One recruiting pitch for military service is the opportunity to see the world.

Air Force’s Kyle Haak did that and then some, capping his summer with a special trip to Washington, D.C. The senior hockey player recently was honored as the Air Force Association Cadet of the Year and the U.S. Air Force Cadet of the Year for 2018.

The Air Force Association award is specific to Academy cadets, while the USAF honor includes USAFA, Reserve Officer Training Corps and Officer Training School cadets. Haak, who has a 3.96 gpa, is ranked No. 1 among 1,018 cadets in his class, has made the Dean’s Ace list every semester and is a two-time Academic All-American.

Haak spent last week in Washington attending the Air Force Space, Cyberspace and Air Symposium.

“I found out I would be able to go to Washington; I’d never been there before so I was really excited,” he said. “The award was presented along with 43 other awards for NCOs, groups and officers. It was a great conference.”

Haak’s journey to Washington began last spring. He said he had no idea the awards even existed until his Air Officer Commander encouraged him to apply, a process that included putting together a presentation of 30 activities he’d been part of in the past year.

“I had a lot of other people involved,” Haak said. “I could not have won without their help. We put (the application) through the Academy before it went through the Air Force. I forgot about it until August.”

In between, Haak finished his junior year – he’s majoring in physics with a nuclear weapons and strategy minor – and then headed East, far East, for the summer, gradually working his way back toward Colorado Springs.

“It was an amazing experience,” Haak said. “I was funded by the Stamps Foundation and the USAFA endowment. I was able to pursue some of those education-broadening topics, water and nuclear energy.

“I flew to Israel to intern for a company that does decentralized desalination. I got to learn about their market, learned about how different countries acquire fresh water and some of the struggles countries are dealing with around the world.

“Then I went to Spain for a week for a conference on waste water re-use (for) agricultural purposes, to see where the technology is at, where the policies are at.

“Then I went to Iceland for a week and studied geothermal energy and how we can use that in other locations around the world.

“I finally ended up in Tennessee at Oak Ridge National Lab and was working on a nuclear energy data simulation.”

Those experiences dovetail nicely with Haak’s passions for physics, particularly its role in nuclear energy, and fresh water. Graduate school is the next goal, and he is in the Academy’s Class of 2019 cohort of cadets under consideration for the Rhodes, Marshall, Gates-Cambridge and Schwartzman scholarship processes.

“I’d like to study either nuclear energy or another big study topic of mine is water, fresh water, and how we can use that to prevent conflict in the future. Make sure people have access to fresh water and sanitary water,” Haak added. “Then go off to pilot training one day.”

Before his longterm flight plans are set, however, Haak and his Falcons teammates have another target in their sights – a third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, a feat no other class in program history has accomplished.

“We’ve definitely got that in our crosshairs for the end of the season,” said Haak, one of seven Falcons seniors.” But what I hope, and what I think this group understands is that it doesn’t just happen and it’s not going to be given to us.

“There’s going to be ups and downs throughout the year, and we have to make sure we’re playing our best hockey in March and April.”

That’s rarely a problem for Haak, who overcame an injury-plagued season in 2017-18 to post four points in two Atlantic Hockey final four  games to make the all-tournament team. That came on the heels of making the NCAA East Regional all-tournament team in 2017, capping a season in which he had 33 points and 14 goals.

Taking the long view has served Haak well so far, and this season should be no exception.

©2017-18 First Line Editorial