Air Force Academy brawl injures 27 cadets
By | Associated Press – 14 hrs ago
DENVER (AP) — The Air Force Academy said 27 cadets were injured in a brawl during an unofficial ritual marking the first snowfall of the season.
Six
cadets were taken to an off-campus hospital after the Oct. 25 ruckus
and have been released, the academy said Wednesday. The others were
treated at a cadet clinic.
The
injuries included concussions, cuts and a human bite, and some cadets
required stitches, Brig. Gen. Dana Born wrote in an internal email that
was provided to The Associated Press and other media outlets. Academy
officials confirmed the email is authentic.
Born is dean of faculty.
Academy
officials were treating the incident as a "teachable moment," said Lt.
Col. John Bryan, a school spokesman. He said he did not know of any
plans to discipline cadets.
Brig. Gen. Gregory Lengyel, the commandant of cadets, said in a statement that the brawl was unacceptable.
Lengyel did not say how many cadets were involved but said it was a "relatively small number."
The
ritual is called "First Shirt/First Snow" and involves freshmen trying
to throw cadet first sergeants — known as first shirts — into the snow.
"This
ritual has devolved to become increasingly violent, with significant
numbers of cadets requiring medical care over the past two years," Born
wrote in her email.
"What used to be (freshmen) throwing the first
shirt into the snow has turned into a brawl between upperclassmen
defending the first sergeant and the (freshmen) trying to capture the
first sergeant."It wasn't immediately known how many cadets were injured last year.
"Obviously, this has gotten out of hand and cannot be repeated," Born wrote.
Born
wrote that Lengyel stopped short of banning the ritual and said cadets
could propose keeping it if they found a way to avoid violence.
The
academy is located outside Colorado Springs and has about 4,000
students. Upon graduation, they are commissioned as second lieutenants
in the Air Force.
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