Air Force Academy adapts to pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans

The Air Force Academy now accommodates "Earth-based" religions.

From the L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-air-force-pagans-20111127,0,6813530.story

Since my own Rainbow Arc of Fire characters practice an earth-based pagan religion, this news makes it even more disappointing that I won't be there to become involved.

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The process, Part VII

One week and two days after they received my application (and one day before Thanksgiving Day), I received their reply: "We are in receipt of your application for the position of Assistant Professor of English, #11-45ENG. However, I'm sorry to inform you that your application has been rated not qualified. Specifically, you do not meet the minumum education requirement of an earned Doctorate degree as outlined in the 'Qualifications' section of the vacancy requirement."

It's completely accurate, of course. But it's as if they did not take into account the fact that I'm more educated and better qualified now to teach there than I was back in 1978, when I was first hired.

So, the dream I had from even before the day I resigned on October 12, 1979, that I would one day be able to return, is now shattered completely. I am too old to return to the Air Force. Had I been able to do that, I could have applied to be one of the military instructors at USAFA where a Master's Degree is sufficient education, and all of the rest of my educational experience and background would have been even more reason to hire me.

When I once more applied back in 1992, while their notice for a civilian instructor stated that they preferred to hire a PhD, it was not absolutely required then as it is now. But then it was all too soon after my forced resignation. And then, of course, they still had that aversion to having anyone who was gay present and teaching there, whether in the service or not. This was a year before DADT came into effect.

They might have read about me, read between the lines. They might have made an exception this time around. They might have been willing and able to set an old wrong right after more than 32 years. But they chose not to.

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The process, Part VI

The package was delivered to "Reception" at 11:04 AM today. Signed by "SHOCK".

Now, the real waiting begins.

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The process, Part V

Out for delivery.

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The process, Part IV

My transcripts did not arrive on Thursday either. Before I learned that, I contacted Dominguez Hills and told the woman I spoke with that I would gladly pay to have my transcripts sent via FedEx overnight. Late in the afternoon, just before I learned that my transcripts that were supposed to have been sent the previous Friday, priority mail, did not arrive, she called me and informed me that FedEx had picked up the packet.

Yesterday afternoon, the transcripts sent via FedEx on Thursday did arrive. I put them in with all of the other required documents and took them whole thing to Office Depot to overnight them to USAFA on Monday. I have been following their progress since yesterday. (BTW, the transcripts supposedly sent last Friday did arrive today. Unfortunately, regardless of what I had been told about their being sent last Friday, the postmark was November 8. They were postmarked Tuesday, not last Friday. That is why they never got here on Wednesday or Thursday.)

At 2:32 AM early this morning, the application packet left the UPS station in Commerce City for Colorado Springs. Nothing has appeared to confirm that they have arrived in Colorado Springs yet. But the packet is supposed to be delivered at noon on Monday to USAFA. I can only hope that that happens. Until I get actual confirmation of delivery on that day, I won't rest easy.

With so many road blocks in the way, just to put the packet of documents together and send it all off, I have questioned whether or not this was the direction for me to take. However, after 32 years, I would never have let the opportunity pass without trying very hard to go back.

Again, the Academy can simply say that I do not have the required PhD, and I will have no further recourse. I only have a few years left until retirement. I, at least, want to have the opportunity to teach once more. But it's all out of my hands now.

When I tried to get accepted at UCCS for their teacher certification program back in 1988, I might have been beyond the deadline when I called about applying; however, the head of the program allowed me to apply anyway, and I was accepted, beyond their cutoff date. Even my horoscope the next morning said, after I visited the campus the previous afternoon, that I should consider returning to school to get a teaching certification. That certification didn't actually get me a secondary teaching job, but the additional education regarding teaching, and especially teaching English, might be enough to get me hired now. Or none of my experience and background will matter one bit.

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The process, Part III

As of late yesterday, my transcripts from Dominguez Hills still had not arrived. Tomorrow is a legal holiday for the Air Force and the post office. That means, if I don't get the transcripts today, I definitely won't get them tomorrow. Saturday afternoon mail delivery will likely be too late to get them to the Academy by Monday. The college said they would send them out last Friday, priority mail.

If they do arrive later today, I will probably use FedEx or UPS instead of the post office since they will be closed. I don't know if they would be able to send my application package on Saturday anyway. And, if I did try to mail it late today, they still might not get it there on Monday.

I am now also having to contemplate driving down to the Air Force Academy on Monday morning and hand delivering my packet, that is if the transcripts arrive in the mail today or Saturday.

It should not have had to be this hard. I ordered them more than a month ago and paid handsomely for two sets of each of my MA degree and BA degree transcripts, separately. Yet, even though there were no problems with my MA degree transcripts, the college still did not bother to send those out separately, weeks ago.

Waiting 32 years to have even a slim chance to return to the best job I ever had, and now I have to worry because something as simple as "Official" transcripts not arrving could undo the whole process.

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The process, Part II

A flury of phone calls and emergency requests. I find out that East L.A. College was having trouble finding my records, and that Dominguez Hills discovered that my records for the Fall of 1970 were damaged on microfiche and unreadable. Fortunately, having photocopies of my transcripts, I was able to tell the woman from the college what three courses I took. She said on Friday that they would send the transcripts out priority mail.

Yesterday, I got the transcripts from East L.A. College. I hope the ones from Dominguez Hills arrive today. It should not have been this much trouble. I was able to get them all without any problems more than a year ago.

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