DID YOU KNOW? In Colorado Springs, the United States Air Force Academy, founded in 1954, is training over 4,000 cadets in 31 study programs? The program is rigorous, and cadets are held to high standards. All living expenses and tuition is covered by the government, and, after graduation, cadets are commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants and required to serve an average of five active years and an additional three years in the reserve…unless the cadet moves on to pilot schooling, in which case their serve time increases to around 10 years. Past graduates of USAFA have fought in wars, successfully competed in the Olympics, served in Congress, and flown in space.
We were very impressed by the Academy’s beautiful, sprawling grounds located on the outskirts of crowded Colorado Springs, at the base of a small mountain range. To enter the Academy grounds, everyone over the age of 18 had to turn over ID's to the cadet on duty at the entrance and answer whether they had weapons or drugs on board. (Really though, who is going to say "Yes sir, I've got an illegal load of fentanyl on board"?? But anyway...)
With 18,000 acres of dorms, training facilities, airplane hangers, landing strips, and scenic hikes, the Academy is also home to a state-of-the-art planetarium that is open to the public with multiple educational films shown daily. Our first visit to USAFA was on a Saturday, with the goal of seeing all four of the short films shown that day. The family favorite, not surprisingly, turned out to be the first showing of the day…Superpower Dogs! A special feature on specially trained rescue dogs, it was a very neat and engaging film. The rest of the film topics that day ranged from humpback whales to black holes, to polar bears to astronaut life. They were all interesting, but not nearly as cool as the canines:)
We didn't have much time after the final film showing to explore the rest of the grounds or the visitor center (we had an exciting gospel performance to attend) but we did stop and admire the impressive B-52D Stratofortress on display. Known as "Diamond Lil," this big beast was active for 26 years and is one of two B-52Ds with a confirmed MiG kill during the Vietnam War. Also on display across from the Diamond Lil, was a retired army helicopter.
Since we didn't get as much time to explore as we would have liked, we made plans to return a few days later...This would also allow us to see all the cadets line up in formation to march to their noon meal.
We also visited the base's airfield where we watched about a dozen paratroopers land and a number of gliders take off, fly over and/or land. It was really neat to watch these well-trained cadets land...every single one of them made precise landings on their feet as opposed to sliding in on their bottom/back.
Our final destination on the Academy campus was the Barry Goldwater Visitor's Center, where we walked through their small, but comprehensive USAFA museum and enjoyed viewing their film, A Year in the Blue, giving an idea of what the first year of schooling and training is like at the Academy.
All in all, our time at the Air Force Academy was well worth it and gave each of us a deeper respect for the men and women who chose to go through the Academy to prepare for serving their country.
Until next time, God bless!
Super cool!