Cadets instructed by USAFA leadership not to use words like "Mom" and "Dad"

[Falcon74]

When young men and women choose to attend the USAF Academy, they don't expect to be indoctrinated in left-wing politics. All of our service academies need to be APOLITICAL - as required by federal law.

 

[justdoit19]

Lolllll…..I thought this was going to speak to the fact that “you are independent adults now. Stop calling mommy and daddy” . Cut the umbilical cord.

 

[somuchbetterthanme]

I agree completely. This is ridiculous. The reputation of the USAFA is losing much respect . This is no longer the institution that commanded the respect of America. It is turning into just another liberal college right before our eyes. What a shame. We need to stop passively going along with this way of thinking.

 

[Falcon74]

Lolllll…..I thought this was going to speak to the fact that “you are independent adults now. Stop calling mommy and daddy” . Cut the umbilical cord.

I think that you may be missing the point. This national news item this morning isn't about cutting cords; it is about replacing the words Mom and Dad with Guardian or Caregiver to be politically correct. I think that Academy leadership needs a refresher course in Federal Law to include the Constitution's First Amendment regarding free speech!

 

[dddad]

All of our service academies need to be APOLITICAL - as required by federal law.

Seemed worth repeating.

 

[Wristdoc]

Lead story on Fox…horrible optics. My phone has been blowing up this morning from concerned friends as they know my son is a Doolie.

I’m ok with being sensitive to others, but don’t tell my kid that he shouldn’t call me “dad.”

 

[CatDog99]

Guess we can just call everyone "Comrade"

Air Force Academy diversity training tells cadets to use words that 'include all genders,' drop 'mom and dad'

A diversity and inclusion training by the United States Air Force Academy tells cadets to stop using gendered language like "mom and dad" and "boyfriend and girlfriend."

www.foxnews.com

 

[CatDog99]

I think that you may be missing the point. This national news item this morning isn't about cutting cords; it is about replacing the words Mom and Dad with Guardian or Caregiver to be politically correct. I think that Academy leadership needs a refresher course in Federal Law to include the Constitution's First Amendment regarding free speech!

You are absolutely correct. I have to believe the USAFA knows that government cannot compel speech (in 99.9% of cases). They are likely hoping that no one will complain.

 

[CatDog99]

Speech on Campus

www.aclu.org

 

[FutureAcademyDad?]

Lol, the same people who are so outraged about DEI would also have been outraged about desegregation of the military and allowing women in combat roles and in the SAs.

The whole anti-woke, anti-CRT, anti-BLM hysteria is nothing but reactionary deflection.

Give it a rest.

 

[Falcon74]

Do we still wonder why applications were down over 27% for the Class of 2026? I suspect that many Cadets are privately laughing at the training and "playing the game". The game consists of attending (military obligation) and ignoring (pretending to be attentive?) the mandatory training.

 

[Bigrod]

Our military and SA are supposed to be Apolitical but you can tell from this article the military is going woke. Gen Milley seems to be at the top of many of the problems along with the left telling the kids to not call someone mom or dad. I got news for you everyone in the world has a mom or dad so keep this woke **** to yourselves. I can’t wait till November, remember to vote.

 

[somuchbetterthanme]

Lol, the same people who are so outraged about DEI would also have been outraged about desegregation of the military and allowing women in combat roles and in the SAs.

The whole anti-woke, anti-CRT, anti-BLM hysteria is nothing but reactionary deflection.

Give it a rest.

ummm no... you cant give it a rest. Every value that America has been built upon is being dismantled little by little. Now the core of the family is being dismantled by slowly normalizing what is not normal. Wake up.

 

[somuchbetterthanme]

Do we still wonder why applications were down over 27% for the Class of 2026? I suspect that many Cadets are privately laughing at the training and "playing the game". The game consists of attending (military obligation) and ignoring (pretending to be attentive?) the mandatory training.

Hopefully they are " playing the game". But the cadets are vulnerable ( due to being exhausted, nervous, broken down etc.) and could be an easy target for indoctrination.

 

[FlyFalcon]

Um some context real quick. That slide show they referred to was part of a 40 part slide show..... I only recognize it by the format not even by the content. We were briefed over a 30ish min time span. I really don't remember that slide and we take tests over this kind of stuff.

Yes our D&I people do watch what they say when they present. For example someone apologized for saying guys the other day ( no one cared). However I was shocked as you to see that slide. Why? Uh because it wasn't slammed down out throats like everyone is worried about. Heck the other doolies blowing up my phone were confused as I. Most of us don't remember that slide because it was a long brief in a short amount of time. Some squadrons who briefed it didn't even get to that slide. They were allowed to pick and choose how the lesson was explained.

