Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Jowers Graduates From Air Force Academy
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — Javan Jowers, a 2018 Farmington graduate, was among nearly 1,000 Air Force and Space Force officers graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy in a ceremony May 25.
The ceremony was held at Falcon Stadium, the football field for the U.S. Air Force, with 863 cadets commissioned into the Air Force and 94 into the Space Force. Jowers received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force.
“It was four long years but he did it and he is now graduated from the Air Force Academy and is a second lieutenant!” stated his mother, Pam Jowers, of Farmington.
According to information based on data from the Academy’s operations and analysis office 1,182 cadets were inducted out of 1,434 men and women who received appointments into the Class of 2022. Congressman Steve Womack, of Rogers, appointed Jowers to the Air Force Academy in 2018.
Three fourths of the graduating class are men (713 out of 260) and 44.3% potentially qualified to become pilots with 1,417 scheduled to attend pilot training, 11 scheduled for combat systems operator training, and nine scheduled for air battle manager training. Jowers counts among 24 scheduled to be remotely piloted aircraft officers. He will begin training as a remotely piloted aircraft pilot in San Antonio, Tex. in July.
In all, 461 will enter rated career fields and 382 nonrated career fields as part of their service commitment.
In Jowers’ class, the average high school GPA rates at 3.78 with an average SAT score of 664 for evidence based reading, writing and 694 math. The average ACT score was 31.3 English, 31.3 reading, 30.0 math and 30.6 science reasoning
The Class of 2022 included 16 international cadets from Cameroon, Gambia, Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Niger, Romania, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
A total of 144 graduates attended the U.S Air Force Academy Preparatory School and 51 graduates were enlisted Airmen.
The attrition rate for the graduating class ranked at 15.5%.
The Class of 2022 contained one set of twins.
In exchange for earning a college degree, Jowers now incurs a five-year service commitment and an additional concurrent service commitment, depending on the training, schooling or scholarships received.
An article by Ray Bowden, U. S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs, shows graduates attending pilot training are obligated to an active duty service commitment of 10 years after receiving their pilot’s wings. The article states combat systems operators, remotely piloted aircraft sensor operators and airborne battle managers incur a six-year commitment. Graduates completing airborne battle manager training incur two concurrent service commitments, a five-year service academy graduate commitment and a six-year airborne battle manager commitment.
With the Class of 2022, 53,198 men and women have commissioned into the Air Force and 293 men and women have commissioned into Space Force.