Life at the Air Force Academy – from a graduate’s experience
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --
Choosing a college can be a career defining decision for anyone. Many young, enlisted Airmen want to attend a college and commissioning source with a superior education and top notch facilities.
As an Air Force Academy graduate, I can assure you the academy offers a tremendous educational opportunity with exceptional facilities. But another important aspect of college is what it's like on a day-to-day basis. The academy provides students with a completely different experience than any other college in the world.
Life as a freshman at the academy includes many restraints on daily activities. Listening to music, socializing during meals and even walking down the middle of the dorm hallways is forbidden. Freshmen are required to run to class with their bags in their hands instead of over their shoulders. Freshmen cadets live with many other restrictions, but most of them paint an inaccurate picture of the next three years of their cadet career.
The academy gradually, if only slightly, loosens some if its reigns each year. Still, there are many routines that every cadet must walk through on a daily basis.
Every morning, at 7 a.m., reveille plays across the entire campus. Freshmen then serenade the upperclassmen with newly acquired knowledge like John Gillespie Magee Jr.'s "High Flight," William Ernest Henley's "Invictus" and the daily breakfast menu, which, according to freshmen, suspiciously consists of scrambled eggs and orange juice every morning.
Those used to home-cooked breakfasts may not find the cooking at Mitchell Hall, the dining facility, very appealing. But simultaneously providing adequate food for 4,400 people is quite a task. First period starts immediately after breakfast and the last class ends at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon.
Most classes last 53 minutes and cadets typically have between two and four per day, five days a week. Although cadets take many more classes than their peers at civilian schools, help is available, many times on a one-to-one basis. Students willing to put in extra time will find willing instructors to help.
In between morning and afternoon classes, an hour and a half block is set aside for lunch and various military training. Cadets march to lunch three days a week, usually in front of a small to medium size group of tourists, depending on the weather and time of year. The other two days, the academy educates cadets on topics such as self-aid buddy care and other programs in which they will participate.
Afternoons and early evenings are generally dedicated to physical fitness. Cadets flock to the large gym and aerobic rooms from around 3 pm until 6 pm. Twice a week, mandatory intramurals take place during this time period.
Evenings are usually free, giving cadets a three-hour block to study before taps. However, briefings occasionally take up 30 minutes to an hour on any particular night. The academy quiets down after taps, but many cadets stay up for another thirty minutes or so studying or socializing with squad mates.
If you are thinking of pursuing the chance to attend the Air Force Academy, talk with as many academy graduates as you can find.
As an Air Force Academy graduate, I can assure you the academy offers a tremendous educational opportunity with exceptional facilities. But another important aspect of college is what it's like on a day-to-day basis. The academy provides students with a completely different experience than any other college in the world.
Life as a freshman at the academy includes many restraints on daily activities. Listening to music, socializing during meals and even walking down the middle of the dorm hallways is forbidden. Freshmen are required to run to class with their bags in their hands instead of over their shoulders. Freshmen cadets live with many other restrictions, but most of them paint an inaccurate picture of the next three years of their cadet career.
The academy gradually, if only slightly, loosens some if its reigns each year. Still, there are many routines that every cadet must walk through on a daily basis.
Every morning, at 7 a.m., reveille plays across the entire campus. Freshmen then serenade the upperclassmen with newly acquired knowledge like John Gillespie Magee Jr.'s "High Flight," William Ernest Henley's "Invictus" and the daily breakfast menu, which, according to freshmen, suspiciously consists of scrambled eggs and orange juice every morning.
Those used to home-cooked breakfasts may not find the cooking at Mitchell Hall, the dining facility, very appealing. But simultaneously providing adequate food for 4,400 people is quite a task. First period starts immediately after breakfast and the last class ends at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon.
Most classes last 53 minutes and cadets typically have between two and four per day, five days a week. Although cadets take many more classes than their peers at civilian schools, help is available, many times on a one-to-one basis. Students willing to put in extra time will find willing instructors to help.
In between morning and afternoon classes, an hour and a half block is set aside for lunch and various military training. Cadets march to lunch three days a week, usually in front of a small to medium size group of tourists, depending on the weather and time of year. The other two days, the academy educates cadets on topics such as self-aid buddy care and other programs in which they will participate.
Afternoons and early evenings are generally dedicated to physical fitness. Cadets flock to the large gym and aerobic rooms from around 3 pm until 6 pm. Twice a week, mandatory intramurals take place during this time period.
Evenings are usually free, giving cadets a three-hour block to study before taps. However, briefings occasionally take up 30 minutes to an hour on any particular night. The academy quiets down after taps, but many cadets stay up for another thirty minutes or so studying or socializing with squad mates.
If you are thinking of pursuing the chance to attend the Air Force Academy, talk with as many academy graduates as you can find.
