A 'Zoomie' returns

American folklore implies that you can never go back home. The quote is about returning to the home of your childhood but my experience last week contradicted that well worn thought. You see, last week I went back home, back to my Air Force Academy "home" of four years. Memory of the uncomfortable experience of cadet life was blurred by distance, it being merely a short lifetime ago.

Ann and I drove to Colorado Springs to help about a hundred college classmates celebrate 50 years of life since we graduated from the brand-new Air Force Academy. The academy facilities were not quite finished when we moved from temporary quarters in Denver, September 1958. Where the iconic Cadet Chapel sits today there was a concrete batch plant doing its thing. The athletic fields looked more like the farm they had been a year prior, complete with corrals, silo and barn. And the wind! We cadets called it venturi valley because of the many broken windows and bent doors resulting whenever the Wallawalla blustered through. Later, after we had gone, someone in an F-105 managed to break more windows than the wind with a well directed (accidentally of course) supersonic shock wave. That was a really frowned upon event never to be repeated!

Today the wind still blows but beefed up glass and aluminum doors and unbreakable windows have greatly improved the replacement rate. Yet walking across the terrazzo I noticed cracks and broken pavers the obvious result of benign neglect for too many years. The false economy of austere budgets and too many competing priorities has left a legacy of much needed repair.

I was fortunate to be chosen, from among the attending grads, to participate in a Falcon Heritage Forum. Two senior cadets, Natasha and Sean, were assigned to escort me during the scheduled events. We were to tell the current cadets how life was during the formative years of the now venerable institution. About one fourth of the Cadet Wing is now female but upon reflection not a lot has changed. The academics are tough as always -- we had one course of study; the current cadets have some 30 majors from which to choose. An academic load of 23 to 25 credit hours per semester is standard plus participation in athletic programs, either intercollegiate or intramural, is required. Military education is constant with perks such as sky diving, flying training in sail planes and other light aircraft being part of the program. Living is austere and young people are separated from family. The food today is not nearly as good as of yore. Cadets are presented about 3,500 calories a day but due to the rigorous athletic life they lead I saw no fat ones. Personal grooming standards are strictly enforced -- weekly haircuts for males are required and, of course, all wear the approved uniforms. Formal parades, participation is mandatory, take place twice weekly. At least for the first two years, any social life is nearly non-existent. But then the price is right, education is free, "feed and found" are without cost and the cadets draw a small wage to boot. In my opinion they earn every penny!

My advice to the Cadets: "Keep your nose to the grindstone -- graduate with honor. The personal sacrifices are worth it -- an Air Force officer has the best career in the world." And last but not least, "Enjoy the ride!"

Life in the military academies is an exception to that experienced on normal college campuses. Each cadet pledges that he/she will not lie, cheat or steal nor tolerate anyone who does. The honor code is enforced entirely by the cadets with expulsion from the Corps being the fruit of transgression. Living such a life is tough but the pride and satisfaction of associating with honorable beings brings huge personal benefit.

Sure the standard refrain is "We had it much tougher in our day"! In all honesty though I strongly believe that the cadets of today are smarter, have a much more informed world outlook and are vastly better educated than we were fifty years ago. I stand in awe of the quality of young men and women that will be the leaders of our armed forces in the future. "Rest easy" our country in is good hands.

That is the way I saw it.