Posted on 08/31/2022 5:54:11 AM PDT by CodeToad
It had been a long time since I had visited my alma mater, the U.S. Air Force Academy, so I decided to bite the bullet and travel to my 30th reunion last October. I must admit, I did so with trepidation. I have a love/hate relationship with the place. Although I received a fantastic education and met some lifelong friends, it’s a nice place to visit, if you know what I mean.
I will say that I received top-notch military training and discipline when I went through three decades ago. In fact, the discipline that was drilled into me has served me well my entire life, giving me a leg up on my competition: once I start something, I just don’t quit, no matter the odds or barriers put in front of me. I credit USAFA for helping me to develop this ability. It is a learned skill acquired from four years of handling the academics and the professional military and athletic training.
During the Vietnam War, many prisoners of war shot down over North Vietnam credited their fourth class year at the Air Force Academy with giving them the fortitude to make it through years of confinement and torture. After all, isn’t that the basic skill of a warrior, to win against all odds?
Unfortunately, these skills are no longer being taught at USAFA. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and so have my classmates.
I realized something was horribly wrong when I arrived at the bottom of the ramp to the cadet area, which used to say “Bring Me Men” above the tunnel entrance. It was an iconic quote, and we were taught at the time that “men” meant the human race, not necessarily only the male sex of such. “I’ll meet you at the bottom of the ‘Bring Me Men’ ramp” was a routine line to girlfriends, boyfriends, parents, et cetera who came to visit their cadet at the academy. I never heard any animosity against this quote during the four years of my stay at the Blue Zoo.
Imagine my shock when I saw the quote had been changed to some PC gibberish about “Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence in All We Do.” Ten words! At first, I laughed at the thought of some cadet telling his civilian girlfriend to meet him at the bottom of the “Integrity First. Service Before Self. Excellence in All We Do” ramp. But after a quick laugh, I felt sadness at the loss of tradition and loss of the basic masculinity of warfare being taught at the academy. It was then I knew it was gone. I also felt alarm—if they changed this, what else have they changed? This can’t be good for the training of future Air Force warriors.
My next stop, and next horror, was walking around the cadet area with my fellow classmates from the Class of ‘86 and a few others. The place looked about the same. A monument or static aircraft display was changed here or there, and there was a strange-looking obelisk sticking out of the terrazzo near Arnold Hall, but overall, the place was the same. But there was something very, very wrong.
I couldn’t place it, but then it hit me. It was October. The fourth class cadets should not have been “recognized” yet. That meant being accepted in the ranks of the upper class and the associated privileges that come with it. This entailed walking at attention, squaring corners, greeting upperclassmen, and other general military training.
None of this was happening. They were walking at rest, not greeting anyone. Actually, they were ignoring the upperclassmen walking by. I stopped one of them and asked him, “Cadet, are you recognized yet?”
“No, we are not,” was his response. He kept walking. There was no “sir” in his response. He obviously knew I was an alumnus and former military officer. The problem was that he simply didn’t care. He didn’t care because he had been taught not to care. Military bearing was absent. Completely gone. Removed.
And then, the shock continued.
{more at the article}
L. Todd Wood is an OpsLens contributor, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, flew special operations helicopters supporting SEAL Team 6, Delta Force and others.
I’ll bet the males don’t get their makeup on until until 10:30, 11:00 o’clock in the morning.
As long as they use people’s preferred pronouns all’s good.
/sarcasm
The academy appointments are doled out by members of congress and so it is inherently political and as a result, academies will always reflect the political whims of the day.
When they jettison tradition, honor codes, and merit, what else can it become.
Very sad.
*ping*
Colorado ping.
You got to consider his stress on ARs is based on the self protection mode of those in DC.
Amazing. Had a sibling that graduated from there in early ‘80s, and this thing that the writer described is NOT what that place was.
But then again, it sort of reinforces the dubious value of a service academy - great leaders have been made in these places, but just as many and more came from other backgrounds.
The warrior training is happening in the federal agencies that are more domestic focused.
We are the true enemy, after all.
Biden just said he’ll attack us using F-15’s if we fight the government tyranny.
Once the position of Commandant of Cadets was filled by a “married” lesbian it was officially “all over”.
Shut it down and recycle it for beer cans.
A real Commandant of Cadets looks like this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Olds
The entire military has been taken over by leftwing, radical officers. Once again the entire military.
Breitbart says the new version is not as popular as the old version:
Thanks for nothing, Patsy Schroeder, all you did was to weaken a country.
Very depressing. This slide has been happening for a long time. Pretty bad at the other Academies as well, but USAFA has slid the most.
Warriors are no longer wanted. Air Force officers have become vendor managers. Everyone has rank and few have responsibilities. Lots of O-4 and O-5 without any command beneath them at all, many with no direct reports. The feminization of the USAFA is complete. 1976 was a bad year for the AF.
“Patsy Schroeder”
She was nothing but a feminist, an underachieving hag.
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