At the US Air Force Academy, there is a delicate time balance, where you have to learn how to manage your time well in order to succeed. Due to mandatory classes, meals, athletics, military training, and often briefing, the time crunch becomes hard to deal with. During my freshman year at the Academy, I was rolling along well, completing what needed to be done in order to succeed, and had a good time management plan. However, I had yet to become fully acclimated to the altitude, and during the first Physical Fitness Test (PFT), I scored a 225, lower than the 250 minimum to remain off Athletic Probation. Once on athletic probation, the time crunch became even more severe. From the hours of 4:30 PM and 6:30 PM, I was placed on a program called RECONDO (Reconditioning). RECONDO is a mandatory event, held every other day, and every Friday, where you would work on certain things to improve your PFT score. Also, my AOC (Air Officer Commanding), who was in charge of each squadron, placed me on a program where I had to go running with the squadron for an hour every day I didn’t have RECONDO. The time crunch became immense on me, since your freshman year you have more to do military training wise. During the second semester of my freshman year, I missed a paper in History class early in the year. This set me up with an F in the class, since grades consisted on 3 papers and 3 tests. I was placed on Academic probation due to this F, and was still on Athletic, since you can only get on and off that 1 time per semester. With Academic probation I had to do mandatory study time in History (25 hours a week in a common room), attend another full-time class based on managing your time at the Academy, and begin counseling with 6 different people weekly. The time crunch became near impossible for me, but I managed to bring my grade up in History to a C. However, I had dropped in a few other classes, and it brought my GPA for the semester to a 2.0. GPA at the Academy also involves Athletics for some reason unknown to me (since there is a separate PEA for Physical grades), and because of my Athletics score being low, I was dropped to a 1.97 semester GPA. Below that of the 2.0 needed to get off Academic probation. At the start of my sophomore year, I was on Athletic and Academic Probations, as well as Honor probation, where if someone suspects you of lying to them, they can turn you in. My roommate, whom we had always quarreled together, at the end of freshman year, did just that, 2 weeks before we ended our tenure together. Honor probation consisted of more counseling with the 6 people I was already counseling with as well as with 2 more people. It also involved multiple 2-4 pages essays, 2 5-7 page essays, daily journaling of 3/4th a page, and projects and presentations to different groups in the Academy. The time crunch had now become overwhelming to me, but I was doing my best to manage it. Near the end of the midway point, my AOC had noticed I had been 2 minutes late to my first period class. Unknown to him, I had been in a Computer Science lab finishing a project that I had not had time to complete after school due to my probations. Upon seeing this, according to his personal rule, he placed me on Aptitude probation, which was more journaling, counseling, and projects. I had tried to keep up with it all, and had managed to “get off” Athletic probation, however since it was after the midway point, I would have to wait until the end of the semester to officially get off.
At the US Air Force Academy, there is a delicate time balance, where you have to learn how to manage your time well in order to succeed. Due to mandatory classes, meals, athletics, military training, and often briefing, the time crunch becomes hard to deal with. During my freshman year at the Academy, I was rolling along well, completing what needed to be done in order to succeed, and had a good time management plan.
However, I had yet to become fully acclimated to the altitude, and during the first Physical Fitness Test (PFT), I scored a 225, lower than the 250 minimum to remain off Athletic Probation. Once on athletic probation, the time crunch became even more severe. From the hours of 4:30 PM and 6:30 PM, I was placed on a program called RECONDO (Reconditioning). RECONDO is a mandatory event, held every other day, and every Friday, where you would work on certain things to improve your PFT score. Also, my AOC (Air Officer Commanding), who was in charge of each squadron, placed me on a program where I had to go running with the squadron for an hour every day I didn’t have RECONDO. The time crunch became immense on me, since your freshman year you have more to do military training wise.
During the second semester of my freshman year, I missed a paper in History class early in the year. This set me up with an F in the class, since grades consisted on 3 papers and 3 tests. I was placed on Academic probation due to this F, and was still on Athletic, since you can only get on and off that 1 time per semester. With Academic probation I had to do mandatory study time in History (25 hours a week in a common room), attend another full-time class based on managing your time at the Academy, and begin counseling with 6 different people weekly. The time crunch became near impossible for me, but I managed to bring my grade up in History to a C. However, I had dropped in a few other classes, and it brought my GPA for the semester to a 2.0. GPA at the Academy also involves Athletics for some reason unknown to me (since there is a separate PEA for Physical grades), and because of my Athletics score being low, I was dropped to a 1.97 semester GPA. Below that of the 2.0 needed to get off Academic probation.
At the start of my sophomore year, I was on Athletic and Academic Probations, as well as Honor probation, where if someone suspects you of lying to them, they can turn you in. My roommate, whom we had always quarreled together, at the end of freshman year, did just that, 2 weeks before we ended our tenure together. Honor probation consisted of more counseling with the 6 people I was already counseling with as well as with 2 more people. It also involved multiple 2-4 pages essays, 2 5-7 page essays, daily journaling of 3/4th a page, and projects and presentations to different groups in the Academy. The time crunch had now become overwhelming to me, but I was doing my best to manage it. Near the end of the midway point, my AOC had noticed I had been 2 minutes late to my first period class. Unknown to him, I had been in a Computer Science lab finishing a project that I had not had time to complete after school due to my probations. Upon seeing this, according to his personal rule, he placed me on Aptitude probation, which was more journaling, counseling, and projects. I had tried to keep up with it all, and had managed to “get off” Athletic probation, however since it was after the midway point, I would have to wait until the end of the semester to officially get off.
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