Little bit of news...

I chatted with Nathan on Facebook for a while yesterday evening because we happened to be on at the same time. Just a bit of new news to report.........

The cadets had Friday off of classes because on Saturday there was a big football game between the Air Force and the Army at West Point. The day off was so that cadets who wanted to go to the game could. Air Force trounced Army, 42-22. For the official story, go here.

Nathan stayed at his room mate Metzger's house for the weekend. Nathan said he and Metzger get along really well :) Friday they rode bikes together, and then Saturday morning they went on a run. Sunday evening they picked up Yoo, another freshman from their squadron, from the airport because he had gone home for the weekend.

So that was about it for that time :)

Long Time No Post - Lots of News!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything about Nathan! So here's a nice long update in chronological order :D

Sat, Sept. 18 - 30 minute phone call
Nathan got his phone on the weekend for the first time! I was, of course, pretty excited to get to talk with him! Sadly, I only got about half an hour because by the time I got off work he had an OCF (Officers' Christian Fellowship) event (a Bible study at the house of a guy on base) about an hour later. So some of what is below came secondhand from Mom.
He said that his Chinese and Calculus 2 classes were both mostly review.
That night, he attended a "Birthday Ball" to celebrate the creation of the Air Force in 1947. It was a required event, at least for the freshman.
Mom said that he was holding his own in his classes, and that he planned to go to church off campus the next day.
On the 24th through the 26th, he was planning to go to the "Protestant retreat" hosted by the chaplain (I think). More about that a little later.
He said that no one on his intramural rugby team had gotten hurt too badly, but that his shins were kind of bruised up from that.
He still couldn't have any music on his computer, but he could have as many pictures as he wanted.
The nine people in his element (a smaller part of his squadron) had gone to eat together off base sometime.
Every so often they have "commandant days" when they don't have classes and have training in the morning instead. Then in the afternoon it's more relaxed I guess (one time he got to play capture the flag in the afternoon).

Sun, Sept. 26 - hour-long phone call
Nathan got his phone for a second weekend in a row! :D He went on the Protestant retreat that was off in the mountains some place. He called me for a couple minutes Saturday night to wish me a happy birthday like the wonderful brother he is, but I was about to watch a movie with some friends and so we didn't talk long then. He had some problems with his phone service breaking up on Sunday (he was talking to us on the bus while driving back from the retreat), but we still had a good chat. We're getting good at doing 3-way calls between Dallas, Arkansas, and Colorado :D
He said that during the retreat he had lots of free time and lots of things to think about. The retreat was at an altitude of 9,000 feet with mountains all around. On Friday as they were driving out to the place, he was able to watch the sunset for over an hour - I bet it was sooooo pretty! About 300 doolies (freshman) went on the retreat. There were also some upperclassmen who served as small group leaders, but they were really relaxed (no saluting, etc) and they could wear their PC (Physical Conditioning) gear instead of regular uniforms.
The speaker at the retreat was a pastor from Iowa. The main session on Sunday was about perseverance. There were also small groups that talked about various other topics such as avoiding temptation.
They were able to do lots of activities like play Foosball, water volleyball, swim in a heated pool with a really fast water slide, etc. And the food was better than Mitch's (the campus cafeteria) Nathan said he knew lots of the other doolies that went.
He also told us a bit about SPIRE (Special Programs in Religious Education). The on-campus Monday night OCF Bible studies are part of SPIRE. He said there are usually 30-40 people at the study.

Tues, Oct. 5 - short email
Nathan sent a short email to let us know that he had gotten his progress report with his grades and such. And he was doing very well at that point :D :D :D (I don't think he's had another "report card" since then). Also, he had a training day that day, but it was mostly just a free day so he got the chance to catch up on some non-academic stuff.

Thurs, Oct. 7 - another short email
He let us know that his squadron had won another knowledge bowl and had gotten an average passing grade for the knowledge test, so he would get his phone for the weekend! [The cadets have what are called "contrails" - I'm sure I've mentioned them before. Anyway, they're these books stuffed with (seemingly useless) information that the doolies have to memorize. Then each week they are tested on part of it and on the extra daily sheets, "probooks," that the cadets also have to memorize. And every so often the squadrons have a competition--the knowledge bowl--to see which squadron can answer the most questions right.]

Sun, Oct. 10 - 90 minute call
As promised, he got his phone! We did a 3-way call, but I had to go meet someone after an hour and a half. Dad and Mom talked to him for another hour after that!
That weekend was a 3-day-weekend for the cadets because they didn't have classes on Columbus Day. So Nathan was able to get off campus and spend the weekend at his roommate Metzger's house (his family lives in Colo. Sprgs.). Nathan enjoyed being able to just hang out without worrying about the military stuff or school!
Nathan told us that he had gotten moved from the beginning Chinese class to the intermediate Chinese class because the department advisor noticed that Chinese wasn't at all new to him. So now his Chinese class meets every other day instead of every day. He hadn't attended his first intermediate class yet, but he said that there was going to be a quiz his first day.
He also joined the saber drill team! The team performed during half time at the football game Parents' weekend. I'm sure you could find videos of them on YouTube. Anyway, he said that he had to "earn" his saber by doing lots of PT (Physical Training) stuff. He practices with the team everyday in the evening. Later he may travel to competitions and stuff, so he had to get an extra fancy uniform for that.
He is done with rugby!!!!!!! I'm so happy he's out of that without having gotten hurt!

