For graduates and cadets who trained here as basics, Jacks Valley will always occupy a special place in our memories. Here, we crawled in the mud, fought with pugil sticks, experienced tear gas, climbed obstacles, and did many other things for the first time in our lives. The Jacks Valley real estate was not part of the originally envisioned Academy installation. Prescient planners, however, wanted more land as a buffer. They feared that in decades to come, development and population encroachment would press up against the Academy. Of course, time has proven them to be correct. They added one valley to the south – Pine Valley – and one to the north – Jacks Valley. This enclave gets its name from the people who were on the land before the Academy’s arrival: Cleo and Zelda Jack, who had owned the 480-acre ranch since 1942. Ironically, they were only in the valley that now bears their name because they had been ousted from their previous ranch. The Jacks moved to Colorado from the Socorro, New Mexico, area after their property was acquired by the government to make room for atomic bomb development and testing. While the Academy used the valley for other military purposes – a skeet range opened here on 28 May 1960 – it wasn’t until 1966 that it became the Basic Cadet Training encampment. On 25 July 1966, members of the Class of ’70 marched to the training site from the Cadet Area, claiming the distinction of being the first class to have the Jacks Valley experience we know today. They received training in individual combat techniques, outpost duties, day and night patrols, fire and movement, individual firing positions, and first aid. While the general experience has endured, training has evolved, and other changes have taken place. For example, basics no longer pitch tents to sleep in. The Jacks Valley Mitchell Hall is also a building rather than a tent. In 2019, something new and exciting for graduates began: participation in the annual Jacks Valley March Back. That year, approximately 200 Academy graduates were the first alums to accompany basics and their cadre on their return to the Cadet Area from Jacks Valley. Grads ranging from the Classes of 1961 to 2019 marched with members of the Class of ’23 that day. Thirty-one members of the Class of ’59, at USAFA to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of their graduation, awaited them at the Class Wall. The tradition continues to this day.
The Heritage Minute Channel is a production of the Long Blue Line Podcast Network and presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation
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