I heard this on american family radio last night, they were gracious enough to forward it to me.

Letter is in bold, 1st letter is from different cadet


"If you ever ask yourself why I keep coming back to this place, this freshman put
words to the feelings that I and many of my brethren show. I am proud to call this
“doolie” my brother. His essay he wrote for class was sent all the way up to the
Secretary of the Air Force, and quite possibly could be forwarded even higher to
the SECDEF and the President. Just take a look, and try to understand the men
and women of the armed forces. I hate forwarded emails, but I ask each of you to
do this because I think understanding the world, the war, and our own people who
sacrifice much of their life should be given the proper respect. People should take
works like this out of the genre of patriotic writing to inspire and be applied to the
nasty, tainted, and REAL world we live in. I say that to understand patriotism in
the context of the real world should discredit any protesters of the war, my
president, and my God.
“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is
the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the
soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate. It is
the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is
draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.” -Father Dennis
Edward O’Brien, USMC
It is my hope and prayer that every American could understand these principles
that soldiers pay for with their life!
Very Respectfully,
//SIGNED//
C3C John Payne
Barnstormers 23
USAFA
Cadet Captures Essence of Academy Experience


Jan. 31, 2006
Joseph R. Tomczak
Cadet Fourth Class,
United States Air Force Academy

So after our sunburns have faded and the memories of our winter break have been
reduced to pictures we’ve pinned on our desk boards, and once again we’ve exchanged tshirts
and swim suits for flight suits and camouflage, there still remains the question that
every cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has asked themselves at
some point: Why did we come back? Why, after spending two weeks with our family
would we return to one of the most demanding lifestyles in the country? After listening to
our ‘friends’ who are home from State or Ivy League schools chock full of wisdom about
how our war in Iraq is unjust and unworldly, why would we return? And after watching
the news and reading the papers which only seem to condemn the military’s every
mistake and shadow every victory, why would we continue to think it is worth the
sacrifice of a normal college life?
Is it because the institution to which we belong is tuition-free? Anyone who claims this
has forgotten that we will, by the time we graduate, repay the U.S. taxpayer many times
over in blood, sweat, and tears. Is it because the schooling we are receiving is one of the
best undergraduate educations in the country? While the quality of the education is
second to none, anyone who provides this as a main reason has lost sight of the
awesome responsibility that awaits those who are tough enough to graduate and become
commissioned officers in the U.S. Air Force.
I come back to the Academy because I want to have the training necessary so that one
day I’ll have the incredible responsibility of leading the sons and daughters of America in
combat. These men and women will never ask about my Academy grade point average,
their only concern will be that I have the ability to lead them expertly – I will be humbled
to earn their respect.
I come back to the Academy because I want to be the commander who saves lives by
negotiating with Arab leaders… in their own language. I come back to the Academy
because, if called upon, I want to be the pilot who flies half way around the world with
three mid-air refuelings to send a bomb from 30,000 feet into a basement housing the
enemy… through a ventilation shaft two feet wide. For becoming an officer in today’s
modern Air Force is so much more than just command; it is being a diplomat, a
strategist, a communicator, a moral compass, but always a warrior first.
I come back to the Air Force Academy because right now the United States is fighting a
global war that is an ‘away game’ in Iraq – taking the fight to the terrorists. And whether
or not we think the terrorists were in Iraq before our invasion, they are unquestionably
there now. And if there is any doubt as to whether this is a global war, just ask the
people in Amman, in London, in Madrid, in Casablanca, in Riyadh, and in Bali. This war
must remain an away game because we have seen what happens when it becomes a
home game… I come back to the Academy because I want to be a part of that fight. I
come back to the Academy because I don’t want my vacationing family to board a bus in
Paris that gets blown away by someone who thinks that it would be a good idea to
convert the Western world to Islam. I come back to the Academy because I don’t want
the woman I love to be the one who dials her last frantic cell phone call while huddled in

the back of an airliner with a hundred other people seconds away from slamming into the
Capitol building. I come back to the Academy because during my freshman year of high
school I sat in a geometry class and watched nineteen terrorists change the course of
history live on television. For the first time, every class currently at a U.S. Service
Academy made the decision to join after the 2001 terror attacks. Some have said that the
U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan only created more terrorists… I say that the attacks
of September 11th, 2001 created an untold more number of American soldiers; I go to
school with 4,000 of them. – And that’s worth missing more than a few frat parties."

Thats awesome! Now, write that same letter for all of the cadets who PAY to go to Senior Military Schools (we pay to go here)!! Norwich (THE Military College of Vermont), Virginia Tech, VMI, The Citadel, North Georgia Military Academy, and Texas A&M.



With that said, the cadets at the Academies have my utmust respect.