VOL. 45 NO.08 FEBRUARY 25, 2005 Inside COMMENTARY: Lesson in integrity comes from unlikely place, page 2. NEWS: America sup- ports with ‘Hero Card”,page 3 Cadet satellites get closer to orbit, page 5 General Jumper talks about Air Force future, page 6 Beware the silent killer at home, page 7 NATO security rela- All-star chorale tionship vital to U.S., The National Basketball Association invited the Air Force Academy’s Cadet Chorale to sing the national anthem at the NBA page 8 All-Star Game in Denver Sunday.The choir’s visit was a part of the NBA’s salute to the servicemembers of the armed forces, SPORTS: Fencers and the cadets were introduced by “The Admiral,” David Robinson. Mr. Robinson is a Naval Academy graduate who served on active duty with the Navy and played for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs from 1989 to 2003. The Cadet Chorale is a co-ed qualify for Junior choir which has sung for presidents, performed in nearly every state in the nation and appeared on television many times. Olympics, page 13 The choir also appeared on a nationally televised performance at Super Bowl XXXIX, when they combined their voices with cadets from three other service academies to perform the national anthem. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Steve Grever) Falcons swept by Eagles, page 14 Game on! Congratulations to the Academy’s latest Colonel Briefly and Lieutenant Colonel UCI formal com- UCI begins Monday selects! plaint interviews By Tech. Sgt. Angelique McDonald no different than any other day,” he said. USAFA faculty, staff Academy Public Affairs “It isn’t just security forces, everybody’s a and cadets will be afforded Colonel Selects player.” the opportunity to meet vis- The Academy’s Unit Compliance Personal appearance standards are iting Inspector General Inspection begins here Monday. always important, especially at a training representatives as part of The Academy will have its programs, base like the Air Force Academy. the Unit Compliance systems and standards scrutinized, accord- “During the UCI it is worth taking an Inspection. Any complaints ing to Col. Thomas Philipkosky, Academy extra look in the mirror to be sure you are brought to the IG team’s inspector general. projecting the high standards we demand attention will be routed “People should come to work on every day,” said Col. Wayne Kellenbence, through the appropriate Monday with the same, daily high stan- Academy director of staff. Lt. Col. Daniel Blaettler, channels. The IG personal dards,” he said. “The only difference is “We have shown through our own complaints periods and Lt. Col. Mark Bontrager, there may be someone looking over your exercises that we are ready,” said Colonel locations are: Lt. Col. Gerald Curry, shoulder.” Kellenbence. “The UCI is our chance to Lt. Col. Michael Davis, The installation will be exercised over show the Air Force just how good we are. ❑ Fairchild Hall, Room the nine day inspection. There will be as a Lt. Col. Daniel Zalewski, 6F26 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., If we all take the exercises seriously and Monday, Wednesday & minimum a major accident response exer- act with a sense of urgency, we’ll do March 4. cise as well as a mobility deployment great.” ❑ Community Center process. The UCI concludes March 9 with a Chapel, Room 113 Highlight the good things that you’re base-wide out brief, tentatively set for 1 5134 Cathedral Dr, USAFA doing, recommends the colonel. p.m. in Arnold Hall. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesday & “The Air Force core values represent “We have a challenging mission at the Thursday our daily theme, this is our opportunity to Academy,” said Col. Susanne LeClere, showcase it,” he said. 10th Air Base Wing commander. “But If you need to meet with Security should also be on people’s everyday we have great people stepping up Lt. Col. Selects the IG representatives out- minds, according to the colonel. to meet the challenges—and we should all Maj. Stephen Sales side of the designated hours, “It’s a whole team effort everyday. proudly showcase Team USAFA to every call 333-3490 for coordina- Security during this inspection should be member of the UCI team next week.” tion of your request. Academy Spirit 2 COMMENTARY February 25, 2005 ‘I want what you have — freedom’ By Lt. Col. Zyna C. Captain calm my nerves when he began speaking to me. His Air Force Doctrine Center And a nation, like a person, has some- first question was as difficult for me to grasp as the thing deeper, something more perma- surreal situation I found myself in. “When will the MAXWELL AFB, Ala. (AFPN) — On “ recruiting station open again?” February 11, 1984, I married my husband in a cheap nent, something