A recent US Air Force news article on the USAF Academy graduation contained a photo encapsulating a veritable cornucopia of USAFA and military traditions. Here’s the photo:
Traditions displayed in the photo: Read more
The Herndon Monument climb, a tradition over which the outgoing superintendent of the US Naval Academy Vice Adm Jeffrey Fowler had already expressed displeasure, was done without the lard and water-spraying of previous years. As a result, the first year midshipmen managed a near-record time of 2 minutes and 5 seconds, as opposed to the more average time of 2 hours or more.
This was not the first time for either the absence of water (banned last year) or a slicked up monument, though it has been decades since the plebes scaled the obelisk without the challenge of lard.
The change was reportedly “to improve the safety of the event.”
The Naval Academy graduation is this Friday.
According to the Military Times, US Naval Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler has expressed displeasure with the decades old tradition of “freshmen” midshipmen climbing the Herndon monument. The annual climb is the symbolic end of the plebe year.
The article does specifically say Fowler is not canceling the event, though he anticipates that “risk management” will eventually lead to its demise.
The article contains a fairly detailed description of the climb, as well as its history.
The squadron “Doofer Book” is a fighter pilot tradition that has spread to many other services and career fields in one form or another. It is generally a handwritten, running compilation of the missteps of the various members of the squadron that may be updated daily, or at weekly or monthly pilot events. While entertaining as a day-to-day squadron chronicle, they are most interesting when kept during deployments—they serve as a unique collection of Read more
The Wedge principle is a time-honored military mantra; while it may be present in a wide variety of career fields in the military, the high-visibility nature of the fighter pilot profession has made the Wedge principle a strong and lasting tradition.
The Wedge principle has nothing to do with lever arms, inclined planes, or any other form of engineering. It is also not to be confused with the callsign “Wedge,” which is given to those who resemble the “simplest tool” ever invented. Instead, it is a time-honored, unwritten principle that basically says Read more
Two F/A-18E Super Hornet pilots were grounded–permanently–after a board decided that their flyby of a college football game was intentionally too low and thus “unsafe.” A Military Times article states that the pilots performed a flyby of the November 7, 2009 Georgia Tech v Wake Forest game below the 1,000 foot minimum set by Navy rules…and then reported the incident after landing. (The flyby in question is on YouTube, which also lists the names of the pilots and indicates they were both 96 grads of Georgia Tech. The flyby was low-speed, gear down, and high power.)
The pilots went before a Naval Aviator Evaluation Board, which is likely Read more
Like its recent support of the Super Bowl, the US Air Force also performed a flyby of the “super bowl of NASCAR,” the Daytona 500. As with many similar events, the flyby is timed to coincide with the end of the singing of the national anthem. The roar of jet fighters passing by as the anthem ends is a moving experience for many. As cool as it is, it is poor form to start cheering for the fighters before the anthem is complete, as many in the crowds tend to do.
Interestingly, a comment left on the official Air Force article on this story took issue with the altitude of the flyby. While the writer displays a bit of the fighter vs heavy antagonism (she said a tanker crew had gotten in trouble for doing “the exact same thing” and therefore the fighters should also), her complaint may have some validity. The YouTube videos of the flyby (there are two decent ones here and here) do seem to show the fighters Read more
A local military paper documents the long-running US Air Force Academy tradition of “100s Night,” which marks 100 calendar days until the senior class (“Firsties”) graduate. While the Firsties are out at an official dinner and celebration, the freshman cadets (four degrees) transform their rooms into a variety of new creations. Some are simple, others complex; some are light-hearted, others are devilishly creative.
The article lists a variety of examples, including filling rooms with balloons (balloons filled with glitter, in one case), taking all the furniture out and setting up the room in another location (a stairwell), or filling a room with a cement pond (no word on Koi). Someone’s bed almost always ends up on the Terrazzo (the cadet common quad), and often one is placed in the middle of the cadet football field.
Military cadets are known to “count down” to major milestones, like the number of days to recognition for the fourth class cadets (even many lower class cadets know how many days they have until graduation). This is just one traditional way in which lower class cadets throw off their fetters and have fun at the expense of their upperclassmen. The Firsties? For the most part, they don’t mind. After all, they’ve only got 100 days left…