Another aspect to look at here is that just because you would WANT to leave for home as early as you can, doesn't mean that is is always possible. Remember, the Air Force Academy is in Colorado, and scheduled flights (especially to the east) are not always convenient for the USAFA cadets. On your last day, you will be able to leave after LMD (Last Military Duty), which is often 3 PM (but not always). Your travel plans home must be submitted to your chain of command and approved. There are rules as far as how long after LMD that you are allowed to book flights out of the airports. Generally it has been 2 hours after LMD for COS airport, and 4 hours after LMD for Denver.
So, in this example, that means that you cannot book a flight leaving before 7 PM out of Denver. If you look at the airline schedules, there are very few flights leaving that late, and those that do will not get you into a hub airport early enough to get another night flight to your destination. So that means you will spend the night in Chicago, Minneapolis, or Dallas/Fort Worth, and then get an early morning flight to your home airport, and be home by 9 or 10 AM. On the other hand, if you sleep in your own bed at the Academy the first night, get up and catch a 7 AM flight out and make a connection, you can be home by noon without sleeping in an airport.
Also, you will find that you won't be able to book your flights very early because of unknown times and duties. Often when you do know enough to book a flight, there is even more limited availability of flights.
Personal opinion here: Parents: Let your cadet make his/her own travel arrangements. Too often I have heard of parents who book flights for their kids because they want to help, but don't understand the limitations and the uncertainties. Then, they end up paying for changes to the ticket, sometimes more than once, making the ticket very expensive.
The cadets at USAFA are in the best position to know what is happening, and how things work.
Stealth_81