God and Country

The US Naval Academy at Annapolis won a Boeing-sponsored inter-service academy competition to design a futuristic aircraft cockpit:

The competition, now in its second year, required each academy’s team to design the cockpit of an aircraft for a mission nearly 30 years Read more…

President Barack Obama will speak at the US Air Force Academy graduation on May 23rd.

The President traditionally speaks on a rotation at each of the service academies.  President Obama has previously spoken at the Coast Guard Academy, Annapolis, and West Point, making USAFA his final stop.

The 2012 National Character and Leadership Symposium at the US Air Force Academy will be held from 22 to 24 February.  Ross Perot will be the keynote speaker.

Other speakers will come from a variety of backgrounds and careers, including a Medal of Honor recipient and

• Retired Brigadier General Dick Abel, former President of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and former Executive Director of the Military Ministry of Read more…

After last year’s to-do over the USAFA climate survey, it seems an outside agency will be conducting this year’s version.

The office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs decided in January to charge AFMA with conducting the Academy’s 2011 survey, said Col. Bill Hampton, executive secretary for the Academy’s Board of Visitors.

Brenda Gainey, the survey lead, apparently used the current Air Force surveys as a baseline and then modified them for the USAFA environment.  Translation: Read more…

The official USAFA Twitter feed was alerted to the presence of US Air Force Academy cadets from CS-38 parodying cadet life the song “Sexy and I Know It” on YouTube.  Their response was fairly strongly worded:

We’ve seen it, and we’ve notified their commanders. Their conduct is unbecoming of future Air Force officers.

If Public Affairs was reporting the official position that their “conduct is unbecoming,” that’s one thing.  But their statement that they’d only then notified their commanders indicated it was a personal judgment, not an official position.  Other surprised Read more…

The US Naval Academy recently publicized its pace to set a record for the number of applicants.  The US military academies have a notoriously low acceptance rate, an indicator of the competitive nature of selection.

Au contraire, says Annapolis English professor Bruce Fleming.

Fleming, a fairly “frequent critic” of his employer, filed a FOIA to determine how the Naval Academy counts applicants.  He says the Academy overstates and artificially inflates the number of people who actually try to get into Annapolis.

The academy counts as “applicants” people who have not completed an application but have shown an interest Read more…

General Mark Welsh is currently the commanding General of US Air Forces in Europe.  (He previously sent out a message on the problem of retaining fighter pilots.)  General Welsh is also a former Commandant of Cadets at USAFA, as well as an A-10 and F-16 fighter pilot.

On November 1st he visited USAFA and delivered an inspirational message to the cadets:  You’ll make a difference.  Be ready.  One particularly salient quote:

Leadership is a gift.  Its given by those who follow.

But you have to be worthy of it.  The men and women Read more…

The RecordOnline reports on the many faithful members of the US Military Academy’s football team:

They sprint onto Blaik Field and head directly to the north end zone. About 20 or so Army teammates take a knee and pray individually.

Some prayers last a few seconds. Others are deeper. They ask for both teams to be safe. They express how thankful they are for Read more…

Last week Sherwood Pictures’ Courageous opened as the number one new film in America.  The church-produced film, operating on a $1 million budget, brought in more than $8 million in its opening weekend.

The outstanding movie is about 5 men, four on a local police force, striving to be better fathers.

Alex Kendrick, the main force behind this film and Sherwood’s Read more…

Though “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is technically no more, the conversation over the law’s demise continues.

The Air Force Times notes that, for the most part, the US military academies expect “few changes” in the post-”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” environment.

Still, the US Naval Academy at Annapolis [Correction:] US Coast Guard Academy did announce one specific change:  Read more…

A recent Military.com article renews the prior discussion about the US Air Force Academy’s plan to reduce its cadet wing by about 10%, down to about 4,000 from its current strength of about 4,400.

Since USAFA was first authorized 40 cadet squadrons and a size of about 4400 cadets in the late 1960s, it has occasionally dipped and re-grown.  For example, four squadrons (37-40) were deactivated in 1999 when the wing downsized; they were reactivated in 2006 when the wing was reauthorized the higher number.

US News and World Report‘s ranking of institutions of higher learning is topped by Harvard and Princeton, but the US Air Force Academy posted a strong #2 in the country for Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical undergraduate programs, and #5 for overall Best Undergraduate Engineering programs.

The US Military Academy at West Point was Read more…

Though it seems they’re most often the object of Michael Weinstein’s criticism, cadets who organize into faith groups recently made the news for the positive event of coming together to support a local food bank.

Council members and chaplains spent two hours at Care and Share Food Bank of Southern Colorado packing and palletizing boxes for distribution to families in need of assistance.

Chaplain (Capt) Shawn Menchion received permission from Read more…

The Associated Press reported that an Air Force Academy cadet was “safe” after his glider “crash landed” in Colorado Springs:

Academy spokesman First Lt. Meredith Kirchoff said Monday the glider lost lift and came down four miles east of the airfield.

While the AP called it a “crash” landing, the local Colorado Springs Gazette said it was an “emergency landing.”  The cadet reportedly described it even less dramatically:  Read more…

According to the Navy Times, Naval Academy midshipmen (cadets) went on a little scavenger hunt aboard the decommissioned USS Saratoga while they were on “summer cruise.”

On June 13, four Naval Academy midshipmen snuck aboard the decommissioned carrier…

And that’s when they decided to take things, according to academy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. William Marks. Gauges. A gyrocompass. Display dials.

“From what we can tell, they were overzealous about collecting cool things from a former aircraft carrier,” Marks said Monday. The mids took their appropriated souvenirs back to their yard patrol craft, where they were caught by the officer-in-charge of the YP.

The event is described as a “recon,” or “stunt.”  The Air Force Academy has similar “spirit missions.”  While all the service academies have rules against “stealing,” it is not uncommon — in fact, its sometimes encouraged — to appropriate or Read more…