larger than the sum of I just couldn’t believe my ears! “How can you looking wedding chapel by a casino in Lake Tahoe. I all its parts. It is that something which ask me this after seeing so many of your countrymen was wearing 3-inch heels and carrying daisies. Little matters most to its future, which calls die here today?” I asked him. He told me that two of did I know that 20 years later, on the exact same day, his brothers had died there just in front of him in the I would be in Iraq, wearing desert combat boots and forth the most sacred guarding of its pre- line. carrying a 9mm weapon. sent ...” It was too much for me to come to terms with: I vividly remember standing in Baghdad as sol- the rain, the blood, the question. He stepped from my diers from Task Force 1st Armored Division’s 4th Franklin D. Roosevelt right side and came to face me, well inside my per- Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment, were pro- 32nd President of the United States sonal space. With eyes very difficult to read he told viding aid to victims and securing a blast site. A me, “I ask because I want to join.” sedan carrying explosives had just blown up in front means the lights come on every time I flip the My mind screamed, “How could he still want to of an Iraqi army recruiting station killing 47 Iraqi switch.” This was not what I expected to hear so I join after seeing his brothers die there?” but my qui- men. continued with, “It’s got to mean more that that to etly spoken question was a single word, “Why?” This was one of many unforgettable events that you.” Boldly he said, “It means never being hungry “Because,” he said, “I want what you have — occurred during my 4-month deployment to and it means I can go to school.” freedom.” Baghdad. This tragedy made me realize how sacred While none of these answers were want I was FDR’s speech sums up better than I ever could, democracy is to people who don’t have it and how after, I didn’t pursue it any further. I have a 14 year what I felt when this man spoke those words. messy, even our nation was, when giving birth to a old, and I know that this idea would never cross his President Roosevelt said, “And a nation, like a per- new ideal. mind. son, has something deeper, something more perma- In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third inaugural Out of his young mouth, his words required me nent, something larger than the sum of all its parts. It address he said, “On each national day of inaugura- to reflect on the facts that for decades, people of his is that something which matters most to its future, tion since 1789, the people have renewed their sense nation were not free from tyranny, and the ideal of which calls forth the most sacred guarding of its pre- of dedication to the United States. In Washington’s democracy was a foreign to him as speaking sent. day the task of the people was to create and weld Mandarin Chinese was to me. “It is a thing for which we find it difficult, even together a nation. In Lincoln’s day the task of the In spite of this, I go back to President impossible, to hit upon a single, simple word. And people was to preserve that nation from disruption Roosevelt’s speech which says, “Lives of nations are yet we all understand what it is: the spirit, the faith from within. In this day the task of the people is to determined not by the count of years, but by the life- of America. It is the product of centuries. It was born save that nation and its institutions from disruption time of the human spirit. The life of a nation is the in the multitudes of those who came from many from without. fullness of the measure of its will to live. There are lands, some of high degree, but mostly plain people, “To us there has come a time, in the midst of men who doubt this. There are men who believe that who sought here, early and late, to find freedom swift happenings, to pause for a moment and take democracy, as a form of government and a frame of more freely… stock — to recall what our place in history has been, life, is limited or measured by a kind of mystical and “That spirit, that faith, speaks to us in our daily and to rediscover what we are and what we may be. artificial fate that, for some unexplained reason, lives in ways often unnoticed, because they seem so If we do not, we risk the real peril of inaction.” tyranny and slavery have become the surging wave obvious… It speaks to us from the other nations of the Only 11 months after I witnessed the tragic of the future, and that freedom is an ebbing tide.” hemisphere, and from those across the seas —the results of the explosion, Iraqis voted in their coun- I would argue that this was not true in America, enslaved, as well as the free.