Cheney King

We had the Cheney King Run today.
Two years ago, Cheney King was killed in a car accident.
She was In Cadet Squadron 13 like I am.
I went at 0615 to volunteer.
Around ten I heard that 13 was going to run the 10k together.
I wasn’t expecting to run,
I hadn’t been drinking water or eaten breakfast.
I decided to go any way.
I did it in an hour.
I was happy with that.
I’ve never run that far at once before.

AF Birthday Ball

Tonight was the Air Force Birthday Ball.
It actually went fairly well.
The music wasn’t exactly to my taste though.
Neither was most of the dancing.
I tried to do the few dances that I knew,
But they didn’t play many songs that went well with what I know.
Fortunately the girls there took it well.
I don’t think they liked the dances that seemed more popular with the other cadets.

See You At The Pole

I just got back from see you at the pole.
That was really cool.
We went out there at 0615.
That was really neat.
We were in small groups all around the flag pole.
The sun was coming up and reflecting allover the clouds.
Then the Honor Guard Details Team came and raised the flag while we were praying.
One of the upperclassmen brought out his guitar and we song some songs.
It’s nice to know that there are believers up here too.

The Power of the Individual

I'm sure by now you've heard about the cadet from up here who couldn’t control himself.
There’s nothing to hurt moral more than something like that.
Now I’m glad I don’t have time to go into town.
There’s nothing any of us hate more than the entire cadet wing being stereotyped by one individual’s actions.
One of the 4,000 cadets here messed up,
So now the other 3,999 of us look bad.
I don’t blame the people for the stereotyping,
I blame the media.
I’ve never heard a single positive thing about this place from the public news sources,
Only from people that are actually from here.

I understand the whole, “innocent until proven guilty” thing.
I’m just glad if he is found guilty,
He won’t be here any more.
I might be the one to get kicked out if I met him on the terrazzo.
That is, of course, assuming no one else got to him first.

I wasn’t looking forward to getting on the plane with my uniform this Thanksgiving anyway,
I most certainly don’t want to now.
I never liked hearing “Thanks for all you do for our country”
I’m just a college student.
I go to school,
That’s all.
I’m nothing special.
But I’d rather that than what I know I’m going to get now.

Tonight

Tonight should prove to be most interesting.
Last night,
A few of our guys apparently trashed another squad’s bathroom.
It was done because the defaced our squad flag.
We’re all expecting retaliation tonight.
I’ve got my saber ready.

Happy Birthday Air Force!!!

58 years ago today,
The Air Force separated from the Army.
We became our own branch, equal to both the Army and Navy.
This Friday is the Air Force Birthday Ball.
This should be interesting.
It’ll be my first military ball.
Hopefully I can remember what little dancing I knew back in Texas.

I hiked Eagles Peak again today.
I went with a friend of mine from back home in Texas.
We had done a lot of work with scouts together.
We staffed a leadership camp for the council.
At the time,
It was right outside of Carswell Joint Reserve Base.
Lockheed Martin builds their F-16s out there.
The Air Force has C-130s and the Navy has F-18s out there.
We got to the point that by listening to the aircraft,
We could tell what model it was.
And look where we are now.

Fun Stuff

I was right,
They failed us again yesterday.
I didn't see anything wrong with the room.
At least not in AMI (Morning Inspection) order.
Maybe in SAMI order,
Oh well.
We got a 95 today.
I think that’s because this inspector was from out of Squadron.
Therefore, he doesn’t know me.
Therefore, he doesn’t hate me.
Whatever.

Honor Guard went good.
We learned the basics of Saber Drill.
Really cool.
I’m better at Saber Drill than Rifle Drill.
I think I’m going to do Rifle Drill though.
As I was coming back to the squad,
Some of the upperclassmen saw me.
(these were the cool ones)
I was carrying my Rifle and Saber.
They had me show them what I had learned.
Surprisingly,
I did better than I had during practice.
Odd…

We had our Spirit Dinner tonight.
We do them before every football game to support our team.
They brought in Domino’s Pizza.
That’s lot of pizza.
They must have closed down every Domino’s in Colorado Springs for the past week.
I heard it took their entire delivery crew to bring it up here.
They kept running out of pizza before they got to our table.
One of our football players got fed up with waiting,
So he got up to take care of it.
He walked right up to a cart and grabbed 6 boxes of pizza.
That was good.
They ordered enough for each person to eat a half a pizza.
Yes, I ate my share.
I haven’t had pizza in eons.
It’s not that I crave the stuff,
It’s just that normally the food isn’t that great here.
So this was a nice change.

Honor Guard

We did Rifle Drill today.
These rifles feel a lot heavier than the ones we had in Basic.
We reviewed the drill they taught us in basic first.
Then they taught us some cooler versions that we’ll use in Honor Guard.
It’s really awesome.
What used to be just basic drill,
Now has cool spins and frills involved.
It’s a little harder with the heavier rifle.

Honor Guard

I am now an official Honor Gaurd Cadidate.
It'll be that way until next year sometime.
They gave us our Rifles and Sabers today.
They're old and beat up,
but they're still Honor Guard training equipment.
The Saber is particuallerly cool.

