The past 4 years at USAFA...

Wild Blue Yonder

10-Year Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
127
I haven't posted for a while but wanted to highlight a few unique opportunities my DS-2014 has had:

- Jumped out of a perfectly good plane, five times...
- Eaten bugs and wild rabbit in CST
- Traveled to Europe
- Personally met and eaten lunch with Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh
- Been "that guy" that will meet and greet you on your bus ride from Doolittle to Cadet area (you don't want to get sent back on the bus...)
- Run 5 marathons: Colorado, Boston, Marine Corp x 2, Pikes Peak
- Had one-on-one flight training with Lt. Gen Mike Gould, AFA Supt and Col. James Dutton, Space Shuttle pilot (put quite simply - "He is the Man")
- Became a certified SCUBA diver

All the opportunities are countless, make the most of them while you are there.
Good Luck to all of you 2018'ers, the next great "Red Tag Bastards" class.

PS: Parents, I HIGHLY recommend signing up for the AOG and Webguy.
 
Son graduated May 2013:

Things he got to do while getting a free education:

1. Freefall parachuting
2. Combat survival training
3. Language immersion in Chile
4. Flying gliders
5. Internship at U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica
6. Flying single engine airplanes
7. Semester exchange at Spain Air Force Academy (on the Mediterranean Sea)
8. B.S. in Snowskiing and Mountain Jeeping
9. Making lifelong friends
10. Getting a language minor
11. Riding in an F-16
12. Riding in a HH-60 helicopter
11. Getting selected for pilot training
12. Had a paying job the day of graduation

Pretty sweet - huh?
 
I haven't posted for a while but wanted to highlight a few unique opportunities my DS-2014 has had:

- Jumped out of a perfectly good plane, five times...
- Eaten bugs and wild rabbit in CST
- Traveled to Europe
- Personally met and eaten lunch with Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh
- Been "that guy" that will meet and greet you on your bus ride from Doolittle to Cadet area (you don't want to get sent back on the bus...)
- Run 5 marathons: Colorado, Boston, Marine Corp x 2, Pikes Peak
- Had one-on-one flight training with Lt. Gen Mike Gould, AFA Supt and Col. James Dutton, Space Shuttle pilot (put quite simply - "He is the Man")
- Became a certified SCUBA diver

All the opportunities are countless, make the most of them while you are there.
Good Luck to all of you 2018'ers, the next great "Red Tag Bastards" class.

PS: Parents, I HIGHLY recommend signing up for the AOG and Webguy.


Really great opportunities your son has experienced. I would want to be that upperclassman in the bus ride. Being able to meet the future and displaying proffesionalism and excellence to new basics would be an honor. Cant wait for the opportunities in USAFA. Thanks for sharing!
 
I haven't posted for a while but wanted to highlight a few unique opportunities my DS-2014 has had:



- Jumped out of a perfectly good plane, five times...

- Eaten bugs and wild rabbit in CST

- Traveled to Europe

- Personally met and eaten lunch with Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh

- Been "that guy" that will meet and greet you on your bus ride from Doolittle to Cadet area (you don't want to get sent back on the bus...)

- Run 5 marathons: Colorado, Boston, Marine Corp x 2, Pikes Peak

- Had one-on-one flight training with Lt. Gen Mike Gould, AFA Supt and Col. James Dutton, Space Shuttle pilot (put quite simply - "He is the Man")

- Became a certified SCUBA diver



All the opportunities are countless, make the most of them while you are there.

Good Luck to all of you 2018'ers, the next great "Red Tag Bastards" class.



PS: Parents, I HIGHLY recommend signing up for the AOG and Webguy.

can you elaborate on the red tag part please



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RTB

Red Tag Bastards (aka RTB) is a nickname used for every red-colored class year of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. Each class year is assigned one of four rotating colors – yellow, blue, silver, and red, in that order – to identify it, the new incoming class being assigned the color of the last graduating class. The "Red Tag" comes from the bright red "Remove Before Flight" tags hung from dysfunctional parts on grounded military aircraft. The epithet originated in 1962 as an insult, but it stuck nonetheless.
Each class as Basic Cadets during Basic Cadet Training sports their official color on their USAFA-issued lanyards, belts, and caps. The upperclassmen who train the Basic Cadets wear berets of their official class color during the Basic Cadet Training and during certain parades.
The official colors of USAFA are Air Force blue and silver. The first graduating Class of 1955 was given Air Force blue for its class color. The Class of 1956 was given silver (nominally gray). The third-ever incoming Class of 1957 from USAFA was designated the gold (or yellow) class. The first class of cadets to receive the "Red Tag Bastards" moniker was the Class of 1958. When the '58 cadets were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants and graduated as the outgoing class, the incoming Class of 1962 was rotated in with the color red. When the '62 cadets graduated, the incoming Class of 1966 was assigned the color red. Class of 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 are "Red Tag Bastards".
The coveted color among the cadets is Air Force blue, and it is referenced and reverenced in the traditional nickname for the Cadet Wing as "The Long Blue Line".
 
