Skies to Conquer

Diana Jean Schemo

Description

A former New York Times reporter's year behind the scenes at the scandal-ridden Air Force Academy

Diana Jean Schemo covered the Air Force Academy's sexual assault scandal in 2003, one of a series of academy embarrassments that have included drug use, rape complaints, and charges of evangelical officers pushing Christianity on cadets of all faiths. Today, the institution is in flux—a fascinating time to look at the changes being made and the experience of today's cadets.

Schemo followed a handful of academy cadets through the school year. From the admissions process and punishing weeks of basic training to graduation, she shares the triumphs and tribulations of the cadets and the struggle of the academy's leaders to set their embattled alma mater on a straighter path.

• Follows cadets in all grades, with insights on day-to-day academy life and training
• Written by a veteran reporter, two-time foreign correspondent and Pulitzer Prize nominee, with excellent contacts at the academy
• Includes 38 black-and-white photographs

Like David Lipsky's successful Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point, this book offers a fascinating window on the training of our military today. But Schemo's book updates the story: the seniors were the first class to sign up after the attacks of 9/11, and the road to graduation, this time, leads to an America at war.
Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

Part One ON THE HILL.

1 Light Travelers.

2 Th e Ordeal of a Meal.

3 In the Running.

4 A New Road Map.

5 Broken but Still Standing.

6 Th e Meaning of Knowledge.

7 Th e Long Jump.

8 Th e Seesaw.

Part Two SECOND BEAST.

9 Into the Beast.

10 Of Love and Demons.

11 The Family Line.

Part Three JOINING THE FOLD.

12 Surviving Second Beast.

13 Parting the River.

14 Bernard’s Knock.

15 Meeker’s Fall.

16 Back from the Pit.

17 Barrett’s Roar.

18 Wars Distant and Near.

19 (Almost) All Roads Lead to Jesus.

20 No Excuses.

Part Four THE DARK AGES.

21 Flyboy.

22 Reaching High and Scaling Back.

23 Running Man.

24 Taylor’s Walk.

25 The Four-Dig Slide.

26 Of Love and Pain.

Part Five INTO THE LIGHT.

27 On the Runway.

28 Doolies Rising.

29 Harrison’s Moment.

30 Closing the Circle.

31 Th e Beast Rears Again.

32 Urban's Honor.

33 Human Once More.

34 Hearing the Silence.

35 Taking Off.

Epilogue.

Index.

Sujets

• Biography
• Military
• Politics of the United States
• The New York Times
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 26 mars 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470588345
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents
 
Title Page
Dedication
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
Introduction
 
Part One - ON THE HILL
 
Chapter 1 - Light Travelers
Chapter 2 - The Ordeal of a Meal
Chapter 3 - In the Running
Chapter 4 - A New Road Map
Chapter 5 - Broken but Still Standing
Chapter 6 - The Meaning of Knowledge
Chapter 7 - The Long Jump
Chapter 8 - The Seesaw
 
Part Two - SECOND BEAST
Chapter 9 - Into the Beast
Chapter 10 - Of Love and Demons
Chapter 11 - The Family Line
 
Part Three - JOINING THE FOLD
Chapter 12 - Surviving Second Beast
Chapter 13 - Parting the River
Chapter 14 - Bernard’s Knock
Chapter 15 - Meeker’s Fall
Chapter 16 - Back from the Pit
Chapter 17 - Barrett’s Roar
Chapter 18 - Wars Distant and Near
Chapter 19 - (Almost) All Roads Lead to Jesus
Chapter 20 - No Excuses
 
Part Four - THE DARK AGES
Chapter 21 - Flyboy
Chapter 22 - Reaching High and Scaling Back
Chapter 23 - Running Man
Chapter 24 - Taylor’s Walk
Chapter 25 - The Four-Dig Slide
Chapter 26 - Of Love and Pain
 
Part Five - INTO THE LIGHT
Chapter 27 - On the Runway
Chapter 28 - Doolies Rising
Chapter 29 - Harrison’s Moment
Chapter 30 - Closing the Circle
Chapter 31 - The Beast Rears Again
Chapter 32 - Urban’s Honor
Chapter 33 - Human Once More
Chapter 34 - Hearing the Silence
Chapter 35 - Taking Off
 
