July 2011 – The JimAnna Chronicles

Thunderbirds

This ticket has the cadet sea of blue in the background. You can also see the 2011 USAFA Class Crest. Each crest is loaded with symbolism. How many items can you pick out? Here’s what I see: the graduation year (2011), an eagle, the US Flag, Polaris (the North Star), a sabre (worn by Firsties — fourth year cadets), the cadet chapel, their class motto in Latin (Infiniti Orbis Finientes), their graduating class number in Latin (LIII = 53; they are the 53rd graduating class from USAFA), and finally, three aircraft — an F-15, F-16 and F-22 (the numbers add up to 53 and their graduating class).

All of this was leading up to wearing these. The rank of second lieutenant.

Ok, on with the Thunderbird’s demonstration.

Coming in for a big climb with the sea of blue in the foreground.

The classic diamond, 4-ship formation.

Smoke on.

Pass in review.

A mirror? Public relations?

A high-speed pass. It was interesting seeing the differences between the USAF and French AF demo teams. In fact, it was similar to this year’s Women’s World Cup. The French are all about finesse and grace. Americans tend to be more about power, energy and explosiveness. These two aircraft were an example of that.

Standing on the engine. Demonstrating a great thrust to weight ratio.

This is one of my favorites. The 4-ship was going slow with gear down. The solo came in with a lot of closure and goes right through the center.

Afterburner.

A high-g, max performance turn. Ouch.

Off they go.

Col Maïni, Manu, Maggie and me after the ceremony.

Col Maïni with this adorable little girl who’s the niece of a classmate of mine (Sam), and also related to a graduate from 2011. It’s a small world … and much smaller Air Force.

The USAFA chapel. At one point, this was the most popular man-made tourist attraction in the state of Colorado. I don’t know if it still is (with the new security measures), but it’s still majestic … even for non-believers.

This is the cadet area, inside this big square (which is about 75% visible) is where I spent most of my four years here.

Col Maïni and Manu standing in front of the chapel.

Manu and I.

The B-24 memorial in the Honor Court.

The Tuskegee Airmen memorial.

A final image of the chapel.

And that does it for the trip to the US. It was short and packed with things to do, but I had a good time.

Up next will be our quick trip down to Tuscany for my birthday.

Until then…

–Jim

US Air Force Academy — 2011 Graduation Ceremony

After our brief time in the mountains of Colorado, we got to business (=lots of meetings). It was fun to be back at USAFA. Some things have really changed (a lot more security) and others are identical (most of the buildings). What surprised me the most was the flood of emotions I felt. I hadn’t really expected that. For example, when walking through the labs, I felt the same excitement and anticipation that I had as a cadet. Or, walking through the library it felt as if I should have been studying for some impending exam. But, that’s not why we came. We went to strengthen the bond and understanding between the French and American leadership of our respective Air Force Academies. Plus, we had a moment to present the former exchange cadets a certificate of completion from France. Col Maïni was kind enough to perform that ceremony.

The main event was of course the graduation ceremony (still one of the top 5 emotional events in my life). So, watching the graduation ceremony really brought me back 10 years. Simultaneously it felt like my graduation was yesterday and a lifetime ago. Strange.

Here are the soon to be graduates of the USAFA Class of 2011.

Streaming out onto the field.

About 1,000 graduate from USAFA each year (a few less for my class ~876).

Not too bad on the alignment… As I recall, there was only 1 practice.

Plenty of people were on hand for the ceremony. As you can see the stadium was about half full which means that 20,000 people attended.

The Sea of Blue. The rest of the Cadet Wing (about 3,000 cadets) attends to watch the graduating class receive their diplomas.

On stage is the USAFA Superintendent, Lt Gen Michael Gould. He is joined by the other USAF leaders. Behind them are the underclassmen from the outstanding cadet squadron for the year.

The Secretary of the Air Force, the Honorable Michael Donley, gave the commencement address.

Secretary Donley congratulating some very happy graduates.

Nancy and the Secretary exchanging a salute. You may recall Nancy was one of the students who came to France last fall.

She’s now a second lieutenant and a USAFA graduate.

After they salute the Secretary (or President, or General, depending on the year), they salute the prior graduate who is waiting at the bottom of the ramp.

Then, share a smile, hug or something similar.

It’s a very happy moment.

Finding her way back to her seat, friends congratulated Nancy.

Yay!!!

Maggie shaking hands with the General, then waiting to salute the Secretary.

Maggie and the Secretary of the Air Force.

Well done, Maggie.

Picture perfect salutes.

Run, don’t walk.

Wow! Can you believe it??!

I know EXACTLY how she’s feeling.

A USAFA diploma and Second Lieutenant Bars. A great combination.

