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.