Air Force Academy Cadet Follows Naval Academy Sisters into the Military

When the straight lines of newly accepted Air Force Academy cadets broke into a whirlwind of hugs as families flooded Stillman Field Wednesday, Eileen Um celebrated with her sister, a newly minted Naval Academy graduate.

The California native is following both her older sisters into the military, but not into the Navy, so she is expecting some friendly family rivalry at Air Force versus Navy football games.

Their mom, Soyoung Um, was surprised when her oldest, Lois Um, decided to pursue a career as an officer, but believes all three of her children were prepared for military life through their upbringing in the Southern Baptist Church. Soyoung and her husband Sang Um moved their family 10 times as their children grew up.

"I think they got the heart service through the ministry," she said, noting her middle child, Chloe is a junior at the Naval Academy. All of her daughters were gifted in math, science and language, but the service academy experience is a "rollercoaster" and "not easy" compared to a civilian college, Soyoung Um said.

Class of 2029 cadet Eileen Um from Orange County, Calif., receives her first shoulder boards as she is promoted to a fourth-class cadet Wednesday, Aug. 6, after the Acceptance Day Parade on Stillman Field where the basic cadets, without rank insignia, are accepted into the Cadet Wing and transition into fourth-class cadets.

Eileen Um said the assault course during basic training was one of the most physically demanding experiences of about six weeks the cadets spend on the academy's training area known as Jack's Valley. On the assault course, cadets hold mock M-16s as they navigate barriers, such as shimmying face-up through barbwire and bellycrawling through a stream.

The experience cemented a strong relationship among her team, Um said.

"We would be holding on to each other and pulling each other forward," she recalled.

Um was one of about 1,100 cadets formally accepted into the Cadet Wing at the end of basic training and one of 262 women or about 23% of the class that will graduate in 2029.

About 9,000 students applied to the academy and about 1,400 students were admitted, according to the school's data.

The percentage of women in the current class is down from recent years. The Class of 2028 was composed of 30% women and the Class of 2027 was composed of 29% women. The academy did not address a question about the drop in female students. The school also did not release additional racial demographic details about the class of 2029 as it has in the past.

An academy spokesperson said the school does not consider race or ethnicity in its admissions process when asked for the data.

Across the lines of freshmen joining their new squadrons at the Air Force Academy Wednesday marched 325 women representing about a little less than a third of the class, a number that's been roughly stable for at least nine classes.

In the stands at Stillman Field, hundreds of parents and loved ones stood anxiously awaiting a reunion with the cadets as the formalities of the U.S. Air Force Academy's Acceptance Day Parade played out. While cadets participated in basic training, they did not have access to their phones and were only allowed to communicate via letters parents said.

Jennifer and Russell Lewis were among those parents brimming with pride as they waited to speak with their son, Luke Lewis, who is at the academy pursuing the dream of becoming an astronaut he set for himself in preschool.

Luke started learning to fly when he was 15 and balanced his love for flight with his passion for martial arts, his parents said. He has earned 13 gold medals at Junior Olympics and hopes to join the school's boxing team.

"He could have gone anywhere, but he chose this," said Jennifer Russell, who served as an Apache helicopter crew chief.

Susan Florence was also among the crowd holding a sign celebrating the SpongeBob SquarePants song "Goofy Goober" cadets sang while in basic training, she said.

"It kept their spirits high," she said.

While her son caught pneumonia while in training, she said, he had a smile on his face when she video-chatted with him at the end of July.

The Air Force Academy's Commandant Brig. Gen. Gavin Marks encouraged cadets to cultivate a desire for success and courage in the face of fear as they arrived for basic training Wednesday.

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