Richey, academic year 2020-2021 was memorable for MMI. Besides instituting Covid protocols, MMI was hit by Hurricane Zeta. While the school weathered the storm with minor damage, the widespread power outage took out the local water system. It took almost a week for the city to restore water due to damaged equipment. Classes were closed at that time because of lack of water pressure. While the system was out bottled water was provided to all the students, and students who were within a day's drive were allowed to head home. Many students from out of the area also went home with them.
The school restarted in-person classes the next week with the water restored, though the city was flushing the system for several days to clear sediments. During that time bottled water was still provided for drinking and hygiene. Three weeks later we completed final exams and the students went home the weekend before Thanksgiving.
This is my twenty-fifth year teaching at MMI, and I can say I've never seen a confluence of events like that before. During that time there were executive level meetings each day as well as contact with city officials to make sure the cadets were cared for. For the most part the corps took the events in stride, working together to face common adversity. It certainly wasn't what they had signed up for, but many took it as a challenge to overcome.
Since then, the water pumping system has been overhauled, so it is not likely that such an event could repeat.
As far as the Air Force Academy, keep in touch with LTC Bowen. He can give you the information on what MMI does to help a student become more competitive. In addition, he can enroll in Air Force ROTC with our agreement with the University of Alabama. Should he not get into the academy, he'll have the first year of ROTC under his belt already.
Best of luck, and I hope it clarifies some things.