–       Father was a POW in Hanoi
–       Gen. Lengyel has an older brother, Lt. Gen. Joseph Lengyel
–       Command pilot with over 3,800 hours
–       Selected for reassignment as Commander, Special Operations Command Europe, and Director, Special Operations, U.S. European Command, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany

Good News Story:

Identified that cadets could do well in anything they put their mind to.

They were not good at being committed and responsible, but rather selfish.  Something was missing.  They had an attitude of “we’re cadets and it doesn’t matter” or “it’s not important” (as was exhibited during a sweep of the cadet dorms during a football game against HA which discovered 450 cadets in the dorms, who should have been at the game). In 2014, we did a surprise sweep and found only 12 cadets.

We gave specific items to work on in Jan. of 2013. Things had to change: 4 DUI’s fall of 2012, sexual assaults, military standards were not what they should be – sloppy uniforms, messy rooms, poor personal standards (from haircuts to bathing) revealed we live with that which we tolerate and we were tolerating mediocrity.  If our standards are low, expectation is low.  Something needed to change; standards needed to be recalibrated by the cadets.  Choosing which rules they wanted to follow and which ones they didn’t want to follow was intolerable by the Academy.  Instead, here is what we expect. Non-compliance is in-compatible with service as a military officer, and therefore incompatible from officer candidates at a service academy.

Need more than compliance of doing what I want them to do by increasing consequences of non-compliance.  Want committed cadets, not just compliant cadets.  The only way is to give the ownership of the cadet wing back to the cadets.  Backed off and let the cadet wing make decisions.  When given responsibility, it changes your perspective.  That shift has changed the cadet wing.

It started with Basic Cadet Training in summer of 2013.  BCT was no longer about the basics; it’s a leadership opportunity for upper-class cadets – that’s more important.  Nowhere else in the Air Force is there a divided mentality/adversarial relationship.  High standards, role model upper classmen, and team work.  Cadre led their basics through the courses; basics then respected their leaders.

School year: cadets led with limited guidance and came with great ideas and solutions to problems.  The class of 2014 has done a tremendous job at taking on the responsibilities and tough challenges.  Example: spirit cheese became a problem.  The vice wing commander sent out one email explaining the problem and possible consequences and it stopped.

Football games are the front porch of the AFA and may be the only time people see USAFA.  Uniforms were standardized by the cadet wing.  We got rid of the Section 8 because it had no value.  Cadets have skin in the game, they are in charge, & have to get the cadet wing to be successful.  We are in a supporting role to let the cadet wing commander run the cadet wing, we provided vision & resources for the cadet wing and the cadets to be successful.

I wanted to tell you how much better the cadets have performed this academic year versus last year.  Another thing we have worked on is the military standards. What I saw 18 months ago versus one month ago is night and day.  I took responsibility and apologized for failing the cadets and for what we had been teaching you that qualifies as excellence, is wrong & needed to recalibrated.  It took longer than I wanted but it happened.  Culture change is slow & takes time.  The cadets are treating each other better and will be better leaders when they become lieutenants in the Air Force.

THANKS to Mrs. Patty Daviscourt for writing these highlights of MG Lengyel’s remarks.