Cadets and grads affectionately refer to the United States Air Force Academy, or USAFA, as “the Zoo” for one reason:
Isolation
The super soft Army and Navy academies let their best and brightest walk right out the gate into civilization. Not so fast at the Zoo. Air Force Academy cadets are caged animals because the “base” sits on 16,000 acres of land with the “school” being strategically nestled super far away from both the North and South gates.
It is a 10-minute DRIVE, going the speed limit, just to get to a gate to begin your journey off base.
And you aren’t allowed to have a car until your third year in college… making Air Force Academy cadets totally isolated from the outside world for two years – unless they can figure out how to borrow an upperclassman’s car. #aimhigh
ISOLATIONSEPARATENESSSEQUESTRATIONSECLUSIONCONFINEMENT
That’s great, so why is the Air Force Academy called the Zoo?
Well let me tell you, there is this multi-denominational chapel at the Air Force Academy that looks different than any other religious building anybody has ever seen before, and it is somewhat of a tourist attraction.
Civilians can check it out up close and if they are there during noon meal formation they also get to check out cadets marching to lunch – above the terrazzo level, a lot like you would at your city or town’s local zoo to check out the animals on display.
Thus the nickname, the Zoo.
Behind The Design
As a young boy, I decided that I was going to find a way to attend the United States Air Force Academy.
It probably happened after watching Iron Eagle where the main character’s punishment for commandeering an F-16 and destroying a fictional Arab country’s air force in order to rescue his father was an Appointment to the Zoo.
Younger me was all “Hell yea, brother… Let’s go!”
While I was a boy and a teenager, the Academy’s alternate logo was a circular design like a wax seal – and I wanted to make a word mark with the same basic shape but different insides because that logo meant a lot to me growing up.
I replaced the copyrighted stuff with our affectionate nickname and made that word the most oversized part of the design, so it stands out.
As an homage to the infamous Form O-96 – I added the words “Fast Neat Average” and “Friendly Good Good” following the circular pattern of the design.
I haven’t seen anything out there like this and plan to continue to explore base nicknames for future designs. In the meantime, I personally have this sticker over the Apple logo on my Macbook Pro and iPad and think it really classes them up.
You can pick up your own Zoo sticker here and if you do, DM me where you end up putting it.
