Welcome to the Air Force Academy. You're doing everything wrong!
At the United States Air Force Academy on Thursday, 1,376 basic cadets arrived for initiation.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--"Get off my bus!"
As the door opened, those words exploded out and it seemed that everyone within a few hundred feet must have heard them. But there was no doubt the two or three dozen on board did, as they came scurrying off at high speed.
These were one busload of the 1,376 members of the United States Air Force Academy's class of 2013, and, less glamorously, the brand new basic cadets who had arrived here Thursday, many just weeks out of high school.
Accustomed to being on top of their respective worlds--they had high grades, top SAT scores, and were chosen from among nearly 10,000 applicants to the Academy--these men and women were now reduced to being screamed at by fellow students just two years ahead of them.
As part of Road Trip 2009, I was on hand Thursday for what is known as "in-processing," the initiation of the new class of students and I can tell you that the scenes from all those movies of drill sergeants yelling at new recruits at the top of their lungs, blood vessels bulging out of their necks, are not far from the truth.
But that was later in the day. First, the 1,300-plus new students had shown up, many with parents and brothers and sisters in tow, and as an observer, it was hard to tell any difference between that scene and what you'd see at any college's first day.
Yet there was a sense of nervousness and seriousness palpable in the air. It was clear these new students were aware that they were in for something that would take their lives in a new and extremely difficult direction.
But you have to think it's what they wanted.
"I'm feeling a little, I'd say, anxious, nervous, and excited," said Joel Starkey, 18, of Atlanta. "I wanted to fly since I was in about third grade, and I want to be an officer in the military. I want to commit myself to something bigger."
Nearby, an interesting scene was under way. Twin girls were huddled with their family, and when I approached them, I discovered that the girls, Catherine and Irene Joyce, 18 and from Omaha, Neb., were joining up, as was their first cousin, Molly Bush. It turned out that Bush's father was an Academy graduate, as was her sister.
For Catherine Joyce, her first day at the academy--and whatever indignities it might bring--were clearly stepping stones to a career she seemed very certain she wanted.
"It's exciting and I'm honored, and it's a privilege to be here," Joyce said. "I learned about (the Academy) by visiting and speaking with cadets and officers, and everyone in the Air Force told me the best way to become an officer was to come to the Academy."
On the bus
I was allowed to ride one of the buses away from the intake hall and toward the actual grounds of the Academy. Onboard, the basic cadets looked tight and nervous. One of the more senior cadets had gotten on behind them and immediately began barking out commands to quickly find a seat. He leaned over to me at one point and whispered that "it's about to get loud." And then, without warning to the basic cadets, he began screaming out commands, telling them exactly where to hold their hands, not to speak unless spoken to, that they must recite the seven basic--and only--responses to questions they were now allowed and more.
"Have I made myself clear?" he bellowed.
"Yes, sir," the basic cadets called out.
"Have I made myself clear?" he shouted even louder.
"Yes, sir," they responded.
Soon, a woman cadet in the back of the bus began her own shouting, snidely calling out the names of West Point, Annapolis, and the Officer Candidates School, the officer training grounds of, respectively, the Army, Navy, and Marines. "Nobody even comes close," she yelled. "We are the service academy for the last superpower on the face of the planet. You have made the right choice."
By now, the bus had stopped. We were at our destination. But the door hadn't opened yet.
"If any of you are not a person of absolute integrity, stay on my bus," the first cadet hollered. "If you are not willing to sacrifice for your nation, stay on my bus. If you accept the minimum as your own personal standard, stay on my bus. If you are not ready to give your best...stay on my bus. (And) you'd better be ready to live up to the legacy in front of you...and that begins right now!"
With that, the doors opened, and the veteran cadets screamed some more, now ordering the newbies off the bus at an even higher volume than before (see video below).
The freshmen grabbed their gear and hustled off the bus. They ran to where a cluster of blue-uniformed cadets were waiting in front of a large mat emblazoned with footprints for them to stand on.
A fresh veteran cadet stood in front of the group of newbies and shouted out his commands. That they were to keep their feet each at a 22.5 degree angle from their head, meaning that their feet would be open at a 45 degree angle; that their hands should be held, cupped, at their sides, with their thumbs even with the seams of their pants. And then he ordered his cadre of veteran cadets to "correct" any mistakes they saw in how the new cadets were standing.
This, of course, was their excuse to loudly, energetically, and enthusiastically rush around and berate the newcomers. One by one, it seemed, they would be singled out and screamed at for this or that mistake (see video below). I could tell the veteran cadets were enjoying this, finally their opportunity to shift forward their revenge for when this happened to them two years ago.
