There are five U.S. service academies. The oldest is the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. It was founded in 1802. Next oldest is the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, followed by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London, Connecticut and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York.
The baby of the bunch is the United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colorado. It opened in 1954 and graduated its first class in 1959. There are two main reasons it's not as old as West Point. One, the Air Force itself didn't exist until 1947, and two, airplanes weren't invented until 1903.
A service academy is obviously different than your average, everyday college. To be accepted, you have to be a U.S. citizen, you have to be single and you have to be under the age of 23 when you start school.
If you're a student at the Air Force Academy, your tuition and room and board are paid for by the United States government. You also receive money every month, also from the government, because officially, if you're a student at the academy, you are actually in the Air Force. When you graduate, you will serve as an Air Force officer for a minimum of eight years. If they train you as a pilot, you'll serve ten. And during at least five of those years, you'll be on active duty.
When you're a student at the Air Force Academy, you participate in sports. It's not an option. You either play on one of the intercollegiate teams, or if you're not quite that good, you play intramurals. But you have to play something. And because everyone plays, there are lots of teams in lots of sports you won't find at most other colleges. For instance, Air Force has a fencing team, a boxing team, a rifle team, and water polo and rugby.
If you wash out of the academy as a freshman or sophomore, you become a civilian. If you wash out as a junior or senior, you're still going to be in the Air Force. You just won't be an officer. And there are exceptions to that rule if you're badly or permanently injured, or if you're kicked out of the academy for doing something that would get you kicked out of the military altogether. And also if you're in prison.
Students at the Air Force Academy wear uniforms, but not regular Air Force uniforms. In 1955, the secretary of the Air Force said he wanted cadet uniforms to be creative, but he didn't know any artists or clothing designers, so he called the most creative person he knew and asked him to design the uniforms. That person was Hollywood director Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille accepted the challenge, and they're still wearing his designs at the academy today.
As a freshman at the academy, you're known as a "doolie". It's a term that comes from the Greek word "doulos", which means slave. Regardless of your major, when you graduate your degree is Bachelor of Science. And that's because you're going to take a lot of science. You're also going to take a lot of engineering, social studies and, obviously, military studies, too.
Every semester, students have to pass a physical fitness test. It starts with a one-and-a-half-mile run, then consists of chin-ups, sit-ups and push-ups. Lots of them. If you don't pass the test, you won't be kicked out. You'll be assigned extra physical training, lots of it, to help you prepare to take the test again.
Now, are there any famous people who graduated from the Air Force Academy? The answer is yes. There are plenty, including generals, pilots, war heroes, Medal of Honor recipients and members of the joint chiefs of staff. Most of those graduates, however, while deserving of celebrity status, aren't exactly household names outside the military. There are only a few of those, including San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, pilot Sully Sullenberger, who landed a crippled U.S. Airways jet in the Hudson River, and Reichen Lemkuhl, who won on The Amazing Race, dated Lance Bass of 'N*Sync, then wrote a book about serving under "don't ask, don't tell". Among those who attended but failed to graduate are Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick, singer Harry Chapin, former attorney general Alberto Gonzales and former White House press secretary Jody Powell.
Air Force football, which we'll see in action Friday night at Bronco Stadium, has for the past 35 years or so been known for its use of the option, triple option and wishbone variously under coaches Ken Hatfield, Fisher DeBerry and Troy Calhoun, and its teams routinely finish among the top ten in the NCAA in rushing. And therein lies the irony (or if you're the grammar police, the "incongruity") of the Falcons program. Air Force is not known for its aerial attack.
