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Service Academy
pingjockey
Member Posts: 1,879 ✭✭✭✭
Guess I had never thought of it before but was surprised to hear of West Point cadets on spring break. Thought their schedules would be different.
Comments
And six of them overdose.
Sad commentary on military officer candidates lacking personal discipline to avoid dangerous and illegal street drugs.
😒😒
Everything about the military is designed to filter out those who do not belong.
If you ask me, the process worked.
The service academy’s really produce some very exceptional and very special people.
If 100% of people accepted actually graduated, I don’t think you would see the same results in character, leadership or service.
For what it’s worth, I’m just a prior enlisted guy.
Random urinalysis is a standard thing across all branches. To partake in illegal substances, you truly have to be either an idiot or a real risk taker. Either way, these folks have revealed their true character. There is no doubt going to be a handful of FORMER West Point cadets on the street real soon. Good riddance.
I guess that I just never realized the "life" at an academy. It's not like they have to get a parttime job to help pay for school. I guess I just thought they stayed in class routine for four years without the time off for most holidays and spring break,etc. Learn something new every day. Unfortunatly, probably forget two or three things every day.
The academy’s are not any more like you would think of them. I worked with a retired officer who use to counsel HS students to see if they could handle the military part of the Naval academy.
He would ask applicants if they could abide by the honor, moral and discipline codes of the academy.
He was finally told not to ask that question anymore because he was told today’s applicants do not know what those meant and that they would teach them those values at the academy.
That is why you cadets overdosing.
Guess this is an indication of the fallacy of political appointments to West Point. There's a whole regiment of cadets who have no intentions of EVER 'leading men into battle' but are looking for a stepping stone toward something else.
The regional director of the agency for which I work often brags about his military service. He's a Major (maybe moved up to Lt Colonel) in the Army Reserve. I've been wondering about his field of expertise and finally determined that his latest 'deployment' was to California to 'teach a class in career development'. Ain't no boolits flyin where he's goin.
Once they get out of the hospital or wherever they are they need to do the duffel bag drag down the road. The ones that died well I figure that may have saved a platoon of men from being killed.
I understood that two of the injuries were from the cadets giving cpr to the ones who had od 'd . They apparently had not done drugs. .
"They apparently had not done drugs. "
I'm not sure if I interpreted this correctly but if they were present when the drugs were taken and neither stopped the actions or left the area, they're also guilty.
That looks like a pretty high horse you’re sitting on.
Appointments to the academy have nothing to do with a persons potential to be a good military leader. They have everything to do with politics and campaign contributions.
They have no place leading, in the military, if they did.
Agree. Congressional appointments rarely go to the most deserving these days.
U.S. Coast Guard Academy is the only one that does NOT use that system. Prospective appointees apply directly to the Academy and compete for a spot.
"That looks like a pretty high horse you’re sitting on."
Yupper, I was 'only' a Warrant Officer but I was an honest one.
Well that explains it.
Never attended West Point, Annapolis or the Air Force Academy. I was a Sgt that completed 6 months of Infantry OCS. Our standards, which I have cause to believe were quite similar to the Academies' standards-
"I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those that do."
I worked a contract job 20 years ago with a guy who was a Naval Academy graduate. He graduated and went to his first assignment and within six months he was released from the Navy as unsuitable (not sure exact type) but he ended up being charged with repaying the cost of his education which he was working very hard to avoid.
I very quickly began to wonder how he avoided learning anything about integrity, etc. at the Academy. I knew a West Pointer who was the total opposite of that jerk. Guys I knew in ROTC also learned about leadership and integrity. But seems there are some bad apples in any barrel.
I will be interested in hearing some details -- did they knowingly take the drugs, or did someone slip something into their drinks, etc.
Well it’s not a high horse actually. The honor code at USMA states roughy - A Cadet doesn’t lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate anyone that does.
So it used to mean that you can get expelled for violating it directly or indirectly by knowing about another’s violation and not trying to stop it or report it.
I say roughly, because I didn’t go there, at the Boat School ours was slightly different, but that’s what I recall we were familiarized with for the that of the Black Knights.
This is truly sad for all involved and a great institution.
Interesting post.