海角大神

The first time Joshua Waugh applied to the Air Force Academy, he had to make up a Social Security number. To the best of his knowledge, he didn鈥檛 have one.听

He grew up in the foster care system, just down the road from the storied university. As he filled out college applications, he was a 6鈥�1鈥� teen with bleach blond hair who weighed 140 pounds. In the summers, h鈥媏 ate one meal every other day.

Born to two 鈥渧ery drug-addicted parents,鈥� he says, w鈥媓en he was in elementary school he and his diapered baby brother were locked outside in the snow by foster parents who decided they didn鈥檛 want the boys anymore. In his pre-teen years, he learned to live on the Ramen noodles and potatoes he bought working construction sites for a few bucks a day. He quietly survived sexual assault at the hands of another foster family member.

His admittance to the Air Force Academy was a triumph of grit and determination, say academy officials. After four years, Waugh graduated this week as an 鈥渋nspiration鈥� to fellow cadets, they add.听

鈥淢y biggest goal was that I wanted to make a difference for someone 鈥� just one person 鈥� the way that I wish someone had made a difference for me,鈥� 2nd Lieutenant Waugh says.

And he did. In his time on campus, Waugh became a peer counselor, one of two cadets in each squadron trained to help fellow students in need. He was asked to share his story with his fellow cadets and alumni at the academy鈥檚 annual character and leadership symposium earlier this year. He drew a standing ovation from the packed auditorium.

Despite his hardships, Waugh has come through his life with gratitude and a remarkable lack of bitterness, his mentor Douglas Somerville says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 his hallmark in fact: He does not look back. Even when we wave goodbye to him at the airport, he doesn鈥檛 look back. He doesn鈥檛 dwell on the past.鈥�听

If he wasn鈥檛 in the Air Force Academy, Waugh says, there鈥檚 a good statistical chance he would have ended up in jail.听

After his younger brother tested positive for cocaine at the hospital, shortly after he was born in January 1995, the boys were taken from their parents and given to their grandparents. Josh was two years old.

They didn鈥檛 know it at the time, but his grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer. Six months after the boys were put in her care, she died.听

Then their grandfather also was diagnosed with the disease. Unable to care for them himself, he put the boys in the foster care system.

Before his grandmother鈥檚 death, the grandparents reached out to Douglas and Cynthia Somerville, family friends who were living in Oklahoma.

Douglas, known as Dusty, was a 1981 Air Force Academy graduate. He and his wife lived in Oklahoma, and the boys visited them a number of times. They wanted to adopt the boys, they say, but Dusty Somerville was about to deploy to Saudi Arabia for three months.

鈥淎s much as we wanted the boys, we knew that wouldn鈥檛 work out,鈥� Mr. Somerville said in a phone interview. It would have been difficult for Cindy to care for two highly energetic boys all by herself, they say. 鈥淲e wanted to wait until after I got back.鈥澨�

'Things got a little more drastic'

In the meantime, a couple fostered the boys. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 remember too much about them,鈥� Waugh says, but he recalls them being 鈥渞eally nice鈥� 鈥� at first.

Two months after the boys arrived, the foster mother became pregnant.

鈥淭he reason they wanted to adopt was because they couldn鈥檛 have kids of their own,鈥� Waugh says. At that point, he adds, 鈥淭hey had two kids that were not theirs, and that they didn鈥檛 want.鈥�

The couple started leaving the boys places. 鈥淭hey鈥檇 take us to church, and they鈥檇 leave us there 鈥� someone would have to take us home.鈥� They took Waugh to school, but then they didn鈥檛 pick him up.

The school office called the couple, who told the school to allow Waugh, who was under 7, to walk home. 鈥淚 had never walked home before in my life,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚 had no idea where I was, and I wandered the streets for most of the night鈥� They did that every single day after that.鈥�

In winter, 鈥渢hings got a little more drastic,鈥� he recalls.

鈥淭hey鈥檇 do things like put Jake and I in diapers and lock us outside in the snow.鈥澨�

Somerville says he recalls hearing reports that a neighbor had seen the boys being hit by the foster parents.听

A case worker came to check on the boys and put them back in the foster system.

'They just left ... for months at a time'

They were placed with another family, who had eight kids of their own and anywhere up to eight kids in the foster care system at any given time.听

Six months into the boys鈥� stay with their new adoptive family, the Somervilles tried to adopt the boys. A judge ruled that since they had found a new foster family, it would be unwise to disrupt the boys鈥� lives again.听

The foster family adopted the boys as wardens of the state, meaning they received money for caring for the kids. Waugh estimates they received thousands of dollars a month for all their foster children.

He says one of his foster sisters sexually abused him when he was eight years old, bringing him down into the basement of the house almost weekly for a year-and-a-half.

鈥淗ere I am in this frickin鈥� basement, and I鈥檓 terrified,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he鈥檇 just tell me to go downstairs, and I just knew it was going to be a bad day.鈥� It ended when the foster sister went back to live with her biological father who, Waugh says, was abusing her.听

Waugh鈥檚 foster parents bought a 40-foot camper 鈥渁nd they just left for three or four months at a time.鈥� As the youngest foster children, it was often just Waugh and his brother in the house alone, he says.

The only notice the boys received of their adoptive parents鈥� imminent departure was that they would stock the freezer with frozen pizzas. 鈥淵ou know those little Tostino鈥檚 pizzas 鈥� you bake them for 12 minutes? Yeah, I can do 100 things with those pizzas,鈥� Waugh says.听

The situation was heartbreaking for the Somervilles, they say. 鈥淲e were incredibly frustrated and wanted so badly just to be able to pull them out of that situation. Unfortunately, we had no legal right to do that,鈥� Somerville.