Upperclassmen

The upperclassmen are out to get me.
They failed my room today.
Do you think they care why?
No…
I’ll tell you.
I did the PFT (Physical Fitness Test) today.
I did it with a friend from scouts back home in Texas.
He was really pushing through out the whole thing.
He passed out just after we finished.
After the paramedics took him away,
(It was just dehydration, he’s fine now.)
I went to his locker to get his uniform and book bag.
He lives in Sijan Tower, on the other side of the Cadet Area from me.
I stopped by my room to drop off my books bag.
I knew there was very little time,
So I dumped it all on my bed.
After getting across to his room as fast as I could,
It was time for the mandatory Noon Meal,
So I went to Mitchell Hall (the dinning hall).
When I got back to my room,
I started cleaning.
Just as I started, the upperclassmen tell me to leave everything where it is and they proceed to inspect the room.
So they failed me.
I’m willing to bet that they try to make my life miserable for the rest of the week.
Bring it on…

E-Mail

I just got back from Chapel and checked my E-Mail
You'll never guess what I just got in my “Official Business Only” E-Mail.
Some sent an E-Mail to the entire class of 2009 asking if there were any girls willing to go with him to the ball that’s coming up.
If that sounds bad enough,
Consider this.
Everyone hates mass E-Mails that aren’t relevant to anything.
We read the ones from the Chain of Command so we know what’s happening.
We’ll even put up with Lost and Found E-Mails.
But this has got to be the lowest I’ve ever seen.
The last guy that sent a Mass E-Mail out with a question,
(It was a relevant question, but with an obvious answer)
Got fifty some odd E-Mails within 5 min telling him to go ask his Chain of Command.
I’d hate to know how many this guy got.
On top of being improper protocol,
That’s just a really bad way to get a date.
I almost feel sorry for him.
I know the odds are against him up here,
But they’re not any better now.

Katrina Relief

I got to get off base and help with the Katrina Relief today.
A bunch of us went down to a local Salvation Army and helped out there.
Apparently there are a bunch of refugees in Denver.
We helped organize the place so they can find everything when they need it.
It was fun.
It means I missed the football game.
The team did fine without me there.
I was sure they would.
We creamed ‘em.

Warrior Run

Do you remember the Warrior Run that we were supposed to do at the end of Basic?
The one that was cancelled?
http://theearthcanbemoved.blogspot.com/2005/08/day-36.html
We’re doing it today.
The Warrior Run is a 36 Mile run.
It’s a relay preformed by every class since the class of 07.
The idea is that what none of us can do as individuals,
We can do as a team.
It’s timed so the last group runs into the football game at half time.

I was on the first leg.
Supposedly, that was three miles.
That was an easy three miles.
The Dean, Gen Born, was leading my group.
Gen. Weida, the Commandant of Cadets, was in his car.
He was be pacing the run.
Apparently, we were running to fast.
Gen. Weida kept telling us to slow down.
The second group wasn’t at their spot yet,
And we were going to get there before they would.
We wanted to run faster though.
We had the Dean up against the Commandant’s car.
I mean really close.
There was about foot difference between the dean and the car.

Beat Session

Our Honor Guard cadre had a beat session with us today.
They say it because, even after a whole two weeks, we're not perfect yet.
Whatever.
We went for a nice run in the mountains.
Fun stuff.
We all met for dinner afterwards.
We talked about all the greatests pranks ever pulled at the Academy and decided which ones to do to our cadre when we're accepted.

AFT

Today I took the Aerobic Fitness Test.
I was really worried about passing because we didn’t run much in basic.
So even though I’m acclimated, I lost everything I had back in Texas.
The last time I had run the course I was over the minimum.
This time I got a 10:49.
That’s over two full minutes taken off of my last time.
I’m happy with that.
I don’t know why I was worried.
I know that if I plot my progress on a chart,That’s exactly where I should be.
Whatever

Parent's Weekend

This weekend was fun.
I did absolutely nothing.
That was the first time in a long time.
We were going to camp out Friday night,
But the wind broke our tents at my Sponsor Family’s house.
So we spent the night there.
On the way to the campsite,
The car started smelling weird.
So we went back to the Academy.
I took Dad to the 10th Services Squadron Automotive Hobby Center.
We got to use a professional lift and tools.
And they had mechanics there to help.
All for $3 an hour.
After that I took my mom to the base “Walmart” (BX) and grocery store (Commissary).
Then I got dad to the gas station that’s on base.
We were able to get the gas for 20 cents cheaper because there’s no federal tax on base.
By the time we got to the campsite, it was time for bed.
The next day, we were going to see stealth, but the paper we were using was from Thursday.
That was the last day any of the theaters was showing it.
By the time we got back up the mountain, it was about 1600.
Then we were going to watch the sunset from Pike’s Peak.
When we got there,
We found that it’s $10 a person.
(I latter learned that we could have gone for $35 a vehicle)
And they don’t want any one on the top as the sun goes down.
It was a good weekend though.
I eat a ton of ice cream Sunday night.
Maybe not the best stuff for physical performance,
But It sure put me in a good mood.

Honor Guard

I did it,
I joined the Honor Guard.
It's been called 3rd Basic,
but I don't care.
I went to my first practice session today.
We practiced a detail for parents weekend.
We preform tommorrow.
In reallity, It's just crowd control.
But it looks cool.
Technically, I'm not on the Honor Guard yet.
I'm a cadidate.
I'm still trying out.
I'll be trying out until sometime in the spring.
Fun Stuff.