Sun, Oct. 17 - short email
He told me that he hadn't gotten his phone that weekend because the squadron's average score on the knowledge test was a 78 instead of an 80 :(
He also said that he did some volunteering on Saturday (I don't know what/where) and went to Lt. Col. Wade's house for an OCF Bible study. I think that is the off-campus one, but I'm not positive.
He was also able to run on his own that day, so he was excited about that.

Thurs, Oct. 28 - hour-long phone call
My phone rang with the ringtone that indicates a family member is calling - so I figured it would be Mom - but then I looked at the caller id and it was Nathan!!!!!!! I was really surprised and excited :D Turns out, Nathan now has his phone PERMANENTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SUPER excited about that :D He had been talking to Dad and Mom for about 45 minutes before he called me, but then he and I kept talking longer after they went to bed.
He said the squadron finally got their phones for good because they "definitevely won" the semi-finals of the knowledge bowl, because they did well on the Wednesday morning inspection, and because the upperclassmen were evidently asking the training officer why the doolies didn't have their phones back yet!
He said that intermediate Chinese is manageable. Next semester they are going to put him into the second semester of THIRD year Chinese - so hopefully that will go okay!
Some of his other classes for next semester will be Economics, Physics, Boxing for PE (not his choice - but he doesn't have a choice), English 2, Intro to Military History, and Calculus 3.
On the sabre drill team, he's learning how to do throw passes and such. The sabres that they practice with are blunt at the tip instead of being pointed. Nathan also clarified that the sabres they use in performances are not very sharp on the edges - which makes sense, I just hadn't thought about it!
Since he's on the sabre drill team, he has to "miss out" on squadron training meetings. That day, he had missed a session when the upperclassmen took the doolies out to a big hill/small mountain and made them do squats up the hill...I wouldn't be too sorry to miss something like that, but Nathan said that he feels bad he doesn't do it with the rest of his squadron. That's why he's at the Academy and I'm not! ;-)
He said that he's made friends with cadets in other squadrons because he meets them in his classes and such. In his engineering class especially he has lots of group projects, and always with the same group. Their first project was to design and launch a rocket, and the second one was a glider. Currently, they're working on a surveilance type vehicle - meaning that it will have to launch like a rocket and float like a glider or something like that. He was telling me all sorts of technical stuff that went right over my head :D Their last project for that class will be to build a bridge.
He said that in his classes the points are more heavily weighted toward the end of the semester - meaning that a lot of his final grades in the classes is yet to be determined. I have confidence that he'll manage just fine though :)
He's been averaging 5-6 hours of sleep each night, which is, I think, pretty decent for the Academy. He said there was going to be a Physical Training Competition on Saturday morning (today), and that on Sunday (tomorrow) he'd be free to go off base.

So - that brings you all up to date, and I will try to post a little more frequently! He does get to come home for Thanksgiving - gets a whole week off of classes! So we're all looking forward to that :)

quickie....

Just a little update from an email Nathan sent to Dad and Mom.

Since the Falcons won their Sept. 11th game against BYU (their big time competitors), all the cadets got passes to go off base for the evening! So Nathan was able to get off campus and go to the OCF (Officers Christian Fellowship) meeting on Saturday.

That's all :)

Parents Weekend!!!!!!!

[Warning - this one will be long!]

Labor Day weekend is Parents Weekend at USAFA - which means that families are welcome to come visit their cadets and that the doolies are actually allowed to leave base Friday evening through Monday evening! Families can visit the classes and eat in Mitchell's on Friday, and there aren't any classes on Monday. There's also some other special activities, including the first football game of the season on Saturday. So Dad and Mom had been planning to go up for that since before Nathan left. And so had I, but Nathan didn't know that part! :D :D :D

Dad and Mom got in Thursday evening and were able to see Nathan for a little while, then they visited his Chinese and Chemistry classes with him on Friday. He went to their hotel room with them, and then at 1:00 in the morning I arrived and woke him up. [How I got there is a bit of a long story - but it doesn't belong here. You can check my personal blog for that.] When I woke him up, he smiled at me and was like "hi!" And then he suddenly realized that I was supposed to be in Arkansas, not in Colorado, and he got this "what are you doing here???" look on his face :D It was fun to surprise him!

Anyway, on Saturday we spent most of the day at the football game because doolies (and maybe all cadets) are required to attend all home football games. The Falcons beat the other team all hollow! USAFA has lots of traditions for football games, but I won't go into all those. We did get to meet a couple more of the live mascots though, and the Wings of Blue (the parachuting team) did a little demo.

(me with a couple of the mascots)
(This picture has most of the freshman in Nathan's squadron. They're affectionately referred to as "baby griffins" because the mascot of Mighty Mach 1 is a griffin. Nathan's in the back, second from the left)
(before the game, the cadet wing marches onto the field)

(a couple of the Wings of Blue parachuters)

(They have a tradition at USAFA that at football games the doolies "switch ranks" with upper classmen. The ranks are the dark blue things on Nathan's shoulders. He had two different ones, but it doesn't show up in the mirror as well as I hoped it would.)