Red Tag Bastards (aka RTB) is a nickname used for every red-colored class year of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. Each class year is assigned one of four rotating colors – yellow, blue, silver, and red, in that order – to identify it, the new incoming class being assigned the color of the last graduating class. The "Red Tag" comes from the bright red "Remove Before Flight" tags hung from dysfunctional parts on grounded military aircraft. The epithet originated in 1962 as an insult, but it stuck nonetheless.
Each class as Basic Cadets during Basic Cadet Training sports their official color on their USAFA-issued lanyards, belts, and caps. The upperclassmen who train the Basic Cadets wear berets of their official class color during the Basic Cadet Training and during certain parades.
The official colors of USAFA are Air Force blue and silver. The first graduating Class of 1955 was given Air Force blue for its class color. The Class of 1956 was given silver (nominally gray). The third-ever incoming Class of 1957 from USAFA was designated the gold (or yellow) class. The first class of cadets to receive the "Red Tag Bastards" moniker was the Class of 1958. When the '58 cadets were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants and graduated as the outgoing class, the incoming Class of 1962 was rotated in with the color red. When the '62 cadets graduated, the incoming Class of 1966 was assigned the color red. Class of 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 are "Red Tag Bastards".
The coveted color among the cadets is Air Force blue, and it is referenced and reverenced in the traditional nickname for the Cadet Wing as "The Long Blue Line".
Um...close...
The wikipedia article you copied and pasted has multiple errors.

First off, the first graduating class was the Class of 1959.
The "Red Tag Bastards" were the class of 1962, and the nickname stuck.

Other details: BCT lanyard colors are for squadrons, not class color. There are no class colored berets, only ball caps. Nor are there class colored belts. The official Air Force colors are blue and yellow.

As far as "coveted" colors, only the red classes have a strong class-color tradition.
 
Red Tag Bastards (aka RTB) is a nickname used for every red-colored class year of cadets at the United States Air Force Academy. Each class year is assigned one of four rotating colors – yellow, blue, silver, and red, in that order – to identify it, the new incoming class being assigned the color of the last graduating class. The "Red Tag" comes from the bright red "Remove Before Flight" tags hung from dysfunctional parts on grounded military aircraft. The epithet originated in 1962 as an insult, but it stuck nonetheless.
Each class as Basic Cadets during Basic Cadet Training sports their official color on their USAFA-issued lanyards, belts, and caps. The upperclassmen who train the Basic Cadets wear berets of their official class color during the Basic Cadet Training and during certain parades.
The official colors of USAFA are Air Force blue and silver. The first graduating Class of 1955 was given Air Force blue for its class color. The Class of 1956 was given silver (nominally gray). The third-ever incoming Class of 1957 from USAFA was designated the gold (or yellow) class. The first class of cadets to receive the "Red Tag Bastards" moniker was the Class of 1958. When the '58 cadets were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants and graduated as the outgoing class, the incoming Class of 1962 was rotated in with the color red. When the '62 cadets graduated, the incoming Class of 1966 was assigned the color red. Class of 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 are "Red Tag Bastards".
The coveted color among the cadets is Air Force blue, and it is referenced and reverenced in the traditional nickname for the Cadet Wing as "The Long Blue Line".

How is it that the rotating colors are yellow, blue, silver and red when the classes began as blue(1955), silver(1956), yellow(1957) and red(1958)?

Not that it really matters, but unless I'm missing something (which I do often) it would seem based on the order it should be yellow, red, blue and silver..... :scratch:
 
Raimius: thanks for the update. It has been 4 "short" years since DS and our family met you briefly at an orientation dinner. Hope all is going well for you.

Comeback: Make the best of your time there, strive for the best and good luck.

Aggie: Just awesome!!! DS has F-16 ride at Luke this week if all goes well, Vance in the fall.
 
As far as "coveted" colors, only the red classes have a strong class-color tradition.

As an incoming red class member, how have the previous red classes had a strong class-color tradition?
 
YELLOW? :eek:

Make that GOLD!!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(A GOLD class!) :biggrin:
 
YELLOW? :eek:

Make that GOLD!!

Steve
USAFA ALO
USAFA '83
(A GOLD class!) :biggrin:

Well, there seems to be some back and forth between calling the USAF color "Air Force Yellow" and "Gold"
At least the "Ultramarine Blue" is fairly agreed upon.

As for class color, yeah, gold.
 
Well, there seems to be some back and forth between calling the USAF color "Air Force Yellow" and "Gold"
At least the "Ultramarine Blue" is fairly agreed upon.

As for class color, yeah, gold.

I always went with "Mustard." Looked like there were mustard fights when I looked at the comforters. :) ;) :big grin:

RTB classes tend to get in trouble..... true of 06 and 10. Wonder how 14 fared.
 
I always went with "Mustard." Looked like there were mustard fights when I looked at the comforters. :) ;) :big grin:

RTB classes tend to get in trouble..... true of 06 and 10. Wonder how 14 fared.


2010, never again :thumb:
 
DS has F-16 ride at Luke this week if all goes well, Vance in the fall.


WBY,

I am at Luke until Wednesday. Do you know which squadron he is going to fly with?

Stealth_81



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Stealth,

DS is with the 308th, one other cadet with the 309th. Flights are on Wednesday.


Bummer. My son is with the 310th. He won't be flying on Wednesday, anyway. All 3 squadron buildings are right together so if your son gets a chance tell him to stop in the 310th and say hi to "Booger".

Stealth_81


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