Each year, cadets experience a different aspect of character-based transformational leadership education. This education plan is built to fully complement the Officer Development System and presents character enrichment in a developmental fashion, beginning with personal understanding, moving to interpersonal skills development, followed by understanding of the importance of servant leadership and culminating in organizational improvement through analyzing ethical dilemmas.

Fourth class cadets begin this character development journey by encountering a program called VECTOR (Vital Effective Character Through Observation and Reflection). This program is a dynamic twelve-hour interactive seminar which fourth-classmen attend once in the fall and once in the spring semester. This seminar focuses on values and purpose the first semester, and vision and influence the second semester. VECTOR illustrates to fourth class cadets the importance of developing a strong personal foundation while further enhancing their own leadership styles. Attendees are exposed to various leadership styles and qualities in the form of movie clips and discussions with active duty or retired officers and senior NCOs. They are then challenged to form their own opinions on how they will apply appropriate character and leadership traits, both here at the Academy and with the greater Air Force.

Third class cadets complete the Respect and Responsibility (R&R) seminar. This eight-hour seminar/outdoor adventure program is designed to take the cadets out of their normal environment while helping them discover valuable information about themselves, others and the interpersonal interactions that foster a healthy command environment. Students attempt a graduated series of activities, involving both emotional and physical risk, designed around human relations and diversity issues. The goals and benefits of the R&R program are for participants to acknowledge difference and similarities in their own and others’ leadership behaviors; appreciate the impact of respect, cooperation, and trust on problem solving, decision making, and leadership effectiveness; develop skills that foster and encourage open and honest communications; and to challenge views and biases that undermine a positive and productive work environment.

Second class cadets will take part in the Leaders In Flight Today (LIFT) seminar. The LIFT program is an intensive eight-hour seminar for second class cadets conducted at the Association of Graduates (AOG) building. LIFT attendees focus on high performance, dynamic team building with an emphasis on becoming "Servants of the Nation." Team building topics emphasize servant leadership, trust, loyalty, moral courage, NCO perspectives, being a part of something larger than oneself, and interpersonal skills development. The seminar stresses character and leadership development using a variety of teaching tools and techniques, including experiential learning activities, case study analysis and small group facilitation with active duty and retired officers and NCOs. The day culminates with an exercise that provides cadets with an opportunity to field test LIFT's major insights within their squadron. This commitment to follow-up and follow-through encourages cadets to build their own high performance teams.

The cadet’s mandatory character and leadership development journey culminates in our firstie program – the Academy Character Enrichment Seminar (ACES). The ACES capstone program is a dynamic eight-hour offsite seminar designed to focus attendees on the character and ethical demands placed on Air Force officers. It is tied to the organization level of the ODS PITO model (personal, interpersonal, team and organizational). There is also an added focus on ensuring that cadets have a sound, fundamental process for evaluating and making moral and ethical decisions. Attendees are exposed to a myriad of discussions, issues, concepts, and experiences designed to convey the importance of character and leadership development in self and others and the difference between being an “effective” and being a “truly good” leader. Participants engage in dialogue throughout the day with active duty and retired officer and NCO facilitators, guest lecturers, and their fellow cadets that highlight examples of significant, challenging ethical dilemmas they might encounter in their first-class year and in their military careers. Finally, there is an emphasis on the critical role that first-class cadets play in teaching and developing character traits in others; particularly their subordinate three classes (i.e. fourth class, third class, and second class cadets).

The end-goal is to inspire and excite cadets about their future roles as officers and leaders in the world's best air force, and ensure that Academy character programs not only make a positive difference in cadet development, but contribute directly to the Air Force and Department of Defense goal of having officers of character leading our nation's military.

Our final character development program involves optional cadet participation at the Adventure-based Learning Facility (ABL). The ABL involves a series of high and low ropes course elements which help students develop trust, solve problems, build team unity, and enhance effective communication. Participants receive a bold, discovery orientated growth opportunity that illustrates the staggering potential of collaborative effort, team-learning, and organizational synergy.