"...every waking moment..."
LOL
Posted on 03/09/2008 9:46:44 AM PDT by radar101
Why return to the Air Force Academy after Winter Break?
So after our sunburns have faded and the memories of our winter break have been reduced to pictures we've pinned on our deskboards, and once again we've exchanged T-shirts and swim suits for flight suits and camouflage, there still remains the question that every cadet at U.S.Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has asked themselves at some point: Why did we come back? Why, after spending two weeks with our family would we return to one of the most demanding lifestyles in the country?
After listening to our 'friends' who are home from State or Ivy League schools chock full of wisdom about how our war in Iraq is unjust and unworldly, why would we return?
And after watching the news and reading the papers which only seem to condemn the military's every mistake and shadow every victory, why would we continue to think it is worth the sacrifice of a normal college life?
Is it because the institution to which we belong is tuition- free? Anyone who claims this has forgotten that we will, be the time we graduate, repay the US taxpayer many times over in blood, sweat, and tears.
Is it because the schooling we are receiving is one of the best undergraduate educations in the country? While the quality of the education is second to none, anyone who provides this as a main reason has lost sight of the awesome responsibility that awaits those who are tough enough to graduate and become commissioned officers in the U.S. Air Force.
I come back to the Academy because I want to have the training necessary so that one day I'll have the incredible responsibility of leading the sons and daughters of America in combat. These men and women will never ask about my Academy grade point average, their only concern will be that I have the ability to lead them expertly; I will be humbled to earn their respect.
I come back to the Academy because I want to be the commander who saves lives by negotiating with Arab leaders... in their own language.
I come back to the Academy because, if called upon, I want to be the pilot who flies half way around the world with three mid-air refuelings to send a bomb from 30,000 feet into a basement housing the enemy... through a ventilation shaft two feet wide.
Becoming an officer in today's modern Air Force is so much more than just command; it is being a diplomat, a strategist, a communicator, a moral compass, but always a warrior first.
I come back to the Air Force Academy because, right now, the United States is fighting a global war that is an 'away game' in Iraq - taking the fight to the terrorists.
Whether or not we think the terrorists were in Iraq before our invasion, they are unquestionably there now. And if there is any doubt as to whether this is a global war, just ask the people in Amman, in London, in Madrid, in Casablanca, in Riyadh, and in Bali.
This war must remain an away game because we have seen what happens when it becomes a home game... I come back to the Academy because I want to be a part of that fight.
I come back to the Academy because I don't want my vacationing family to board a bus in Paris that gets blown away by someone who thinks that it would be a good idea to convert the Western world to Islam.
I come back to the Academy because I don't want the woman I love to be the one who dials her last frantic cell phone call while huddled in the back of an airliner with a hundred other people seconds away from slamming into the Capitol building.
I come back to the Academy because during my freshman year of high school I sat in a geometry class and watched nineteen terrorists change the course of history live on television. For the first time, every class currently at a U.S. Service Academy made the decision to join after the 2001 terror attacks.
Some have said that the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan only created more terrorists... I say that the attacks of September 11th, 2001 created an untold more number of American soldiers; I go to school with 4,000 of them. And that's worth more than missing a few frat parties.
Joseph R. Tomczak Cadet, Fourth Class United States Air Force Academy "
(U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) had Cadet Tomczak's essay read into the Congressional Record, and at a meeting of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors he presented Cadet Tomczak with a framed copy of the essay.) http://allard.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=231857&Month=4&Year=2006
bump
May God bless and keep watch over this cadet and may he continue to bless our nation with young men and women such as this.
mrs
By the time he graduates? Give me a break. Even before he gets his ring, Tomczak already has acquired an overly inflated opinion of himself. He's got a hell of a lot of work to do after he graduates to repay the taxpayers.
Bump
Thank you Cadet Tomczak !
I am so proud of these precious few and pray for more like them.
Obviously spoken by someone who hasn’t got a clue. Go get back under your rock, insect.
He is the son of one of my classmates. USAFA class of ‘76.
I dare say that the motivations do vary but by in large they do come back as I did.
Thank you too!
Count me among those without a clue.
I will immediately grant you that these fine folks will, over the course of their careers, repay us many fold.
But BEFORE graduation? How?
Many days I couldn’t believe they paid me to be a fighter pilot. Others, they couldn’t pay enough. :)
Don't listen to your "friends", Cadet. Your "friends" are what Cartman calls "College Know-It-All Hippies." In ten years, you'll be well into a successful and responsible career either in or out of the military. In the meantime, most of these friends (who you'll never see again) will be holding down meaningful employment; like clerking at Barnes & Noble or assistant managing the night shift at Denny's and still living in their parents' basements.
