Confidential USAFA Inquiry (“Should my son join?”) and Response

Published On: October 30, 2011|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|1 Comment on Confidential USAFA Inquiry (“Should my son join?”) and Response|

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MRFF:

I have an (Grade Level withheld)th grade son who has expressed an interest in attending the US Air Force Academy. While I recognize that as a (age withheld) year old he is likely to change his mind ten times before he decides on the colleges to which he’ll apply, I nontheless have encouraged this idea and have attempted to help my son by conducting research on the Academy. I recently finished the book “(book’s title withheld)”, which I found to be largely balanced, fascinating, and exciting. Much of the book made me hope that my son would indeed pursue the Academy. But, of course, the book was also disturbing, particularly in its depiction of continued religious and political intolerance.

I understand and even support the fact that the USAFA (and the military in general) is a difficult, demanding environment where individuals voluntarily give up freedoms that others enjoy daily and take for granted. Yet I believe that religious freedom should not be one of these forsaken rights. I was brought up to abhor all forms of discrimination, and the thought of anyone brave and honorable enough to take on a military academy appointment suffering from coersion and harrassment because of his or her religious or political beliefs (or lack thereof) quite literally makes me feel ill. I come from a Christian background, am most assuredly a sinner, and am at best murky in my own religious beliefs. My wife and I have brought my son up in the Christian faith, but his life is likely to take many twists and turns before he determines where his spiritual road will end.

So, with this all as background, I’d like to ask the following questions and would highly value your opinions and responses. Given the current climate at the USAFA, should I encourage my son to pursue his interest in attending? If he attended, would he be able to simply, honestly, and forthrightly progress down his spiritual path, where ever it may lead? Or would he risk an added level of harrassment if his path takes him in an “undesirable” direction, from the perspective of some at the Academy? I would love to tell my son to pursue the Academy, and, if he is fortunate enough to win an appointment, to pursue his spirtitual journey in the same honest and straightforward manner that he will be asked to pursue every other activity at the Academy. Yet I am very concerned that such a charge from me may end up being a request that my son become some kind of martyr, constantly forced to fight for rights that are supposed to already be protected, including the right to simply be left alone when it comes to matters of personal faith. While I respect and admire the work that your organization is doing, I’m not sure I am ready to enroll my son in your fight against what is increasingly sounding like a formidable opponent. If he chose to do so I would absolutely admire him, but I would ache for him at the same time. I am, as you can by now undoubtedly tell, quite conflicted.

Please consider my questions and, if you are able, reply. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thanks again.

(name and location withheld)

The Following is a Response from Amanda Weinstein, daughter-in-law of MRFF founder and President Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein

Dear (withheld),

Thank you for taking the time to write to the MRFF. I am Mikey’s daughter-in-law Amanda. Because of my background, Mikey thought I could provide some important insight. I too was raised (and still consider myself) Christian. I decided to go to USAFA when I was in 7th grade. My parents had a hard time getting me to even apply to other colleges. With serious reservations about the climate for women, they enrolled me in a year of self defense and martial arts classes before I went. As a daughter, I don’t think my parents could have handled the situation any better. Regardless of the path I chose, they wanted to make sure I was prepared for what I might face. I think its good to encourage your son to go to USAFA along with the alternatives (ROTC, other colleges, other careers he may be interested in, etc.). Similarly, I think your son should be prepared at some point for the environment he is walking into. Not long after I got to USAFA, it experienced a highly publicized sexual assault scandal. There are similarities between the culture at USAFA that fostered that scandal with the current culture that fosters religious intolerance and in a sense a type of spiritual rape. Your son like many others may never notice the surrounding culture at USAFA and may never experience any of the negative effects or consequences. He may never feel the inappropriate pressure from commanding officers and other cadets to be something he isn’t or the feeling that what he is isn’t good enough. However, should your son attend USAFA, I hope he isn’t so lucky. I hope he will be one of the cadets who makes a point to notice this culture and how it can affect people that are different or even the same as he is. I hope he will be one of the cadets to stand up for himself and for others and for what is right. Sometimes this will mean stepping out and going against the grain, making hard decisions because they are right not because they are popular. This, I think, is true leadership and what USAFA is supposed to be about.

I hope that answers some of your questions and concerns about USAFA. I can’t give you a guarantee of what your son will or won’t face because a lot of that will be up to him. The best you can do is make sure he is prepared.

Thank you
Amanda Weinstein, USAF Academy ’04

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One Comment

  1. Marshalldoc October 31, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    I commend both the initial writer and Amanda for thoughtful and empathetic responses to a serious question.

    I would pose another: Given the use of the military by our corporate-dominated military-industrial-complex (MIC) to pursue military aggression for corporate gain rather than as a means of defense against bonafide threats to national security (our borders, trade routes, treaty commitments, etc.), should any parent encourage their child in a military career?

    While I understand that, once in the military, one is required to follow orders regardless of one’s politics (one of the freedoms the first writer mentions is lost in such a career), that loss does not occur until one makes that choice. In times past (i.e.; WWII), we operated under the assumption that, regardless of the party in power, the military would be committed to combat in situations that required it as agreed by all involved in the political decision and that those asked to take those ultimate risks were doing so for honestly stated, straightforward, clear-cut, understandable goals.

    Beginning with Vietnam (perhaps Korea), and continuing with every military commitment, since the military has been the point not of the spear but of the corporate logo with every military commitment being justified by false and falsified “justifications” (Gulf of Tonkin, “Domino Theory”, “Communist Aggression in CentAM”, “Saddam’s threat to Saudi oil”, Saddam’s WMD’s, links to al-Qaeda, Sarin Gas from crop dusters, etc [a boon to the duct tape industry, no doubt], threatened massacres in BenGhazi, and the list continues to grow as, somehow, Joseph Koni & the LRA have now qualified as “National Security Threats”). In short, at present, a military career is equivalent to being the first wave of a hostile corporate take-over.

    Is that what you’d want for your son?

    Parent of an O-3, USMC

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