6 day week mentality

It's the beginning of February here at the Air Force Academy.  I was reading an article that rates February among the top 10 worst words in the English language because of it's misplaced R. Perhaps that explains the start to our month...

We just finished up a Saturday AM Inspection (SAMI) that wasted most of our weekend. So naturally this school would ease up on the gas right? No. And if you know much about USAFA, that probably doesn't surprise you.  In fact, this week is a 6 day school week.

There is a convention of everybody who works at the academy, or at least I would like to believe this is true.  They inform everyone of their intent to have a 6 day school week where everyone goes to class as usual on saturday, and request that each person creates an event to waste our time.

First, we start with the athletic department.  Although their ranking (the PEA) is worth little more than a "nice job!" sticker from your kindergarten PE teacher, they run two brutal fitness tests referred to as the AFT and PFT.  AD decides these tests will both take place during the same week for the first time ever, and it will be during the 6 day week.

Next up is the Cadet Wing.  As cadets can never be too prepared, they create an exercise called exercise "swift falcon" and put the whole school on FPCON Charlie.  This means less parking and lots of recalls.  An exciting time to be alive, no doubt.

The Sexual Assault Prevention Response group (SAPR) was not missing out on their chance.  While I in no way intend to insult them or their work, they might have picked the worst possible time to schedule a 1.5 hr briefing.

The faculty, despite getting an extra day of school, was not done yet.  Nope, this week naturally has to occur on lessons 9-12, which happens to be "GR week", which means we all take a ton of tests and write papers and such.  This is of course exciting because I have no weekend to look forward to.

As I return to my room after taking the PFT in the snowy windy sub freezing temperature, I wonder if noon meal formation will be cancelled.  The answer, of course, is no.  We form up in the fog and I can't even see most of the formation, but we're there anyways.  I get to mitches and my frozen ears are not at all shocked to hear the news that a generic slab of chicken and subpar rice is for lunch because of what is now being called the "six day week mentality". It essentially means that any and all attempts to succeed or find happiness will be brutally crushed by this school.

Cold Cadets traverse the frozen TZO 6 times this week

A cadet goes to get butter.  He says "wow, there's only this crappy smart butter. couldn't they at least get some decent butter for this crappy meal?" I tell him "It's the 6 day week mentality, man". He laughs. Even though I've never explained it to him, he knows.  we all know.

Aim high, warriors.

4000 training the 3 degrees

It's a new dawn at USAFA, and training staff has so much in store for us. If you're curious as to our last battle with training staff, see the previous post relating to morning PT. Now for the backstory. The training staff, as it were, despises 4 degree training in all it's forms. Despite the last 58 or so years of training freshman, it has now become a disenrollment level offense to train or challenge them in any way, shape or form. Instead, the wing has placed the training focus on a class that has already earned recognition: the 3 degrees of 2019.

This morning, a random 2 degree with the authority of an acorn developed a life changing revelation: We should make the 3 degree cadets take K-tests.  The same tests taken as a freshman.  He must have missed my prop and wings, but what can I say... I've only had them for 8 months.  Subsequently, another lad sent us an email requiring our presence at a briefing.  Instead of ending it with a simple have a great night, he opted to launch numerous threats at our class should we dissent.

Many classes debate who had the hardest freshman year.  Mostly, they're the same and there is very little separation.  However, there is one argument that cannot be discredited: 2019 has the hardest sophomore year.  And what a time it has been.

One of the upper 2 insists that the 2019ers return to the strips

We return from winter break for another high flying semester of Air Force academics.  Will the condition for the 3rd class cadets improve? Absolutely not. Instead, we are told that we can no longer have non-issued bedding of any kind. My fitted sheet is now a luxury I have not earned, and I'm pretty sure I already used the issued sheets as napkins.  Oh well...

As we trudge towards recognition for the class of 2020, I hope that my class can enjoy a second recognition of sorts, one in which we get our old privileges back. I guess 3 degree year really is the forgotten year.