Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

FReeper Canteen ~ Road Trip: United States Air Force Academy, Colorado ~ 30 JULY 2024
Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World!! | The Canteen Crew

Posted on 07/29/2024 6:00:02 PM PDT by laurenmarlowe

 
 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~

Road Trip: United States Air Force Academy, Colorado

COusafacademy2

The United States Air Force Academy is a military academy for officer cadets of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is the youngest of the five U.S. service academies, having graduated its first class 65 years ago in 1959. Graduates of the academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree and are commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Space Force.

COusafacademy1COusafacademy1COusafacademy1COusafacademy1COusafacademy1

COusafacademy6

Admission is extremely competitive, with nominations divided equally among Congressional districts. Recent incoming classes have had about 1,200 cadets; since 2012, around 20% of each incoming class does not graduate. During their tenure at the Academy, cadets receive tuition, room and board, and a monthly stipend all paid for by the Air Force.

On the first day of a cadet's second class year, cadets commit to serving a number of years as a commissioned officer in the Air Force or Space Force. Non-graduates after that point are expected to fulfill their obligations in enlisted service or pay back full tuition. The commitment is normally five years of active duty and three years in the reserves, although it has varied depending on the graduate's Air Force Specialty Code.

COusafacademy5

The program at the academy is guided by the Air Force's core values of "Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do", and based on four "pillars of excellence": military training, academics, athletics and character development. In addition to a rigorous military training regimen, cadets also take a broad academic course load with an extensive core curriculum in engineering, humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, military studies and physical education.

All cadets participate in either intercollegiate or intramural athletics, and a thorough character development and leadership curriculum provides cadets a basis for future officership. Each of the components of the program is intended to give cadets the skills and knowledge that they will need for success as officers.

COusafacademy4

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy graduated the Class of 2020 six weeks early. This was the first time that any USAFA class was ever commissioned early, and the first time for any military academy since World War II. This was also the first time that cadets commissioned into the U.S. Space Force, with General Jay Raymond administering the oath of office to 86 graduates.

COusafacademy3

Learn More About The United States Air Force Academy HERE!!

COusafacademy1COusafacademy1COusafacademy1COusafacademy1COusafacademy1

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Free Republic
KEYWORDS: canteen; colorado; coloradosprings; troopsupport; usaf; usafacademy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last
To: Kathy in Alaska
dog-write

Music-Notes

~ Evening All!* ~

dog thankyou 1

Hugs2 You 1 zps9409c58b

Hai_Kathy-vi_zps57be83d2
dog-welcome-1 ~

funny picdump 491 640 40

Cessna

~ Welcome To My World ~

My_World

dancingfrog

No Friday

I’m Down There Somewhere

Holiday-Traffic

21 posted on 07/29/2024 8:10:59 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Am Yisrael Chai ~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: lightman

My parents took us down right after it opened. Drives down to Colorado Springs were a great trip, so stopping to see the academy was extra.

Beautiful land and academy design.


22 posted on 07/29/2024 8:57:15 PM PDT by doorgunner69 (I don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. i don't think he knows what he said either)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe

Evening, Lauren, Kathy. Army pics so uplifting.


23 posted on 07/29/2024 9:01:10 PM PDT by MoochPooch (I'm a compassionate cynic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: doorgunner69

Actually go there twice, in ‘84 again in ‘86;

Loved the “Garden of the Gods” so much from the first visit (’84) that we drove the long, boring length of Kansas on I=70for a return visit two year later.

If I were forced to relocate somewhere in the CONUS it would be to the “Four Corners” region.


24 posted on 07/29/2024 9:02:33 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe

25 posted on 07/29/2024 9:04:22 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe; radu; Kathy in Alaska; luvie; beachn4fun; All
A very pleasant good Tuesday morning and ((HUGS)) to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country and thanks Lauren for this morning's thread.

We did an early trip to the lake yesterday and we'll do another one today due to Heat Advisory. Yesterday at Comanche Lake:

How's everyone doing this morning?

26 posted on 07/29/2024 10:34:14 PM PDT by E.G.C.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe; radu; Kathy in Alaska; luvie; beachn4fun; All
A very pleasant good Tuesday morning and ((HUGS)) to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country and thanks Lauren for this morning's thread.

We did an early trip to the lake yesterday and we'll do another one today due to Heat Advisory. Yesterday at Comanche Lake:

How's everyone doing this morning?

27 posted on 07/29/2024 10:34:14 PM PDT by E.G.C.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lightman

” the “Four Corners” region”

Revisiting the Mesa Verde National Park is on my bucket list.
Been over 60 years.

Just now getting around to getting back to the Grand Canyon and later Monument Valley.

So much of the four corners area has stupendous things to see.
Kind of cold in the winter for us around there.


28 posted on 07/29/2024 11:15:37 PM PDT by doorgunner69 (I don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. i don't think he knows what he said either)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe

So the statement on the top picture is what they replaced “BRING ME MEN” with. Not as bad as it could be but it still resembles something one might see on a Heating/AC Repair companies’ adverting brochure.


29 posted on 07/30/2024 1:24:53 AM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult (“History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes” - Possibly Mark Twain.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hillarys Gate Cult

Should’ve never gotten rid of “Bring Me Men”.


30 posted on 07/30/2024 10:35:09 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe; y'all; Kathy in Alaska; radu; E.G.C.; beachn4fun; GodBlessUSA; ...

