Current mid here.
This post is mainly for candidates. This is something that I unnecessarily fretted about a great deal. I hope someone struggling with something similar is able to find solace in my observations.
I was not perfect in high school. I made some stupid decisions. But that's high school. You have to figure yourself out.
I was absolutely overjoyed when I received my appointment in January of my senior year. I had wanted to go to the Naval Academy for a while, and had worked my butt off in high school. I continued to be absolutely overjoyed throughout the second semester of the year and continue to be absolutely overjoyed now, long past I Day, plebe summer, and plebe year. I was totally bought in before I even got to Annapolis, and remain totally bought in.
But I am not perfect.
I had drank underage before I accepted my appointment. I knew that the consequences for that kind of behavior would increase tremendously once I arrived, so I drank underage even after I received my appointment. I even smoked marijuana. I certainly was not a party animal, but I certainly was not perfect.
When I did my DoDMERB screening that fall, I decided to admit that I had drank underage. I admitted that I had smoked marijuana on the Standard Form that began the process of obtaining a secret security clearance. The paper trail terrified me. But I was bought in, and I knew that part of being bought in was being honorable and telling the truth.
Likely, some of you find yourself in the same situation. You are bought in. You want this more than anything. You probably will do well at USNA and make great officers some day. But you are not perfect.
You have to tell the truth.
First, you are not going to lose your appointment. The only people who see your DoDMERB paperwork are DoDMERB staff. They just give USNA a "yes" or a "no". Either you are medically qualified or you are not. No specific reports on your shenanigans. Same with your SF86. The clearance folks take your information to determine whether granting you a clearance will be a national security liability. Having smoked marijuana in high school does not make you a national security liability. You will still get a clearance. I had to do an extra interview with an OPM staffer, but that's all. No one connected to the Naval Academy's conduct system will see those documents.
No one told me that. I spent the more than a calendar year (January-when I tried weed- until I found out that I got my clearance in the spring of plebe year) mortified that I was going to lose it all. I was scared that they would take my appointment away, or that I wouldn't get a clearance and USNA would wonder why. I was bought in. I was so excited. And I thought that one stupid decision in high school would be the end of it all.
It wasn't. I don't want anyone to spend as long as I did fretting. So don't worry. Everything is going to be okay. It always works itself out when you just tell the truth.
That serves as a nice transition to the second reason you should be honest. This one is the more important of the two: You need to build a habit of doing the hard right thing. Even when it is really hard. Sometimes, telling the truth sucks. In my case it did. It would have been really easy to leave those sections blank in my paperwork. But if you want to buy in to the United States Naval Academy and its mission, you have to buy in all the way. Even when it sucks. Especially when it sucks. Your future sailors and marines (as well as mine) deserve nothing less than a leader who is willing to do the hard right thing. They deserve someone who is honorable, who does not lie under any circumstances. They deserve that leader. You owe it to them to be that leader. So do it.
Best of luck, guys. Hopefully I will see you soon.
This post is mainly for candidates. This is something that I unnecessarily fretted about a great deal. I hope someone struggling with something similar is able to find solace in my observations.
I was not perfect in high school. I made some stupid decisions. But that's high school. You have to figure yourself out.
I was absolutely overjoyed when I received my appointment in January of my senior year. I had wanted to go to the Naval Academy for a while, and had worked my butt off in high school. I continued to be absolutely overjoyed throughout the second semester of the year and continue to be absolutely overjoyed now, long past I Day, plebe summer, and plebe year. I was totally bought in before I even got to Annapolis, and remain totally bought in.
But I am not perfect.
I had drank underage before I accepted my appointment. I knew that the consequences for that kind of behavior would increase tremendously once I arrived, so I drank underage even after I received my appointment. I even smoked marijuana. I certainly was not a party animal, but I certainly was not perfect.
When I did my DoDMERB screening that fall, I decided to admit that I had drank underage. I admitted that I had smoked marijuana on the Standard Form that began the process of obtaining a secret security clearance. The paper trail terrified me. But I was bought in, and I knew that part of being bought in was being honorable and telling the truth.
Likely, some of you find yourself in the same situation. You are bought in. You want this more than anything. You probably will do well at USNA and make great officers some day. But you are not perfect.
You have to tell the truth.
First, you are not going to lose your appointment. The only people who see your DoDMERB paperwork are DoDMERB staff. They just give USNA a "yes" or a "no". Either you are medically qualified or you are not. No specific reports on your shenanigans. Same with your SF86. The clearance folks take your information to determine whether granting you a clearance will be a national security liability. Having smoked marijuana in high school does not make you a national security liability. You will still get a clearance. I had to do an extra interview with an OPM staffer, but that's all. No one connected to the Naval Academy's conduct system will see those documents.
No one told me that. I spent the more than a calendar year (January-when I tried weed- until I found out that I got my clearance in the spring of plebe year) mortified that I was going to lose it all. I was scared that they would take my appointment away, or that I wouldn't get a clearance and USNA would wonder why. I was bought in. I was so excited. And I thought that one stupid decision in high school would be the end of it all.
It wasn't. I don't want anyone to spend as long as I did fretting. So don't worry. Everything is going to be okay. It always works itself out when you just tell the truth.
That serves as a nice transition to the second reason you should be honest. This one is the more important of the two: You need to build a habit of doing the hard right thing. Even when it is really hard. Sometimes, telling the truth sucks. In my case it did. It would have been really easy to leave those sections blank in my paperwork. But if you want to buy in to the United States Naval Academy and its mission, you have to buy in all the way. Even when it sucks. Especially when it sucks. Your future sailors and marines (as well as mine) deserve nothing less than a leader who is willing to do the hard right thing. They deserve someone who is honorable, who does not lie under any circumstances. They deserve that leader. You owe it to them to be that leader. So do it.
Best of luck, guys. Hopefully I will see you soon.