Category Archives: Military Academy

Air Force Academy Chapel Marks 50 Years

Last month the US Air Force Academy marked the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the iconic USAFA Cadet Chapel:

“The celebration…highlight[ed] not only the legacy of those responsible for building this facility, but…also highlight[ed] the religious plurality of America’s demography and the Air Force Academy’s demography today,” said Academy Chaplain Col. Robert Bruno…

Chaplain Bruno also said the attendance by the Air Force Chief of Chaplains, Chaplain (MajGen) Howard Stendahl, demonstrated the  Read more

Military Academies Have Highest Paid Graduates

As reported at CNN, PayScale.com claims that the US Naval Academy and US Military Academy have the 2nd and 7th highest paid graduates, respectively.  They also had the highest starting salaries.

The highest starting salaries were claimed by graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy and West Point at $77,100 and $74,000, respectively. But those figures were typically for jobs taken after grads served five years of required military service post-graduation, said Bardaro. Also boosting pay: Military academies typically feature strong engineering programs, and grads can gain crucial work experience during their service years, she said.

Given that those salaries are greater than an O-1’s pay, the premise appears to be based on salaries after the mandatory 5-year military service commitment.

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Female USAFA Cadets Majority of Masculinity Class

The Colorado Springs Gazette, local to the US Air Force Academy, highlighted USAFA’s addition of an academic elective entitled “Men and Masculinity” (previously noted here).

Visiting Professor Christopher Kilmartin, of the University of Mary Washington, is teaching a course on masculinity at the U.S. Air Force Academy this semester, as part of a new program to discourage sexual assaults…

“My job as an educator is to name the pressure” that exists for males to conform to unhealthy masculine stereotypes, Kilmartin continued.

The article notes the elective is filled with cadets, “most of whom are female.”  Females make up less than 20% of the cadet wing.

No word on when USAFA will offer a course of “Women and Femininity” — or if most of the students would be male.

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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

LtGen Michelle Johnson Newest USAFA Superintendent

LtGen Michelle Johnson, USAFA Class of 1981, recently took over as the Superintendent of the US Air Force Academy, replacing outgoing LtGen Mike Gould.

Many references to her new command have noted she is the first female to be Superintendent.  (A few quick-to-report articles said she was the first woman to lead a ‘major’ or ‘DoD’ service academy. The qualifier is necessary since RADM Sandra Stosz has led the Coast Guard Academy since 2011, and the CG Academy is not part of the DoD and is sometimes considered ‘minor.’)  The official Read more

Service Academies Rank on Forbes Top Colleges List

The US military academies ranked high on the Forbes list of America’s Top Colleges:

Ranked at No. 7, the U.S. Military Academy beat out all the other service academies — as well as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology…

The U.S. Naval Academy was ranked No. 28, followed closely by the U.S. Air Force Academy at No. 31. Forbes slotted the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at No. 94 and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at No. 165.

As noted in prior years, the academies routinely rank near the top of Princeton, Forbes, and US News annual lists of top universities (except when it comes to rankings for ‘best party school’).

Update: As reflected in official Air Force news releases.

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USAFA Thunderbirds Replaced with Volunteers

The traditional Thunderbird flyby of the US Air Force Academy graduation was canceled, reportedly due to budget concerns.  A group of private aerial demonstration teams has volunteered to fill in the awkward silence that would otherwise mark the hat-toss.

Academy officials said Thursday that more than a dozen pilots have volunteered to fly historical U.S. military aircraft over graduation week events, including the commencement ceremony May 29.

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AF Secretary to Speak at USAFA Graduation, President Obama at Annapolis

Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley will be the graduation speaker at the 29 May graduation of the USAFA Class of 2013.  President Obama is scheduled to speak at the US Naval Academy graduation on 24 May 2013.  (Neither event will have the traditional fly-over or airshow.)  It does not appear the West Point speaker has been announced, though the Secretary of Defense is frequently one of the speakers.

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