Posted on 03/22/2002 6:09:57 PM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
Nation: Air Force Academy reckons with mounting drug charges
By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (March 22, 2002 9:14 p.m. EST) - The U.S. Air Force Academy has stepped up drug testing and is further stressing ethics amid the biggest drug scandal in the school's 47-year history.
Thirty-eight cadets out of 4,300 have been implicated in the scandal that began in December 2000.
In addition, six cadets have been charged or convicted of crimes such as larceny and sodomy, including the former president of the class of 2003, who is accused of stealing $9,000 from a class activity fund.
Academy officials have no simple explanation for the rash of crime, which has extended into this month with the arrest of a student on charges of raping a female cadet.
"We rely on the American people to send us their best. Every now and then we don't get the right people," said Col. Mark Hyatt, director of the Academy Center for Character Development, a department at the school that concentrates on everything from dinner-party manners to battlefield ethics.
The drug scandal - involving mainly the use of Ecstasy and marijuana - is the biggest problem for the academy since 105 cadets accused of cheating resigned in 1965. In the past 10 years, there had been only one other drug case at the academy, spokesman Lt. Col. Perry Nouis said, adding that officials believe the problem is now under control.
Because of the scandal, the academy has made it clear that an admission of even one puff on a marijuana cigarette will result in expulsion and possibly imprisonment, Hyatt said.
"We have to do things right or people die. When I come out of Baghdad and I am out of the fuel, I am trusting that tanker pilot will be there," Hyatt said. "Because of what happened, we are not going to look the other way."
Also, academy officials increased random drug tests in which cadets are summoned to the clinic and told to urinate into a cup. The academy is also considering state-of-the-art DNA testing of hair follicles, which scientists say can detect some drugs up to 90 days after their use.
In addition, the academy is working ethics lessons into courses across the curriculum - even in chemistry class.
Of the 38 cadets implicated, eight were court-martialed and seven of those went to prison; one of them got 3 1/2 years at Leavenworth. Twenty-one others have left the academy; some of those are being forced to repay the government for their tuition, while others must serve in the Air Force in the enlisted ranks and not as officers.
Nine others received punishments ranging from loss of privileges to fines.
The investigation began after a cadet tested positive for drug use. The academy said all of the drug use occurred off-campus at parties. One cadet was accused of drug dealing; the rest were accused of using drugs or knowing about such use but keeping silent.
"Initially, a lot of people were shocked. Then people got angry. Then because of the trust issue they felt a little bit betrayed," cadet Theron Mink, who heads the cadet honor committee, which metes out punishment for honor code violations that fall short of a crime.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., has had three courts-martial in the past decade. A cadet was charged in a drug case last year and two were accused of stealing more than $40,000 in cadet store merchandise in 2000.
In 1996, the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., went through problems like the Air Force Academy's: Five midshipmen were court-martialed and jailed on drug charges, and 15 others were expelled. Other midshipmen and graduates were accused in civilian courts that year of sexual offenses, breaking into a house and running a stolen-car ring.
But since then, only one midshipman has been court-martialed. That was for an ATM card theft.
"Starting about 10 years ago, character development, honor, dignity, respect and general civility has been a steady drumbeat throughout everything we do here," said Cmdr. Bill Spann, Naval Academy spokesman. "We'd like to think it's working."
Retired Lt. Gen. A.P. Clark, a former Air Force Academy superintendent, said crime is worse at traditional universities. Noting that he graduated from West Point, he said: "We didn't have these problems then and society didn't, either."
"The kids that are coming out of these public high schools don't know what honor is," he said. "They have quite an adjustment to make when they come to an academy that has such high standards of integrity and ethics."
"We will not lie, steal or cheat nor tolerate among us anyone who does." -- USAFA Code
Well, there's also the two or three other individuals on the line that will check the CTK, as well as QA and the line chief.
Considering that they're all appointed by politicians, I'd say that there's a strong chance of that happening.
is off by one order of magnitude
nonetheless, ~.99 is still good (assuming that there aren't a few additional percent who are just not getting caught), considering the sheer number of candidates arriving with the imprimatur of a 'rat congresscritter
in fact, one might reasonably expect a higher rate each year considering the current abysmal state of the culture through which they have percolated
I wonder, that since USMA, USNA, USAFA, and USMMA require some type of political recomendation for appointment (i.e., a given year's nominating slate for a congress(wo)man, senator, VP, President and perhaps one or two others), and the US Coast Guard Academy does NOT - as its admissions are strictly competitive - might there be, if 'twere, quite an embarassing gap in these statistics?
I don't know for sure. I'm just askin'.
Everything Good for All of You Guys, and Your Families.
Don't forget the "boomer" in the back of that tanker, either.
Well, now isn't that convenient? True, Our faithful Congressional members, the same the ones who upheld the Constitution so well they gave Clinton a pass on perjury, rape, obstruction of justice, etc., also make the Academy appointments. On the other hand, the USAF has significant input in admissions (ever hear of a background check?).
This USAF Officer ought to be cashiered immediately. He can't push back blame for dirty USAF Cadet's upon the American people. The USAF is responsible for the standards it sets, the standards it enforces, and the failure to instill those standards in their cadets. One or two misfits are an aberration, and can be weeded out as plebes. THIRTY-EIGHT misfits are a long term, institutional failure!
SFS,
CDR, SC, USNR (Retired)
Gen Clark forgot all about the cheating scandal in the 50's which wiped out the Army football team.
As an Academy grad, would you speak to the question of ignored violations of the honor code. It seems to me that if these many were guilty of drug, and related charges..then a great many more had to know about it. This type of activity doesn't exist in a vacuum. And the honor code, as I understand it, specifically requires that this activity and those who indulge be reported. So doesn't that make the failure more widespread.
How many do the service academies lose today? I'm willing to bet that the graduation rate is a lot higher. I don't believe that life is as rigorous today as it was in 1967 at the service academies.
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