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Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident
Drug addiction and use don't discriminate. The rich, poor, highly educated, not-so-highly educated, academic rock stars, high school drop outs, etc., all fall victim to drug use. Many at these service academies and elsewhere just don't get caught.
I attended an Ivy league school for undergraduate studies. I went to a frat party in my freshman year, which was the first and only frat party I attended. Why? There was cocaine laid out on the table and all other kinds of shenanigans going on. One of my friends in freshman year had to take time off from school to go to rehab. It was crazy.
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I can't believe that someone who could actually get into one of these military colleges would screw it up by using drugs. Totally crazy to me but I do understand how they've been working very hard, they wanted to be young, experience spring break by drinking or whatever. I don't know their ages and grade levels, whether they're first year or last.
I understand what they go through in order to be one of a few open slots to be given this golden opportunity to attend. My friends son was also one of the few to get into a Navy military college. He worked his butt off all through high school. My friend used to tell me about how he got through each stage until he was one of the few chosen to actually go.
I was reading a
page about military colleges like West Point, these kids will be in a load of debt after this, it says if they get discharged from the college, they could have to pay it back. Crazy cost too, think it said $50k a year. Another link says it's over $240k to attend, so that is what a full scholarship would cost.
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In exchange for this financial coverage, you’ll commit to serving in the military for a certain period of time after you graduate. The details of this service commitment will vary based on the school and military branch. If you leave the academy before graduation, either voluntarily or involuntarily, you may be subject to consequences, including having to repay the cost of your education or serve as an enlisted military member rather than an officer.
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Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident
Thanks for update. I wonder if they are going to arrest/charge the cadets when they are all released from the hospital, too.
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I would say "if" they do get released. Sounds like two are in pretty bad shape.
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Four of the victims were taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, while the other two were taken to Holy Cross Health. By Friday, one person had been released, two remained in critical condition and on ventilators, and three were in stable condition, according to police.
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Originally Posted by vabeachgirlNYC
I wasn't shocked. I just thought "how stupid".
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I'm not shocked either, they're "kids" still. Look at all of the drugs from back when we were in high school or their same age. I don't know many people who didn't try something.
One of my first boyfriends joined the Navy, he was stationed in San Diego. He liked to smoke pot. His number came up for drug testing, which he was going to fail. He ended up sticking a gun in his mouth because testing positive for pot would seriously shame his parents, his father was retired Navy. His wife was the one who found him. George was about 25.
Instead, his parents had to bury him. It was an open casket, back in the early days of rebuilding his lower jaw to have an open casket. I'll never forget how strange the rebuild looked.
I looked him up the other day, wanting to see if he had a find a grave page. I screen shotted his death record at family search, posted it to my Facebook profile that I have just to be friends with people from high school. I'd forgotten one of his best friends who lived pretty close who answered me. I would have messaged him directly had I remembered.
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Originally Posted by Riley.
My thoughts exactly. Will they be expelled? I think they should be. Future leaders of America od'ing on fentanyl laced cocaine? uh, I don't think so.
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They did not mean to do fentanyl. I doubt they will do coke or any drug again after this, but then again, I could be wrong. Getting kicked out of West Point and the shame they bring their families, they may turn to drugs, or they may blow their brains out like my ex boyfriend did. I can see any of the three happening.
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Originally Posted by tnff
I think one of the big differences is once upon a time you could screw up, take the punishment, learn from it, and move on. Today however, everything has to be a career ending offense. No mistakes allowed. Perfection is the minimum with steady improvement from there. Like so many folks on this threat want to see heads on a platter even before an investigation has been done.
There is a process that will be followed for these cadets. The cadets who sit on honor boards take that task seriously. My youngest has been tasked with investigating honor violations and has had to vote to remove a fellow cadet from the Academy. That's the cadet board; they can only investigate and recommend. The recommendation goes up from them through the chain of command for an official decision.
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Thanks for the input.
Lots of young adults try drugs for whatever reason. I don't think they should get kicked out, they should have some other punishment.
These young people have dedicated a lot of their life to being the best of the best in order to be accepted there. They're serious about being military. Chances are they won't ever do this again if they do not get kicked out.
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Originally Posted by irishcopper
There are much easier ways to quit a military service academy than testing positive for cocaine. They're free to resign at any time. The only catch is that after entering their second year if they resign they'll either have to repay the government for their tuition or serve an enlistment in the military. I doubt the potential of another war drove them to snort cocaine. After all we were at war in Afghanistan and Iraq since before these cadets were born. War fighting is a part of the culture at West Point and they don't let cadets forget it. Cadets are subject to periodic drug testing as are all members of the military. The human body metabolizes cocaine fairly quickly. It may be undetectable in a blood or urine test within 2-3 days after use. Like many recreational drug users they likely hedged a bet that they wouldn't get caught. The wild card they weren't expecting was the fentanyl.
