Lt. General Rod Bishop, USAF ret, USAFA ’74, is on the Board of Directors of the US Air Force Academy Association of Graduates (AOG).
He has nominated Charlie Kirk to be an honorary member of the USAFA AOG:
“I can’t think of anyone I have ever met that better exudes all of the qualities of a candidate that we as USAFA graduates would want to count among our numbers than Charlie. Faith, family, so much love for our country and the vision of our Founding Fathers–Charlie had it all.
What Charlie said at the August USAFA Board of Visitors meeting (see below) came immediately after I texted him during the meeting– “Charlie, Gen Bauernfeind has done a good job of “eliminating” DEI. A real question going forward is “what are they going to do to ensure it is “eradicated?” I was sitting right behind him.
His reaction to me on the text (actually Signal chat–something Charlie pushed to set us so we could communicate with him) was “We got this.”
Although his time serving was cut short, Charlie already had had a significant impactful. Here, for example, is what he said at the USAFA BOV meeting he attended:
“The importance of this institution goes back to one other thing I know this board wants to focus on is that when we’re educating them, we need to educate them towards “being something”, towards being a warrior, but for what?
It’s one thing to strip away the DEI and Critical Race Theory– of which we’re going to be continually, politely bothering you on with questions.
But also we want to make sure that the cadets over the course of four years can articulate and they can feel in their soul American Exceptionalism, what they’re willing to die for. What is that Constitution that they’re swearing an oath to?
It shouldn’t just be here’s American history. We want them to be on fire because good leaders can articulate “The Why”.
Of course, there’s a self-selection, they’re coming here for a reason, because they love the country. But we want them to understand at a deeper, more fundamental level, American Exceptionalism.
If I could submit a recommendation in the curriculum education department: what does success look like when they throw their cap up in the air after four years?
That they are an advocate for the Exceptionalism of this project, not just a tool for the military, but they are able to articulate it, that they’re able to tell the people that they’re going to be leading in those tough days: here’s why we’re fighting so hard, here’s why we’re sacrificing.
It’s not enough just to say we want them to be good at programing AI and flying drones and being able to lead. But what are they leading towards?
Well, we want America to dominate this century and in order to dominate, we have to know what we are and who we are. It’s imperative that these cadets know that we are the greatest nation ever, and those roots. Not any sort of question about that.
That’s what makes this institution different. This is not Harvard. This is not Dartmouth, where they can spread anti-American ideas. If you don’t want to defend the country, that’s fine, you can go to University of Colorado Boulder. There’s plenty of people that don’t want to do that.
But Air Force cadets are here to understand the beauty of this country. I want to see even more of that. And I know that’s there.”
This is just but a sampling of what Charlie was trying to do for the youth of our country–turn them all on to wonders of the vision of our founding fathers. That vision is encoded in our oath of office–no one I know of did more to foster that vision than Charlie Kirk.
Many would argue, if he had been given the opportunity, his contributions to USAFA and our Air Force would have been even more impactful. Those of us who knew him, who spoke with him on Zooms or at the BOV meeting, know of his commitment to our country and to our Academy.
I do hope you all can put politics aside and support this recommendation for someone who stood strong for:
–the vision of our founding fathers
–freedom of speech
–civil dialogue with those you disagree with
–a strong love of our Academy and its mission
As Erika says in her message to America, Charlie stood for “patriotism, faith, and God’s merciful love.” Things I believe a huge majority of our graduate community would stand for. Period–don’t politicalize this please.
She also says Charlie’s #1 priority is (would have been if he ran for office) “revitalizing the American family.” Who can possible vote against that?
And be sure to consider what he says above to our Superintendent and the USAFA BOV.
Charlie had such an impact upon our nation. I hope all the people saying today on social media “I am Charlie Kirk” really do hold strong to what he was proposing and stood for for America: open and honest dialogue, and allegiance to those values of our founding fathers which has made America GREAT! Charlie never demeaned–he only challenged Americans to think for themselves. “Prove me wrong” was an open invitation to engage in a dialog.
A number of grads/parents of USAFA cadets emailed me this week saying their sons had called them in tears after Charlie’s death–who knew?
I think most do not understand the impact Charlie had upon our youth (and cadets) in grounding them in the tenets of the vision of our founding fathers.
He was a USAFA teammate (member of our BOV) for way too short a time–but I can think of no one who had a greater impact–an impact that will live years beyond his time serving the USAFA.
“Make sure USAFA cadets can articulate and feel in their soul American Exceptionalism” –Charlie Kirk
Leave a Comment