USAFA Class of 2022 enters 2nd phase of basic training in Jacks Valley

Brand new U.S. Air Force Academy cadets are entering their second phase of basic training.

It started with a four-mile hike into the historic Jacks Valley where cadets will spend the next 10 days and be pushed to their limits.

Cadet Daniel Rosenfeld, an upperclassman supervising the freshman said, “you’re going up and down hills, it’s a tiring march. Especially as a basic, it feels like forever.”

The class of 2022 is then led through a quick ceremony to celebrate the completion of their first step and the anticipation of what will happen next.

Quickly, cadets get back to work. They’re led into the valley to start building the tents they’ll sleep in for the next 10 days.

14 people sleep inside, side by side, and that can sometimes lead to a legendary cough. Stefawn Parrin, a cadet says, “you get a thing called Jacks Hack.”

It usually from the dust cadets rustle up in their obstacle courses.

Overcoming this part of training is just one step to that final memorable moment where they hear those words, “dismissed!”

Pinner says, “I’m eventually going to get there. I’m eventually going to push through and like my friends that graduated.”