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The mission of the United States Air Force Academy is to provide "instruction, experience and motivation to each cadet so that he will graduate with the knowledge, character, and qualities of leadership essential to his progressive development as

a career officer in the United States Air Force." Inherent
in the mission are the following broad objectives:

To develop in each cadet the ideals of duty,
honor, and service to country.

To provide each cadet with a broad military
education as a foundation for his progressive
development as a professional officer.

To provide the necessary leadership training
opportunities for the cadet to develop his capa-
bilities and skills as a leader.

To provide each cadet with a broad general
education leading to the award of a bacca-
laureate degree and an opportunity to advance
academically as far and as fast as his ability and
prior preparation permit.

To develop in each cadet the physical attri-
butes and skills necessary to meet the require-
ments of cadet and commissioned life.

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If a single word could be selected to encompass the heart of the several Academy programs, that word would be challenge. I think most people agree that the best way to develop a young man's potential is to challenge him, continuously and in increasingly difficult ways. We provide this kind of challenge-in the military field, in the academic program, in the physically demanding varsity and intramural activities, and, not least, in the psychological and moral aspects of life at the Academy.

By putting forth these constant challenges, we hope to inculcate in the cadets the strong attributes of character that they must have as leaders in today's and tomorrow's aerospace Air Force. Foremost among these attributes is responsibility. As the capacity for being responsible develops with experience, we give the cadets responsibility for running their daily lives-as much, as early, and to the maximum extent that time and maturity permit. We give them practice in making decisions and then hold them responsible for the decisions they make.

Responsible cadets must be active cadets -young men who learn by doing, not by idling. To this end we fill the cadet's day with athletics, both intramural and intercollegiate; with military training and leadership, including the running of the Cadet Wing from morning to night; and with a full academic day, during which they are subject to grading on frequent classroom discussions as well as on examinations.

Our program is constantly studied for relevancy and balance. We seek the well-rounded young man for admission to the Academy, and we continue to develop the whole man while he is here. These efforts would fail unless we showed the immediate and long-range relevancy of all the education and training. The expenditure of great effort consistently, day after day, would be difficult to justify were it not for the promise of ultimate usefulness in the military career of the cadet.

We must never forget that we are training young men to lead other men, possibly in combat. There is no more serious task. It calls for that special quality which inspires men to do

what the leader exacts of them, even under conditions of extreme stress or danger. Having developed such qualities of leadership within a sound mind and body, the Academy graduate receives, almost without knowing it, a strong sense of pride in himself and his Air Force. He is confident that he can meet the challenges of the career ahead and work out solutions of which he will be proud and which will make a meaningful contribution to the defense of his country. Cadets vary in the degree to which they achieve this maturity and capability, but the testimony of Air Force commanders worldwide would seem to confirm that the Air Force Academy graduate is highly valued wherever he goes, for his qualities of leadership, responsibility, and morale and for his ability to get the job done in an efficient and competent manner.

To achieve the ultimate quality in our graduates, we must begin with the very best raw material we can assemble of our country's youth. We believe that the Academy has been quite successful in obtaining students with the mental and physical characteristics that the Air Force needs. Almost one in four (24 percent) of the Class of 1971 entrants had received recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program: 187 were awarded letters of commendation, 3 were semifinalists, and 52 were finalists. Fifty-six percent of the class indicated that they had received scholarship offers from other institutions. In athletics, 37 percent had lettered in football, 22 percent in basketball, 16 percent in baseball and 29 percent in track. From such talent as this the Air Force Academy hopes to develop the wellrounded, whole man that the Air Force needs for its future leaders.

LET ME touch briefly on some of the philosophy which governs our learning process at the Academy. I believe it is imperative that each instructor, Air Officer Commanding (AOC), and coach at the Academy keep in mind a model of each cadet as a future military leader-a bundle of potential waiting to be developed. Any defects in the total development of this potential can be

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chalked up as a failure on the part of those responsible for the cadet's education and training. When, as occasionally happens, a young man appears not suited to military life or to the demands of a service career, it is our responsibility to identify him and make absolutely sure that his lack of desire or suitability is not due to any failure on the part of Academy personnel.

Another tenet of Academy philosophy is that at least half of a man's potential lies in his pattern of uniqueness. It is this philosophical tenet which is the basis for the Academy's enrichment program, intercollegiate athletic program, and leadership training program. Each program challenges the cadet to develop his distinctive capabilities and leads the instructor, coach, and AOC to focus on the individual rather than a composite average cadet. This challenge to each cadet to use his talents, to discover himself, to exercise and expand his potential in all areas is the keystone of the Academy education and training program.

This working philosophy is derived from a number of directives which together gave guidance to the Academy from its earliest days. In March 1949, Secretary of Defense James E. Forrestal established the Service Academy Board to survey the status of undergraduate education and training for all members of the armed forces and to recommend the manner in which officer candidates should receive their basic education for a career in the armed services. Its cochairmen were Dr. Robert L. Stearns, President of the University of Colorado, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. A clear description of the personal attributes and qualities that the Academy now seeks to instill in its cadets appears in the board's recommendations:

The Service Academies should develop in the student the moral qualities required for leadership. They should instill a high sense of duty and of self-reliance. The student should be taught in every phase of his career that each new problem is an individual responsibility. He should develop the power of decision and the ability to make his ideas and decisions understood by other men. He should develop a deep sense of honor, truthfulness,

and self-respect. Students should be imbued with a high sense of professional loyalty alike to their leaders and to their subordinates. Loyalty to their country and to the cause to which it is committed must be unquestioned.

The Service Academies should develop in the student the capacity for clear analytical thought and of carrying it to a logical conclusion. The need is for initiative and, above all, for judgment and common sense. The complexity of the arts and techniques of modern war and the degree to which the conditions to be met are unforeseeable all emphasize the necessity for such qualities in a leader. Also important to a leader are the physical attributes of health, stamina and endurance which enable him to utilize his energies effectively. Strength, coordination, agility, and military bearing are additional qualities desirable in a leader, particularly in setting an example for his men. The Service Academies should develop these attributes in the student, and in addition should teach him to train and develop physical abilities in his subordinates.

These quoted paragraphs were not addressed to technical qualifications, experience, or knowledge. Instead, the board was laying out a spectrum of personal attributes needed by an Academy graduate. This spectrum spans qualities of intellect, of character, of personal dynamism, of physical development. All the Academy's programs, indeed its very atmosphere, are aimed primarily at developing these qualities and attributes in its cadets. The three components of the Academy's programacademic, military and leadership training, and physical education-all contribute in varying degrees and emphasis to this development process. All seek the inculcation of the ideals of duty, honor, and service to country, and all are integrated and interrelated so as to achieve the objectives of the Academy's mission as effectively as possible.

As the Academy began in 1954, it was fortunate in being able to benefit from the experience and heritage of West Point and Annapolis. A good many of the officers who drew up the operating plans for the Air Force Academy were graduates of these older schools. It would be unfair to say that after analyzing their programs we accepted what seemed best and discarded the rest. We did

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