It was super hot at the game and Nathan, Dad, and I all got bad sunburns (high altitude = easier to burn), but it was still fun. After the game, there was an open house at the home of the people in charge of the USAFA branch of Officers' Christian Fellowship. Every week there's an on-campus Bible study, a meeting between chapel services on Sunday, and an informal meeting at their house, all just for the cadets. The leaders we met seem like wonderful people who really care about the cadets. I'm so glad Nathan has the opportunity to have those times with other believers!

Saturday evening we drove around Garden of the Gods some. It was pretty, but it got dark too soon to enjoy it as much as we would have liked.

After we got back to the hotel, Nathan and I looked through some of the WebGuy pictures I had saved to my computer. Of course, that made him remember things about Basic to tell me. :)

Sunday morning we went to two different church services in Colorado Springs so Nathan could get a taste of some of his options. That afternoon we went on a tour out to Jacks Valley, where the basics had spent 2nd Beast. Here's Nathan at the end of the Assault Course:

It was neat to see some of the places where he had to work so hard. It made me feel sorry for him! All that stuff he had to do :/ I'm so proud of him for making it through though! :D


Sunday evening Nathan's host family had invited all "their" cadets and families to come over, so we did. It was nice to meet them. They are very friendly and want to provide the cadets opportunities to relax off campus whenever they get a chance.


Monday morning, Nathan took part in a marathon. No, he didn't run 26.2 miles. He was doing more of a relay marathon. A 1958 USAFA grad (who was in Mighty Mach 1) has a son with severe Cerebral Palsy. About 50 cadets from Mighty Mach 1 took turns pushing the son in a "wheeled jogger" in half mile or mile increments. They were hoping to break the record for that marathon, but they didn't quite get there.
Here's Nathan at his starting point: the 7-mile-marker.
And here's Nathan pushing Kenny during his turn. That's Kenny's dad pushing alongside Nathan, and the guy on the bike was helping them out too.
Here and here are a couple links to articles about the race.


Below is a random picture of Nathan in the van. That's his Contrails that he's holding. The page on the right has lots of ranks and other insignia that he has to have memorized.
After Nathan ran, we had to check out of our hotel. We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon at a city park in Colorado Springs - but the scenery is so beautiful that it's basically equivalent to a state park. It has nice hiking trails too! So here's a slightly silly picture of Nathan from while we were hiking:

We went out to eat all together, and then I went to my friend's house to start the trip back to JBU. Dad and Mom dropped Nathan back off at campus, and thus ended our first Parents Weekend. It was terrific and I'm so glad I went! :D

informative email (from 8/23)

I know, I'm horribly tardy putting up this info. I've just been really busy with school starting and such. But enough about me, because this is Nathan's blog! :D So here is a general summary (because that's how he asked me to do it) of what Nathan said in a nice long email he sent us on the 23rd .

He has five "real" classes, along with five other things (intramurals, an orientation type class, and a couple others - all except intramurals start later in the semester, I think). His total credit hours, including the "extras" is 18.5 - so it's a heavy load. Thankfully, he was able to get transfer credit for English 1 because he took two semesters of community college English during his senior year. He's hoping to also get credit for Physics because he took an AP class and the AP test....but he wasn't sure about that yet.

• Basic Chinese class is "rather boring" since he's had quite a bit of Chinese, but that he's able to help out the other students in the class.
• Calculus II is "easy review" (he took that at community college during his senior year as well).
• Engineering is fascinating him (he went into lots of technical details that I didn't understand very well - but the gist is that they're doing model rocket stuff).
• Behavioral Science takes the most reading. He's the "section marcher" for that class (which means he calls the room to attention when the instructor walks in - and he helps with passing things out sometimes.
• Chemistry is his hardest class, because he has to re-memorize lots of stuff (he took it in 9th grade I think, so it's been a while).
• In Intramurals he's signed up for rugby - not his favorite, but he didn't have a choice. [I just really really hope he doesn't get hurt - rugby is much worse than football!]

The doolies (freshman) have to do lots of memorization of trivia, facts, etc. They have a small book called the "Contrails" that they will have completely memorized by the end of the year. [If you google "Contrails" and "USAFA," I bet you could find out more about it if you wanted to.] In addition to that, each week they are sent a "Probook" - 2 pages of knowledge that they have to know. Then each Monday they take a written test over it. It includes things like long quotes, airplanes and some of their specifications, and lots of other stuff. Lastly, every day the doolies have to know 3 menu items from each meal, summaries of 3 current news articles, and about five other things. As Nathan said, "Never a dull moment."

Despite all that, he likes the academic year better than basic! Rather than having "beatings" (cadre telling them to do push-ups or flutterkicks just because) like they did during basic, the doolies now only have scheduled training sessions. Around campus, the doolies do have to do certain [what I'll call silly] things like run on the outer marble strips in the courtyard, but the upperclassmen don't bother them too much. Nathan really enjoys being able to go places on his own (he couldn't do that during basic!). During the weekends, there's hardly any military stuff they have to do - it's basically free time for them.

That's basically all he had in that email.....he also asked us to pray that he would have wisdom on how much time to spend on school and military training. Thankfully, his cough he had during basic was finally gone by then.

I will hopefully post about Family Weekend (last weekend) later this evening or tomorrow.

Acceptance Day pictures and Class information

Well, I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to get some better pictures (ones from WebGuy) of the Acceptance Day parade up!

