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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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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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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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 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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