August 12, 2021

Academy celebrates Acceptance Day, convocation for class of ’25

C1C Benjamin Miller, Demons Echo Flight commander, leads a group of fourth class cadets to cite the honor oath during the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Acceptance Day ceremony at Stillman Parade Field, Aug. 6. Acceptance Day marks the end of basic cadet training for freshmen cadets who also receive their fourth-class shoulder boards to signify their acceptance into the cadet wing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Josh Armstrong) U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Scores of freshmen cadets were welcomed into the class of ’25 during the school’s annual Acceptance Day event, August 6....

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August 9, 2021

Academy preps for construction of state-of-art Madera Cyber Center

By Ray Bowden U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – A multimillion-dollar construction project to build a cyber center at the Air Force Academy begins later this summer and will last through 2023. Lieutenant Gen. Richard Clark, the Academy’s superintendent, hosted a ground-breaking ceremony for the Madera Cyber Innovation Center Aug. 6 featuring the center’s namesake, Paul Madera. Madera, a 1978 Academy graduate, and his wife Joan Madera were the largest single donors to the project. He serves on the Air Force Academy Foundation’s board and its cyber committee. In all, 420 donors committed more...

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August 4, 2021

Academy cadets soar through summer

(From left) Maj. Chris Heiserman, the 94th Flying Training Squadron's director of staff, and Air Force Academy Cadets 1st Class Garrett Dean and Sean Bedwell, conduct final flight checks before Bedwell makes a sortie in the glider to land at Stillman Parade Field, Aug. 3, 2021. Story and photos by Staff Sgt. Seth Stang, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The 306th Flying Training Group operates one of the Defense Department’s top 10 busiest runways where more than 120 aircraft gain altitude above the Air Force Academy each day. Single-engine aircraft, planes ferrying cadet parachutists, tow-planes and...

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July 29, 2021

Newly named Space Force bases to continue partnership with AF Academy

(U. S. Space Force graphic/Staff Sgt. James Richardson Jr.) Story by Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Cadets commissioning into the Space Force after graduating from the Air Force Academy could find themselves at three new Space Force bases in Colorado Springs. Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station is now a Space Force station and Peterson and Schriever are now Space Force bases, the end-result of an Air Force initiative for the burgeoning Space Force to establish its own culture and identity. “Many of our main space missions are conducted at those three locations...

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October 21, 2020

‘A team effort’: Academy’s History Office takes home top awards

Story by Ray Bowden, photo by Trevor Cokley, Oct. 21, 2020 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force Academy’s History Office earned two high-level awards earlier this month: the Excellence in History Program Award and the Air Force Heritage Award. The Excellence in History Program Award recognizes the best history programs in the Air Force, and the Air Force Heritage Award recognizes outstanding accomplishments by Air Force History and Museums Program personnel. “Receiving these awards was truly a team effort,” said Dr. Charles Dusch, the school’s command historian and director. “Every member of our history office, our museums specialist,...

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July 26, 2021

Technology propels military strategy at AF Academy

Story and photos by Staff Sgt. Seth Stang, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs  U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - A $9.5 million project to enhance combat training is slated to be  unveiled at the Air Force Academy by the end of the year. That project, installing a multi domain laboratory in the military and strategic studies department, will provide extra layers of realism to one of the school’s core courses, “air power and joint operations strategy,” said MSS instructor Master Sgt. Bonnie Rushing. “Cadets will gain realistic operational experiences as we combine simulations with our department’s robust curriculum,” she said. When complete, the lab will simulate two flight bays,...

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July 13, 2021

Air Force Academy welcomes more than 100 new faculty members

By Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs  U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Scores of newly hired faculty members who completed a week-long orientation course this week can now get down to business: teaching cadets. The course familiarizes professors and instructors with the Academy’s mission, honor code and leader of character framework, said the school’s director of faculty development, Marc Napolitano. “The new faculty orientation workshops promote teaching practices most conducive to cadet learning that best facilitate [cadets’] development into leaders of character,” he said. Napolitano said the orientation for the more-than 100 new faculty members emphasizes evidence-based,...

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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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