Nations International Children’s Emergency...

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February 19, 2019

Academy officials host final accreditation town hall meeting

(U.S. Air Force Academy photo) By Ray Bowden, Feb. 19, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Air Force Academy officials are close to putting a stamp on the report they’ll show the Higher Learning Commission in April. The report or argument as the HLC refers to it, is a document that shows how the school stays in line with the commission’s criteria. “Our argument really walks through our institutional structure pretty well,” said Col. Dan Uribe, Academy point man for the academic side of the accreditation and head of the school’s foreign languages department. “The argument shows the quality of...

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February 11, 2019

Academy’s Academic Success Center is a ‘one stop shop’ for cadets

Cadets at the Air Force Academy study and get advice from a faculty member in the school's Academic Success Center, ASC. (U.S. Air Force Academy photo) By U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs, Feb. 11, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Cadets at the Air Force Academy said the school’s Academic Success Center in Fairchild Hall helps them succeed in the classroom. “It’s like a one-stop-shop,” said Cadet 3rd Class Kelly Motes, a geospatial science major. “I can get help with my papers from the writing center and with my physics and engineering mechanics problems in the Quantitative Reasoning Center.”...

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February 4, 2019

Air Force Space Command commander visits Academy cadets at Warrior Weekend

Gen. Jay Raymond, commander of Air Force Space Command and the Joint Force Space Component Command, speaks to cadets at the Air Force Academy to kick-off Warrior Weekend at Arnold Hall, Jan. 25, 2019. (U.S. Air Force photo/Trevor Cokley) By Jennifer Spradlin, Feb. 4, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Gen. Jay Raymond, the commander of Air Force Space Command and the Joint Force Space Component Command, spoke to cadets at the Air Force Academy to kick-off Warrior Weekend at Arnold Hall, Jan. 25. Raymond has served much of his 34-year Air Force career in AFSPC and shared a brief...

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January 31, 2019

Academy professor leads new DoD hypersonic research institute

(U.S. Air Force photo/Joshua Armstrong) By Jennifer Spradlin, Jan. 31, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound in 1947, and the Air Force has never looked back. The Air Force partnered with NASA to develop and test the X-15, a hypersonic, rocket-powered aircraft in the late 1950s and most of the 1960s. A great deal of human capital and money was invested in making the leap from supersonic to hypersonic -- the potential to travel at five times the speed of sound or more than 3,000 mph. But a series of near misses and...

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January 30, 2019

AF Wings of Blue wins big at collegiate championships

(Courtesy photo) By Jennifer Spradlin, Jan. 28, 2019 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Earlier this month the competitive parachute team from the Air Force Wings of Blue won 37 medals at the National Collegiate Parachuting Championship in Eloy, Arizona. Seventy-three skydivers from 13 universities, including other service academies, participated in the multi-day event. The cadets said they look forward to the annual competition, which is the longest-running skydiving competition in the U.S., although their primary mission is training other cadets in the Airmanship program here. “The experience is truly something to be cherished,” said Cadet 1st Class Daniel Zivney. “The...

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