<p>Parents, take a good look around this site…</p>
<p><a href=“http://users.adelphia.net/~liangjr/life%20at%20USAFA.htm[/url]”>http://users.adelphia.net/~liangjr/life%20at%20USAFA.htm</a></p>
<p>That site does have some good information, but many things have changed since then, so be careful with what you read.</p>
<p>Thanks USAFA09,</p>
<p>I'm glad you mentioned things had changed since 2000. But it's nice to get a look at the "big picture" of what's in store our kids, especially the parents who are new to the service academies.</p>
<p>Can anyone with facts explain some of the things that may have changed? From what I read, it seemed to be very good then, so it must be really good now.</p>
<p>I'll give a short summary, which I will only claim as my own obervations.</p>
<p>With the sexual assault allegations in early 2003 came a slew of changes, which I attribute to a lot of pressure from politicians and the media. Traditions disappeared virtually overnight, including the previous training system as it was suddenly deemed "inappropriate." This occurred right around the time my class was "recognized" so it didn't affect us at that point, but it was very evident when the new class inprocessed. The Officer Development System was introduced, which looks good on paper but is hard to put into practice, especially going directly from the old system to this. The cadet discipline system was replaced with Uniform of Military Justice punishments, which meant it became possible for cadet infractions to follow a cadet beyond their graduation. This scared numerous upperclassmen and made them less willing to work with the new class ('07), and my class was forbidden from interacting with them at all as we would somehow corrupt them (since we were a brand new product of the old system). Training sessions during the school year were non-existent, and Recognition, which had been a huge source of pride for my class (and ones previous to us) was also removed. Needless to say, the pendulum had swung way away from where it had been. There were also other things that were changed such as all females' dorm rooms being clustered together near the female restrooms (which took away from unit cohesiveness) and the removal of the "Bring Me Men" sign above the entrance to a ramp (which was not related to the sexual assaults). </p>
<p>For the class of '08 I saw the pendulum swing back a little bit toward where it used to be in terms of discipline and pride, but it was still a long way off. When '09 got the the Academy, the pendulum was still slowly coming back from the extreme end it reached, evident by the gradual return of training sessions. A few months into this past year, the Academy leadership changed hands, and the new Supt and Commandant were more "old-school." I give the Supt (a grad) credit for taking the time to see how things were before making any changes, but also for questioning why certain things were changed (to ensure the reason made sense). He also met with my class to get our opinion, since we had been there for 3 and a half years and had seen a ridululous amount of change. We were adamant about bringing back Recognition (a major training event in the spring of a cadet's first year) and wrote up plans to do this as soon as he showed the slightest interest. It took a while for him to decide, but he did approve the return of Recognition, which served as a challenge for '09. I was a little concerned with how this would go, considering my class had only been on the receiving end of it and '07 and '08 had no experience with it. I ended up being very impressed with its execution and the willingness of '07 and '08 to learn how to properly train the four degrees. It was a bit unfortunate, though, when I heard at numerous times people from '07 and '08 commenting how they wished they had been given the opportunity to go through the same event.</p>
<p>While I do not have a large amount of information on what the class of '10 will go through, I know the pendulum is still swinging back. More older traditions are coming back, which the leadership is gradually implementing. They can expect a challenging and worthwhile first year and overall Academy experience.</p>
<p>My class saw the "old system" (which I'm sure is different from the old system of the 90s, 80s, 60s, etc.), how everything changed overnight, and how things are slowly going back to how they were in a very professional manner. When all of the initial changes were made about 3 years ago there were a lot of people (including myself) who were skeptical of how the Academy would turn out, but leaving when I did and seeing how things are now and where they're going, I feel that everything is in good hands. While I admit to being scared at one point of what the Wing would be like with '07 in charge and '08 as their cadet NCOs, due to the glimpes I've seen of their leadership, I'm not concerned anymore. ;)</p>