First off, the sad news: Now that the new cadets have finished BCT and started classes (they started on the 5th), WebGuy is not taking any more pictures or blogging any more. He'll be back in March for Recognition though, so you can look forward to that :)

Now that we don't have WebGuy, we aren't able to know much of what's going on over at USAFA. But I would guess it's a bit mundane anyhow.

So here are the WebGuy pictures from Acceptance Day, and also some information from when we saw Nathan on the 4th and from a brief phone call on the 7th.

Marching onto the field for the parade.
The speaker - Retired Maj. General Ron Sega (he's holding a copy of the contrails)
A closer view of the U-2 that flew over.
Nathan during the pass-in-review march around the field - can't you tell how excited he is about the rain? ;-) He said "I literally thought as I was standing there, 'don't rain on my parade!'"
More pass-in-review. When the marchers pass the podium/VIP seating, they do what's called "eyes right" meaning that all the marchers except the ones on the edge look to the right at a 45 degree angle (or something like that).

And, this picture came from a different site - I think a USAFA news story, but I'm not sure. What happened is that people were realizing that the basics were being taken up the ramp, and so all the excited parents/families wanted to get to their cadets! But the canons were about to be fired, and so the security people wouldn't let people walk in front of the canons. So this picture was taken right after they fired the canons, and all the parents started going as fast as they could toward the basics! I'm putting it up because Dad and Mom and I are in it :) Dad's in a grey hoodie with a pink umbrella, about in the middle of the group of people. Mom's in red to his right, and I'm up ahead of them in shorts and a turquoise and blue jacket. I circled us so you can find us :D

Here are a few news stories about Acceptance Day (also known as A-Day):

Two videos from local news stations here and here.

And an official USAFA news story with a few pictures here.

Lastly, WebGuy's series of videos of the parade: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Videos 1 & 2 are of the basics marching on to the field. Warning: 2, 3, and 4 are loud - don't have your volume up too high!!! Anyway, in 1 & 2, Nathan is in the first group closer to the camera. He is in the last row, in the column furthest from the camera (but in the closer group). Hopefully that makes sense! Video 3 is basically just the U-2 flyover. Video 4 skips the ceremonial stuff and shows the basics performing the inverted wedge to go join their new squadrons. Video 5 shows the beginning of the pass-in-review (Nathan's squadron!!! :D) You can see Nathan in the video. He's in the third row from the back, closest to the camera. When the camera zooms in at 30 seconds, you can see him pretty easily.

So here's some of what the four of us talked about during the 2 hours we had him on A-Day:

As we were leaving his dormitory area headed to the van, Nathan made the comment "I haven't really been away from my flight [the group of 30 basics he was in] since the beginning of BCT!"

Since he moved to a new room, he has new roommates - two of them. One is Metzger - he's from Colorado Springs, and the other is Martin - he's from Tennessee.

Each of the 40 Academic Year Squadrons (Mighty Mach 1 is one of the 40) is divided into 3 flights. Nathan is in the C flight. He said there are 9 freshman in each flight, and they have sophomore mentors.

Nathan talked about how in Jacks Valley the basics would know it was about time to get up when the big bus would roll in with its bright headlights, bringing the cadre who had slept on campus. He also said that his favorite part of Jacks Valley was the Confidence Course because it took teamwork with his fellow basics. (He did that on July 23rd - see this post about it) His favorite part of BCT over all, he said, was doing drill - that doesn't surprise me :D

On Saturday August 7th, the newly accepted cadets had what is called "Doolie Day Out" when they get to go off campus to the homes of their sponsor families (families who provide a "home away from home" type thing for short breaks). So that evening Nathan was able to call us and talk for about 20 minutes. He had his first two days of classes on Thursday and Friday (the 5th and 6th), so that's mostly what we talked about.

He said all his classes seemed good - his Tuesday/Thursday classes were harder. He has Basic Chinese five days a week during 3rd period (9:50-10:43). Then on T/Th, he also has Behavioral Science (it sounds a bit like psychology to me - he said it is about people leadership) and Chemistry. On M/W/F, he has AP Calc 2 and Intro to Air Force Engineering. Later he'll also have Physical Development (PE), Intramurals, and an orientation type class.

All of his classes are less than 20 students. Even if the professor is a civilian, one of the students stands up, calls the room to attention, and "reports in" to the professor when they walk in.

He's very glad he doesn't have any classes first period (starting at 7:40). That way, he has plenty of time to eat breakfast and then go back to his room to get whatever he needs for class.

He said meals are a lot more relaxed now, thankfully. Doolies (freshman) still have to sit at attention, but there's no time limit for how long they can eat.

At the point when we talked to him, he still had his cough. He had been back to the clinic the day before and gotten some antibiotics, so hopefully those have helped and his cough is finally gone!!

Well, that's all folks. Thanks for sticking through a long wait and then a long post! I don't know when I might have more news to post.....Nathan probably won't have his phone again until Parents' Weekend (Labor Day - Dad and Mom will get to go see him!), so we may not hear much of anything until then.

