 |
| News > Fall Falcon Heritage Forum 'bumped up' to focus on 9/11 legacy |
|
Fall Falcon Heritage Forum 'bumped up' to focus on 9/11 legacy
Posted 9/8/2011 Updated 9/8/2011
Email story
Print story
by Don Branum
Air Force Academy Public Affairs
9/8/2011 - U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Cadets and faculty in charge of hosting the Fall 2011 Falcon Heritage Forum bumped up the schedule of events in order to facilitate speakers with a tie to the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
The fall forums are generally held in October, but Cadet 1st Class Sydney Croxton, the cadet in charge of this fall's event, said the opportunity to talk about how 9/11 changed the country was too important to pass up.
"We wanted to use this to make an impact on cadets and give them exposure to something they haven't heard before," said Croxton, whose father graduated from the Academy in 1983.
Croxton was named cadet in charge in May, after the end of the 2010-2011 academic year. Planning for the forum started shortly thereafter. Capt. Ohn Dickens, the Falcon Heritage Forum program manager, helped coordinate efforts on the faculty side of the house.
Holding the forum in September helps balance it better against other Center for Character and Leadership Development events, but it created a challenge in taking away a month that the forum's facilitators could have otherwise used to prepare.
One challenge Dickens and Croxton faced was finding speakers.
"Because it's the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, a lot of the bigger names were already booked for D.C. or New York events," Croxton said.
One way the forum staff addressed the problem was to invite 20 speakers instead of 40.
"There was a more limited selection, but we're hoping for a more intimate setting," Croxton said. "We're more focused on giving individual speakers a better experience."
In addition, the Forum staff found and invited lesser-known people who'd been involved in the initial response: New York Fire Department Battalion Chief Steven Fitzgerald, whose company lost 17 of its firefighters when the World Trade Center towers collapsed; retired Army Maj. Gen. James Jackson, who was commanding general of the Military District of Washington the day American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the west side of the Pentagon; and Master Sgt. Brian Boisvert, whose photos during the response at the Pentagon are now among a collection at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
A few of the speakers chosen are local to Colorado today: Maj. David Armitage, the air officer commanding for Cadet Squadron 13, flew combat air patrol missions over D.C. in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, according to the Forum program. Lt. Col. Michael McMahon, the deputy head of the Academy's Economics and Geosciences Department, was stationed in New York when the towers were hit and volunteered in rescue efforts at Ground Zero. Lt. Col. Timothy Conklin, now commander of the Colorado Air National Guard's 120th Fighter Squadron, was the first pilot to take off from Buckley Air Force Base, Colo., with an armed F-16 Fighting Falcon after the 9/11 attacks.
"Sometimes the people who aren't in the spotlight have the best story," Croxton said. "It gives them a chance to tell their story where they wouldn't have been able to otherwise -- the nuances of what they've been through can make the story."
And while cadets will have to balance Forum attendance with preparation for graded reviews -- the Academy equivalent of midterms -- Croxton said she hopes they'll take advantage of the chance to reflect on why they're here.
"The Cadet Wing can get cynical, but I'm hoping cadets take a moment and realize ... we're committed to something greater here -- to the people who've protected us from 9/11 until today," she said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
