I-Day

I just signed my commitment forms to go to the Academy this afternoon! But that poses a slight concern for the way my high school graduation and Inprocessing falls.

Our school district started a little later this year, meaning that we end a little later as well. As a result, graduation day falls on the 23 of June. And I-day is the 24 meaning that I will have to miss grad night and anything else occurring that night.

So my question is, when exactly do we have to be at the Academy for I-day? If they are taking care of your travel arrangements, will they have me fly in the night before, or the morning of? From my appointee packet I understand that we have to be on the campus no later than 1000.

Yes, you obviously have read it now that you have an appointment, but one needs to report between 7 and 10 like you said. With that said, I have known many people to fly in the morning of and even drive from Denver. I understand the situation that you are in, but don't expect much sleep if you choose that route. If you have enough time after graduation ends, I would try and fly out in the afternoon or evening so that you have some time when you get there. The academy has a program for Appointees that fly in the night before where families in town will host you for a night (my family has done it a couple times) and drive you to Doolittle the next morning. I hope I gave you a little more info, if you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

Later,

Brian

Being that most graduations occur in the morning or around noon, it is possible to catch a flight later in the day and arrive the night before like many others. I know it really sucks. You worked really hard to get to graduation day, and you don't get to spend it visiting friends and family. If graduation is later on, you might want to look to see if there are any red-eye flights that leave uber early and get you into Denver around 6am. There will be plenty of shuttles on that day to get you to the academy. Best of luck to you. Mike....

If you checked the box to have the Academy make your flight arrangements they will most likely fly you to COS on the 23rd; in all likelihood you'll miss your graduation. You'll need to work with the travel people to get a flight that works for you. Don't wait too long -- there will be 1000 cadets/family members flying into DEN/COS on the 23rd so the flights will be full. If you make your own arrangements you will only be reimbursed what the military would have paid for the flight -- which will be a lot less than what the flight cost you. But, I also know my son would NOT have wanted to fly in on his inprocessing day.
Also -- arriving at 10 am isn't the best either. The last guy who reported at 10am this year found himself alone on the bus, and alone on the footprints. Good luck.

I know of at least two kids who had to miss their graduations to make it to I-day. My graduation was the 21st, inprocessing was the 24th and I left on the morning of the 23rd. Its a close call for a few kids but normally school districts with work with it.

Yes the ticket the Academy sends to you will be the night before, and I highly recommend signing up for the b&b program. The people I stayed with later became my sponsor familiy. I also recommend trying to get to inprocessing somewhat early. Not too early, but early enough so that you have plenty of time to set up in your room and such that first night. I remember some people coming in really late, so they would get less sleep that first night.

I live in Denver, and traffic between Denver and the Springs is always awful. If you fly in on the morning of I-Day, expect the hour and a half drive between DIA and the North entrance to turn easily into a two to three hour drive. If your family drives you, deffinatly check traffic reports for the quickest way.

macdaddy said:

I live in Denver, and traffic between Denver and the Springs is always awful. If you fly in on the morning of I-Day, expect the hour and a half drive between DIA and the North entrance to turn easily into a two to three hour drive. If your family drives you, deffinatly check traffic reports for the quickest way.

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Dang Macdaddy; what part of Denver do you live in that gets you that much traffic? I live in Cheyenne (You know where that is). I go to the academy at least once a month to pick the boy up and bring him home for the weekend. (Fall, I'm down there every other week). I don't think it's ever taken me more than 2 hours 20 minutes from my home in cheyenne to the north gate. I think it was snowing that time. I definitely agree that there can be traffic and it should be taken into consideration. I think the worst time to drive through denver is about 8am. And considering from the airport would normally be a shuttle (Which doesn't go Mach-3 like I drive); it is possible that it could be a long drive. But they'll have the e-470 helping them out instead of driving down I-25 like I do. Definitely advise getting there earlier than later.

I live on the west side of Denver in Lakewood, where I-70 goes into the mountains. I don't see the traffic, but the radio is always updating the conditions. The 2-3 hour estimate is for rush hour. The reason it will take that long though is the fact that I-25 is the ONLY north south way into Denver. So people as far as Fort Collins and Colorado Springs are driving to work. If you go through the tech center, four out of five days theres an accident that will cause delay.

My advice would be to pay the toll for E-470, which starts the moment you get of DIA's property, and go around the city. I-225, which can also take you around, sees about the same delays as I-25 will. As you get near Colorado Springs on I-25, expect it to slow down, especially if you miss the North Gate and drive into the city for the South Gate.

So if you fly out on the 24th( aka my birthday) get to Denver early. But you shouold try to get out on the 23rd, see some of Denver, go into the mountains, and have fun with your family for one last day.

Christcorp, you must have been flying to get to the Springs. Im guessing 90 or so.

I thought I had a short summer! I graduated Sunday and the next Thursday reported to USMA for R-Day. My son will have about two weeks. Obviously there are others who are on a much tighter timeline. Great info. on the traffic. Thanks!

(Slightly unrelated)
Can anyone explain the random week-day traffic that occurs at 1630 between the North and South gates? That seriously added 30minutes to my driving time, one day!

Ever since they expanded I-25 it has been like that. Right at academy it turns into a bottle neck because you loose that lane. Like you said, typically starting at just before Interquest when everyone is going up North to get home.

Later,

Brian