It is an unfortunate title, leading one to presume the guy is an idiot until you actually read the article. The article is sound, however, and all he needed was a good editor. He is young of good heart and will learn.
By spending their every waking moment learning how to be professional military officers and sacrificing, while their high school classmates at ‘normal’ colleges spend much of their time on indulgences. Nothing is “free” at a military Academy - nothing. Been there; done that.
I tried unsuccessfully to get an appointment to the AF Academy before I graduated from high school in 1959. Imagine my dismay when I discovered, as a freshman at the Univ of Colorado that fall, that the kid down the hall had gotten the appointment I had wanted so badly, but he had quit the academy at the end of the the summer of 1959 because he found the physical aspects too demanding.
You are living proof of what I used to tell my plebes - you OWE the 10 people who didn’t get in here because YOU did. The political aspect is probably the weakest point in the admissions process. I just got lucky - I could never make it in today.
That is interesting. I used to attend church with a number of AF officers and have observed that there does exist some sort of rivalry or resentment between AFA grads. and the non-AFA officers. Very subtle. Is there an elitism that the AFA inculcates? A sense of entitlement? Are AFA grads that much more educated and intelligent than their non-AFA counterparts? Do the non-AFA grads resent the AFA people because their own educational routes to the officer corps entailed a lot more ( perceived ) hardship than that of the AFA people?
I thought it a curious social phenomenon, and was just wondering if anyone could speak to it.
I ultimately got my Air Force commission—in 1964 through Officer Training School following graduation from CU. I liked it so well I stayed 21 years!
There is some resentment between AFA and non-AFA grads, but nothing like there is in the Army. I recall being TDY at Rock Island Arsenal in 1974 and seeing a notice on the officer’s club bulletin board that “the Commander invites all officers who are USMA graduates to his monthly USMA Graduates Meeting”. That had to cause lots of resentment from officers who graduated from colleges and universities, such as Texas A&M, VMI, the Citadel, that produce officers as good or better than USMA officers.
Full disclosure - I'm a USAFA grad, 1973. I spent my time on an Air Force "Station", not a Base... so I might not have witnessed all that goes on.
That's something they agreed to do when they signed up, and something that's expected of them during the academic part of their career.
That hardly 'pays back' anyone for the costs incurred while they are at the AFA.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. Remember, these are 18-yr old kids we’re talking about here.
Actually I'm an Ivy League student, and one of the more anti-Iraq war people I know is an Air Force Academy grad (who claims the position's not uncommon at the Academy).
God bless this young man and his fellow students.
It’s a good life although definitely not for everyone for a career.
So do I.
"...every waking moment..."
LOL
Good point!
Then look into a Jr ROTC program. My 14 yr old freshman son is in his high school's Junior AFROTC program (his idea) and he loves it. This school's program is run by several of the finest examples of men and leadership I have ever come across. Their focus is to build "good citizens" (the Col.'s words) first. If their students want to move on to one of the service academies later, great, if not, that's fine too. The program has a startlingly large percentage of the students participating in it.
So if you're lucky enough to have a school system with a Jr ROTC program, that can be a great place for your son/daughter to get feel for the mix of academics and military protocol, discipline, etc.
One of my older brothers is USAFA Class of ‘69.
The ‘payback’ to the country comes after they graduate, when they are required to stay in the service for a certain amount of time, instead of immediately going out and trying to make big money doing something else.
Where are you in school? My son’s up at the Ivy League this year.
At the Army/Navy game this year the Midshipmen had a life size cardboard cut out of Bush. They were taking turns holding it in the air and putting their arms around it. It was a cool feeling to be in the stadium surrounded by great people.
Thanks for your replies. I would imagine any rivalry is put aside when it comes to fulfilling one’s professional duties. I just observed, that on a social level there seems to be a barrier. He hee, thinking back, it might have more to do with the wives, than the men.
One of my favorite stories occurred at Wright-Patterson AFB back in the 1970s. There were two four star and a plethora of lesser generals, along with many full colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, captains and lieutenants assigned there at the time. The base commander, who obviously had a huge set of cajones, was asked to speak at the Officers' Wives Club. He brought along his administrative assistant, a female second lieutenant. As part of his presentation, he asked all of the women in the room to line up according to rank, left to right, front to back, on the stage. This exercise took about five minutes as the women compared dates of rank. When all the lining up and shuffling around ended, the base commander said, "All of you except for Lt Whatever, should sit down, because she is the only one up on stage that has any rank." Needless to say, he made his point, but there were lots of P.O.'d senior officer's wives that day.
Correct me if I’m wrong, Cadet, but they’ll lock your ass up if you don’t, won’t they?
LOL That’s a funny story. I’m thinkin’ Mrs. Base Commander suffered for that. LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.