Story I heard about a separation from USMA

My aunt told me today that her nephew on the other side of her family was "separated" (dismissed/expelled or whatever it's called) from West Point probably about 4 or 5 years ago.

The cadet was in his second year and had what she called a walking pass for the weekend. He was offered a car ride to NYC by an officer and he accepted it, apparently unaware that he couldn't do that with just a "walking pass." A fellow cadet turned him in and he was kicked out.

Does this story sound legitimate? Maybe she didn't have all the details (ie, it sounds like it could be an honor violation since he was turned in), but I didn't realize a situation like this would be grounds for expulsion.

You are correct in thinking there is probably a "rest of the story". In its bare-bones form, seperation is unlikely. There are many layers of punishment available before that drastic measure. I am willing to bet there is a lot more to the story.

I haven't found many "separated" cadets, aside form the ones who left on their own accord, who are completely honest about why they left.

Well, one great way to get yourself separated is lying, so if he at any point lied about going to NYC or lied about not knowing that receiving a ride was against the rules I could certainly see him getting separated.

acgeaux7 said:

My aunt told me today that her nephew on the other side of her family was "separated" (dismissed/expelled or whatever it's called) from West Point probably about 4 or 5 years ago.

The cadet was in his second year and had what she called a walking pass for the weekend. He was offered a car ride to NYC by an officer and he accepted it, apparently unaware that he couldn't do that with just a "walking pass." A fellow cadet turned him in and he was kicked out.

Does this story sound legitimate? Maybe she didn't have all the details (ie, it sounds like it could be an honor violation since he was turned in), but I didn't realize a situation like this would be grounds for expulsion.

Click to expand...

You are correct in thinking there is probably more to the story. Some lying was probably involved as what the cadet in your story did is only grounds for disciplinary punishment and not separation. Maybe he told the officer he was authorized to go there or lied to others about going there.

To pile on, yep, there is most likely more to the story. Academies are bound to keep their counsel for Privacy Act reasons, so the chain of command can't really release a lot of pertinent facts. From the face of it, the "omissions" would probably provide a clearer picture of the circumstances of the separation.

As a USNA BattO bound by what the mid had elected in terms of whether conduct, performance, grades or other issues could be discussed with parents, I often found myself in tricky waters. Parents would call, quite verbally upset, wanting to know why I was keeping their son/daughter at USNA over Thanksgiving for failing a math quiz, when actually he was on restriction for major conduct offenses. And I was prohibited from telling them. Oops. I would get the mid and his company officer in my office, get the chaplain involved to help smooth the waters and shore up the mid, and "strongly recommend" the mid man or woman up to tell the truth to the family. I couldn't order him to do so, but we could be pretty convincing...

One case I particularly remember, was a mom calling me about her son 2 months after plebe year had ended. She said they hadn't heard from him about his summer training schedule, so they assumed he was at sea and wasn't able to communicate. Well, he had been academically separated with a .67 GPA, and had clearly not shared his troubles with his parents. He just left, and his family had no idea. Again, we got the chaplain and his varsity coach involved, and started the detective work with buddies and former teammates to find the guy and urge him to re-connect with family. We did and he did, but my heart went out to the family.

It's such a huge deal to go off to a SAF, with the family proudly wearing USMA/AFA/NA/MMA/CGA DAD or MOM t-shirts and related hoopla, and to leave involuntarily for reasons of conduct, honor, performance or even academics, is a hard story to share with others.