May 18th Walk 1: Colorado Springs Airforce Training Academy

Today's walk was taken at the Colorado Spring's Airforce Training Academy, as it was a destination on a road trip my father and I are taking back to Ohio. Walking through the academy, I had my SLR and a Voice Recorder in hand, mapping the experience I had. Posted below is a satellite image of the base, that I obviously did not take, but it is there to give an general idea on the size of this location.

Also below is a PowerPoint presentation containing 200+ images I took while visually mapping this base. Below it is an embedded audio recording of over an hour, mapping the sound. Play the sound, then start the slide show.

It was a very strange experience as I had never been to such a location. My expectations were exceeded and under exceeded at the same time. When first arriving, they have you pull up straight to the visitor center, which is essentially just a gift shop. This bothered me to the point of frustration. I did not expect to see such commercialism at such a location. Thrown right in your face, prior to even seeing the complex, you are expected to spend money on worthless crap stamped with the air force logo on it, rather than first appreciate what is happening at the complex.

After leaving the "visitor center" I proceeded to take a self guided tour around the base. The surroundings were breath taking. Luscious green mountains, clean Colorado air, and a slight haze of fog.

The complex itself was enormous, thus it was a perfect place to take this mapping walk. Composed of dormitories, training facilities, and mess halls, everything you would expect to be at an academy was there. From viewing posts, we were able to see soldiers in training, reminding me of my marching band days; marching back and forth, saluting, the usual. After watching these guys and gals for a bit, and talking with a few of them them, I continued my walk.

What was most fascinating to me was the large religious building seated at the center of the complex. At first glance, this structure was beautiful. But when investigated, I found many problems with its existence. The church was made of four floors. The top, largest, and most decorated floor being for the protestants. The floor underneath for the Catholics; the floor underneath that for the Buddhist and the Jews, and a supposed fourth floor for Muslims, of which I was unable to locate after strolling around the building for about a half hour. I found this building to be one of the most offensive pieces of religious architecture I have ever seen, yet aesthetically it was beautiful. To me, it represented the religious hierarchy present in not only our military, but in our society. I was thoroughly discouraged at the unfairness that this building represented, to the point where it ruined my entire experience.

Overall, I would say this was more of a mapping of a personal experience by use of visual, audio and emotion. I was glad I was able to be at such an interesting place for such experience and I feel like I learned a lot about myself, as well as our military, and our country.



START THIS AUDIO: It takes a moment to load, so be patient.



THEN START THIS SLIDESHOW

Walk 1 May 18th

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