Toward the end of the ceremony, young kids are gathered in the end zone. The tradition is that when the graduates are dismissed and throw their hats in the air, it’s bad luck to retrieve it. So, kids are brought on the field to pick up the hats as a souvenir. Also, many graduates tape the number of cents of their graduation year (e.g. 2011 = $20.11 or 2001 = $20.01). So, it adds a nice little present for the lucky child who picks up the hat.

Taking the oath of officer to officially & finally become second lieutenants. You can see the one guy who wasn’t wearing his white gloves is wearing his class ring. The wearing of a class ring was started by West Point in the mid-nineteenth century. It has since permeated to all the service academies. It’s required for all graduates to have a ring (although there’s no requirement to wear it).

The Air Force Band playing the Air Force Song.

Class of 2011, you are dismissed!

Do you think they’re happy??

Woo hoo!!

The kids waiting for a chance at a hat (and maybe some money).

Well, that covers the graduation ceremony. At the same time the graduates threw their hats in the air, the Thunderbirds (the USAF aerial demonstration team) roared overhead. It’s a great exclamation point on the ceremony. I remember my family telling me how surprised they were. I hadn’t told them what to expect and the Thuderbirds fly by in afterburner which really shakes things up.

So, up next, I have a bunch of images from the airshow that followed.

Until then…

–Jim

Colorado Mountains and Cities

The French Air Force decided to send a group of us to Colorado to watch the graduation ceremony. Since there is an annual semester exchange between our schools (in addition to a number of short term visits), we also used the visit as a chance to meet counterparts, set up and maintain relationships. Overall, it was an effective (and enjoyable trip). I am going to start out with posting some of the images from our trip to Pike’s Peak, Manitou Springs and Dallas (I’ll explain more later).

After spending the better part of 5 years in Colorado, I came to appreciate the landscape … and consequently miss it now. So, it was great to be back.

The clouds were fascinating as we were in between snow showers…

Colonel Maïni and Manu. We were scheduled to take the Cog Railway to the top of Pike’s Peak, but unfortunately, one of the trains derailed (no one was hurt), so our train was canceled. Instead, we hopped back in the car and took the toll road as far as we could go. Unfortunately, the very top was still snowed in, but as you can see, we were able to make it above tree line.

Yep, there was still plenty of snow on the ground.

After the mountain, we headed back into the always colorful Manitou Springs.

I introduced them to the wonderful world of Ski-Ball and the magic of Pixie Stix. It was turning out to be quite an American experience for them. Although they had both been to the US numerous times, I enjoyed finding more quintessential (at least in my opinion) things to do and try. We also sampled caramel corn and salt water taffy.

They both proved quite adept at Ski Ball.

Of course since they are French, and we all love wine, we headed to a great little wine bar, Swirl. We had a great zinfindel and the owner/sommelier Sharon and I had a long conversation about the relative merits of Provençal Rosé. Let’s just say we agree it’s very tasty. 🙂

Dallas, Texas

I’m skipping ahead on our trip a little, but after Colorado, Manu and I headed down to Texas. Since I don’t have many images from that part of the trip, I’m including them here. We also had a long layover on the way in and we used the time to go to the 6th Floor Museum. If you haven’t been, it’s the former warehouse from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy in 1961. It’s definitely worth seeing if you’re in the area. This is President Kennedy’s memorial (about 2 block from the site of his assassination), the Big Red Museum which has the history of Dallas and Reunion Tower in the background.

Since the Dallas Mavericks were in the midst of the NBA playoffs and Manu had never been to an arena, we decided to stop in and check it out. They were kind enough to let us in to have a peak around. Even though there was no one, it was still impressive.

Finally, this is the image of the inside of a sculpture. I liked the contrast in color. The wide angle lens (10mm) provides plenty of both sky and painted metal.

That sums up this part of the trip. Next up will be the US Air Force Academy graduation and USAFA’s grounds.

Until then…

–Jim

Poppies in Bloom

The spring and summer are great chances to witness the natural world in Provence. Below are a few images that I’ve made from the past couple months of the local area. This image is a spring storm that lit up the night sky in front of our building. This was the view from our front window. I used a fast (f/2) lens with a long exposure (13 sec) and after about 20 exposures was fortunate to catch this double lightning strike. Our visiting friends (ok, really more like family) Pat and Tom were kind enough to humor my constant tinkering with the camera equipment.

Another view from our front window. Here you can see more of the spring green after a storm.

The poppy fields are a treat too. Although there are lots of other fields of flowers (rapeseed, sunflower and of course lavender), this was the only one I was able to get out to capture. So, the following images are from a late afternoon trip to a nearby poppy field (and one that I often pass on my way home). I don’t have a lot of commentary on these images, so I’ll let them speak for themselves. One interesting fact about poppies though. They are not cultivated here (or so I’m told). They are wild and merely seen as a sign of clean and healthy growing conditions. The are also the symbol of the November 11th Armistice Day.