Orientation Parent Report

Mikeandcris

Parents of 2014 Grad and F-15 Pilot
10-Year Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2009
Messages
366
It's the first day of Orientation for the 2014 class and I'm at the Academy Hotel after a long and interesting day. Here's some tips in a nutshell for those of you coming in the next couple weeks: Go to the dinner set up by bsaeagle on Sunday afternoon. That was a great start. Many of the parents later hung out in the hotel lobby while 15-20 orientees chatted around the jacuzzi. Get to breakfast early. At the Academy Hotel, there is a good sized crowd for breakfast by 6:45. Be ready to leave by 7:25. Our bus left the parking lot at 7:32am. There's no such thing as aloha time at the Academy. It goes without saying, but be ready to meet dozens of people from every corner of the US.
The first day is largely lectures and powerpoint presentations or "briefings" in the auditorium which cover many aspects of the Academy. All were interesting, but it does make for a long day. The students were split from the parents at 4:00pm. We returned to our hotel by bus around 5:00pm. Right now, it feels like the life has been sucked out of the hotel. Parents are tired and all those students are gone. By the way, there were about 213 orientees and 324 parents and a few grandparents and siblings (I may be off by a few.) About 80 orientees have not accepted yet.
Everyone is extremely friendly and there is a strong sense of community for cadets, parents, alums and sponsor families. Overall, this is a great experience. My son is now shadowing a cadet overnight and we'll meet sometime after lunch.
 
Mike, all good information and all true. A long tiring day for sure. It was enjoyable meeting you and several others. The Class of 2014 have some wonderful parents, excluding myself of course.:smile:
 
Thanks to you for posting orientation info. We are going to orientation next weekend. We are also from California. Are you taking the tour on Tuesday? Keep any info coming!!
 
Thanx for the post. We're coming to the third session and all hints & tips are welcome! :thumb:
 
Appointees: This will be your least tiring day at the Academy :wink:
 
Son really enjoyed night and day with the cadets -- classes were interesting and he saw a bball and football player he recognized from the season past -- he also enjoyed meeting his future classmates from around the country
 
I am just now getting on this after meeting the wonderful parents and future cadets of class of 2014 at the orientation dinner. I won't be able to be a "prolific" as my son, bsa07eagle, but will keep up with what is going on. I hope everyone really enjoyed the time, even with the crazy wind on Tuesday. Just think, we could have had a snowstorm. Hopefully the other orientation groups will miss the traditional April snowstorm we often get. Parents, let me know if you need any info or connections from Colorado Springs. I'm retired (Class of 87) and also used to teach at the AF Academy for 7 years (up until a couple years ago). So, know a little bit about the academic side of the Academy.
 
if you are going to wear AF stuff, please do it at Inprocessing :)
 
if you are going to wear AF stuff, please do it at Inprocessing :)

or a "train this" shirt. or superman. or NASA. they'll make sure that you get the respect you deserve. haha. really though, don't wear anything that stick out. polo with khaki shorts is perfect. :thumb:
 
GREAT Orientation experience

It's true. The orientation was very nice, if a bit long in the afternoon. There were numerous representatives from the Academy available - the AOG, the bank, folks for B&B assistance for cadets for night before in-processing ... but ...best of all was the opportunity to meet many appointees and their parents from all over the country ... and to realize that we're all in good company.

Suggest staying at the Best Western Academy Hotel ... nice hotel, nice pool, good restaurant with good breakfast ... as another poster mentioned, plan to get there early for breakfast because it's very busy. Thanks to all ... looking forward to Parent's weekend already!
 
Back as well after Delta opted to strand us overnight in Minneapolis. :unhappy:

We had a good time overall! My son ended up staying with a cadet from our city, who he then found out was in the same squadron as the cadet he stayed with last year on his candidate visit - also from our city and the brother of one of his soccer teammates. He had a lot of fun on the overnight part, and we had fun skiing beforehand and meeting up with a lot of the people from the boards.

The SAF dinner was awesome and a huge thanks from everyone to Brian for putting it all together. It was great to meet people - just wish they'd let us mingle a bit more and socialize - it seemed they wanted you to stay in your seats. Got to know the few people at my table but would have like to wander around some more.

I was surprised that my son had 2 candidates in the room he stayed in and not a lot of space. Other candidate got a cot, he got a mattress on the floor. Be prepared with a sleeping bag or whatever for either. Also, he did get the boot issue, but I was expecting them to fit and measure him and make sure what he got was right. Instead, they asked what size he wore and gave him those. Apparently it took a lot longer to get the boots than they'd anticipated and his cadet was in a hurry to get to class so he threw them on fast (said the cadet was :rolleyes: at him as he had trouble lacing them "correctly"), said they were fine and left. Guess we could have just ordered them online.

I agree that the afternoon went a bit long - especially the whole "counseling" part which I was totally losing focus during. Thought the MSGT in charge of Beast was the best speaker and enjoyed that whole segment. Also loved the video at the end of the day about I day - thought it was cool seeing the cadets/basics from I day and then seeing them later talking about it and how they'd felt.

I was surprised by all the new construction at USAFA - no one I talked to had been aware of that before orientation. Sounds like all kinds of cool stuff coming over the next few years! Questions were about what I expected - a few good ones, a lot of clueless ones - somewhat because a lot of the candidates had not yet accepted their appointments and thus didn't have the next appointee packet to answer all of them (things like "What immunizations will they need?"), and some pretty bad ones (yeah, I know, there's no such thing as a stupid question, but at least a couple were in my opinion).

One thing I was really hoping to find out was the day for Doolie Day Out (not DDI, which is July 10) and if it was possible for parents to come to that instead of (or in addition to) A day. They just really glossed over that and said the specific dates would be available later.

Glad to answer any specific questions!
 
Slightly off-topic question, but do any of you cadets know anything about Squadron 2 (Deuce)? I stayed with a couple cadets in that squadron during orientation this week and they said that every squadron is a little bit different. I was just wondering how other squadrons in the wing were different-- if at all.
 
Yes, every cadet squadron is a little different, some a lot different. The biggest disparity you guys will see next year is the training styles. Some, like my squadron did, will have swimming pool training sessions where people have fainted under water and getting concussions and a broken hand, while others simply expect you to go to the gym. Then there are some that have basic wakeups every week but never train that hard.

Regarding Doolie Day Out, parents will not be able to interact with basics. I believe only sponsor families are allowed.
 
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