The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Honor Guard is a cadet run military organization dedicated to serving the Cadet Wing as its ceremonial detail unit and representing the Air Force Academy with a world-class precision drill team. The Cadet Honor Guard is also dedicated to enhancing the development of officer candidates through a demanding training program designed to foster integrity, loyalty, dedication, devotion to duty, leadership, physical fitness, and teamwork. The Cadet Honor Guard is responsible for a variety of ceremonial details year-round. Some of these include twenty-one gun salutes, funeral services, color guards, and reveille and retreat, regardless of inclement weather. While the mission of the Cadet Honor Guard today is to honor our fellow cadets and graduates with pride, respect, and dignity, for sacrificing their lives serving this great nation, this is not why the team was originally founded.

In 1974, a former Texas A&M Aggiefish Drill Team member was a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy. Cadet Dan Jordan had enjoyed competing in drill meets with the Aggiefish and decided to continue his drill team experience at the academy by founding the Cadet Honor Guard in 1974. The original intent of the team was to be a Fourth Class drill team with select Upperclassmen invited back to teach new Fourth Class Cadets. For a competition uniform they wore the cadet winter parade dress with white helmets; however, this was soon changed to the cadet summer parade dress with a light blue sash. The sash was then later removed, and a blue stripe was added to the white parade trousers along with a white stripe around the sleeves of the cadet parade jacket, unique only to the members of the Cadet Honor Guard. In their first meet, the Governor of Arizona Invitational Drill Meet, the Cadet Honor Guard earned 1st place in exhibition drill and 4th in sweepstakes. In their second meet, the Lone Star Invitational Meet, they were 3rd in regulation drill, but 1st in exhibition drill and captured the overall title.

In June 1975, the first class of women entered the academy and two years later, the women began their own Cadet Honor Guard. Regardless of lacking a competition uniform and a team below the minimum competition size of 13 cadets, they began to compete at invitational drill meets. Eventually, the Women's Cadet Honor Guard, Class of 1983, took home the title of champions in the Western United States. Since 1985, the men and women of the Cadet Honor Guard have been joined as one team, and in their early years surpassed the standards set by the long established drill teams across the country.

While the Cadet Honor Guard was founded with the original intent of creating a drill team, it has grown to new and better heights. Today the Cadet Honor Guard is not a drill team, but a team that drills. Rifle drill manual is an opportunity for the members of the Cadet Honor Guard to display their team's discipline and showcase the academy to the public. The team's primary mission is to serve as the Cadet Wing's ceremonial unit in whatever capacity they are needed. The primary competition team still remains composed of Fourth Class Cadets, but the Cadet Honor Guard is a four class team with the Upperclassmen currently performing all of the ceremonial details. The Fourth Class training system in the Cadet Honor Guard is an intense year which not only teaches rifle drill manual but also stresses to them the standards and ideals of the team.

Over the years, physical training has been added to the Fourth Class year in the Cadet Honor Guard to promote physical fitness and to help teach and facilitate important Cadet Honor Guard lessons that the Fourth Class Cadets must learn. The entire Fourth Class year on the team is designed to prepare the Fourth Class Cadets to carry out the team's primary mission, to honor our fellow cadets and graduates with pride, respect, and dignity, for sacrificing their lives serving this great nation. The honor given to cadets and graduates is shown through the standard of excellence the Cadet Honor Guard holds itself to while performing the many ceremonial details it is responsible for at the academy.