The United States Air Force Academy Is Training Warriors Again

A decade ago, after my 30th reunion, I wrote an article that went viral; it was titled — The United States Air Force Academy Doesn’t Train Warriors Anymore. It was a heartfelt expression of my disgust and horror of what had become of my beloved Academy under the reign of the Marxist Obama, as well as under the Bush and Clinton families which were not much better, in fact secretly aligned with much of Obama’s agenda.

My observations focused on several main areas

The lack of discipline, military bearing, and training
The destruction of the fourth class system which made the institution what it is
The lack of pursuit of excellence
An intentional drift from the Academy’s founding mission —to train officers for the nation’s Air Force to lead others into battle to defend that nation — which had now morphed into collegiate sports and ‘UCLA in uniforms’, obviously the result of a Marxist agenda meant to destroy the nation and her institutions

I wrote at the time after hearing the Superintendent Lt Gen Michelle Johnson speak to graduates, Not once did I hear the word warrior. In a flash, I got it. The academy was no longer training cadets to be Air Force warriors. They were no longer training to fight for our country and win wars. They were being trained to function in the bureaucracy. The academy was all about competing with civilian institutions in a variety of ways.

The discipline was gone; the military bearing, the drive for excellence, the fourth class system meant to forge these qualities, had been executed.

The killing of the fourth class system is what galled me the most.

"The purpose of the Fourth Class System at the United States Air Force Academy is to lay the foundation early in the cadet's career for the development of those qualities of character and discipline which will be expected of an officer. These qualities must be so deeply instilled in the individual's personality that no stress or strain will erase them.”

This fourth class system taught me skills that I depended on later in life. I cannot imagine not having had that experience to rely on. I would not be where I am today if I had not gone through that hell with my classmates, and come out the other side, somebody different.

Over the past couple weeks, I have reflected with my classmates about our experience at USAFA in the early ‘80s and how very lucky we were to have that experience and the bonds it created.

It was with that view of the world that I recently attended my fortieth reunion. My what a difference a decade makes.

There is a completely fresh leadership team. I was extremely impressed during our briefing from the Superintendent, the Commandant, and the Provost.

The current Superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy is Lieutenant General Paul D. Moga, who assumed the role on August 7, 2026; he is class of 1995. He spoke candidly to grads for about 15 minutes.

“Our mission hasn’t changed,” he said up front. Then he said something which stirred a feeling of pride I thought was lost.

“The Purpose for being here - it shouldn’t be to play division one athletics - competing for a scholarship afterwards shouldn’t be your purpose for being here.

“Your purpose should be to get your degree, your commission, and fight our wars,” said Moga confidently. (Paraphrase)

“Institutional pride - I want every cadet that is here to be proud to be here. After graduation, I want them proud to say they are from here. I want to pay it back to the next generation.”

That is truly living historically…for the next generation, and those beyond. That is why Marxism tries to destroy this living history, to build something new, something evil. That is why tradition has been extinguished at the Academy, and her sister military institutions.

I empathized with Moga when he talked of bittersweet memories at the Academy, and how only decades later, does a graduate realize what the institution gave him or her. Now, he wants to give back.

Moga asked the graduates for their help in his quest while they intermingled with cadets over the weekend. We happily obliged.

Moga described the highest level attention to finishing the Academy Chapel renovation from the political and service level - full speed ahead. He spoke of the realization of optics, and hoped for the fabric surrounding the Chapel to be down before 2027 graduation. Undersecretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier has been actively involved in this outcome.

He described the Sijan Hall five phase, ten year, full renovation, and explained the decision for cadet relocation during this time — triple bunk some instead of splitting squadrons in half. Just shy of a billion dollars - a sign of how important the Academy is to leadership.

Moga described how he deliberately made a decision to take his time before significant change, to first observe, as to not disrupt operations without a good understanding of what needs to be fixed.

I didn’t hear a word about new buildings, identity politics, the NCAA, or ‘hazing’. What I heard was an understanding that a challenging, rigorous institution is what is needed to forge a warrior class of officers to lead others into battle.