Skies to Conquer : A Year Inside the Air Force Academy

The book follows a handful of Air Force Academy cadets through the school year starting July 2006, covering all the trials and rewards the Academy presents, from the first few punishing weeks of Basic to its conclusion, Acceptance Day, when those who have made it earn the right to be called cadets; to Recognition, when freshman year is nearly over and the survivors win some of the privileges, like free use of phones, that ordinary college students take for granted; to Commitment Day, the last chance to bolt the academy without having to pay back taxpayers for attending; to Graduation, when Thunderbird pilots soar over the academy and cadets leave as 2nd lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force.Diana also follows the first year of Lt. Gen. John F. Regni, who took charge of the Academy to change its scandalous ways. His impressions, efforts, frustrations and successes in trying to rescue the Academy from itself will be a good parallel to those of the students as they try to survive the academy, especially considering that the institution has a reputation for destroying the career of anyone who heads it.

Diana Jean Schemo, a veteran journalist and foreign bureau chief at the Baltimore Sun and the New York Times, has covered poverty and child abuse, culture, religion, and education. Her reports have tracked rebels in Colombia, counterfeiting in Paraguay, and indentured servitude in Brazil. She has written from more than twenty-five countries and regions, including Somalia, Iraq, Israel, and the Amazon. For more, visit www.skiestoconquer.com.