Also, please remember to ask if there's anything you're confused about! :D

Oh, and one more thing - here's links to three class of 2014 videos on YouTube:

In-Processing (the first day back in June)

Swearing In (the next day)

Marching out to JV (for BCT 2)

ACCEPTANCE DAY!!!!!!!!!! (4th)

August 4th, 2010 (Wednesday)

Nathan Carey is now a Cadet Fourth Class at USAFA! He is no longer a basic - he beat the Beast of Basic Cadet Training! I'm super proud of him, in case you can't tell :)

Ok, so here's the scoop: I'm much too tired tonight to go through the 131 pages (5,240 pictures) that WebGuy posted. So instead I'll give you a written description with pictures that I took. Then, hopefully tomorrow, I will look at the WebGuy pictures and add some of those.

We (Dad, Mom and I) were able to stay at the campgrounds on the USAFA base Tuesday night, so that made it convenient. We arrived at the bleachers overlooking the parade grounds at about 7:15 in the morning because we had heard they filled up quickly. At first it was rather chilly, but it warmed up and was beautiful weather when the parade started. Before it actually started though, a cadet brought out one of the Academy's live mascots - a gyr-falcon.

Here is a picture of Destiny, a 17-year-old female, and one of several falcons that serve as the school mascots. I was able to go pet her! (Mom took a picture of it for me)
In the shot below, you can see the mountains behind the buildings. You can also see a glimpse of the chapel to the right of the buildings. The basics were lined up along the field (that long line is the 1000+ basics!) and the upperclassmen were waiting up the ramp.
The parade started right on time - the upperclassmen squadrons marched onto one side of the field while the basics marched onto the other side. Below is a picture of Nathan marching on. He's in the back row (on the right), furthest from the camera. He still had a bit of a smile on his face :)
Once they got into position, they stood at attention for a little while...
and then they switched to parade rest for most of the ceremony.
The ceremony included a fly-over of a U2 plane from California, flown by a USAFA grad. (plane pictured below...)
There was also a general from the class of 1974 (who had been an astronaut!) who made a few remarks, and members of the 1974 class presented contrails (books filled with all sorts of facts that the cadets have to know) to representatives of the 2014 class.

The basics raised their right hands and repeated the honor code ("We Will Not Lie, Steal Or Cheat, Nor Tolerate Among Us Anyone Who Does"), and I think it was about then that it started to rain :/ The rain picked up steadily as the National Anthem played, the basics were accepted into the cadet wing and marched to join their new squadrons, all of the cadets repeated the Airman's Creed (read it here), and the cadets marched around the field in a pass-in-review.

Below is a picture of Nathan's new squadron (Mighty Mach 1) passing by where we were sitting. As you can see, it was raining a good bit.
The rain caused a change in plans. The cadets were supposed to march all the way around the field and return to where they had been. Then the families were going to join their cadet as he had his shoulder boards put on. Instead, the squadrons all did different things. It seemed like most were headed up the ramp you saw in the earlier picture. We basically had no idea where Nathan was - we spent several minutes searching for him among all the milling people - but we didn't know where to look! Finally he was able to borrow a phone and call us.

Each squadron is a bit different - something we found out right away! Nathan is in the first squadron - Mighty Mach 1. Since they are the first squadron, they like to be the toughest. The reason that we couldn't find Nathan is because his squadron's Military Training Officer marched all the newly accepted cadets up to their squadron room (in the dormitory building) and made them stand at attention while he just walked around and looked at them. Then he told them "You are in Mighty Mach 1. We are considered the toughest squadron, and we want to keep it that way." I don't know this for sure, but I would guess Nathan called us as soon as he could...which was at least 10-15 minutes after most of the new cadets had been able to meet up with their families.

Well, we did finally find him. And he got his shoulder boards pinned on. The shoulder boards indicate what rank he is (in this case, that he is a freshman).
Below is Nathan with his two BCT flight commanders. Hoyt, his flight commander from 1st BCT is on the right. Wise, his commander from 2nd BCT is on the left. (both are seniors) Hoyt is the one who is pinning on his shoulder boards in the picture above.
As Hoyt was pinning on Nathan's boards, he said something along the lines of "congratulations Cadet Carey - you did very well during BCT 1 [and Wise added "and during BCT 2"]. I know you will continue to do well during your time here. You will make a great officer. You [I think he was referencing Dad, Mom and I] should be very proud of him."

So once Nathan had that done, we were finally able to get him away from the cadet area and go out to our camp site at the campground on the USAFA base. We had about two hours to eat lunch and do some talking before we had to get him back to his room.

[I will add more about what he talked about tomorrow - I'm too tired tonight]

Here's a picture Dad took right quick before we had to leave (this is in Nathan's new dorm room - a couple doors down from his old one). I'm super proud of my brother :)

Acceptance Day Parade Rehearsal (3rd)

This is going to be a really exciting post!!!!! Keep reading to find out why ;-)

But first, the boring stuff (the schedule from WebGuy):

Well, Tuesday looks like this.

They had Breakfast open at 0630 for folks to go over and eat. From 0700 - 0800, they had Key Personnel Training on the Terrazzo. This training is for Squadron Commanders, bearers of guidons and colors, group staff, and wing staff. These are the people who need to look sharp and knowledgeable tomorrow at the parade. At 0800, all cadets were required to attend the Acceptance Parade Practice. This would be the full dry-run of the parade tomorrow.

After the practice, the basics go back to the schedule I reported on previously. Some have Clothing issue. Others have the library briefing. Then at 1230, all basics are scheduled to continue self-paced computer instruction in their rooms. At 1530, they receive a briefing from the Academy Leadership.