HowdyHowdy, Early Birds!
What a great Road Trip this is!
Who doesn't want to be in CO in the summer. :)
Thanks, lauren, for your hard work.
Hope all y'all have a Terrific Tuesday!
It's heating up here.
(((hugs)))

31 posted on 07/30/2024 11:03:11 AM PDT by luvie (🇺🇸The bravery/dedication of our troops keeping us safe & free make me proud to be an American.🇺🇸)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe

‘72 Best in Blue


32 posted on 07/30/2024 2:21:32 PM PDT by Nabber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: laurenmarlowe

Sometimes the story behind the myth is better and the beauty isn’t in the structure.

Perhaps it was the way he carried himself in an unassuming and humble manner, but day after day hundreds of Air Force Academy cadets would pass this janitor in the hall oblivious to the greatness that was among them.

In the mid-1970s, William Crawford might spend one day sweeping the halls and another cleaning the bathrooms, but it was a day approximately 30 years prior that would create for him a special place in the history of United States. In 1943 in Italy, the only thing Private William Crawford was cleaning out was German machine gun nest and bunkers.

Under heavy fire and at great risk to himself, his gallantry was so audacious that it earned him the Medal of Honor and the respect of any man who witnessed his actions. And yet, for the cadets at the Air Force Academy, it would take a student’s study of the Allied campaign in Italy to realize who it was that walked among them. Once the cadets realized the humble janitor was a recipient of the nation’s highest military honor, they would never be able to look at him the same and the secret was out.

William Crawford was born in 1918 in Pueblo, Colorado. For Crawford, he would always call the state of Colorado home despite serving a long career in the military where he was assigned to various duty stations. It was after retiring from the Army that he returned to Colorado and took up his job as a janitor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

The cadets would report that the shy janitor they only knew as Mr. Crawford simply blended into the background as he did his job without much fanfare. However, when one of the cadets began reading a book detailing the Allied advance through Italy he came upon the story of a medal of honor recipient named William Crawford.

Talking to his roommate, Cadet James Moschgat, Class of ’77 made the connection and said: said, “Holy cow, you’re not going to believe this, but I think our janitor is a Medal of Honor [recipient].” The next day, the cadet took the book to Crawford and simply asked if this was him.

Perhaps weighing whether it was worth it to expose his gallantry, Crawford stared at the book for a while then simply said, “That was a long time ago and one day in my life.” He would then be taken back to that fateful day in Italy and recount the story as only the man who lived it could do. By September 1943, the Allies were pushing through southern Italy slugging it out with a resilient German army. For Crawford and the 36th infantry division, that would place them near Altavilla Silentina with orders to take Hill 424.

On that day, Company I was assaulting enemy positions on the hill when the entire company was pinned down by intense machine-guns fire and mortars. Serving as the squad scout for third platoon, Private Crawford was near the front of this assault and located the first of the gun positions wreaking havoc on the company.

Without orders, he took it upon himself to eliminate the threat single-handedly. Under heavy fire, he crawled forward to within a few yards of the gun and placement and lobbed a grenade directly on top of the three defenders.

Meanwhile, the rest of the company finally made it to the crest of the hill when they were again coming under fire from two more machine gun nests entrenched in a higher ridge. Again on his own initiative, Crawford set out to destroy the threat. Crawling under the storm of bullets, Crawford came upon the first machine gun nest and with perfect accuracy once again landed a grenade right in their lap. Moving on to the second gun, he was able to take it out of action causing the rest of the defenders to flee as they opted not to stick around for a visit from the man they had just watched single-handedly destroy three entrenched positions.

Thanks to Crawford’s gallant actions, Hill 424 was successfully overtaken and the Allied advance continued. Unfortunately for Crawford, his position at the front of the assault would eventually lead to his capture by the Germans during the chaos of the battle. The rest of the company had believed Crawford was killed in action as reports of his gallantry advanced up the chain of command. And for his actions that day in Italy, William Crawford was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, but that is not where the story would end.

In 1944, the medal was presented to his father who accepted it on behalf of his son he presumed to have died in combat. But later in 1944 when a group of soldiers was rescued from German captivity, it turned out William Crawford was among them, oblivious to the fact that he was now the recipient of the nation’s highest military honor. Crawford would continue to serve in the military after World War II and retired in 1967 at the rank of Master Sergeant. After his distinguished and yet humble career in the military, this unassuming man would take a job as a janitor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

It was here in 1976 that the truth would come out, and future Air Force officers would get a lesson in both gallantry and incredible humility. As the cadets looked to their janitor with a newfound respect, they would eventually coax the painfully shy man into speaking about his experience to the next generation of leaders. In one exchange, Crawford related the point that he never personally received his Medal of Honor with any ceremony due to his captivity and presumed death. The students and staff of the Air Force Academy would remember this fact and see to it that he had his day.

In 1984 when Pres. Ronald Reagan came to speak at that year’s graduation ceremony; they had arranged for their gallant janitor to finally stand face-to-face with the President of the United States and receive his due commendation.

William Crawford died at the age of 81 in the year 2000 at his home in Colorado. And although Crawford was a veteran of the Army, he would become the only non-U.S. Air Force enlisted person buried at the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery in Colorado Springs. The cadets regarded him as one of their own and gave him all the respect such a man deserved.

We live in the business with an understanding far beyond the civilian world. And we are all brothers and sisters within it.

wy69


33 posted on 07/31/2024 9:38:30 AM PDT by whitney69
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson