# @af_academy on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CHtIIsvDqBU
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/8951832-af-academy-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/legacy-do/4fa76d93ff6f378c5146e67cab25de4fef4d9d48e337e956ab2afd59d272bf77.jpg
- **Posted:** 2020-11-17T20:22:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** U.S. Air Force Academy (@af_academy) — https://gondola.cc/af_academy

## Caption

Maj. Preston Moon, 2009 grad, teaches young aviators in the 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, to fly the UH-1N in challenging situations like in close formation at night wearing night vision goggles. It can be a bit stressful.  
  
“… the aviator next to you is unqualified and trying (by no fault of their own) to crash the whole formation into the ground,” he shared.  
   
Moon credits the Academy with helping him prepare for the challenges of his Air Force career.  
   
“Having 3x GR’s, a SAMI, 2 term papers, a group project and a bike race the week before Recognition is a fairly close approximation to the levels of stress experienced in the example above,” he joked.     
   
His favorite assignment has been the nuclear security mission at Malmstrom and F.E. Warren Air Force Bases.  
  
“It’s a very small and not very well-known community that does a very important mission,” he said. “And flying in the mountains of Montana every day was amazing.”  
  
Moon is not the only Service Academy grad in the household – his wife graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2009, but commissioned into the Air Force and serves as a Developmental Aerospace Engineer. Her current role in the Air Force Reserve is in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency teaching the basics of nuclear incident response to first responders.  
  
On the concept of Warrior Ethos, Moon said, “It means being ready personally, emotionally, and physically to do the mission this great nation has asked you to do.” #YourAcademy #WarriorEthosWeek

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 5,021
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- **Comments:** 12

## Credits

No public credits are recorded here. This does not identify who made the post.

## Tags

warriorethosweek, youracademy

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