From 1700 - 1800 they will have dinner. Then from 1800 - 2000, they receive their Academic Schedules.

Okay, now that the boring part is out of the way - the FUN part!!! You see the mention of the Parade Practice up above? Well, Mom heard that parents could go watch that - so we did! :D

At first we went to the wrong place. We could see the basics and cadets forming up, but they were going to be marching to a different area for the actual rehearsal. So we hurried over there. A few minutes after we got there, the basics started marching down the field. I was 99% sure that Aggressors would be the first squadron, and thus that Nathan would be near the front. So I shot this picture, not knowing where exactly Nathan was.

On the left is Aggressors B Flight, and on the right is Aggressors A Flight, Nathan's flight!!! :D

Below is a WebGuy picture {all pictures except the two noted as mine are from WebGuy} of Nathan (between the two guys on the left). He is in the back row of the first group in the formation above.

Well, when I saw all these basics and knew Nathan must be in there somewhere, I got a little....um, overly excited....... And I wanted to see Nathan so bad, so I suddenly hollered "NATHAN!" And right as I hollered, I saw him. So I tacked on "I SEE YOU!!!" for good measure because I knew that his first inclination would be to ignore me and keep his military bearing/stone face on. I didn't go there intending to yell at him.........it just happened ;-)

BUT - I got a big smile out of him for doing it :D

In the picture below, Nathan is the one in the background. Yep, that's the one - the one with the big grin on his face. He couldn't help it :D :D

Below, Nathan is starting to get his military bearing back (he's partly "hiding" behind and to the left of the girl). I think that the girl and the guy behind her and to her right are smiling because of what I did. But I don't know that for sure.

And here is Nathan back to stone face again - but the other two are still smiling :)
It's amazing what a difference being there makes! For example, I know that in the above pictures they were marching onto the field. Then they stood in formation for a while (mostly at "parade rest" {feet apart, hands behind back}) while a practice and abbreviated script of the first part of the ceremony was read. After a while the basics were able to stand "at ease" while the cadre did some things. Once they were "at ease" the basics could talk to each other, look around, basically do whatever they wanted to as long as they kept their right foot in the same place! Well, as soon as they got into "at ease," Nathan looked around and saw us on the bleachers and smiled another big "real" smile :) (Earlier he had been smiling more of a "I'm not supposed to smile but I can't help it" smile). So here's a picture I took of him after he smiled at us.

The basics performed an "inverted wedge" move (see this blog post by WebGuy for info on that) to go join their new academic squadrons. Once they had done that and a few other things, all 40 squadrons (about 4,500 cadets) marched off the field in a "pass and review". The poor grass was quite downtrodden by the time it was over!

Below is a picture of Nathan during the pass in review. He's in the row second from the left, and he's the one closest to the camera. His roommate is the right one in glasses.

And here's a picture of Nathan's new squadron from the pass in review.
And another one of Nathan...as you can see, he had fully recovered his military bearing :P

Well that's all folks. Remember, all this was just the rehearsal for the real parade tomorrow. The basics and cadets will be in blues for that, and we'll actually get to spend time with Nathan (hopefully). So I am SOOOOO pumped about that!!!!!!! :D

BCT Last Leg Days 7-9 (31st-2nd)

First off, go look at the comment on my last post - it's a comment from the subject of this blog himself!!!! :D Yep, Nathan's got a computer back in his hands, and he evidently stayed up very late {early} using it!

Secondly, this post is going to be mostly info and not very many pictures. I looked through all the pictures that were labelled as Aggressors, and these two are all I found of Nathan. Next I will post about today though, and that one will have more pictures than you want to see ;-) And so will the post about tomorrow, whenever I get that one up (hopefully Thursday sometime, but no promises!).

Saturday, July 31st -

Guess what? I found a picture of Nathan marching! ;-)

And here's a video from the same time as the above picture. You can see Nathan at about :08 seconds. He's standing in the same place as in the picture.

That day the basics had the Commandant's Luncheon (I think it's partly to celebrate/recognize the basics' acceptance into USAFA). I would guess that the picture of Nathan below is from that, but it might be from dinner. I don't know what he was saying/doing.
The basics also got moved into their new rooms for the school year based on what academic year squadron they are joining. Since Nathan was in Basics Squadron Aggressors, Flight A, he moves into Academic Squadron 1 which is called Mighty Mach One.

Here's what WebGuy said about the evening:

This evening they get dinner, work on their rooms, and meet their new Squadron Commander and the Cadet Training Staff for the semester. After 2100, they get to have their doors closed, but TAPS is at 0130. This is the normal weekend TAPS for the Cadet Wing.

...

Tomorrow is the first day of the transition schedule between the Commandant's Luncheon and the Acceptance parade on Wednesday. The basics have a number of briefings scattered all day tomorrow.

Sunday, August 1st -

Nothing exciting happened that day...the upperclassmen started arriving back at USAFA, and the basics had a couple briefings.