It went on for a while, and then, finally and mercifully, it stopped, and the new cadets were ordered to grab their gear and head off up a ramp to begin the next rounds of processing.
Box Boy
For many associated with the Air Force Academy, the most memorable basic cadet of the day--and maybe ever--was a tall brown-haired kid who emerged from the bus lugging a giant box on his shoulders. The scene was absurd, and he was immediately set upon by several of the cadre, who shouted out things like, "Are you kidding me," and, "Did you bring your
Xbox and your TV?"
This new cadet will forever be known as 'Box Boy,' since he arrived with this giant box. The veteran cadets who welcomed him did so with insults, derision and incredulity.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)Box Boy, as he quickly began to be called throughout the Academy, had clearly miscalculated, and not only would he likely never live down the shame of having brought this giant box with him, but he'd also have to spend the entire rest of the day carrying the box on his shoulders, as basic cadets have to lug their gear with them the entire first day.
Another basic cadet also had attracted a huge amount of attention from the group. At one point, I counted at least seven cadets circled around him, screaming at him and yelling and belittling him. I asked someone why he'd been singled out, and was told that this particular basic cadet had somehow let it be known that he planned on being the first man on Mars, and that his time at the Academy was little more than a brief stepping stone on his way to glory as an astronaut.
He may be right. But on this day, he was just fresh meat, and a prime target for ridicule.
From there, the new cadets went on through several more procedural steps toward actually joining the Air Force. They got immunized, they got haircuts, and then they had to take their formal oath (see video below) to the service. They gathered in a conference room, stood up, repeated the oath as recited to them by a woman officer who, when finished, said simply, "Congratulations, you're now in the Air Force."
Hard to believe it was three years ago
While waiting in the room where the men were getting their hair cut, I came across Cadet First Class--meaning, a senior--Frank Mercurio. He was talking about the new basic cadets and what they must be feeling.
"I think they're real scared, real worried about how hard it's going to be," Mercurio said. "It's going to be the hardest thing they've ever done in their lives up to this point...The first day is so overwhelming. You just get things thrown at you and you can fold up like a deck of cards, or carry through."
I asked him if any of the new cadets ever backed out, and he said that in fact he'd heard that just today, one had gotten off the bus, made it to the mat with the footprints, and "turned right back around and got back on the bus."
It turns out that a few dozen of the basic cadets will end up dropping out or leaving for one reason or another, but most will stick it out and eventually become Air Force officers.
But all that seems so far away when, for the first time, they're sitting in a barber's chair, having their hair shaved off.
I stood and watched as several of the kids went under the razor, going from shaggy-headed to buzz-cut. And then, as one of them got up to leave, his barber, a cheery, flamboyant woman named Hannah Love, said, "Oh, look at how cute you are. Bye."
Correction at 7:10 a.m. PDT: The name of the Marines officers school has been fixed
For the next several weeks, Geek Gestalt will be on Road Trip 2009. After driving more than 12,000 miles in the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and the Southeast over the last three years, I'll be writing about and photographing the best in technology, science, military, nature, aviation, and more in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and South Dakota. If you have a suggestion for someplace to visit, drop me a line. And in the meantime, join the Road Trip 2009 Facebook page and follow my Twitter feed.
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
It's like being proud that you failed a psychological examination.
The whole trick is to break everyone down to a common denominator, then slowly build everyone back up as a team. Play the game right, and you'll have no troubles.
"...plus I'd be the ******* who would fight back if anyone (including superiors) decided I need a good crack upside the head, so I'd end up doing jailtime or something stupid."
Actually, I saw that once. Big guy decides he was going to show the drill instructor who was boss... It took exactly four-and-a-half seconds for the 5'5" DI to show the 6" 3" recruit exactly why the recruit was not going to win that argument. The recruit spent two days nursing a broken nose (it bounced off the pavement fairly hard...)
Now, note that they usually don't have to touch you - they simply punish the entire squad ("we get to run five more miles today in full gear, and nobody gets phone privileges tonight, all courtesy of Private AssHat here..."), and they make very sure that everyone knows it's your fault. Now you have numerous angry roommates to apologize to, if they let you. Heh - sleep tight, because no amount of badassery is going to slow down a couple of dozen angry human beings looking to take a strip out of your hide - especially at night when the DI ain't around to stop 'em.
Btw, I have plenty of self-worth, I am just struggling to figure out what I want to do with my life. Most career paths I've considered (teaching, meteorology, and computer tech) pay about the same, if not less, than what I currently make in a distribution center. So it seems pointless to me to spend all that time and money in school to come out making the same amount. I actually think highly of myself and my potential, it's just figuring out what that potential is and in what direction.
