CADETS ON BREAK - U.S. Air Force Academy cadets Matthew Boyle, Paraclete High School; Colton Walter, Lancaster High School; James Rodriguez, Highland High School; Sean Abling, Lancaster High School; and Katrina Mumaw, Lancaster High School, are home on the holiday break. ROB LAYMAN/Valley Press

Air Force cadets air out academy life

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Monday, January 3, 2005.

By JAMES C. LOUGHRIE
Valley Press Staff Writer
 

PALMDALE - As he sat outside Wednesday morning, James Rodriguez insisted that he felt comfortable.

Though it was 36 degrees and wind was blowing at least 5 mph at the Plant 42 Heritage Airpark, Rodriguez was wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt.

Compared to Colorado Springs, where he and five other students from the Antelope Valley spend most of their year attending the United States Air Force Academy, Palmdale in December is warm.

Rodriguez, a sophomore majoring in astronomical engineering, sat with four of his classmates Wednesday to share what life was like there and how different it was from a typical university.

"You can't just meet the minimum; you have to go further, that's what's expected of you," said Katrina Mumaw, a junior majoring in human studies.

Getting into the Air Force Academy literally takes help from Congress. On top of being a bright student with a high grade-point average and test scores, a candidate for any of the U.S. military academies must receive a recommendation from a congressman or congresswoman.

Once in, the Antelope Valley students said, it only gets harder.

"If you see someone who is a slacker by academy standards, they probably had a 4.0 in high school," Mumaw said.

"There's always a feeling like you are a child," said Sean Abling, a freshman who will declare a major next year.

Cadets are placed into squadrons by the academy. As a freshman, Abling must wake before any of the upperclassmen in his squadron, and tell them to wake up, what's for breakfast, what they should wear and when they need to be in the cafeteria. "We basically have to be the upperclassmen's alarm clock," he said.

Though being a freshman seems laborious, Abling was one of the elite few who made it. Of the 12,430 students who applied, 1,305 made it into the class of 2008, according to academy statistics.

While the academy functions as a university, it also is a four-year training facility to create Air Force officers. At graduation, cadets will have bachelor's degrees and be commissioned as second lieutenants. They must serve at least eight years in the Air Force.

Because of its military training, students do not just live by academics and a social life, as in a traditional university. Their highest rule is abiding by the honor code.

"We will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate anyone who does," Abling recited. Living by that code, cadets not only must live by high moral standards, but they also must report any cadets they see breaking the code. The code applies everywhere the cadets go, no matter how far they are from the academy.

But, as Mumaw said, the honor code also builds a sense of security in the dorms.

"It's really nice knowing I can leave my door unlocked," she said.

It also helps build a higher level of trust for the cadets, said junior Matthew Boyle, a computer engineering major.

"You learn a lot from the people you're down in the mud with," he said, speaking about the training before school, in which new cadets have to crawl through the mud.

Dorm life at the academy is strict by most standards.

"It's like a really, really overprotective parent," Rodriguez said.

At the start of each day, cadets must have their rooms clean, so clean that they will stand up to the most arduous of inspections. Saturday morning is not for sleeping in; cadets must prepare for "SAMIs," or Saturday Additional Morning Inspection.

"I got caught one time for dust underneath the wheel of my desk chair," Mumaw said.

Along with their spotless rooms, cadets must wear their uniforms and keep their hair and personal appearance up to Air Force standards.

Abling, who just ended his first semester, received a few freedoms toward the end. As a freshman, he has to keep his dorm room door open at all times, with the exception of study times.

At the beginning of the school year, he had to run to classes and sit at attention with a stiff back and looking only forward during meals. "We just got to where we can walk to class and can sit at ease during meals," he said.

Boyle pointed to the loss of small freedoms, such as walking when he wanted to and keeping his door closed.

"They take away privileges that you never thought of as a privilege," he said. "But when you get them back, you're so happy."

Rodriguez said that with limited income, few weekend passes given out and little free time to claim, watching movies is the most popular form of socializing for cadets. "You have some cash, but when you get one day pass a month, you tend to buy DVDs," he said.

The most popular, the five cadets agreed, were "Office Space," "Super Troopers" and "Boondock Saints," plus war movies.

"As a society of cadets, we're very good at movie trivia," Boyle said.

They often transfer roles between being college students and military cadets. Students take a full load of classes that can include 18 units per semester. In addition to writing papers and studying, they have jobs in their squadrons that must be completed.

"Each individual part is challenging its own way, but putting them together makes it even that much more challenging," said Colton Walter, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering.

But Walter said the multifaceted responsibilities have instilled discipline more than anything. Walter will find out after Christmas if he qualified to become a pilot; if he does, he will start training after graduation.

"The Air Force requires a lot of discipline," he said. "You've got to be disciplined."

As cadets excel from their freshman to senior year, Walter said, they gain more responsibility and a little more freedom.

Of the six cadets from the Antelope Valley, four - Walter, Mumaw, Boyle and Abling - had made previous appearances in the Valley Press as Future Leaders. Nominations are being accepted for the 2005 edition of that annual special section, which features outstanding young people from the Valley.

As the cadets sat around a table at the Plant 42 Heritage Airpark, an F-117A fighter took off from the nearby plant, and their heads turned to watch the plane make its ascent. There's rarely a high-performance plane flying by the Colorado Springs campus.

"We have more cool planes flying around back home than we do at the academy," Walter said.