WebGuy did post this though:

Throughout the next three days, your basics have to cycle through a couple of things:

Clothing Issue (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday)

Computer Issue (Tuesday) {Esther's note: Monday}

Computer Training (Wednesday) {Esther's note: Tuesday}

Student Academic Services Briefing (Tuesday)

Library Briefing (Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday)

Each squadron cycles through each of these at different times, with the exception of the Student Academic Services Briefing and Computer Training. This Academic Services Briefing will be conducted four times tomorrow for each of the basics in a particular Cadet Group. The Computer Training will take place for all on Tuesday at 1230 Hours.

Monday, August 2nd -

The basics are finally released from strict meals, I think. Here's what WebGuy said:

I mentioned before that meals during these days are mostly buffet. That means an upperclass cadet needs to march the squadron of basics over to Mitchell Hall and let them go through the buffet lines. Then, they go to an available table where there is at least one upperclass cadre from that squadron present. The basics eat and when all are finished, they form up and had to their next destination under upperclass escort.

The basics also had their computers issued to them, and some had library briefings.

I need to go have my dinner now, but I will hopefully post about today in an hour or so.

BCT Last Leg Days 4-6 (28th-30th)

[see important note at the bottom!]

Wednesday, July 28th

Here's WebGuy's summary:

Let me give you an overview of the day before I can diverted with something else.

Aggressors - AFT; Haircut; Flight Drill; MKT; Cadet Store

Barbarians - AFT; Rank Issue; Flight Drill, MKT, Flight Drill

Cobras - AFT; Haircut; Room Set-up; MKT

Demons - AFT; Room Set-up; Haircut; MKT; Cadet Store

Executioners - MKT; AFT; Flight Drill; Rank Issue; Room Set-up

Flying Tigers - MKT; AFT; Flight Drill; Reporting and Open Ranks

Guts - MKT; Flight Drill; AFT; Flight Drill

Hellcats - Flight Drill; Haircut; MKT; AFt; Rank Issue

Interceptors - Email Netiquette; Flight Drill; MKT; Rank Issue; AFT

Jaguars - Flight Drill; MKT; Cadet Store; AFT

After Dinner tonight, it's pretty quiet. No intramurals or big briefings. Just the weekly height and weight check. Then TAPS at 2100.

All the names at the beginning are the different BCT squadrons. Nathan is in Aggressors, so he did the AFT (Aerobic Fitness Test), got his hair cut, did some flight drill (marching), took some/all (I don't know which) of the MKT (Military Knowledge Test), and apparently was able to go to the Cadet Store.

Here's a picture of Nathan in PT gear plus a hoodie - so I would assume this was before or after doing the AFT.

And here's a picture from the flight drill. Nathan is on the very right of the picture. Pretty blues!!! :D

A couple other things WebGuy said on the 28th:

The first is about what happens after BCT is over.

Question:

But WebGuy, if they have their luncheon on Saturday afternoon and move to their academic year squadron on Saturday afternoon, why is Acceptance Parade on Wednesday?

WebGuy Answer:

Although they have the Commandant's Luncheon on Saturday, they are still basics. This will last through the next few days (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday). The most obvious evidence of this is that they are not permitted to move from place to place unescorted. An upperclass cadet must still lead them to all of the briefings and equipment issues over those interceding days. Only after they are "accepted" by the Cadet Wing, into the Cadet Wing, and receive their fourthclass shoulder boards, are they truly "cadets" in the Air Force Academy.

They need to receive briefings such as Academic Services Briefing; Computer Training; Library Briefing. They need to pick up their computer, additional clothing items, and textbooks.

Also, they get a briefing on the "Fourthclass Year Experience". It's sort of like the "Star Trek Experience". The upperclass cadets are the Klingons.

and

Tomorrow looks very similar to today. You'll notice many of the same activities as squadrons try to get everything finished off. This is the goal since Friday is mainly made up of briefings.

Also, part of Friday night is "Pack for AY Move"! That stands for Pack for Academic Year Move! Ta Da!!!!

Since they have their "Commandant's Luncheon" on Saturday and begin moving to their Academic Year squadron on Saturday afternoon, they need to start packing Friday night and finish packing Saturday morning.

WebGuy Note: Their Academic Year Squadron will be the squadron they move in to on Saturday and remain there through their fourthclass year. For example, Aggressors A-Flight will move to Squadron 1. Jaguars D-Flight will move to Squadron 40.

After their fourthclass year, they will move to a new squadron and likely stay there through graduation. For example, I was Jaguars B-Flight. I moved to Squadron 38. Then after the fourtclass year, I moved to Squadron 25 for the rest of my cadet time.

Also, there was a flyover by a parent of a current cadet! Here are a few pictures. Who knows if Nathan actually got to see it or not. I'm quite sure he would have wanted to :D

Thursday, July 29th

First to WebGuy:

Here is how the day is shaping up.

(1) It was sunny and hot this morning.

(2) it is lightly raining and hot in the afternoon.

Aggressors - Flight Drill/PFT/Room Set-up/Rank Issue

Barbarians - Flight Drill/PFT/Haircut/Cadet Store/Room Set-up

Cobras - PFT/Cadet Store/Reporting and Open Ranks Evaluation/Flight Drill Evaluation

Demons - PFT/Rank Issue/Flight Drill Evaluation/Flight Drill/Room Set-Up

Executioners - Flight Time/PFT/Room Set-up/Haircut/Reporting and Open Ranks Evaluation

Flying Tigers - Flight Time/PFT/Rank Issue/Haircut/Room Set-up

Guts - Flight Drill/Haircut/ PFT/Rank Issue

Hellcats - Flight Drill/Room Set-up/PFT/Cadet Store

Interceptors - Room Set-up/Haircut/Flight Drill Evaluation/PFT

Jaguars - Haircut/Room Set-up/PFT

This evening they will have dinner and then a heritage briefing before having hygiene time before bed.

