Recent CMR grad ready to become USAFA cadet

By Airman 1st Class Dillon White, 341st Space Wing Public Affairs Office / Published June 04, 2008

PHOTO DETAILS / DOWNLOAD HI-RES 1 of 1

Maj. Conn McKelvey, United States Air Force Academy liaison officer, presents a USAFA certificate of acceptance to Keegan Vaira, with his father, Maj. Rusty Vaira, 219th RED HORSE Squadron operations flight commander, as a witness at the 219th RED HORSE Squadron Tuesday. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Dillon White)

MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- One officer's home will be missing an 18-year-old varsity soccer player, choir member, youth soccer coach and church youth group vice president June 25.

Keegan Vaira, son of Maj. Rusty Vaira, 219th RED HORSE Squadron operations flight commander, and soon-to-be Cadet 4th Class Vaira, graduated from Charles M. Russell High School in the top 10 percent of his class last week, and is scheduled to begin cadet training at the United States Air Force Academy June 26.

"I plan to earn a degree in engineering and make the Air Force a career," Keegan said. "I've been running a lot and doing push ups, pull ups and sit ups on top of playing soccer to stay in shape for cadet training. I'm excited to go."

Maj. Conn McKelvey, USAFA liaison officer, recruited Keegan for three main reasons, and said he was first impressed by his well-roundedness.

"The United States Air Force Academy is looking for the high school individuals who will make the best officers for the Air Force-plain and simple," said Major McKelvey. "There are lots of high school students who are good students, good athletes or good at student government activities, but there are very few who do well at all of them."

Secondly, Keegan has excelled in leadership situations [as vice president of his church youth group], but, Major McKelvey said one of the reasons he wants to go to the USAFA is to learn to be an even better leader.

"Sometimes, being able to find your own weaknesses and then working on them, is the mark of someone who will end up as a great leader," he said. "That impressed me a lot."
The third thing that impressed the liaison officer about Keegan was his honest approach, the Major said.

"We see a lot of students who say they want to go to the Academy to be pilots because they think it is the best way to be accepted, which is not true. He had the confidence to be honest about his desire to be an engineer after he is commissioned," Major McKelvey said.

Keegan got his first glimpse of life as a cadet during a week-long construction camp sponsored by the Society of American Military Engineers held at the USAFA in 2006 as a high school student. The camp is lead by cadets, USAFA instructors and engineers.
While there, Keegan built concrete beams, sprinkler systems, wastewater filters, and participated in team-building and problem-solving activities and toured the USAFA laboratories and cadet facilities.

The honor graduate said he wanted to attend the Air Force Academy over other colleges because he is familiar with the Air Force and that the military appeals to him.

"My other choice was to go to Montana State University and enroll in ROTC, but I wouldn't get the same extracurricular and leadership opportunities," he said.

Keegan plans to play soccer for The Falcons and join the choir. He also intends to participate in a summer parachuting course, and possibly a glider course.

"This is a great opportunity not only academically, but for leadership, and athletic growth as well," said Major Vaira. "It's taken a lot of people to help him get accepted to the Academy from support and mentorship from parents and family friends, to letters of recommendation from pastors, coaches, teachers and one from Brig. Gen. John Del Toro, Montana Air National Guard commander. We're proud of him."

Middle and high school students who are interested in the USAFA or Air Force ROTC can contact Major McKelvey at cmckelve@yahoo.com or (406) 736-5739.

"We have officers who cover every school in Montana and tons of info can be found at www.academyadmissions.com," Major McKelvey said.

Current enlisted members should contact the Malmstrom Education Office for USAFA recruiting info.

If you wish to comment, use the text box below. AF reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

This is a moderated forum. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, we expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain abusive or vulgar language, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, violate EEO policy, are offensive to other or similar content. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly "off topic", promote services or products, infringe copyright protected material, or contain any links that don't contribute to the discussion. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted. The AF and the AF alone will make a determination as to which comments will be posted. Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non-governmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using this page. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the AF, DoD, the United States, or its officers or employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying AF endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Any comments that report criminal activity including: suicidal behaviour or sexual assault will be reported to appropriate authorities including OSI. This forum is not:

This forum is not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact OSI or your local police agency.
Do not submit unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries to this forum. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.

AF does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on this forum is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. AF may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on this website by any other person. AF does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained on those websites that may be reached through links on our website.

Members of the media are asked to send questions to the public affairs through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Reporter questions will not be posted. We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and posted as early as possible; in most cases, this means the next business day.

For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. The views expressed on the site by non-federal commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the AF or the Federal Government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as name, Social Security number, DoD ID number, OSI Case number, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. If you do voluntarily include personally identifiable information in your comment, such as your name, that comment may or may not be posted on the page. If your comment is posted, your name will not be redacted or removed. In no circumstances will comments be posted that contain Social Security numbers, DoD ID numbers, OSI case numbers, addresses, email address or phone numbers. The default for the posting of comments is "anonymous", but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on our site.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.