Yeah, and the system is designed specifically to kick prideful people out, big deal.
It's like being proud that you failed a psychological examination.
______________________________________
Prideful? No, this system is meant to tear people down and make them into kittens lapping at the teat of the military and brainwash them into believing everything the military wants them to believe.
The simple fact is that the military is, besides the religious institutions, the NUMBER ONE creator of sociopathic people who believe that doing ANYTHING in the name of 'protecting the homefront' is okay.... that's how we got the ******** going on in Abu Ghraib!
It's time to realize that the military in this country is NOT necessary in the slightest. It's not really necessary in ANY country and just gives idiots who get into power the means to try to force 'change' on other countries through military force, which NEVER WORKS.
Yeah. And that places you within somewhat acceptable ranges numerically, but it's certainly no guarantee of acceptance. I know people with higher numbers who got rejected their first time around, and had to try again the next year.
Yeah. And that places you within somewhat acceptable ranges numerically, but it's certainly no guarantee of acceptance. I know people with higher numbers who got rejected their first time around, and had to try again the next year.
I'd also like to point out that Office Training School (OTS) is not a school for Marines. OTS is a school run by Marines for personnel attempting to become officers in the Navy. Officer Candidate School (OCS) is the Marine Corps school for personnel attempting to become Marine Corps officers.
It's just psychological testing. The harder to accept would be knowing that those yelling at you are only 2 years ahead of you, but the school is very much about rank. They drill it into the students, because they will be responsible for others lives. Reality is the system cannot fail, or people will die.
You're kidding right? That is some of the most offensive ******** I've seen in a while. Are you in the military? How do you have the slightest clue what the military is? You have clearly demonstrated that your vast knowledge and understanding of the military is nearly on par with a lemur and you haven't a clue what "Service Before Self" truly means.
If you cannot add anything constructive to this discussion then please go find the nearest soldier and ask him/her what it means to them to be a soldier. Pull your head out of your ass and figure it out. The military is there, every day of the year, saving your ass. On Christmas, almost a million soldiers fight the fight instead of spending time with their families. Why do they do it?
For you and your freedom to speak out against them. Figure it out.
As someone else mentioned, they hold services in addition to Protestent. Other religious services at the Academy that I remember were Catholic, Jewish, Mormon, Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_1_123/ai_n16133178/
5 sec on google
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/
When Barack Obama moved into the Oval Office in January, he inherited a military not just drained by a two-front war overseas but fighting a third battle on the home front, a subtle civil war over its own soul. On one side are the majority of military personnel, professionals who regardless of their faith or lack thereof simply want to get their jobs done; on the other is a small but powerful movement of Christian soldiers concentrated in the officer corps. There?s Major General Johnny A. Weida, who as commandant at the Air Force Academy made its National Day of Prayer services exclusively Christian, and also created a code for evangelical cadets: whenever Weida said, ?Airpower,? they were to respond ?Rock Sir!??a reference to Matthew 7:25. (The general told them that when non-evangelical cadets asked about the mysterious call-and-response, they should share the gospel.) There?s Major General Robert Caslen?commander of the 25th Infantry Division, a.k.a. ?Tropic Lightning??who in 2007 was found by a Pentagon inspector general?s report to have violated military ethics by appearing in uniform, along with six other senior Pentagon officers, in a video for the Christian Embassy, a fundamentalist ministry to Washington elites. There?s Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp, the Army chief of engineers, who has also lent his uniform to the Christian cause, both in a Trinity Broadcasting Network tribute to Christian soldiers called Red, White, and Blue Spectacular and at a 2003 Billy Graham rally?televised around the world on the Armed Forces Network?at which he declared the baptisms of 700 soldiers under his command evidence of the Lord?s plan to ?raise up a godly army.?
What men such as these have fomented is a quiet coup within the armed forces: not of generals encroaching on civilian rule but of religious authority displacing the military?s once staunchly secular code. Not a conspiracy but a cultural transformation, achieved gradually through promotions and prayer meetings, with personal faith replacing protocol according to the best intentions of commanders who conflate God with country. They see themselves not as subversives but as spiritual warriors??ambassadors for Christ in uniform,? according to Officers? Christian Fellowship; ?government paid missionaries,? according to Campus Crusade?s Military Ministry.
