Church Attendance for Doolies

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Vintner101

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My DS did not receive a sponsor family, but has asked a local family we know to sponsor him. I do not believe a sponsor pass has been issued yet. My question: can this family or another pick up our son to take him and a fellow cadet to church the Sunday after Acceptance Day, or is a sponsor pass required?

My wife and I will probably not be able to attend A-day, and we would love for him to get off base with family friends to worship. With the chapel closed, I dm hoping this option is open, and if I can come, that I can take him that Sunday.

Any insight or advice is much appreciated!
 
I have no insight or expertise on this matter, so I am going against my own personal rules for responding. However, I feel this is such an important questions, I wanted to give it some oxygen. I would want the same for my child.

First, I have done extensive study into how USAFA and USNA view and support religious freedom. I have more practical experience with USNA at this time. I can not speak to first hand experience at USAFA, but I can at USNA (truly second hand, since it's DD living it).

Every effort is given to make certain Mids/Cadets have access to transportation and are given every opportunity to get the church, temple, etc of their choosing. This is not only an effort by the academies, but also with the local churches, temples etc. Again, I can't speak for certainty at USAFA, but my guess is there are worship opportunities outside the chapel (since it's under construction) on campus no matter his/her religion.

I hope this helps getting someone with first hand knowledge to respond and give insight. I also hope your DS gets the spiritual outlet he needs. Best!
 
This is a topic very near to my heart also. Our granddaughter is currently a basic cadet at USAFA. I do know that my daughter-in-law showed me a video of a well-attended worship service the second week of BCT that she had found on the parents' Facebook group. As a grandparent, I am out of the loop where information is concerned and have to search for it wherever I can, so I appreciate anything that is shared here.
 
I cannot speak to how it will be this year during Acceptance day weekend since my daughter just finished her first year and everything was shut down for much of last year. She did get a sponsor family but they chose not to allow her to come over at all last year due to the concern of COVID. Regarding access to church during the year she joined several small faith base groups at the USAFA and found it pretty easy to get rides to off base church during the year. She also enjoyed going to the different services on base with the friends she made during the year.
 
C4C’s won’t be allowed off base (for sponsor passes or any other reason) until Parent’s Weekend aside from Doolie Day Out. Even though the chapel is closed the on-base services are still running. Base Chaplains are a good option to get an exception granted but that is usually only if the particular service is not performed at USAFA.

Once Parent’s Weekend hits they’ll likely have sponsor passes every Sunday.
 
For what its worth, when I was a doolie my AOC signed a SSS for me to attend church services off base. At that time the Rockrimmon Campus of Woodmen Valley Chapel had a shuttle that would pick cadets up at Arnold Hall for church then drop them back off afterwards. The SSS allowed me to use the shuttle to attend without using a pass to go. No idea if the shuttle still runs or if an AOC would still allow this, but its always worth asking.

I would also suggest getting plugged into a SPIRE program. They'll probably meet some older cadets there that won't mind giving them a ride to church off base if shuttles are no longer an option.
 
Starting August 2nd, anyone will be able to get on base, even without a sponsor pass, so your sponsor (official or not) will be able to get on base. But doolies will not be able to leave until after parents weekend. After that, they should be just fine to go off base with their sponsors to go to church. According to the cadet standards, all C4C's have free passes on Sundays that they can use to do whatever they want, so they'll be able to go to church with their sponsers.
 
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