USAFA Cadet: “I came here to be mentally and physically challenged, not be constantly told “I’m the victim”

Recent post on Service Academy Forum by a USAFA Cadet:

“Disclaimer: This might not represent the views of the Cadet Wing at a whole, but I know many people who agree with my view.

As a current Doolie, the academy is nowhere near what I signed up for. The changes they’ve made to the academy in the past 8 months, how badly they’ve destroyed our Rec experience, it just makes me wonder why I even chose this over the other two academies. I came here to be mentally and physically challenged, not be constantly told “I’m the victim”, and that I’m being “hazed” because god forbid someone yell at me in a military environment.

In basic we learned a quote from John Stuart Mill, it’s ironic how we’re required to learn the quote only for the academy to show exactly what he was warning about. For your reference, the quote is below:

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things
The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling
which thinks that nothing is worth war, is much worse
The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight,
nothing which is more important than his own personal safety
is a miserable creature. and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so
by the exertions of better men than himself​

This place sells itself as “Cadet-led” and while it may have been that way years ago, it sure isn’t like that now. Permanent party (Officers/enlisted who work here), don’t trust cadets to run Rec without their supervision, which is the whole reason why Rec this year has been pretty much cancelled.

Our upperclassmen spent countless hours planning and preparing to give us a meaningful Rec even with the countless stupid changes they’ve made to the rules, and it’s all gone down the drain because PP (perm. party) aren’t willing to postpone Rec or allow it to happen without them watching over us.

There are so many problems arising here and this is just one of them. I understand this may not be all on our PP leadership, but it is hard to not blame them when we see all these traditions being wiped away in favor of a victim mindset-oriented era.

I’m curious if any grads have any advice or would be able to share info/insight into the changes made at the Academy right now.”

Some of the responses:

“Our 27′ Cadet feels the same, and often tells us the exact points you have made.”

“My C2C completely agrees with you!!!! He is VERY disappointed overall! He said they were told any Doolie that shows up for Rec, passes- unless they are drunk! Like, WTH”

“So let me get this straight. The service academies are drawing some of our best and brightest. Certainly some of the most (if not the most) well rounded, intelligent, motivated, mature young people this country has to offer. If upperclassmen at the AFA aren’t capable of running evolutions and training because they are in the 18-26 y/o cohort, and “lose track of appropriate stressors” then that is a failure of the leadership of the Academy full stop. OP seems to also indicate that the victim messaging is getting a little tired as well. Sounds to me like the leadership is just trying to CYA, because they are worried about a career mistake (which I acknowledge is a valid concern in the climate our military and government has created). Maybe the current leadership is more suited to run basic training, then they are for the Air Force Academy. I have to honestly question the mission and the massive spending per student if this is what the current climate at Colorado Springs is. I had more responsibility as a PFC in the Marine Corps.”

“Hopefully you realize that all the Generals and all Academy Superintendents have a boss, and it lives in the White House and in Delaware during the weekend. And just in case you didn’t see them or heard about them, you had people wearing black suits during Recognition (they were not the Men in Black I guess) as observers. What they were observing, God only knows. All this mess goes way over the Superintendent and his staff. Unfortunately. . . .I am not connecting anything with Recognition. All I did was state the fact that people were there as observers. The snow cancelled all the Recognition festivities, 2 feet and counting.” — USAFA Dad

“The Com changed a few things, but the civilian leadership has been very focused on rec. The joke is that everything is squadron specific, so each squad’s PP and cadet leadership will respond differently to the pressures from Congress. But, the changes to Rec were came from outside the AF.”

–

“My son just came home. He was disgusted with the whole recognition process. He was definitely not alone in his feelings. The firsties from what I understand were also pretty disgusted. No doubt the Doolies were happy to cruise through except for the Cadets like the OP, and I hear this from other kids whose parents were grads as they also expected something more challenging, better, and more in line with what a military academy should be, not a D E I experiment.

And on top of that the entire Cadet Wing was held hostage from spring break unless they signed a release that allowed the academy unfettered access to their social networks. The school has gone to hell. My son tells me nobody cares anymore, there’s no pride- they just hunker down and hope they don’t get hit by a DEI arrow.  I would love to tell you what his AOC told her first classmen about her tour there, but that’s a whole other thread, and it’s enough to make me sick to my stomach.

