Please answer the Question
With all due respect Flieger 83, I don't think the question from Jerseymom has been fully answered (or did you mean that it has been answered somewhere in another thread?).
The question about the quality of the food ("How is the food, generally") seems to have been answered in that it is good but not great (some meals better and others) and they are allowed to eat it (some cadets even gain weight). The original poster also asked, however, what "eating at attention" entails and "when does eating at attention cease". I'm interested in the answers to these questions on several levels including being the parent of a 10th grader who is a member of a high school AFJROTC unit and who is interested in attending the AFA. We plan on an unofficial visit to the grounds of the AFA later this year.
Clearly, from my active duty military experience and probably from anyone else's "eating at attention" has nothing to do with the "military process of eating". From my experience at a service academy which once practiced the ritual of "eating at attention", Meant2b gave a pretty good description of the concept in general with "Means they have to sit absolutely rigid, can't talk to anyone, and had to divide the simple motion of taking food from their plates to their mouths into rigid movements. The purpose of this is for someone who has gone through it to explain... I am not qualified." I can add, having endured this practice as a cadet at West Point in the late 1970s, that it also included sitting one fist's distance away from the seatback. At that time, unlike Spud's take on the atmosphere at today's service academies ("The shortest description of the 4th class year is "harassment with a purpose" not hazing. Hazing is purposely degrading experiences found in frat houses and civilian colleges, not the service academies"), I experienced many appropriate lessons derived from the application of corrective discipline, but I also experienced plenty of hazing (harassment without a purpose other than to provide the hazer with gratuitous pleasure derived from demeaning and belittling others) especially during meals (with very little consumption of food). While I'm glad his experience at a service academy allowed for a very successful career (I'll spare you the details of my credentials) and gave him the fortitude to withstand the pontification of others, I'm surprised that the practice still exists at the AFA (does it really - I didn't see any post that gave a definitive answer as to whether "eating at attention" actually is practiced at the AFA during the first summer training period or how long this practice continues).
My class at West Point was thankfully the last that had to endure the practice of "eating at attention" during the entire first academic year. I can tell you that from the firsthand account of my DD who is a rising Firstie at West Point and was a squad leader last summer during "Beast Barracks", the practice of eating at attention is no longer practiced at West Point even during a cadet's first summer. New cadets are required to sit quietly using a normal seating posture and without exaggerated "rigid movements" and perform table duties while executing the primary function of sitting in the mess hall which is to eat. They are not to look around when eating but can ask the table commander questions. In turn, the table commander is to ensure that proper dining etiquette is followed but is not to require new cadets to follow exaggerated eating rituals (rigid movements), answer unrelated questions (recite "knowledge") or perform skits (in order to begin eating) like the "peanut butter and jelly dance" or, as in my day, salute and greet boxes of Captain Crunch. According to my DD, commissioned officers, during this initial period of training, are observing that upperclass cadets are allowing new cadets to perform the primary function of this activity which is to acquire sufficient nutrition to allow for the strenuous summer training. Upperclass cadets who do not follow this procedure are corrected by the commissioned officers.
I therefore respectfully request, from someone with current and firsthand knowledge, an answer to the question of whether "eating at attention (what does this actually mean)" is still practiced at the AFA and if so, how long does this practice continue into the academic year? In my opinion, "eating at attention" as I experienced it, is a practice devoid of useful training lessons, defeats the purpose of providing new cadets who are undergoing a strenuous training period needed nutrition, and lends itself to abuse (hazing).
It has been my experience on this forum that questions are usually asked and answered in a respectful and courteous manner, without judgmental and superfluous responses (maybe I'm guilty of violating the superfluous part as well, LOL). Through questions and answers, candidates (and their families) have gained tremendous insights into the process of attaining admission to a service academy and also navigating the process while there. So notwithstanding some postings which want to shoot down legitimate questions, keep the questions and answers coming.