Air Force officials told the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors May 4 that the school’s new class will not reach minority recruiting goals and that future classes could face an even more daunting challenge if DOD eliminates academic waivers. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne told the board, which met at the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based campus, that minority lawmakers have hampered the efforts by the military academies to recruit black and Hispanic students by their inaction. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, Wynne said, “They are not influencing qualified candidates they know of to attend military academies.”
Trainees in Basic Military Training and technical school no longer have the option to try alternate PT drills if they fail an initial assessment, according to a policy change the Air Force made in April. The move is part of a larger shift out of the classroom and into hands-on,…