Epilogue
Index

To the Air Force Academy Classes of 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, without whose sweat and struggle, insight and, above all, trust, this book would not exist
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2010 by Diana Jean Schemo. All rights reserved All photos © Diana Jean Schemo
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Schemo, Diana, date.
Skies to conquer: a year inside the Air Force Academy/Diana Schemo.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN : 978-0-470-58834-5
1. United States Air Force Academy. I. Title. UG638.5.P1S34 2009
358.40071’173—dc22
2009034192
Acknowledgments
In tracking a year in the life of the U.S. Air Force Academy, it became clear, almost instantly, that much of what the training cadets go through is aimed at teaching them that nobody succeeds entirely on his or her own. The same is true for this book. In writing it over the course of several years, I have relied on the patience, understanding, insight, and support of many, to whom I owe deep and abiding gratitude. When I first wrote about the academy, Doug Corcoran, who became my agent, sought me out and helped to develop and refine the proposal for a fuller, more penetrating, look inside the academy’s walls. As investigative editor at the New York Times , Doug Frantz first drew me into writing about the academy, and he continued to offer invaluable counsel well after we’d both moved on. Stephen Power, my editor at John Wiley & Sons, offered patience and encouragement, along with unfailingly sound editorial advice. Rachel Meyers endured “just one last change” countless times, and always with a friendly word. Alison Mitchell and Suzanne Spector, my former editors at the Times , were kind in accommodating my absences as I journeyed to Colorado Springs.
At the academy, I owe my thanks, first and foremost, to the cadets who opened their world to me and trusted me with their stories, unwittingly signing on for endless queries that followed them across the globe, which they endured with remarkable grace. They include Miles-Tyson Blocker, Elizabeth Simpson, Jonathan Elliott, Brad Bernard, Jonathan Benson, Lucas Van Tassel and Grace Anderson. A special thanks goes to Jamal Harrison, who volunteered to be my guide more than once, and whose honesty in discussing and prevailing over his own missteps was perhaps the best advertisement for the academy’s capacity to transform lives. The cadets’ generosity in sharing their experiences and insights was great; any failings in conveying the nuances of their world are mine alone. Dr. Elizabeth Muenger, the academy’s command historian, provided important background on the early days of the academy, and source material. Thanks to the Public Affairs Office, particularly to Johnny Whitaker, for supporting my research. Captain Uriah Orland, that office’s answer to the indomitable mail carrier, rose before dawn, in rain and sleet and snow to get me where I needed to be.
I save the greatest thanks for last: to my husband, Roger Breeze, who moved worlds to make room and ended my days with heart, dinner, and a fresh perspective; to Odelya Valanci-Kaufmann, Rosali Babayev, and Mariana Brito, whose efforts allowed me to range far; and to Sarah and Jacob, whose little souls were large in understanding.
Introduction
Few cadets at the United States Air Force Academy would describe themselves as romantics. Weeks out of high school, they begin their military careers in an explosion of criticism and punishment that strips their identities raw and hunts down their defenses with the inexorability of a laser-guided bomb. They learn to fight with mud soaked through their clothes and covering their ears, to shower in thirty seconds, to eat like automatons, and to sound off, or shout, an answer to somebody inches from their face. They can do fifty or more push-ups on demand.
And yet, in an era when air travel has been stripped of its glamour, when commercial flights resemble nothing so much as flying crosstown buses, cadets at the Air Force Academy are probably the last young people who are unabashedly in love with flying. The nine thousand high school seniors who apply to the academy each year, of whom only about thirteen hundred are selected for admission, share an overriding trait: the dream of flight.
Three in four hope to become pilots. Some long to fly an F-15 Eagle, a tactical fighter, while others yearn to pilot the F-16, the lightweight fighter jet that slashes across the sky at twice the speed of sound, pulling turns at nine times the force of gravity. Some seek the bulk of heavy transporters like the C-130 and the newer C-17, the flying equivalent of a Hummer; still others, quirky souls that they are, feel drawn to helicopters. Many of them post pictures of their pet aircraft on their walls like pinups or doodle them in the margins of their notebooks.
The cadets spend hours learning the details of each model. Of course, not all cadets will become pilots. More than half will work in the panoply of supporting roles that keep the air force running and planes flying: as engineers, as communications specialists, in logistical support or maintenance, in accounting, in intelligence, or in special operations. The ideal, however, the dream that inspires thousands of cadets in Colorado Springs, is flight. The most ambitious and successful of them aim to fly fighter and bomber jets, each worth tens, or even hundreds, of millions of dollars.
I first came to know air force cadets after women from the academy alleged that they had been raped and punished by their chain of command when they reported the assaults. When I interviewed the women, I noticed that many shared an unusual, seemingly inexplicable, love for what they had set out to do in joining the academy. They were speaking to me, a reporter, because in many ways their hopes had been crushed, but when I asked the women what had first drawn them to attend the Air Force Academy, the bitterness would disappear, eclipsed by the big dreams of their younger selves. They would recall an air show, a larger-than-life uncle who flew planes, or the heady pleasure of not only zooming beyond expectations but also driving them in new, uncharted directions. Eyes shining, they would talk without embarrassment of their love for their country and of making a difference, of perseverance, and of the quality of leadership.
Remembering their ideals undoubtedly deepened their disillusionment, but the cadets themselves w