Life of a Four Degree

I have had a lot of people ask me what kinds of things I do as a freshman, so here is a quick look at the things we have to do and are not allowed to do.

• Running the strips- must run on the outermost marble strips (you can see them in the background picture) when on the terrazzo.
• Must carry backpack in left hand.
• Walk at attention in the hallways.
• Greet every upperclassman in the squadron by cadet rank. first name, middle initial, last name, and job. Outside of the squadron just good afternoon, sir/ma'am.
• No media.
• Call minutes 3 times a week- we are basically the upperclassmen's alarm clock...we count down every 5 minutes from 25 minutes until the morning formation formation (usually 6:55).
• Doors must be open by 7: 20 if we don't have minutes.
• Doors must stay open until Academic Call to Quarters (7:50 at night).
• No sleeping during the day.
• Training session at least once a week (intense work outs, screaming, reciting knowledge, etc.).
• Eat at attention.
• Can only go off base of non-training weekends, but we only start with 8 passes for the semester.
• Weekly knowledge tests (on military stuff).
• Rooms have to be in SAMI order (basically, extremely neat).
• No civilian clothes.
• Collect trash every night.

And that's just the basics....


Feel free to comment on these by the way

First Shirt First Snow

One of the great traditions at USAFA is First Shirt First Snow. After first decent snow storm of the year (yes we get snow here in the middle of October) the four degrees in each squadron attempts to throw their First Sergeant, First Shirt is their nickname, into the snow while the upperclassmen protect him. This creates a 3:1 ratio of upperclassmen to four degrees, making it very difficult for the freshman to get the First Shirt. Basically, it turns into a huge hall brawl. It all started with the upperclassmen protecting his room, while we tried to get in. We were pushing, they pushed back and soon enough everyone was wrestling and choking people out until they tapped out. It got pretty violent, but it was so much fun. After about 10 minutes of trying to get into his room, he runs out of another room and down the hall; he was never in his room to begin with. From there, we chased him down the hall and got stopped by the upperclassmen. One it turned into a stale mate, he would run down to the other side, we would follow, get close, then get taken out once again. This went on for about an hour, then once the First Shirt realized we were getting close to capturing him, he ran down the stairs himself so he wouldn't get carried down by us. We wrestled outside in the snow for a little, then finally I see my roommate fly by me in the air and take him down into the snow. O and I almost forgot to mention- he was only in Captain America underwear and all greased up with Vaseline.

Why I am Here

     Why the military? Why the Air Force? Why the Academy? For some people these questions are easy: they come from a military family,they can't pay for college, a lot of their friends joined, etc. I get these questions all of the time and still can't give an answer that fully explains my reasons. But none the less I try.
     First and foremost I want to serve my country. I am so blessed to live in the Unites States and I can't think of any better way to show my appreciation for what I have than to protect the country that gave it all to me. I also want to do something special and different than most people. Less than half of a percent of the people living in the US today have ever served in the military, and I am proud to be included in that group. The military has so many unbelievable opportunities that can't be matched by any other career field.
     So what made me decide to go Air Force? Well, I am pretty sure I want to fly planes, which eliminates Coast Guard, Army, and Marines. I really don't want to be stuck on a carrier for six months, so the Navy didn't appeal to me. The Air Force is just the right branch for me. Each branch also has a certain personality and I believe the Air Force's most closely matches my own personality.
     In order to become an officer, I could have either gone through ROTC at a civilian college or come here to the Academy. I received and AFROTC scholarship that I would have applied to Georgia Tech had I not got into the Academy. Either way I would basically go to school for free (which is great) but that really didn't have much of an impact on my decision. If I was going to do this, I wanted to do it all the way. The Academy is military all the time, while ROTC is just a couple times a week while the rest of your time is just like any other college kid. USAFA isn't "fun" in the normal sense of the word (especially freshman year which I will talk about in a later post), but I will do things here that most people only dream of. I will have the opportunity to fly gliders, parachute out of airplanes, fly powered airplanes, travel to bases around the world, fly UAVs, learn combative skills, and so much more. The Academy is a premier institution academically, but I also will learn skills here that just can't be taught at other colleges. We learn how to be leaders, men and women of integrity, problems solvers, and ultimately how to be good officers. I could not get all of this from doing ROTC.
     But the real reason I knew this is for me was not anything I can explain. It was a feeling. Sometimes you just know when something is right, and I knew this is what was right for me and what I wanted to do.