<p>I just picked happened to pick up a copy of the base paper today and noticed in the SF reports that an academy student was apprehended for underage drinking in billeting. Please, please don't ruin your career by drinking before you are 21. It really isn't worth it.</p>
<p>Remember that from now on you are a part of something bigger than yourself. This cadet let his/her integrity slip and right now I have a bad taste in my mouth for Academy cadets, and yet this was just one cadet. This is not the kind of image that should be sent to the airman you hope to lead.</p>
<p>He is one among 4000+ do not allow him to be the face of the Cadet wing. Alcohol hits happen both at the Academy and in the Air Force in general. Let me state I do not condone underage drinking and was very disturbed by the earlier thread that aluded to it, but you will be faced by it your entire career. You are correct though this send a horrible message to the young men and women this cadet hopes to one day lead. The Basic at Lackland just like at the Academy see this and it sends mixed messages. You cannot do that without surrendering some of that authority, and integrity. </p>
<p>In my life I have been a light social drinker at most (read about 2 beers a year). It just isn't something I ever really enjoyed so it is easy for me, but if you enjoy drinking you should be aware of the dangers as well, and treat it with the same cuation you would anything else with the potential to kill yourself or others deserves.</p>
<ol>
<li> It happens.</li>
<li> It's sad when it happens at a place like a military academy where the kids REALLY want to be there...work hard to get their...are under enormous stress/pressures....AND still to some extent are immature/inexperience/fearless/believing in their own immunity from things like this. Hence they have to be brow beated all the time about NOT TAKING any risks. They have to assert a lot more resistence to various tempations which in today's society is that that big a deal and yet it is.</li>
<li> Most make it. Some don't. I can only caution that your kids NOT do something stupid and to keep ALERT. This IS a whole different ball field they are now on...totally different. As they advance at the AFA...they will be held to stricter and stricter rules. All it took was one misrepresentation (debatable even to this date) and a cadet was denied graduation a week before and denied a commission. There are too many instances of these stupid things happening. Kids going off to parties and drinking like they are in a normal college (even there it shouldn't happen)...and voila..you have a sex scandal at the AFA. Every time I read/hear about one of these things...I am upset at how MUCH the kid gave up.</li>
</ol>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I am not naive enough to think he is the first or last one to do it. We usually have about 10 airman per week that get caught in that trap somehow, usually the most coming from the tech training squadrons.</p>
<p>I just wanted to let all the cadets and future cadets know that we on the enlisted side do pay attention to these things. Regardless of what you may believe you will always be held to a higher standard as an officer and especially as one from a service academy.</p>
<p>That kid was sent back early and had to give a briefing to all of us going this period on ops before we left (500+ people). It's embarassing, the story of how it happened made all of us sick (he did so MANY stupid things at once) and it makes life more difficult for everyone going after him.</p>
<p>Yes, it definitely skewed the image of the cadets at Lackland...which made most of the AETC cadets rather angry (TIs don't let stuff slide without a few snide comments).</p>
<p>yeah, we're still getting crap for it here even though we weren't here when it happened. but our TIs tell us almost every night not be be stupid (not that at 2200 u'd want to go drink knowing u have to be at work again at 0400, but w/e)</p>
<p>right now I have a bad taste in my mouth for Academy cadets, and yet this was just one cadet. This is not the kind of image that should be sent to the airman you hope to lead.</p>
<hr>
<p>I just wanted to let all the cadets and future cadets know that we on the enlisted side do pay attention to these things. Regardless of what you may believe you will always be held to a higher standard as an officer and especially as one from a service academy.
</p>
<p>Okay, sorry, but I had to register an account just to reply to this message and raise the BS flag here. Let me tell you about my OPS experience last week....</p>
<p>I was walking from the gym back to my room and this A1C offered to give me a ride (it was cold and I had a long way to walk). After dropping me off he chatted for awhile and asked if I would like to drink. I guess the academy did something right because without hesitation I said, "Sorry, I'm still 19". His reply was "aw come on, why did you tell me that...I don't care". Well, he ended up giving me a couple more rides throughout the week and when he offered me a beer one more time it felt like it would be rather rude or disrespectful to turn him down again because he had been very helpful and nice to me. Needless to say, one beer led to another and I ended up getting pretty drunk that night even though I had to go to work early the next morning. I easily avoided going overboard or getting in trouble because I'm smarter than that....but if you want to talk about "image" or "the enlisted side", I was sure presented with an image of the enlisted side that week (and there's other parts of the story that I'm not going to post publicly here).</p>
<p>Bottom line, cadets are people. Airmen are people. Officers are people. People make mistakes and lapse in judgment sometimes, no matter the age, pay-grade, or background. There are alcohol incidents across the Air Force.</p>
<p>It's unfair to speak for a group, or to speak out against a whole group, since each is equally guilty of just as many mistakes. Plus, it doesn't get anyone anywhere. </p>
<p>At no other institution in the nation is underage drinking (or drinking inapprropiately when of age, for that matter) addressed so rapidly and severely. That is what should grab our attention and make the entire Air Force proud of the Academy.</p>
<p>In my day, an officer accepting a ride from an enlisted, especially a junior one they didn't know, would not have been proper, no matter how cold and/or wet they were. For just this type of reason. You become beholding to the individual and in his debt. What would you do if, later on, you were assigned to a courts martial board and, low and behold, there is your friend being court martialled? Doesn't really matter if they are in your chain of command or not.</p>
<p>G4C did an excellent response to this. You will be faced with situations like this your entire career. How you respond to those choices will define your character, and shape your effectiveness as a leader. At any other university it would be insignificant, and probably go without mention as a right of passage. </p>
<p>I am mostly surprised that Red*Rose chose to address the matter here. I don't know what the motivation was; showing these problems exist on both the enlisted and commissioned side? Telling everyone this happens and not to make a big deal of it? I am sure it sends the wrong message to aspiring or incoming cadets.</p>
<p>Lastly I hate to agree with almost anything the "Navy Lurker" say's, but much of his comment is correct. I am reminded of a movie scene in "Band of Brothers" a young officer is cautioning another about playing poker with the enlisted men under him. He tells him "never put yourself in a place where you can take from your men".</p>