Maybe it’s time to rethink how military academy applicants are screened prior to admission. One of my regrets is that I didn’t work hard enough in high school to get into a service academy. I was a Sea Cadet and had the opportunity but I was too busy having fun to study hard in school. These miscreants blew an amazing opportunity for an education and belong to the greatest Army in the world. They'll get zero sympathy from me.
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You blew your chance, yet these young people did not, they did work really hard to be considered, then they were one of a few to get the chance.
Who knows what year they're even in... They obviously felt like they had earned the right to let their hair down on spring break. It could be the first time they've done that, unfortunately, it blew up in their face.
My heart breaks for them. I was young and dumb once.
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Originally Posted by irishcopper
Very little surprises me. I was career Navy so I've got a lot of friends that are "Ring Knockers" or who's sons and daughters attended one of the service academies. I'm well acquainted with the admission process and the fairly high number of students that get expelled. Most of these are for cheating on tests, lying and other violations of the Code of Conduct including drug use. With the exception of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy all of the military service academies are admitting applicants that never would have been admitted twenty or twenty five years ago. The Coast Guard is so small that they cannot afford to lower their standards. The other academies need to tighten the reigns.
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I only have my friends son as an example, but he is not someone the military let in with low standards. He was the best of the best and one of a few who did make it in the end. He was not a kid to party or get into trouble, was a model student and what some would call a nerd, he was a jock too, I believe he played football.
His whole goal during high school was getting into the military academy.
Last I heard, he was set to be discharged over the vaccine. I don't know why he didn't just take the J&J after working so hard to be career military. Then omicron took over, there were court cases that were won by employees that were forced to take the vaccine. It looks like no one has gotten discharged for not taking the vaccine in the military yet. I was following a thread in the military section. I looked at google a few weeks ago to see if there was a follow up to them getting discharged but there was nothing. I sent my friend a text last night to see if her son is still in.
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Originally Posted by Smocaine
I don't know why people put military academy students on such a pedestal. They're just fairly high-achieving students, not unlike anything you'd find at a standard high-end public school or elite private school (especially the athletes/football players, who get a little more of a curated experience). It's not like we're overflowing with smart kids who want to go to military school instead of a normal college, so I'm sure the academies mostly take what they can get while maintaining basic standards, and then let the true idiots weed themselves out from there. With how insanely huge our military is, it's not like every single officer is going to be some sort of Eisenhower; most of them are basically just standard middle management.
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That was not my impression of it from when my friends son was applying. They looked him over with a fine toothed comb. In the end, I believe there were about a hundred other students that made the one round. It then got smaller during the next round, until finally, he was one of under 20 who were finally accepted.
My friend, his mother, is a very respected school teacher. Her son had never gotten into trouble for anything if he did go to a friends. He was always too busy studying in order to be accepted.
I don't know of anyone else that has put their young lives on hold to buckle down so young to be career military. Most just want to enlist when they get out of high school because it's easier.
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Originally Posted by vabeachgirlNYC
So much envy from some posters. Why don't you go apply and see how easy it is to be accepted to West Point. Then you can come back and enlighten all of us.
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I totally agree, can't rep you yet lol. Not sure why I didn't think to write that, but everyone knows I'm more "long winded" lol
It's not so easy to get there. That's why they have not said their own kid or grand kids went to one of these military colleges like my friends son did.
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Originally Posted by Smocaine
I went to Navy OCS in Newport on a whim on an intel billet and left because that **** was wack lol
The military is what it is these days
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I don't think OTC can be compared to West Point. According to the link below, it's a 13 week course, not the same as these young people giving up their lives to try to be accepted into one of the military colleges.
Officer Training Command
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Officer Training Command Newport (OTCN) was established as a separate command from NAVSTA Newport on Oct. 1, 1998. OTCN’s mission is to develop civilians, enlisted and newly commissioned officers morally, mentally and physically, and imbue them with the highest ideals of honor, courage and commitment to prepare graduates for service in the fleet as naval officers. OTCN currently delivers five separate Officer Accession/Indoctrination programs and manages three Navy Technical Training Facilities.
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Originally Posted by Monello
Some facts about service academy drop outs and failure to graduate stats. Article is a bit old but gives insight to what goes on annually.
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I'm not seeing newer information unfortunately. Thanks for sharing what you found.
Reading your link, it said that drop out rates declined with that bunch, they think because that generation saw 9/11, they were motivated to join due to it. It sounds like the drop out rate will continue to rise with the next generation that did not witness 9/11.
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