I thought he was applying for an AFROTC scholarship because you have candidate Mom as a a tag line, i.e. like colleges have Honors programs or Scholars, etc.
Never mind, Honor board is indeed where someone got in trouble and now they are going to plead their case, it is made up of cadets and officers, but the cadets run it, with the officers in place as advisors... or so I have been told. It doesn't occur often, more often it occurs at the SAs.
It can range from academic to honor violations (drinking on campus). It is basically the last chance to not get the boot!
Think of it as jury duty. I am sure his required dress was service uniform, not ABUs or flight suit or khakis. The quote probably is the HONOR CODE.
Just my assumption, but I would assume that the cadet is fighting the violation and that is why he is coming to a board. Usually, it is cut and dry when a cadet has an honors violation, and most don't fight it, but all have the right to fight it.
His det. may also have decided to do this as part of training for the det., and actually have no cadet up for a violation.
Boards in the AF occur all the time, and they will be called up just like jury duty, just more detailed...they look for rank and career field, so they have a cross sampling of the entire base. Bullet was called up 2x in his 20 yrs. One was for a court martial, and the other was an FEB (Flight Evaluation).
Hope that helps you in understanding why it may occur and why he was selected, but someone else wasn't.