Falcon Heritage Forum: Class of '80 grads share their experiences, advice

  • Published
  • By Don Branum
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Two graduates of the Air Force Academy's Class of 1980 shared their experiences and advice with current cadets during a Falcon Heritage Forum presentation in the Arnold Hall Ballroom here Sept. 17.

The forum is a semi-annual event held by the Center for Character and Leadership Development connecting cadets with graduates from previous classes.

Retired Maj. Gens. Susan Mashiko and Mark Graper are among more than 20 graduates who were invited back to the Academy to speak at the Fall 2014 Falcon Heritage Forum, titled "60 Years of Excellence: Building on the Past to Create the Future."

Graper and Mashiko each spoke about portions of their cadet experiences that were especially meaningful. Graper said one of his most memorable experiences was a semester-long exchange with the French air force.

"I got to see that there are different ways of approaching the same destination," Graper said. "Rather than just judging and saying, 'This isn't our way, so it must not be good,' I got to become mentally agile enough to see that they had a different approach; I wouldn't have chosen it, but I see how they're getting to a destination that makes sense for them, using a means that makes sense for them."

Mashiko said one of her most rewarding experiences was the time she spent on the Academy's forensics team.

"Having the necessary skill set to brief and to put together cogent arguments, both written and verbal, has served me in good stead throughout my entire career," Mashiko said.

Mashiko said she's seen the Air Force become much more diverse during her 34-year career. When she arrived at Los Angeles Air Force Base as a lieutenant, only five engineers out of the Space Division's 3,000 personnel were women. Now women comprise about half the workforce at the Space and Missile Systems Center, and many more women are engineers.

As the Air Force became more diverse, women were no longer held accountable as a group if one of their number failed, Mashiko said.

"That is a huge step forward," she said.

That diversity has also affected the general officer ranks, Mashiko said.

"When General Graper and I attended SLOC, the Senior Leader Orientation Course ... all the men were married," she said. "About half of the women were married, and only one woman had children. She had a daughter fairly late in her career.

"That is also changing: There are more female general officers who are married and have children whom they have had earlier in their careers," she continued. "That is a dynamic where we're seeing the normalization of even the general officer corps."

Graper said that, in addition to becoming more diverse, the Air Force has become more technologically advanced and more forward-deployed.

"We're developed, diverse and deployed. More people are overseas at any given time," he said. "When General Mashiko and I were cadets and then came on active duty, we were working really hard and taking a lot of risk, but it was all in the context of the Cold War and making sure that we were always ready for the big war that unfortunately never came. Now we're always ready, but we're always engaged and deployed as well."

Graper said being close to where the mission is happening is an exciting opportunity for cadets.

"The closer you get to the fight, the worse the living conditions (are), but the better the morale," he said. "It's about getting the mission done, taking care of your team. It's exciting, and morale is higher."

Graper encouraged cadets to make the most of their Air Force Academy experiences.

"You're going to have fantastic experiences that your counterparts in civilian institutions will not," Graper said. "Practice your leadership skills. Make mistakes -- we all do -- and then you'll have that experience to fall back on."

Other forum guests include Maj. Robert Brenner, who represented the U.S. in the 2008 Olympics, and Lt. Col. Nicole Malachowski, the first woman to fly for the Air Force Thunderbirds Aerial Demonstration Squadron.

The forum concludes Sept. 19.