The PFT is the Physical Fitness Test. How it differs from the other one, I'm not sure.

And here are a few pictures. The first one is back in Mitchell hall, the Academy's cafeteria. And it looks like Nathan actually has food in his mouth this time! ;-)

More drilling in Blues. Nathan is over the right shoulder of the guy in front.

Friday, July 30th

WebGuy said:

I just posted the schedule for today. You can see, it was not a very difficult day for them. Probably the toughest thing was keeping awake during so many briefings.

The last briefing of the day is about to end. After that, between now and TAPS it will be mosltly packing.

and the schedule:

0430 Reveille

0430 - 0700 Hygiene

0700 - 0800 Breakfast

0800 - 0930 Briefing in F-1 Auditorium

0930 - 1000 Transit to Arnold Hall

1000 - 1100 Honor Lesson

1100 - 1200 Transit

1200 - 1330 Lunch

1330 - 1400 Transit to Arnold Hall

1400 - 1500 Heritage Speaker

1500 - 1600 Transit

1600 - 1700 Personal Time/Optional Chapel

1700 - 1730 Transit

1730 - 1830 Dinner

1830 - 1930 Pack for Academic Year Move

1930 - 2000 Evening Brief

2000 - 2100 Hygiene Time

2100 TAPS

Back in ABU's today :P Nathan is just to the left of the guy with the blue hat (the guy with the blue hat is a cadre member - one of the ones that bosses the basics around.)
I think they're drilling. Not sure though. Also, I think the guy with the glasses is Bruton, Nathan's roommate. Not sure about that either.
Another Mitchell hall photo! How exciting! ;-)
The end for tonight.

Oh yeah, the IMPORTANT NOTE:

You will probably not hear from me again for about a week. Sorry about that, but I have a very good reason: WE'RE GOING TO SEE NATHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, we're going to watch the Acceptance Day parade, which is basically the basics graduation from BCT and which marks their official entrance into the Academy as cadets and no longer basics.
We will see Nathan on Wednesday. So once I do get back, I'll have lots of catching up to do from WebGuy, but I'll also have info straight from Nathan!

Okay, I'm about to fall asleep.....play the TAPS for Esther - goodnight :)

BCT Last Leg Days 1-3 (25th-27th)

Just text for tonight. I've got to get to bed and don't want to do pictures at the moment. I will get some pics up tomorrow.

Sunday, July 25th

Webinator said:

Well kids, I am going to call it a night. The day's activities for the Basics included Chapel time, a Briefing, flight drill, more flight drill, lessons in parade procedure, then Intramurals. I also posted today's schedule.

The most exciting part? The basics got their blues uniforms! They look so nice in them, and I would guess that Nathan is happy :)

Monday, July 26th

WebGuy:

well, this day is sure uneventful compared to the last two weeks. The schedule is composed of the following items:

(1) Flight Drill

(2) Room Inspection

(3) Training on Officer Development System (See below)

(4) Cadet Store (Only Flying Tigers and Guts)

(5) Training on Cadet Discipline System

(6) Room Set-up

That's the entire morning and afternoon. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

If anyone wants to read more on the Officer Development System, the Academy has some information on their site at http://www.usafa.edu/superintendent/xp/xpl/ODS.cfm

The basics also did intramurals that evening. Nathan is doing volleyball again.

Tuesday, July 27th

WebGuy:

As I mentioned, the morning was tied up with one big briefing. The afternoon had a number of activities, including some visits to the Cadet Store, classes on "Reporting and Open Ranks", and E-Mail dos and don't.

The thing that caught my eye on the schedule was "Rank Issue". They must be getting "issued" their fourthclass shoulder boards. These will be worn on their blue shirts once they are "Accepted" into the Cadet Wing on August 4th. Until then, they cannot be worn.

In the evening, the basics have an hour study block. This seemed odd until I looked at tomorrow's calendar. Tomorrow, they begin taking their Military Knowledge Test (MKT). This test will cover the fourthclass knowledge they were supposed to learn during BCT.

The briefing about email is called "email netiquette"! ;-)

Goodnight!! As I said, I will add pictures to this tomorrow. I'm just too tired right now.

7/30 update: Well, it's not tomorrow, but here are finally the pictures! The only ones I have are from the 26th - we didn't see any of Nathan from the 25th or 27th.

These first two are of his flight drilling in blues. Don't they look nice?????? :D

Nathan's in the center, 2nd row back.

below, Nathan is basically in the center of the picture. You see how flat and smooth his shirt is? I'm pretty sure that's from garters. Yep, he's an extra good "former" CAP cadet :D
Below is Nathan and some of his fellow basics sitting in a briefing - and Nathan actually looks like he might be having fun for once!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D
And an intramural shot...not very exciting, sorry!

Oh, and here's a link to a video of Nathan's group doing volleyball. He's in the background and doesn't do much other than rotate out...bu still :)

http://usafawebguy.com/blog/found-video-jaguars-vs-aggressors