Active duty

Texasrocks

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Are cadets considered "active duty" family argument/YMCA membership question. Figured someone would know.
 
Yes, active duty, even at restaurants, movie theaters, airlines, USO...
 
Yes, even at: "The school year has been postponed, we need to deploy you". Ultimately unlikely to happen; but legally, YES it could.

Has that ever happened, I'm actually curious?

That's just silly and would never (I know I shouldn't say never) happen in today's world.
 
I don't believe it ever happened. Not even during vietnam, korea, or WWI/II. But legally, it can. Am curious though about WWI/II.
 
Now I'm confused

I don't think cadets at the Academy are on active duty. They do not receive "time in service" time while at the Academy. Their time at the Academy does not count toward retirement, does it? I know time at the prep school DOES count, my son received a DD214 after graduating form the prep school showing the time he spent there.
 
You are correct that their time does not count towards retirement. But they are in fact active duty. They are in training status. (Thus the reason for different pay and such). But they receive the same benefits such as medical; covered even in the summer when on leave. They are no longer dependents; they are responsible to do/pay their own taxes and such. It's just that their job is that of "Student". And if they ever were converted over to a "More Active" role: (For lack of a better term); their duties would change, and so would the things you are mentioning.

FWIW: I could be wrong, because it's been a while since I discussed this, but the prior enlisted individuals who get accepted to the academy and/or prep-school first; their time DOES count towards their total service years. (But I could be thinking about something else).
 
Am curious though about WWI/II.

Pretty sure no one from USAFA deployed during WWI/II. :wink:

I'm curious too, but will tell you what we were told some 25+ years ago at WP. The Corps as a whole obviously was never deployed, but classes/training were accelerated and cadets graduated early during those wars. That's why if you go through the Listing of Graduates, you'll see classes of June 1943 or December 1943 or similar.

However, when we asked why we couldn't have a refrigerator in our day room (yes, back in the Old Corps, when dinosaurs roamed the plain, not only couldn't we have them in our rooms - not anywhere in the company!), we were told the reason was because technically, West Point was deployable. And God-forbid, if we went to war, that fridge might not get cleaned out (which would be a far worse circumstance than cadets being deployed for the first time in 180 years! :rolleyes: ). I remember pointing out to my Tactical Officer that it worked while I was an exchange cadet at Navy and we kept it clean and all and his reply was "Navy isn't deployable."

So - I'd be curious to hear if that's actually true or if our Tac was just BS'ing us! I personally would think either all SA's or none would actually be deployable but think we're safe in saying it won't happen in any case!
 
Yea, I was mainly referring to West Point. Air Force hadn't built an academy at that point yet. But if we wanted to get "Technical", I guess we could say that academy cadets/mids could fall into the category of "Ready Reserves" or similar. Point is: They aren't mommy and daddy's little boy or girl any more; they are 100% responsible for their own actions; and if the military needs have them supporting a real world mission, then that's what they'll do.
 
Cadets qualify for the National Defense Service Medal - therefore are considered active duty.
 
1. USMA cadets, USCGA cadets, USAFA cadets, and USMA Midshipman are all active duty members of the United States Military, all subject to the UCMJ.

2. The only academy to deploy cadets/midshipmen in wartime is the US Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point), which placed their sea-year students in harms way on merchant shipping vessels during World War II. One hundred forty two USMMA midshipmen were killed by enemy actions during that time, and that number 142 is known by all at KP. Many more were on ships that were attacked but survived.

In fact, KP is the only academy authorized by law to display a battle standard.

From History of the US Merchant Marine Cadet Corps http://www.usmm.org/cadetcorps.html

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, by virtue of its war dead, is the only Federal Academy authorized to carry a Battle Standard.

Cadets went to sea with their books and were required to write reports upon return, describing enemy craft seen, damage, lifeboat voyages, acts of heroism, etc. In 450 reports filed, cadets described attacks on 250 different ships, of which 220 were sunk.
 
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i guess that kind of depends on how you define a cadet.

i don't know all the exact details, but I know the USMA graduated cadets early on multiple occassions so that they could be deployed. During the Spanish American War, WWI & WWII. So, I guess technically they were not cadets any longer since they graduated, but I don't really think that matters. Point is they didn't stay at the academy for four years.
 
...they were not cadets any longer since they graduated...

Exactly. Graduates are no longer cadets/mids. They are officers.

In fact, I believe all of the academies used an "abbreviated" school term of 3 years during the war (WWII) to get more officers out into their respective services.
 
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