Also that lesson was a few lessons in one about character, so that slide was just a small aspect of being a leader of character ( my squadron covered the process of making decisions based on personal and operational values, how it's not always clear cut. Then went into situations with our honor personal who cover situations that Included debating morale vs the mission, respect vs integrity etc)

Side note...we talked about discrimination in law class. We were debating is discrimination a good thing both positive and negative discrimination. So for example is it right to give one side more help for past cases ( positive discrimination) or the fact that college admins discriminates against this with lower test scores ( because they want the best applicants).

Then the first amendment was cover yesterday. Wish more people had to take specificly that lesson in USA. I enjoy it because we cover what the law says and we debate every. Single. Class. Only time the teachers pop in is if we say something about the law that's wrong ( even that we can debate about!). Or to move the lesson along we debate alot between the 14 of us and it's always respectful even if we don't agree. Love it

Point is we can worried about what the news says but please keep in mind context. Debates are critical to democracy ( yep we also went over this with free speech), so I enjoy reading these threads but cadets here may just be as confused as everyone else about what the news is supposedly reporting.

Just my two cents as someone who is a doolie in this environment

 

[2025 hopeful]

Well, I looked at the post and the Fox News report and saw the slides reported. Maybe I'm reading it incorrectly, but the way I took the slide meant to recognize that people come from different backgrounds. I don't think it was necessarily saying don't call them mom or dad, but there may be cadets around you that have parents or grandparents that raised them that are different than the traditional "mom and dad" family.

I do believe there is value in recognizing we are not all the same (gender, culture, beliefs, etc...) and that more solutions are solved in an organization when there are more voices at the table that are not the all the same.

 

[unkown1961]

This has nothing to do with telling cadets how to refer to their own mom or dad. The slide was about terms to use when referring to individuals one may not know - using terms like parents or caregiver is a smart choice as opposed to automatically referring to an older gentleman hanging out with a cadet as "dad" or referring to a same sex parent couple as "mom and mom."
And as for this being the reason that applications are down, do we really think applicants are even aware of inaccurate Fox news reports?

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

“Lead story on Fox”

Yes one slide , out of many slides , a slide the students do not even remember , became a gift of a giant gold mine for a network that wanted an anti woke story like this.

One forgotten slide , among many other slides, provides several days of anti woke. A gift from the gods.

Just think of the angst and lead stories that integration of our armed services would have provided back in the day. Or woman in our SAs.

 

[flieger83]

“Lead story on Fox”

Yes one slide , out of many slides , a slide the students do not even remember , became a gift of a giant gold mine for a network that wanted an anti woke story like this.

One forgotten slide , among many other slides, provides several days of anti woke. A gift from the gods.

Just think of the angst and lead stories that integration of our armed services would have provided back in the day. Or woman in our SAs.

Actually, a lot more slides were shown in the actual article.

Disturbing? Depends upon your point of view, I suppose. Indicative of USAFA/USAF today? Yes, absolutely. I hear it from faculty members, grads, and cadets I helped get to USAFA.

I'm going to see where this goes.

And re: women in our SAs...I remember those headlines/debates well.

 

[Falcon74]

Um some context real quick. That slide show they referred to was part of a 40 part slide show..... I only recognize it by the format not even by the content. We were briefed over a 30ish min time span. I really don't remember that slide and we take tests over this kind of stuff.

Yes our D&I people do watch what they say when they present. For example someone apologized for saying guys the other day ( no one cared). However I was shocked as you to see that slide. Why? Uh because it wasn't slammed down out throats like everyone is worried about. Heck the other doolies blowing up my phone were confused as I. Most of us don't remember that slide because it was a long brief in a short amount of time. Some squadrons who briefed it didn't even get to that slide. They were allowed to pick and choose how the lesson was explained.

Also that lesson was a few lessons in one about character, so that slide was just a small aspect of being a leader of character ( my squadron covered the process of making decisions based on personal and operational values, how it's not always clear cut. Then went into situations with our honor personal who cover situations that Included debating morale vs the mission, respect vs integrity etc)

Side note...we talked about discrimination in law class. We were debating is discrimination a good thing both positive and negative discrimination. So for example is it right to give one side more help for past cases ( positive discrimination) or the fact that college admins discriminates against this with lower test scores ( because they want the best applicants).

Then the first amendment was cover yesterday. Wish more people had to take specificly that lesson in USA. I enjoy it because we cover what the law says and we debate every. Single. Class. Only time the teachers pop in is if we say something about the law that's wrong ( even that we can debate about!). Or to move the lesson along we debate alot between the 14 of us and it's always respectful even if we don't agree. Love it

Point is we can worried about what the news says but please keep in mind context. Debates are critical to democracy ( yep we also went over this with free speech), so I enjoy reading these threads but cadets here may just be as confused as everyone else about what the news is supposedly reporting.

Just my two cents as someone who is a doolie in this environment

I encourage discussion - especially when all views are allowed and everyone is encouraged to speak. I like the fact that your instructor acted like a moderator and not a dictator. Full disclosure - I am a prior USAFA faculty member.