A Restricted Parent's Weekend?

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Osprey123

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We don't know if cadets will be still restricted to base on PW. We're trying to plan for the unknown. We've already canceled an expensive AirBnb. Trying to decide if siblings should start canceling their flights. Has this ever happened before? How did other families plan for the weekend when the cadets were restricted to base?
 
My very unofficial understanding is that leadership is meeting tonight to discuss restrictions. No clue what direction that will go, but it at least tells me they are considering options. My guess is recent uniform inspections and the SAMI this weekend will determine the outcome. With the amount of cleaning that's been going on, I have a feeling scores were very good overall, but I of course only know my cadet's score. And I've heard that at least one group met the 95%, 92% guidelines for uniform and hair standards last week. (Quite possible all groups have, I only heard about one specifically)

The uproar from parents would be so extreme if cadets are restricted over parents weekend. Can you imagine 4000+ parents trying to eat and visit with their cadet in Arnold Hall and the bowling alley all weekend long? It would be absolutely chaotic and give the Academy a very bad look, with possible media attention.

I will not be making any changes for parents weekend as we will go no matter what, and our Air bnb is no more expensive than a hotel room.
 
Even if the cadet wing is still restricted your cadet can still send up an ESSS for time to leave and see family.

Note about the restriction: we were informed we would have an update about the status of how much longer/where we were at as far as the cadet wing meeting requirements. This was to take place on the 16th. This unfortunately did not happen, that's life.

My commander has not sent down a recommendation to fill out an ESSS for parents weekend. If they do it will imply the wing will be still restricted, however, even for Commanders it is just a guess due to how recent communication have been within the wing (Commanders receiving less than a 48 hour notice on changes). I would recommend keeping plans as cadets can do an ESSS on our side of things.

Commanders = AOCs
 
USAFA will not restrict to base the entire Wing. The service academies might make threats, but they aren’t about to piss off an entire class of parents. Not to mention the economic impact on C Springs.

Things might happen at the individual level

They won’t cancel Christmas either
 
New sheriff in town is playing hardball, but no way parent's weekend gets tanked unless the trend goes backwards real bad.
 
See you all at the Football game!! Can’t wait. This will be our last PW for us and our Firstie, bittersweet, just yesterday he was a doolie, went by on the blink of an eye!!
 
I'm really hoping that they aren't going to be restricted for PW. My C4C hasn't told us about a possible cancelled parents weekend and I hope the administration communicates soon as we have spent thousands on flights and an AirBnB, not to mention this is our first parents weekend and we are all looking forward to the experience. I have to admit I try not to get worked up about situations until there is a known reason to worry but with all the negative Facebook posts yesterday about the academy not being able to feed the cadets adequately and morale being so low (as well as an interesting thread on this forum being deleted recently), I'm having to rein in the anxiety. My cadet has not complained and he hasn't voiced any challenges at all so far (we have had to pry information out of him because 1- he wants to handle all this on his own and 2- he doesn't want us to worry about him). He has however lost 23 lbs since his arrival as has his roommate. DS is very fortunate that his roommate is an IC and they can have a fridge in their room. I know the weight loss is normal for BCT but I'm looking forward to seeing if he as put any weight back on and asking him how the food situation really is. We will spend lots of time eating during parents weekend ( if it still happens) I'm sure! I know all of these challenges are part of the process and that they are meant to make them more effective leaders. I suppose we learn from all types of leadership styles. Learning what kind of leader you don't want to be is just as important as discovering the kind you do.
 
Supt talked today. His words, "Proud about the sami looking forward to continuing the standards" nothing about restrictions. He did talk about the food issue and getting that fixed, not how, just that he was working on it and I believe that fully. More rumors about ESSS but nothing confirmed. Hope for unrestriction for at least parents weekend is still somewhat strong within the wing. He is meeting with the Comm on Wednesday.
 
FlyFalcon said:
Supt talked today. His words, "Proud about the sami looking forward to continuing the standards" nothing about restrictions. He did talk about the food issue and getting that fixed, not how, just that he was working on it and I believe that fully. More rumors about ESSS but nothing confirmed. Hope for unrestriction for at least parents weekend is still somewhat strong within the wing. He is meeting with the Comm on Wednesday.
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My hope is the food staff aren't caught in the fallout. They bust their butts as it is and I'm sure they don't get paid enough for this mess.
 
snarfly said:
My hope is the food staff aren't caught in the fallout. They bust their butts as it is and I'm sure they don't get paid enough for this mess.
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We hope this as well, cadets want good food and enough food that's it. Mostly the enough food part. It's not Mitches workers fault they order 6 weeks in advance and didn't expect the whole wing to be restricted right out the gate
 
FlyFalcon said:
We hope this as well, cadets want good food and enough food that's it. Mostly the enough food part. It's not Mitches workers fault they order 6 weeks in advance and didn't expect the whole wing to be restricted right out the gate
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But that is leadership too. They have the right to make restrictions, but should foresee issues such as this. That's why they are in the position that they are in.
 
Qdog...I "get" what you're saying but look at the words:

"Morale is at an all-time low per my son and what other parents say they are hearing from their kids. I have no issue with toughness and standards but the decisions they are making don’t make sense and go against the type of things that, in my opinion, make the academy special. You can’t wear flight suits on Fridays? Can’t wear spirit patches? My son has been waiting for a long time to wear his CST patches."

Okay, what does this say? The decisions "they" are making don't make sense. To whom? To the cadets? At the risk of sounding callous, so what? A command isn't by fiat, you don't seek the approval of your people, you command. You listen to your staff, you observe the unit, but then you command. Clearly, the new Sup't didn't like what he saw. I know my four-page letter to Gen'l Clark, and my personal sit-down with the commandant didn't please them a bit about what my classmates and I saw, of the cadets during our reunion in September. The cadet wing members we saw, their appearance, and their discipline were a joke. My JROTC cadets were far better and they even asked me why OUR standards were higher.

"Can't wear flight suits on Fridays." So? Are ALL the cadets on flight status performing flying duties? I couldn't wear one unless I were doing precisely that (and I don't mean as a cadet, but as a career officer). "Can't wear spirit patches." Uh, what are those? I could only wear the patches authorized in AFI36-2903 on my flight suit, ABUs, OCPs, etc. Is the academy authorizing "non-standard patches" in violation of that AFI? If so, why?

It's never as easy or clear as it seems.

It "sounds" to me like things got very wrong...and now a tough old bird has arrived and is cleaning the nest. Once it's where it should be, I guarantee he'll throttle back. And then the cadets can earn those privileges back.
 
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