Camp USAFA Memories
This evening my Air Force Academy roommate and buddy, Brad Ball, let me know that an Academy graduate and CS-05 Wolfpack 4 degree we both knew, Brian Burns, passed away in November 2025. Brian had a distinguished 26 year career in the US Air Force, as an F-16 pilot and a member of the Thunderbirds. As a 4 degree or freshman at USAFA in 1989-90, cadets were matched up with a 3 degree (sophomore) during “Recognition Training.” The 4 degrees were, at that time, known as our “hell kids.” Brian was Brad’s hell kid. Those were the days before digital cameras, but I had a Nikon SLR I used throughout my academy days, and I have several pages of an old photo album dedicated to the CS-05 Wolfpack 4 degree Class of 1993’s Recognition Weekend. I thought I might have a photo of Brian Burns, and I found one… The photo below features our 1992 classmate Art Newsome “training” both Brian Burns and Lori Van Dyke in the corner stairwell of Vandenberg Hall, in an event notoriously known as the “Stairway to Heaven.” (Of course at the bottom of the stairway was hell… and it wasn’t fun to get sent down there.) Depending on how 4 degrees performed in a variety of physical hazing tasks during “Stairway to Heaven,” they would either be sent up a floor (if they “put out” or performed well) or sent down a floor, if their subjectively measured performance was sub-par. As I recall this “Recognition weekend event” lasted about an hour and was quite physically exhausting, especially for the 4 smokes. The activity Art was challenging Brian and Lori to do was “get your knees up,” and they were supposed to run in place and have their knees repeatedly make contact with his raised hands.
Finding this old photo, I decided to scan and share it, along with a few others. They each deserve some context and description.
Staying with the May 1990 Wolfpack recognition training theme, here’s a photo of me (on the left) marching our squadron’s 4 degrees in front of the Academy’s main athletic building. Behind me you can see classmates Tracy Sailer and Jason Marshall, and others. That Spring 1990 semester I was our squadron “Training Clerk,” which meant I was the three degree (sophomore) responsible for military training. In our chain of command we had a squadron training officer (a firstee or senior) as well as a squadron training NCO (a 2 degree or junior), but in those days the Academy let us (as three degrees) have quite a bit of responsibility as well as latitude for overseeing fourthclass training. From what I understand now, that is not the case currently… Academy juniors and seniors have primary responsibility for 4 degree training. I was definitely “into” military training as we understood it in that time and context, I later served as our squadron training NCO and squadron training officer in later years.
Staying with uniformed photos from the same era, here’s a photo of the first time I ever saw my first car, a 1987 Jeep Wrangler. At the Air Force Academy, cadets are not allowed to have their own car on campus until the start of their junior (or “secondclass”) year. As I recall, my dad drove the jeep from Manhattan, Kansas, to Colorado Springs and brought it to me during June Week. In this photo I still have on my thirdclass shoulder boards, so that means the photo was taken before graduation at the end of May.
This final photo of me in uniform was taken in the summer of 1990 in Lima, Peru, at the Peruvian Air Force Academy. I was selected to attend this official Academy exchange program along with classmate Bob Seifert, a female cadet (whose name eludes me currently) and our USAF escort officer… whose name I also don’t remember. I have two versions of this photo, and I’m sharing the one where I have a silly expression… Seeing this makes me wonder where these cadets went on to serve in the Peruvian Air Force, and what they did in their careers? At that time the Shining Path was very active and posed a dangerous threat in Peru. I have some very fond memories of that exchange experience, we definitely helped me improve my Spanish skills considerably… and likely contributed to the opportunity I had after graduation to study in Mexico City for a year on a Fulbright Scholarship.
This next photo isn’t one I scanned tonight, but I can’t mention that exchange trip to Peru without sharing it. This was my Christmas card in December 1990 I gave to family and friends, and it’s a photo of me at Machu Picchu in southern Peru. My high school Spanish teacher, Rosalie King of Manhattan High School, was the first person to ever tell me about and show me photos of Machu Picchu. It was always her dream to visit it, but I’m not sure she ever did. As I recall, I did visit her back in her Spanish classroom at Manhattan High after I made this trip, and I shared my photos with her. She was thrilled. (It’s a good thing to maintain connections with the school teachers who were a big influence on your life, by the way.)
Three more photos to share.
This next one is another Jeep photo… it’s me in my Jeep Wrangler, this time with the top off, parked in front of Wes and Barbara Dieter’s house in Colorado Springs with Pikes Peak visible in the background. Oh I did love that jeep!
I’ll finish with two camping and outdoor adventure photos. After our 2 degree academic year started in the fall of 1990, my buddies Monte Anderson, Will Roff, and I went camping north of the Academy in Saylor Park. This was a shot one of them took of me cooking hash and eggs for breakfast. That’s still one of my favorite breakfasts to cook when camping!
As an aside, I was really fired up to be able to put my jeep’s 4 wheel drive to use on this trip… but I wasn’t very knowledgeable about taking care of my standard transmission clutch. I ended. up “burning out” my clutch on that trip. We were able to drive back to “the hill” fine, but I had to get it replaced soon after… I think it costs like $700 at the time to replace. That made it an expensive trip!
Last photo: This is Monte Anderson and I rapelling off some rocks in Saylor Park near our campsite that same weekend. We thought we were pretty cool…
It’s sobering to read obituaries like I did this evening of folks I went to college with, and even people who are / were younger than me. Life is short. I’m getting older.
But I’m thankful for the memories.
And the chance to (hopefully) make even more memories with family and friends!
