AF Academy

Hellooo Famm.... I thought that I would make a post describing my short lived life as a cadet. So here it goes: Day 1- We boarded a bus that took us from doolittle hall to the academic grounds. As we rounded the first turn, we were 'encouraged' by a huge man with a broad rimmed hat and clickers on his shoes. He told us we were going to die, and that if we didn't want to die, we should stay on the bus and let it take us back to our parents. Personally, I was in the mood for a little death, but apparently eight people didn't get off the bus, sparing their own lives. The first thing that we did was get issued clothes, toiletries, and everything else that you could possibly carry. We were then led to our dorms where we were told to put everything away and then wait. As I stood in the doorway, waiting as I was told, a cadre member walked by and saw me. He immediately started yelling at me, telling me that I wasn't supposed to be there. Then he mocked my standard of attention. He said that I looked like a cheerleader because my toes were together. I didn't have that problem again. We were then taught how to march, which was my favorite thing to do because you didn't have to think... you just 'walked' in step. After marching, we went to different briefings until appx. midnight. We finally got to bed around 1:00, ending the first day. Day 2- We were woken up at 4:00 in the morning to the song 'Welcome to the jungle' blaring on the pa system. Along with the music, the cadre were also beating on the door, telling us that we were late. We went down to the recreation field for our early morning physical fitness. After that, we showered, went to another briefing, and then ate breakfast. Following breakfast was more marching and more briefings. At about 11:30 that night, after not being allowed to go to the bathroom all day, we were given a drug test. I passed! While we were waiting in line to be tested, people were hurting because they had to go so bad. Earlier that day, my next door neighbor(who was a stud athlete from georgia) told me to watch the hallway while he pee'd in my sink. I agreed only because I thought that I would see him playing in the NFL one day, and say, 'hey, he used my sink.' His name was Asher Clark, and he held the record for pull-ups out of the entire academy with 57. The second best was 21. I had 9. He weighed 195 lbs, and could run a 40 in 4.3 seconds. By the end of Day 2, I finally started to get used to the intensity of it all. I started to realize that the cadre were merely acting, and the entire process was meant to make me stronger. That night, we got to our rooms around 10:30 or 11:00. We then had to figure out how to make our beds to their specifications that were told to us in a flash. That was the worst part of it all; not knowing anything. Everything was told to us very quickly, and if you didn't catch it, the cadre were not going to be very happy. After making our beds to the best of our ability, we turned our flashlights on the list of 130 names of the people on our hallway; first name, middle initial, last name, and rank. It was really hard when you couldn't put a name with a face. I couldn't believe it, but we got it all down that night. Day 3- Once again, we were woken up to that crazy music, but this time they threw an air horn into the mix. We finally knew what to do, and got out into the hallway relatively quickly. This day was almost the exact same as the day before, but this time we were doing our pft test to see how fast we could run 1.5 miles. I ran it in 9.45. This wasn't a very good time, but it was refreshing to take my mind off of everything and just run. When we got to breakfast, I completely lost it. One of the tactics that the cadre use is trying to get you to laugh. It was the worst torture ever. A guy from Brunei was what ignited my laughter. Another guy named 'Kressy' asked for something from the table. The eating was all done at attention, so the guy from Brunei, who couldn't speak very good english, said,'please pass the food to 'Cadet Crazy.' I couldn't handle it, and the cadre started yelling at me. The rest of the day consisted of more briefings, more marching, and more 'beatings'(sessions of push ups and sit ups) Day 4- This was sunday, and we were allowed to go to the chapel service. It felt like we were going to church at noon because we had been awake for nearly 5 hours. It was led by this canadian woman who could have broken me over her knee if she wanted to. After chapel, we went back to the same thing as before. That night, as we were running back to our dorms, I stepped off of the stairwell, and as I took another step, I felt a pop. I blacked out, and the next thing that I knew, they were carrying me to an ambulance. The doctor said that it was only a partial tear, and that the recovery time would be six weeks. He told me to fill out a form 341, stating my request to leave the academy. So, not realizing that anyone would have a problem with it, I filled it out. The next night, a crazy woman named Msgt. Johnson gave me a good talking to about leaving early. I then asked her if there was any possibility of me staying, and she said no. It made no sense to me, but I heard later that the cadre didn't like her because she talked mean to them too. She wasn't canadian though. For the next 11 days, I layed in my bed in my room. There were probably two or three days that the cadre remembered to bring me food more than once. I learned a lot about being thankful for what I have during this time, because when I started getting tired of the pb&j sandwhiches, they started giving me tuna. I started praying that God would give me the old lunches instead. It didn't happen until the last day, but the pb&j sandwhiches never tasted so good. On the last day, one of the cadre members took me to the gate so that I could be picked up by Mike and Stef. We started talking about different things, and I asked him what he did as a sport in high school. I could tell that he immediately got embarassed as he answered my question. He said that he was a state champion cheerleader. This was the same guy that told me that I looked like a cheerleader on the first day. I wanted to laugh, but I held it in. He said that his dad was in the navy, and wasn't too happy when he found out that his son had made the cheer squad. Anyway, as we speak, I am completely healed and ready to move on to the next thing in life. I found out yesterday that I got in to the honors college at OSU, so that is what I will be doing this fall. I am fairly certain that I will not return to the academy next year, but it is always an option. I am, however, going to try out for the cheer squad at OSU, based on a recommendation from a friend.haha