As a whole, the military is actually slightly less religious than the general population: 20 percent of the roughly 1.4 million active-duty personnel checked off a box for a 2008 Department of Defense survey that says ?no religious preference,? compared with the 16.1 percent of Americans who describe themselves as ?unaffiliated.? These ambivalent soldiers should not be confused with the actively irreligious, though. Only half of one percent of the military accepts the label ?atheist? or ?agnostic.? (Jews are even scarcer, accounting for only one servicemember in three hundred; Muslims are just one in four hundred.) Around 22 percent, meanwhile, identify themselves as affiliated with evangelical or Pentecostal denominations. But that number is misleading. It leaves out those attached to the traditional mainline denominations?about 7 percent of the military?who describe themselves as evangelical; George W. Bush, for instance, is a Methodist. Among the 19 percent of military members who are Roman Catholics, meanwhile, there is a small but vocal subset who tend politically to affiliate with conservative evangelicals. And then there is the 20 percent of the military who describe themselves simply as ?Christian,? a category that encompasses both those who give God little thought and the many evangelicals who reject denominational affiliation as divisive of the Body of Christ. ?I don?t like ?religion,?? a fundamentalist evangelical major told me. ?That?s what put my savior on the cross. The Pharisees.?
Within the fundamentalist front in the officer corps, the best organized group is Officers? Christian Fellowship, with 15,000 members active at 80 percent of military bases and an annual growth rate, in recent years, of 3 percent. Founded during World War II, OCF was for most of its history concerned mainly with the spiritual lives of those who sought it out, but since 9/11 it has moved in a more militant direction. According to the group?s current executive
Your can read the rest at http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488
Yes, it was dated 1997 but indications are that this kind of activity continues.
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/gates_letter.html
I had several cadets as roommates during their summer orientations at various bases I was stationed at. All were fine young men. However, they were definately warped personalities, and unable to function well in normal social or work settings. Second lieutenants fresh out of the academies usually take a year or two to mellow out and fit in. ROTC and OTS graduates are much more socially adept; but often lack that intense dedication to the service; except in the rare cases where they were prior enlisted. On the other hand, a some prior enlisted officers are real workaholics and occasionally forget that they are the leaders and directors and not the grease monkeys anymore.
The point is, all of these routes are necessary to produce a well-rounded officer corps.
The fact is that our military is NOT NECESSARY in the world today, and we are just creating warped people who will do anything 'in the name of protecting the homefront', which is how we got the problems in Abu Ghraib.
Everyone should have to serve military time in my opinion. I could have gone to any school I wanted, but a full ride to Purdue University was merely overshadowed by the chance to be a part of something that is bigger than anything I had ever witnessed. When my classmate falls, I pick them the hell back up and push them farther. And when I fall, they do the exact same thing. That is our first instinct, and had it been anywhere else, the case would not be so.
So toot and hoot your horn, but if and when the people of America need protection (YOU), myself, and countless others, will jump at the chance to serve...
The USAFA has an honor code ?WE WILL NOT LIE, STEAL, OR CHEAT, NOR TOLERATE AMONG US ANYONE WHO DOES.? which is a moral statement that cadets live or are expelled by. Members of the USAF as a whole are required to live by three core values: Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence in All We Do; which are also statements of morality. The US Army has seven core values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Personal Courage. The Navy has core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment.
Military discipline requires that orders be obeyed unless they are known to be unlawful. Orders violating the laws of war are not lawful orders, even if issued by the President. Failure to obey even unlawful orders can have extremely grave consequences to a person, especially if they are junior enlisted as they do not have the power to protect themselves from betrayal of those higher in rank. Members of the military, officers or enlisted, are only human. Those people tried and convicted of attrocities at Abu Ghraib are no different than anyone else in the United States.
It is a well known fact that people placed in positions of absolute power over others will abuse their power and those they have power over. Lynndie England, Charles Graner, Megan Ambuhl, Sabrina Harman, Ivan Frederick, Jeremy Sivits, Roman Krol, Armin Cruz and Javal Davis were all junior enlisted members. They were all issued what they had reason to believe were lawful orders to do whatever was necessary to soften up the prisoners. None of them were powerful enough politically to avoid being the scapegoats of the Administration. Not a single officer was convicted by courts martial of any wrong doing. No civilian leader has been held responsible. You have a problem with the way the military acts, start with the people at the top on the civilian side, not the worker bees in uniform.
If you think the military is no longer necessary in the world today, then I invite you to get the heck out of the United States for a few years and go live in Ethiopia, Afghanistan, or North Korea.
