Mailroom

From USAFA Folklore

The mailroom is located on the first floor of Vandenberg Hall. It is (or was, at least before the advent of email) one of cadets' favorite locations on campus. There was little more exciting than getting an orange locker key in your mailbox, which usually meant you had a package.

Trips to the mailroom were particularly prized during Basic Cadet Training. However, basic cadets are traditionally required to do pull-ups before getting their mail, or sometimes afterward, with the number of pull ups corresponding to the amount of mail received. The mailroom used to contain snack vending machines, which were tempting targets for basic cadets to make night raids on during Beast.

[edit] The "Old" Mailroom

The "old" mailroom had four-digit box numbers (never to be forgotten) with blacked out windows, though the black paint had usually been scratched off the glass so the box could be checked without opening. The locks were star-shaped with letters for the combination from A to J (including "half letters" like AB, BC, CD etc.)

[edit] The "New" Mailroom

While renovating the mailroom, they moved the old boxes to the then-new CETF building (now cadet dental clinic), overlooking the parade field, attached to the rear of Fairchild Hall. Basics had to march from the cadet area, through the library parking lot, then all the way to the end of the new building to get mail.

Once the the upgrade was complete, the "new" mailroom was back under Vandy, but upgraded with new mailboxes. The new mailboxes had the same numbers, but didn't have any viewing windows and the combo dial was different, with numbers in place of letters.