LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Nearly 70 cadets from four Hampton Roads-area high school Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps units accompanied Langley Airmen on the job Aug. 10 as part of a week-long Summer Leadership School held on base.
Following the morning's routine physical training and breakfast, the Air Force blues-clad cadets marched from Boots Hall, where they are lodged through the week, to the base theater. After a short briefing, groups of cadets joined Airmen from a variety of different career fields to visit work centers and facilities around base, eager to experience a day in the life of an Air Force member.
Cadets witnessed firsthand how security forces, communications, maintenance and medical personnel, among others, support the Air Force mission.
"It's amazing for me to be able to see everything that goes on here. I never knew there were so many different jobs," said Cadet Cuyler Grimes, a junior from Nansemond River High School in Suffolk.
Cadet Grimes and four others toured the 1st Operations Group, visiting the 71st and 94th Fighter Squadron buildings. The tour consisted of a facility walkthrough, mission briefing and the opportunity to get up close and personal with the group's fighters, the F-15 Eagle and F-22 Raptor.
The opportunity to touch the Raptor became the highlight of Cadet Michael Ganoe's visit to Langley.
"I've always wanted to see the F-22 up close because I want to fly it one day," the Nansemond River High School junior said. "I want to enlist to work on the Raptor, go through ROTC and come back as a pilot."
Cadet Emmett Calloway, a Nansemond River sophomore, said seeing the Raptor for the first time makes him want to be a pilot even more.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a fighter jet up close, and it's my dream jet, at that," he said, smiling.
Meanwhile across base, 633d Security Forces Squadron personnel gave a busload of cadets a thorough tour of their facilities, including military working dog and taser use demonstrations, a jail cell tour and some hands-on time in the armory, where the cadets were able to observe the SFS' stockade of weapons. In addition, cadets experienced "guard mount," a daily briefing given to SFS personnel.
While the group of young men and women experienced an opportunity few of their contemporaries get, the goal of the tour was to orient the cadets with the total Air Force concept, allowing them to better understand what life and work is like in the Air Force, according to retired Lt. Col. Kristopher Alden, Menchville High School's AFJROTC senior aerospace science instructor.
"Even with the large concentration of students from military families, a lot of the cadets still don't really understand what goes on in the military," he said. "The cadets get to see all the options available to them should they decide to join the military, and they have the time of their lives doing it."