Sorry, went off on a tangent. So basic training sucked. Then the school year started and on top of going to classes like Calculus 3 and military history, we got yelled at a lot, ran around in combat boots, did an absurd amount of push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups and a RIDICULOUS amount of marching.
I spent that whole year with the same people. Just like you can't pick your family, you can't pick your squad mates. There are 40 squadrons at the Academy and each squadron has about 25 freshmen. Before basic training starts, you're randomly placed into a squadron and these are the people who will see you at your absolute worst. They are the ones who have to suffer because you didn't shine your boots just right. They have to do push-ups because you failed your inspection. They are there to cheer you on when you don't think you can run any farther. We started basic training with 33 freshmen in 7th squadron. By the end of the year, that number had been winnowed down to 24. We started out as a random group of strangers and ended up like a family. Sometimes, you really can't stand your family, but at the same time, you'd do anything for them. People like Dave, Nate, Angela, Trent, Rob, Beth, Chris, Matt, Jason, Erynn, Cory, Floyd...and Nick.
Like most of the people in my new family, Nick and I didn't have a lot in common. He was the son of school teachers from a tiny town in western Kansas. I was a person who almost fell asleep driving through western Kansas. Nick walked on to the Academy's JV baseball team as a pitcher. I begged my little league baseball coach to let me play pitcher so he did it for part of one inning, until enough of the other team had either hit home runs off me or got hit by my wild throws. Nick was an excellent student. He aced every class he took. I was...a student. So normally Nick and I would never have crossed paths. But freshman year, you really have no choice other than to spend time with your squad mates. You can't go off base (actually you can't go outside the cadet area) except in rare instances--even on the weekends. So when you're not doing homework, playing intramurals, getting yelled at, running in combat boots, making your room and uniform look immaculate, memorizing obscure military quotes, and don't forget the marching(!), you're just hanging out together.
One thing I always loved doing was hiking and the Air Force Academy has plenty of opportunities for that. My favorite trail at the Academy was the one up Eagle's Peak.
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| Eagle's Peak rises above the Cadet Chapel |
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| View of USAFA from the top of Eagle's Peak |
I climbed that mountain more times than I could say. I knew every inch of that trail and eventually you reach a point where climbing Eagle's Peak doesn't seem like much of a challenge. Late in our freshman year, Nick and I reached that point. Normally, you climb up Eagle's Peak by circling around the front and coming up from the back side. This is so you avoid the sheer cliff face on the east side of the mountain.
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| That cliff really looks doable, right? |
By this point in my cadet career, I'd gone through basic training, I'd been yelled at, run around in combat boots, done a lot of push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups, and marched until I was marching in my sleep. I don't want to speak for Nick here but I was sort of a badass. Plus I was 19 and as everyone knows, all 19 year-olds are indestructible ninja assassins. Why should I be held back by a measly cliff? So, one Saturday, Nick and I decided to tackle the front of Eagle's Peak.
Our journey started off swimmingly. It seemed much faster going straight up. Why didn't everyone climb this way? We reached the base of the cliff in positive spirits. Sure, the cliff appeared quite a bit taller and steeper than it looked from the ground. Also there was an ominous dark cloud blowing in from the west, but did I mention that we were indestructible ninja assassins? Undaunted, Nick and I started to climb. The lower portion of the cliff offers enough hand and foot holds to pull yourself up, as long as you're not averse to risk and you avoid looking down. Then, it gets a little trickier. Right about the time when the sky got darker and thunder rumbled around us, I began to reassess my destructibility.
I didn't want to be the one to wuss out and crawl back home, and Nick didn't seem to be slowing down so we continued our slow progress up the cliff. Right around the halfway point, the wind is picking up, thunder is getting closer, and I'm definitely seeing headlines in the Colorado Springs Gazette like, "Idiotic Cadets Struck by Lightning Before Fall From Cliff," or "Idiotic Cadets Fall From Cliff Before Being Struck by Lightning," or even "Idiotic Cadets Manage to Get Struck by Lightning During Fall From Cliff." Any way you put it, I was starting to feel like an idiot. Honestly, I think Nick could've made it up in good weather. Unfortunately, we got to a point where he could reach the next handhold but I was too short, so he was dangling his leg down so I could grab onto it. Then, we started to feel rain. Or maybe it was my tears. Probably a bit of both. Nick made the decision to turn around because his wingman was blubbering like a toddler.
Dejected, we made our way back to the dorms in the rain. I think we may have taken different lessons from our attempt at the rock face of Eagle's Peak. I learned that climbing mountains is a little trickier than climbing trees. Also I'm rather short. And lightning storms in Colorado are scary. And I may not be the best at high pressure situations. And I'm a little man-baby.
Nick just kept on taking those risks.
After our second year at the Academy, everyone switched squadrons. Nick and I saw each other in the halls during class, but rarely spoke. He had his friends and I had mine. I was big into partying on the weekends and probably didn't put as much effort into my school work as I should have. I graduated with a 3.0, so not too bad but definitely not in the top of our class. From the Academy, I had a brief career in the Air Force before I was forced out by cancer.
Nick's trajectory after graduation could not have been more different. He majored in Aerospace Engineering, graduated near the top of our class, and got a fellowship to MIT. From there, Nick became a flight test pilot and kept on taking risks with his sights set on being an astronaut. In 2013, his dream came true and he was one of eight selected for the program. He was the first from his class to be chosen to go to the International Space Station. In fact, he was part of the Soyuz mission that launched last Thursday.
I haven't spoken to the guy in more than 20 years. But when Col. Nick Hague's rocket booster failed a couple minutes into his flight to the International Space Station Thursday morning, I was watching. I was reminded of that day on the rock face of Eagle's Peak, and I was pretty confident Nick would come out of it with the same calm confidence he displayed that day (https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/soyuz-rocket-launch-abort-mission-iss-nasa-astronaut-russians-ballistic-descent/).
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| Colonel Nick Hague |
