Enlisted airmen: Are you tired of pulling weekend guard duty or 12-hour night shifts turning wrenches? Want to find a way to hang up your stripes in exchange for an officer's commission? Take a look at the Air Force Academy.
The academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is allowed to admit up to 170 enlisted airmen each year into each class of roughly 1,000 cadets. But far fewer are usually admitted. There are now a total of 205 prior-enlisted cadets attending the academy — 70 freshmen, 51 sophomores, 50 juniors and 34 seniors.
The academy encourages enlisted airmen to consider attending, and it asks commanders and chiefs to find and nominate their best airmen. "Prior-enlisted cadets attending the Academy and its Preparatory School are indisputably amongst the best the Air Force has to offer," the academy says on its site.
Here's what you need to know about being a prior-enlisted Air Force Academy cadet:
Basic quals. To be eligible to attend the academy, an enlisted airman must be at least 17 years old but can't have reached the age of 23 by July 1 of the year he or she enters the academy. Airmen also must be unmarried, U.S. citizens or be able to obtain citizenship before entering the academy, have no legal obligation to support a child or other individual, cannot be pregnant, and must be of high moral character.
How to apply. Eligible enlisted airmen must fill out the application for appointment, AF Form 1786, and have it endorsed by their squadron commander, and send it to the academy's admissions office no later than Dec. 31 to enter the following June. Their unit commander also must write a statement on their character, ability and motivation to become an officer, and airmen must fill out an online pre-candidate questionnaire. Airmen will be told if they were selected in early May; those who weren't accepted for direct entrance into the academy will automatically be considered for its prep school.
Tough academics and fitness requirements. Getting into the academy isn't easy. The average cadet in the class of 2017 had an SAT score of 1,311 — 642 verbal and 669 math. Male cadets in the class of 2017 ran a mile in an average 6:12, and the female cadet average was 7:03. Many cadets also have leadership experience. In the class of 2017, 79 percent lettered in athletics, 23 percent took part in scouting, 18 percent were the president or vice president of their class, and 11 percent were their valedictorian or salutatorian.
Be a voice of experience. Being a 21- or 22-year-old freshman alongside 17- and 18-year-olds can be tough — especially when trying to keep up on a run.
But it can also be rewarding and help develop leadership skills.
Academy cadet Sam Taylor, who was a prior-enlisted cadet attending basic training last summer, said he hoped his patience and experience would help his fellow basics stay calm. "I don't get frustrated very easily," Taylor said. "I think they look at that and say, 'Taylor's not upset, maybe things are OK.' "
Some prior-enlisted airmen said they mentor younger cadets or prep school cadet candidates, teaching them things as simple as how to make their beds and clean things up to military standards, or how to get through bouts of homesickness.
Know your place. Some priors "come into [basic cadet training] and think they're better than everyone else" and are headstrong because they've done it before, cadet Andy Millan said last July.
Millan said the experience of being a prior-enlisted cadet candidate humbled him.
"You have to embrace it because it's a whole different experience," Millan said last year. "Instead of being enlisted, it teaches you to be an officer."
Sometimes he would be doing something the way he had learned it in enlisted training, he said. But the training cadre cadets — who were either his age or younger — told him he was doing it the wrong way, and he had to re-learn those tasks.
Cadet Paul Matthews, who attended the prep school last year, said that he sometimes wanted to scream at his fellow cadet candidates, who he saw moving when they were supposed to stand at attention. But he said he had to check himself because he was not in the position to lecture other aspiring cadets.
Prep school. Some enlisted airmen who apply to the academy but don't get in could get the chance to attend its on-campus preparatory school. The 10-month prep school course allows those cadet candidates to beef up their academics and gives them the chance to become full-fledged cadets the following school year. Last year, 22 percent of the academy's 243 cadet candidates were prior enlisted. Prep school candidates also must be at least 17 years old, but no older than 22 by July 1 of the year they enter the prep school.
But be warned: Prior-enlisted "preppies" will end up having to go through grueling basic training three times when all is said and done — once when they first enlist, again when they are at prep school and a third time when they are officially academy cadets.
Jake Saucedo, an academy cadet who attended the prep school last year, said in an interview last year that his former commander thought he was crazy for going through basic three times.
"'Hopefully they give you oak leaf clusters on your basic training ribbon,'" Saucedo said his old commander told him. "I'm going to have the nicest-made beds in all of the land."
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
