COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Tribune News Service) — With less than two weeks until graduation, nine senior Air Force Academy soccer players and their families are unsure if they will march with their classmates after an alleged hazing incident that most reportedly did not witness.

According to family members, the senior members of the academy soccer team have been informally told that they may not graduate on time as a disciplinary measure related to off-field incidents that took place during the fall semester. Commencement is scheduled May 29 at Falcon Stadium.

“Graduation is in two weeks, and we have no idea if we’re going to see our kids graduate,” said Mark Stoup, a soccer parent and retired colonel who taught at the academy 2000 to 2003.

In an emailed statement Thursday to The Gazette, an academy spokesman acknowledged an investigation and subsequent disciplinary actions following “allegations of physical, unprofessional, and demeaning misconduct inflicted on other members of the men’s soccer team.

“Further actions are still pending,” the statement read. “Any decisions about graduation and continued enrollment at the U.S. Air Force Academy will be made after the resolution of each specific case. The cadets have been afforded all due process considerations throughout, and have access to a defense counsel, as well as an opportunity to provide their perspective.”

Four academy soccer parents, including Stoup, spoke with The Gazette. Three would speak only on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation against their sons, they said. One parent shared a redacted paragraph from a letter of reprimand that characterized the alleged hazing incident as “disgraceful.”

All nine senior soccer players received similar letters, according to the parents who spoke with The Gazette.

Stoup said the initial incident, which took place in August, was a welcoming initiation for freshman players, meant to build camaraderie.

“When the freshman cadets are able to spend time in the locker rooms, there would be an initiation event that sort of welcomed them to the team, and established the locker room as a safe space for them,” Stoup said.

“Someone would turn off the locker room lights, and there would be a kind of piling on.”

The practice, known as “dogpiling,” is consensual, and freshmen could opt out of it without fear of being shunned, one parent said. Another parent said the dogpiling can happen while cadets are in various states of undress.

“These guys have been in locker rooms since they were 13 years old,” a parent told The Gazette. “The kind of stuff that goes on in locker rooms is not foreign to them.”

In September, during a road trip, another incident took place in a hotel room.

Details are sparse because the senior players are reportedly bound by nondisclosure agreements, but a freshman is said to have complained to a family member that he felt he had been inappropriately touched during the hotel room incident. This complaint launched an inquiry by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and resulted in eight players being suspended effective Oct. 23.

By February, the OSI investigation had been completed with no charges filed, Stoup said. On April 15, the academy announced completion of the investigation and that it had initiated unspecified disciplinary action.

On April 24, the senior players received letters of reprimand for their failure to stop the incidents from happening, according to several parents.

A redacted paragraph from one of the letters, shared with The Gazette, called the players’ behavior “unbecoming of an officer and an Air Force Academy Cadet” and admonished a senior player for not preventing “this disgraceful behavior from occurring or reoccurring in the future.”

Despite being a longtime part of both military and sports culture, hazing is not allowed by the Department of Defense. A 2023 Pentagon report found that the Air Force Academy needed to put a stop to hazing among cadets.

According to earlier reporting by The Gazette, dozens of athletes from the academy’s lacrosse and swimming teams were investigated and disciplined in 2018 for hazing freshman cadets.

Most of the soccer seniors were not in the hotel room during the September incident, the parents say.

“At least eight of them were not in the room, and did not know it was happening,” one parent said. “Some of them didn’t travel with the team because they were injured, so they weren’t even in the same state.”

Later, some of the players began hearing rumors that they might not graduate on time, Stoup said.

Since then, several of the parents said they have sent letters and emails to senators, congress members, the Air Force Inspector General, Academy Commandant Brig. Gen. Gavin Marks and Superintendent Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind.

“All the cadets, through their attorneys, have been asking over and over what is going on with graduation,” Stoup said. “They’ve refused to tell us.”

The graduation uncertainty affects more than just the cadets, Stoup said.

“This affects as many as 100 family members who have made travel and lodging plans,” he said. “These seniors, on average, have about 10 people coming out to see them graduate. It’s not a small thing.”

One parent referenced a 2024 hazing incident that allegedly involved several members of USAFA’s Honor Guard. Those seniors were allowed to graduate on time, the parent said.

“According to an article I read, one reason the honor guard kids were allowed to graduate is that the totality of their time at USAFA was taken into account,” he said. “That doesn’t seem to be happening here.”

Stoup said that, the soccer incidents aside, the seniors have been model cadets.

“These aren’t people with a history of being troublemakers,” he said. “Most of these kids have never been in any trouble.”

Some parents are concerned about their sons’ mental health as their graduation date remains uncertain.

“Their entire senior year they’ve been living under this black cloud,” one parent said.

“Our son wasn’t in the (hotel) room when it happened,” another parent said. “He didn’t even know about it until he was told about the investigation. And he can’t talk to us about it because he signed a nondisclosure agreement.”

But with no official word on their graduation status, and their families left in the dark, the nine senior soccer players declined to participate in the fountain plunge.

“These kids are being denied graduation after four years of hard work — some of them for things they haven’t done and knew nothing about,” Stoup said. “What blows my mind is (the Academy’s) refusal to speak with us.”

Gazette reporter Mary Shinn contributed to this story.

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