Features

  • Caring for cadets: AMT steps into 'drop zone'

    Editor's note: This is the second in a three-part series highlighting military trainers at the Air Force Academy.Growing up in rural Tupelo, Mississippi, Master Sgt. Zachary Marshall remembers having what he needed: just the basics and nothing extra. Marshall, an academy military trailer for Cadet

  • The Contrails: Cadet squadron nicknames, patches

    Editors note -- This week's excerpt  from The Contrails is seen exactly as shown on page 30 and 31 in the 2015 edition of this cadet guidebook  When the first class entered the Academy in the Summer of 1955, they were divided into four squadrons. In the years following, the number of squadrons

  • Academy Spotlight

    Libran SelfeSpecialty: Department of the Air Force Police Officer Unit: 10th Security Forces Squadron, Duty position: Entry Controller “I provide installation checks to ensure only authorized personnel enter the Academy” – Officer Selfe Hometown: St. Louis, MissouriFavorite aspect of being assigned

  • The Contrails: Air Force Academy History

    Editors note -- This week's excerpt  from The Contrails is seen exactly as shown on page 30 and 31 in the 2015 edition of this cadet guidebook Following the organization of the United States Air Force as a separate service in 1947, work commenced toward the realization of yet another dream–its own

  • The Contrails: U.S. Air Force Academy Mascot

    Speed, courage, and powerful flight; these are terms symbolic of the mission of the U.S. Air Force. These also aptly describe the falcon, chosen by the first class to enter the Academy as the official mascot of the cadet wing. The falcon is a noble bird that catches its prey in flight, killing on

  • Academy Spotlight

    Cadet 2nd Class Schaeffer McHenry is political science major, a cadet athlete and an element leader for Cadet Squadron 01.“As an element leader, I am responsible for six subordinates, their wellbeing and success throughout the spring semester. It is a lot of responsibility, but something I deeply

  • The Contrails: Honor Oath

    Beginning this week on www.usafa.af.mil and in the Academy weekly, we’ll highlight information from the latest edition of “Contrails,” the guidebook given to each year’s class of cadets since 1959. This week, we’ll include an excerpt on the Honor Oath, from page 19 of this year’s edition.   The

  • Taking care of cadets: Military trainer speaks out on USAFA experience

    Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series highlighting academy military trainers at the Air Force Academy. Tech. Sgt. John Sinner is an Air Force Academy military trainer. He knows what it's like to be under fire."There were multiple things coming at us from three sides of the base

  • Remembering Pearl Harbor: A 'body blow' to America

    When the first bombs exploded on a nearby airfield, marking the start of the Japanese sneak attack on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Edward Davis and others scrambled from a chow hall.The 94-year-old Army veteran said he and other Soldiers were having breakfast at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, when

  • NCO says chaplain assistant duty at Academy is a 'quiet reward'

    Tech. Sgt. Misty Edwards is many things: an Airman, a wife and mother of two, and a chaplain assistant at the Air Force Academy.Edwards has been a chaplain assistant since enlisting in 2003, but said nothing prepared her for an assignment at the Academy, where she provides religious services for the