Yes government policy fails the military too and the military has some old skeletons in its closet (and lets face it elephants in the room too) but the idea behind it is a glorious thing.
beginning of a eight-week "boot Camp". We were regular enlistees and arrived on base at 3 A.M. in
the morning and the situation was the same. The Drill Sergeants harangueing us and calling us
everything but God's child, trying to get us squared away and introducing us to " creamed-chipped beef
on toast", affectionately known as "s**t on a shingle", which we soon developed an affinity for.
Yes there was a lot of confusion that morning but we eventually got it together and graduated from
boot camp and later on from technical training. And to prove that you never lose your military bearing,
listing to the Cadre barking out commands almost made me "snap to". Again Cnet, thanks for the
memories.
As far as saying they are the best service academy... I'm sure they say the exact same thing at West Point and Annapolis!
Those kids have no idea what they are in for, but best of luck to them. Their lives are going to change for better and worse.
And "Box Boy", snap to! And I'll just bet you'll be the first Man-on-Mars ... and not Braggart-Boy!
Go Guys! and Henkies ... Go Home!
This stuff does not have a place in any civilized institution, and it's about time to realize that UNTIL YOU ARE IN COMBAT, there is no freaking way to 'simulate the stresses of combat'. We would also do well to realize that there are a LOT of people like myself who would be very good in the military and who have VERY good codes of honor, yet would not stand this yelling at them for ONE FREAKING SECOND!
If a military person did that to me..... POW! Right in the jaw, laying his freaking ass out!
This is actually quite basic psychology that the military is utilising. It will put the cadet in a position of obeying their commanding officer even when an order may not make perfect sense. Why do we want that? Because time is often a major issue in a combat situation and there isn't enough of it to detail the whole big picture and the little part cadet A will play. By mimicking the process used naturally during parenting, it allows the cadets to bond (as they've all gone through the same experience with the same authority figure) as well as providing that authority structure.
Yes the yelling seems harsh, but it is something most cadets look back on with a degree of fondness as it helped build them into the stronger, more resilient people they are today.
Your pride, Lerianis3, is a real problem for which you may want to seek professional help - particularly when you think violence is justified in the face of a well documented process that you would've signed up for (ie being yelled at - the cadet signed up for that and doesn't walk in expecting to be handled with cotton wool).
The military serve many functions outside of war and those sensationalised in the media. I for one am an avid passifist and it is for that reason I believe the military are a necessary component of any free country. To expect freedom to be free is ignorance at its most frightening.
Military discipline would do some good on a huge portion of today's society, especially the youth, and I am part of that youth. It is not torture nor is it cruel. When it is over, everyone will be different, but I never lost my true personality. And to say that you have made it through the toughtest weeks of your life, that builds character.
And now were punching people in the JAW? Enjoy one of two responses, getting the livin' crap kicked out of you for being an idiot (not allowed at the academy), or assault charges being filed against you and an entire wasted day that got you nothing but a criminal record or a disfigured face to show for it, either way, your military days would be over. :)
Working in the civilian world for 40+ years, I could always tell which of my fellow workers had been thru the system. The training lasts for the rest of your life, and you will be better for it.
Marc
Yes, you are 'stripped down to the essentials, and built back up'; You don't lose 'self', but I'll have to admit
it gave me a better 'self'. Changed my core? Nope, still gay, still as liberal as Obama (more, probably), even became a 'secular humanist' while I was a cadet, and often a smartass when I saw things I didn't agree with ; but the experience taught me much.
There, I learned the real meaning of service before self, learned how to be a leader that moved into my life as a civilian, had an opportunity to serve and protect our nation and made a group of lifetime friends that I'll challenge anyone, anywhere to equal. Despite being
'different' than most of my classmates (indeed, most of them are quite religious and conservative), but in spite of that, their friendship and support in good times, and bad, has been 100%. 35 years and counting, I've been to back for every reunion and from what I can see, the system
continues to produce good, quality leaders that are anything but stamped out copies of one another....
For those of you that posted things like ' I couldn't make it there' ...hey, I was a smartass too. I didn't agree with everything I was fed, and often made it clear (and yeah, usually paid dearly for it ).
But I wouldn't trade the Academy experience for anything. Or trade the loyal and lifetime friends
I went through it with. Take that to the bank.
- by YarkElf July 27, 2009 7:29 PM PDT
- screamapillar: I just wanted to correct your comment concerning the Abu Ghraib incident. I recently received resistance training and we discussed the issue. The events that occurred at Abu Ghraib were not governmentally or militarily sanctioned. Rather the event was caused by those individuals taking matters into their own hands and abusing their power. The reason it was such a concerning issue is because simply no one stopped them and there was no check on their power.
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