Pretty sure I’m going to cancel the endowment I had planned on leaving to usafa. I know the pendulum swings, but there’s a political cancer, and it’s spreading. God help our young grads.”

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“Without proper leadership how can this institution function. It can’t. Feeling so sorry for all of those students up there who are disillusioned and disappointed with the choice they made in hopes of contributing to a functioning branch of the Armed Forces.”

“My DS both understand the process was the best the Firsties and PP could do with the restrictions placed upon them but they both wanted this to be the trial it was meant to be. They wanted it to challenge them to remember what they were like during BCT and how far they have come. They just want it to be “The Academy” not another university which is only different because it has uniforms and cool training programs like jump. I fear the career longevity of grads will diminish without some kind of return to a military academy that instills standards, discipline and pride while reinforcing their already strong desire to serve their country.”

“Just so the candidates are aware, this is not just a USAFA issue. I meandered over here from the USNA sub-forum because I saw the title and we are experiencing a very similar problem at USNA. The standards, traditions, and events that make USNA great are all much more lax. I’m not going to share in-depth the gravity of the situation on a public forum, but trust that this is not an isolated event. The culture is softening at all the academies. While frustrating, don’t let hearing about this influence your decision.”

“Sure, go to USNA where you will have “guest speakers” talking about police brutality, white supremacy, and many other super important subjects. Or USMA, where we are all aware of what is happening over there. It is the entire system, not just one part of it.”

“I went to the 2023 Summer Seminar and from what little I have been introduced to, they got rid of doolie for a day and had us do practically no physical activity. Instead they had us sit through many assemblies about diversity, mental health, why drill sergeants and yelling is outdated/bad, and signs of potential suicide. While it was informational I cant help but connect it to what the OP said about the current climate at USAFA. They said it was so different this year due to “problems with insurance” but it does make me a bit worried. Im coming into the class of 28 so I’m hoping it isn’t as severe of a change as some on this thread have said.”

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Here’s another post from December 2023:

“Current Cadet here, I’m curious from the older grads if things really are uniquely bad here now or if it’s always been like this. Not only among the doolies but among all classes, people don’t really give a damn. Embarrassingly bad uniforms, disrespectfully talking to officers, blatant violations of the honor code and nothing happening, etc. And if anyone speaks up about it you’re socially ostracized, being called a “narp.” It results in a culture of apathy and fear against speaking up. It makes me wonder why most of these people decided to come here. Has this always been the culture here? I came here because I wanted to be held to a high standard, but the vast majority just don’t care. It makes me really concerned that the people who graduate from here, who are now too afraid to correct anyone in anything, will be in charge of our nation’s defense and nuclear weapons.”

“I can say that I was surprised by many of the things I saw in my many trips to USAFA over the last 18 months and I would like to see a more “military” approach.”

“I recently took my JROTC cadets to USAFA and two weeks later went back for my class reunion. My cadets commented on the “hair out of regs, uniforms not really looking good (wrinkled badly if in blues), and a lot of other things.” I took a bunch of pictures of cadets and when I had a chance to speak with General Marks, I showed him my phone. He got a serious look on his face and simply said “yes, this is a problem; it’s one I’m going to fix.” ‘Nuff said, thank you sir!” I spoke with a senior NCO in a squadron and asked him about this. He said it’s a real problem. The new grooming standards…cadets push to the limits, especially if they’re not Caucasian because they are sure they won’t be called out. The females push the ponytail limits, again, because they believe the males are too unsure/afraid to challenge them. This from a squadron NCO (there’s the AOC and an NCO in each cadet squadron, this one was an E7). The AOC confirmed these comments. She said, “we’re working on this issue, Wing wide.” Will things swing back? Oh, most likely. Until then, my class’s conclusion was: “It’s become Wild Blue U… a nice college in Colorado with a funny dress code.”

“I’m a grad and I was shocked at all the beards and unkempt uniforms. A squadron mate of mine was at his Reunion and during the football game, he went to use the restroom when a group of cadets were using profanity and acting in a less than respectable manner. Buddy said something to him and they squared up to him and told him to “F-Off.” He said..”Hey..I’m a grad and a Lt Col.” They told him to “F-off” and then walked away. He was simply rendered speechless.”

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Pony tails, braids, beards, moustaches and lotsa messy hair, from recent photos:

Not all though: