No more majors at USAFA?

F

Flies

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That's the rumor my cadet is telling me. Apparently the plan to get rid of civilians, get rid of majors, and focus more on training. Won't that affect accreditation? Mine wants to be a doctor and I'm afraid for them.
 
ZoomieFrom1994 said:
It is also on the alumni career and networking FB page. Here is one half of a screen shot:

View attachment 18349
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I've seen a lot of "reliable" sources slinging things online, much moreso than usual lately. Until I see legit info with actual names attached to this, I give it no credence. Hell I'll do one better and ask at the Appointee Tour next week for the heck of it.
 
I'll be quite honest. The more I read this the less validity I give it. I really don't. First, the odds of something being done at USAFA and not at the other Academies is extremely unlikely. And I've read things like this from "people in important positions" so very much recently. They all turn out to be garbage. I see no way this could be enacted with the flip of a switch without warning incoming cadets. I absolutely do not see that as a possibility.
 
To clarify, the SecAF select has said he would not pursue a reduction in force branch-wide. The Superintendent has said he would like to pursue a reduction in force -- only in DF. He would like the current 60/40 Military/Civilian split to be something closer to 80/20, replacing PhDs with master Captains. There would be approx. 110 civilians being fired at the strategy of "Last in, First out." He has even gone so far as to say he is okay with all cadets receiving a Bachelor of General Science. Moreover, he has said civilians are not capable of teaching military values, leadership, or ethics, and thus they should be replaced (see his Congressional hearings). This reduction would force entire departments to close and thus majors/minors to dissipate as many departments could not accommodate such a reduction given their heavy civilian dependence. This in turn has many domino effects, where AFSCs requiring specific degrees (Ops Research, Civil Eng, Developmental Eng, Physicist/Chemist, etc) are out of question, as well as any department based graduate school opportunities, (with the only remaining opportunities being Nat. Compettive Scholarships ex. Rhodes, Marshall). It would also transition your entire courseload to Gen Eds, all four years. There quite literally would be no in-depth electives.

Even after hearing many presentations and pleas why this was a bad idea he has said he will still pursue it. He has ignored all presentations of the downsides, negative effects, and has completely ignored his own staff and any DF members. The final approval will be the new Sec AF, once confirmed (who I am hoping will laugh in his face and tell him no.) The Dean has now held an emergency meeting with Departments heads, who are now holding emergency meetings with their respective departments to brief faculty and cadets on this information. A large number of uncommitted cadets are now pursuing or considering Form 34 options. For certain, this institution, and the Academic realm in particular, will not remotely look the same. My personal take is that any appointee or uncommitted cadet should approach with EXTREME CAUTION.

No, I am not joking, and this is as much as I am willing to speak of here with confidence. Please message me privately if you have questions.

**For more legimization, because some of you are skeptics I see... ask your cadet. Some teachers are asking and advocating cadets reach out to their congresspeople and parents as a last resort to save this sinking ship we find ourselves on**
 
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Minuteman03 said:
To clarify, the SecAF select has said he would not pursue a reduction in force branch-wide. The Superintendent has said he would like to pursue a reduction in force -- only in DF. He would like the current 60/40 Military/Civilian split to be something closer to 80/20, replacing PhDs with master Captains. There would be approx. 110 civilians being fired at the strategy of "Last in, First out." He has even gone so far as to say he is okay with all cadets receiving a Bachelor of General Science. Moreover, he has said civilians are not capable of teaching military values, leadership, or ethics, and thus they should be replaced (see his Congressional hearings). This reduction would force entire departments to close and thus majors/minors to dissipate as many departments could not accommodate such a reduction given their heavy civilian dependence. This in turn has many domino effects, where AFSCs requiring specific degrees (Ops Research, Civil Eng, Developmental Eng, Physicist/Chemist, etc) are out of question, as well as any department based graduate school opportunities, (with the only remaining opportunities being Nat. Compettive Scholarships ex. Rhodes, Marshall). It would also transition your entire courseload to Gen Eds, all four years. There quite literally would be no in-depth electives.

Even after hearing many presentations and pleas why this was a bad idea he has said he will still pursue it. The final approval will be the new Sec AF, once confirmed (who I am hoping will laugh in his face and tell him no.) The Dean has now held an emergency meeting with Departments heads, who are now holding emergency meetings with their respective departments to brief faculty and cadets on this information. A large number of uncommitted cadets are now pursuing or considering Form 34 options. For certain, this institution, and the Academic realm in particular, will not remotely look the same. My personal take is that any appointee or uncommitted cadet should approach with EXTREME CAUTION.

No, I am not joking, and this is as much as I am willing to speak of here with confidence. Please message me privately if you have questions.
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Thank you for posting this in depth analysis. Will definitely be asking regarding this next week in person. Still would be very surprised to see it go through.
 
romempire said:
and why is this being done?! This sounds particularly extreme and with little benefit to the academy
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Have you ever heard that phrase “throwing the baby out with the bath water”?

Or the phrase “you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette”?

In my opinion you need to go watch the Senate Hearings from last week with all 3 Superintendents:


There were a few questions in there directed at all 3 Supts about the civilian instructors they had the Service Academies.

There was at least one question directed at USAFA Supt. Lt. Gen Tony Bauernfein about the civilian instructor at USAFA who had been teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT). The one specific question was “Is she still employed at USAFA?”

At some other point, it was asked about being able to fire a civilian professor at a Service Academy. IIRC, the USNA Supt replied with something like “Yes, there is a legal/HR process for that.”

So my guess is to get rid of the one CRT teaching civilian instructor, they are just going to get rid of ALL the civilian instructors. The baby and the bath water.

As far as losing accreditation or losing academic majors, well, hey man, sometimes you gotta break a few eggs.

Basically, last week, the Senators “telegraphed” their-all’s intent by asking those civilian instructor questions.
 
JKHDelta said:
Thank you for posting this in depth analysis. Will definitely be asking regarding this next week in person. Still would be very surprised to see it go through.
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It is serious enough that senior leadership are now considering it a non-zero, and legitimate probability, prompting the emergency meetings. Again, we can hope the new SecAF tells him no, but only time will tell...
 
JKHDelta said:
Thank you for posting this in depth analysis. Will definitely be asking regarding this next week in person. Still would be very surprised to see it go through.
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Please share what you learn. I have heard some similar things but have not posted because I am not 100% sure.
 
Amandat said:
Why would any cadets stay if what they signed up for is suddenly completely different. Mine went in with educational goals that this does not align with at all. Stop the insanity.
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Let’s turn the clocks or calendars back to the summer of 1992 when it was announced that the USAFA classes of 1993, 1994, and 1995 were going to get screwed out of their UPT slots. Instead of say 650 to say 800 of my classmates going to UPT, only 225 were going to be selected.

The USAFA PTB were so geeked out about cadets:

A. Committing suicide over it
B. Not returning from summer leave

That they actually sent out telegrams to cadets while they were on summer leave.

Yeah, seriously, telegrams….in the summer of 1992.

Ssssoooo….turn calendars back even farther to say about 1989 or 1990….

Pre-internet…pre-email ….pre-smart phones, USAFA had to send out information via the mail. Yes, the “snail mail”. So one of the things they sent us was a course catalog. It was a book or booklet easily 8.5 by 11 and about a quarter inch to 3/8ths of an inch thick. In the back of the course catalog was a questions and answers section. This was one of the questions:

IMG_0347.jpeg

While not a legit, legal contract…..

Fast forward to early August 1992, I know of only one of my classmates…a squadron mate actually… who decided to quit USAFA. There might have been others who quit. I am not sure. And as far as I can recall, us 94’ers never did actually have to commit or re-commit at the start of our junior years.

Looking back know, hindsight being 20/20, HELL YEAH! a bunch of us 94’ers should have bailed.
 
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