Overall excellence lifts returned missionary to the top
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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
A breadth of excellence lifted returned missionary Bradford Waldie to the top of the Air Force Academy graduating class of 2010.
Now that he is commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, that excellence will carry him to Oxford University and then to pilot training before he pursues his ultimate goal in the country's diplomatic corps.
The Air Force Academy ranks graduates based on three criteria — academic, military and physical performance. Though he wasn't No. 1 in any individual category, Brother Waldie was well-rounded. When his scores were added up, he landed No. 1 among 1,001 graduates.
In a telephone interview from his home in Mesa, Ariz., where he is on leave after graduating, Brother Waldie spoke of the impact his service in the Canada Toronto West (Chinese speaking) Mission had on his academy experience. He said his class was the first at the academy in which prospective LDS missionaries were allowed to leave after one year rather than being required to wait until the end of the second year.
"I didn't learn real discipline until I was on my mission," he said, pointing out that he did have some free time each week at the academy as well as some breaks during the year. On his mission, everything was structured, including preparation day, for two years.
His mission also changed his approach to academics, he said, noting that before his mission his academic purpose revolved around grades. When he got back to the academy, his focus switched to the enjoyment and fulfillment of learning. The grades took care of themselves; he graduated with a 3.97 GPA. (His physical performance average was 3.348 and his military performance average was 3.446.)
And his mission language opened up his double major of foreign area studies and humanities.
The recipient of the academy's Holaday Scholarship, an annual scholarship that allows one cadet who competes for, but does not receive, a Rhodes Scholarship, to do graduate work at Oxford. He said his goal there is a double master's degree in global governance and diplomacy and African studies.
African studies?
He said he became interested in Africa while rooming his final three years at the academy with Charleton Coates who served in the South Africa Durban Mission. Also, while doing a semester abroad in China while a cadet, he was intrigued by China's relationship with the nations of Africa.
The biggest challenge for him at the academy, he said, was giving up most of his social life. There was little of it during his four years there and, meanwhile, he knew his friends at other schools were "having so much fun."
But friends were the highlight of his academy experience. "I had great friends inside and outside the Church," he said.
"You have to be a good example," he said of the responsibility of being a member of the Church. "I had to establish my standards." As he did, other cadets would often test him. But when they were convinced he was firm in his standards, they took a more positive approach and often rallied around him to help him protect his standards. For example, he said that sometimes he would walk into a room where cadets were watching a questionable movie and they would immediately tell him, "You'd better leave."
As he now fulfills his military commitment, he said he knows he will face other challenges to his faith, including the likelihood of being stationed in remote areas where the Church is fledgling. But he remembers counsel President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency gave cadets during a visit to the academy earlier this year. Brother Waldie said that among his counsel, President Uchtdorf said, "Be consistent in your scripture reading."
On top of that, he looks forward to doing what he can to build the Church wherever he is stationed, again drawing on President Uchtdorf's counsel given in October 2008 general conference to "lift where you stand."
After his leave, Brother Waldie said he will return to the academy to help other cadets apply for scholarships before heading to England to attend Oxford University. His next goal is to become an Air Force pilot. But, ultimately, he said he would like to be an attache to a U.S. ambassador, preferably in China or Africa. He admitted to less defined goals related to his interest in government, foreign relations and diplomacy such as becoming an ambassador himself and possibly getting into politics and running for public office.