Their lawyer explained the state didn鈥檛 tend to take child neglect cases seriously unless physical abuse was involved. 鈥淲e were basically told that as long as they furnished one meal a day, they were OK,鈥� says Cindy Somerville, adding that that meal could be a subsidized school meal program. 鈥淚t was devastating.鈥澨�

'I'd work every odd job I could'

This meant Waugh was on his own to raise his little brother. 鈥淒uring the school year, I鈥檇 work every odd job that I could.鈥� He taught himself skills that would help him earn money to buy Ramen noodles and potatoes.

As a middle-schooler, Waugh would wait with other men to get picked up to work at construction sites on weekends and during school breaks. 鈥淭hey鈥檇 put me in an attic and I鈥檇 run wire for 13, 14 hours. They鈥檇 give me 10 bucks and drop me off at the end of the day,鈥� he says.听

In the winter, he would put chains on mail trucks. 鈥淚 did it all under the table.鈥�

鈥淚 mean, that鈥檚 all I could do. When you鈥檙e in 7th, 8th grade, you can鈥檛 get a real job,鈥� he says. His plan was 鈥渢o pick something up and get as good as I could at it, and the move on to something else.鈥澨�

In the summers, he says his adoptive family dropped him off at a campground by Turquoise Lake in the heart of Colorado鈥檚 Rocky Mountains, where he and his brother lived in a tent for three months, at an altitude of 11,000 feet.听

There, he and his brother cut and split firewood. 鈥淲e鈥檇 find downed trees, pack them out, split them into firewood, and sell it.鈥�

They would do odd jobs around the campground, fixing picnic tables and building fences. At the end of the summer, the adoptive family 鈥渨ould have someone pick us up and take us back to the house, and it would start all over again,鈥� Waugh says.

鈥淚t made me significantly more athletic 鈥� at least that鈥檚 what I tell myself.鈥澨�

He recalled his turning point his junior year of high school. He was walking through a tough part of Colorado Springs, on the east side of Fort Carson, in a neighborhood of double-wide trailers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 dark, and this guy pops out from behind a fence and says, 鈥楪imme your money.鈥� I didn鈥檛 even have a wallet. I had no ID, no money,鈥� Waugh says. 鈥淭he only thing I could give him was my shoes, and I鈥檇 been wearing those literally since the 7th grade 鈥� he did not want those.

鈥淗e realized that he was significantly better off than me.

"He said, 'Get out of here,' and I said, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 have to tell me twice,鈥� 鈥� he says.

Waugh started running. Then he heard a couple of gunshots behind him.

鈥淚t was that moment I thought, 鈥業 cannot live the rest of my life this way.鈥� 鈥�

It helped that the Somervilles had come back into his life while he was in high school.

鈥淭hey stepped in, and they really started talking to me about the Air Force Academy,鈥� Waugh says. 鈥淗aving grown up the way I had, I thought it would be great to be able to lead airmen someday who had similar experiences.鈥澨�

The Somervilles sent Josh and his brother to soccer camp, and sent Josh to a summer engineering program as well. 鈥淲e thought: He needs to see what it鈥檚 like to be there, to live there 鈥� every visit just further solidified his desire to go to the academy,鈥� says Dusty Somerville.

But his public school was not great. Even if it had been, getting into the Academy from Colorado Springs is 鈥渁lmost impossible,鈥� Somerville says. An academy graduate who had interviewed Waugh, and who became an advocate for him before and during his time at the academy, recommended that Josh apply from a different district.听

The Somervilles attended Josh鈥檚 high school graduation. (His foster parents did not.) Josh did not make the cut for the Air Force Academy, nor was he chosen鈥� to attend an Air Force preparatory school.

The Somervilles stepped in again. 鈥淲hen he graduated, he became our son at that moment,鈥澨鼶usty says.听鈥�

They paid to send Josh to a special preparatory school in San Bernardino,听Calif., created to help give recent high school graduates听a better shot at being admitted to the military service academies.听

During his semester there, Waugh 鈥渞eally got his academics up,鈥� Somerville says. He also earned a 780 on his math SATs. 鈥淭hat was his turning point,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when they [the academy] really started to take notice of him.鈥澨�

Before he left for prep school, the Somervilles brought him back to their home in Oklahoma, where they established his residency, registering him for the draft and to vote. After prep school was over, Waugh returned to Oklahoma, where he attended a local university and reapplied to the academy.

He was accepted.听

'Don't let anyone tell you you aren't good enough'

During his time in Colorado Springs, Waugh has taken advantage of his time there in a way that cadets who have known deprivation 鈥� and the value of opportunity鈥攖end to do, taking courses in archery, rock climbing, free fall, and all of the flying programs. He also became a leader in the peer-counseling program.

This week, the Somervilles traveled to Colorado Springs for the graduation ceremonies on campus, attending the graduation parade and the commissioning ceremony, where Dusty Somerville swore Waugh in as a new second lieutenant.听

鈥淚鈥檓 just trying to keep my emotions in check,鈥� Somerville says. He and his wife attended the graduation ball, where Cindy wore the same dress she wore 35 years ago.

They lunched at the Broadmoor, where Cindy鈥檚 mother worked for 40 years. It is also the spot where Waugh met his fianc茅e, and where he proposed to her on parents weekend, which the Somervilles traveled from Oklahoma to attend.听

Waugh鈥檚 fianc茅e is attending nursing school, and his future in-laws 鈥渉ave made a place for him in their home,鈥� Somerville says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the kind of role-model family he never got a chance to experience growing up.鈥澨�

Waugh says his philosophy is simple. 鈥淒on鈥檛 let anyone tell you that you aren鈥檛 good enough to do something,鈥� he says. 鈥淛ust do it. Put in the work. If you want something bad enough, that work is just a bridge 鈥� and you can cross it.鈥澨