US Air Force Academy

Monument, Colorado      High 73 Low 54

We had a little rain but the weather has been great and right now it is clear and nice.

Today we went to the Barry Goldwater Visitor Center at the Air Force Academy. We watched a short film about the first year of the cadets’ lives. If you remember the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman” the new recruits are treated exactly like the movie portrayed. There were only a few things they were allowed to say. I don’t remember all of them but among them were “yes sir, no sir, I don’t know sir”. This gives an idea of their first while at the Academy. By the end of the first year they are treated much better. There are several places the Academy code is displayed.

 Among the displays is a history of the Academy.

In the movie, part of the training showed some of the recruits going up in a glider, one of which is hanging from the ceiling of the Visitor Center.

There is a copy of the plans for the Chapel, a very different style of church that is located on the Academy grounds. I counted 17 pointed spires on it.  

We also found it interesting to learn about the Academy’s mascot, the falcon. There is also a lifelike carving of a falcon on display that took the artist 550 hours of labor to complete. It is out of a solid piece of wood.

There is a display of one of the rooms of two of the cadets. Cindy told me why the coins were on the beds. A properly made bed is tight enough that the coin bounces. I didn’t know that.

We walked the .3 miles to the Chapel, and got some interesting pictures of the inside and outside. We thought it interesting about the wooden picture called the Marqueterie art form. Upon reading about it, it is a very time consuming method of making a picture.

Some of the scenery walking toward the Chapel.

By the Chapel, there are a lot of the dorms and we got to see some of the cadets marching in formation.

At the end of 4 years, the graduates all have degrees and are officers. A lot of emphasis is placed on athletics and physical fitness. I didn’t catch his name, but one of the football players that went on to win the Superbowl, got started at the Air Force Academy, and he told how much the Ring he got at the Academy meant to him.

We thought it was an interesting place to see and I recommend it for anyone in the area.

 Some of the scenes on the way to the Visitor Center.

Thanks for visiting.