Tag Archives: mitchell hall

Breaking: Racial Slurs at USAFA were a Hoax

The US Air Force Academy announced that the racial slurs written on message boards at the USAFA Prep School in September were written by one of the supposedly targeted black cadets [emphasis added]:

In a written statement Tuesday, the academy said, “We can confirm that one of the cadet candidates who was allegedly targeted by racist remarks written outside of their dorm room was actually responsible for the act. The individual admitted responsibility and this was validated by the investigation.”

Even at the time a few people cautiously wondered if the incident was too “obvious” to be true, particularly in light of the other racial incidents going Read more

US Air Force Academy Experiments on its own Cadets

Cadets and graduates of the US Air Force Academy have long suspected the “closed society” that is USAFA is prime real estate for conducting human experiments. Cadets have always looked askance at certain meals in Mitchell Hall — wondering if the grade of meat was being tested before it was allowed to be served in prisons. More realistically (and, at one point, seemingly confirmed) was the allegation that USAFA cadets were given not-yet-public flu shots to test their efficacy in a closed system before they were released to the general population.

Katherine Milkman at the Washington Post writes of a confirmed USAFA human “experiment” involving cadets in which the measures by which new cadets were segregated into the 40 squadrons was varied and the outcome analyzed: Read more

USAFA Supe Calls for Dignity, while Others Show Disrespect

In a widely reported incident, US Air Force Academy Superintendent LtGen Jay “Tonto”* Silveria took to the staff tower at the cadet dining hall (Mitchell Hall) to tell USAFA cadets that racial slurs had been written on message boards at the nearby Academy Preparatory School, essentially a junior college for those who will eventually join the Air Force Academy.

In a five minute speech in which he notes hundreds of staff and faculty are lining the walls, LtGen Silveria eventually boiled it down to a simple statement:

If you can’t treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out.

Then he walked away.

That’s a call with which anyone can agree. Treating a Read more

Predator Flies in USAFA Dining Hall

This is actually old news, but it is somewhat an urban legend, as well.

A General Atomics MQ-1 Predator has been hung from the ceiling of Mitchell Hall at the US Air Force Academy.  Mitchell Hall is the huge dining facility that seats every cadet for every (mandatory) meal.

While static displays of aircraft have long been used to highlight the Air Force mission and inspire others to serve, this is probably the most Read more

Did USAFA Cancel Operation Christmas Child?

A few news sites reported last week on the US Air Force Academy’s participation in — and then reconsideration of its participation in — Operation Christmas Child, in which shoeboxes with basic sundries and gifts are given to needy children around the world by Samaritan’s Purse.

The situation is fairly complex, as evidenced by the fact a few news organizations had to edit and reissue their news articles to correct misunderstandings about what really occurred.

Undisputed public statements indicate cadets at the US Air Force Academy came up with the idea to participate in Operation Christmas Child.  They made an announcement in Mitchell Hall (the wing dining facility, with all cadets present) and subsequently sent out a wing-wide email explaining who to contact to participate.

A cadet who “didn’t think much about it at first” later forwarded the email to Michael Weinstein calling it part of the “religious problem” proving the US military “support[s] one religion, which is of course Christianity.”  (Weinstein published the email, complete with the names and personal information of the cadets involved, though he redacted his supporter’s information.)  Less than 24 hours later, Weinstein was in the local news

accus[ing] commanders of crossing the line by Read more