Problem

It is not skirting, lieing or hiding the truth if you pay for an attorney to defend yourself. Will it come up later for a TS clearance? Probably. The reason I say probably is they will ask you and your references if you have ever been charged? Have you ever had ANY trouble/issues with the police.

It won't bite you if you are honest. Yes, I was ticketed at 17 for reckless driving, but my attorney got the charges dropped. They could ask your references the same question, and the answer will be the same for them. You hired an attorney and the charges were dropped. There was no conviction.
...which also goes back to when to inform question.

So will I have to inform my references regardless of the outcome? As in "I was charged with reckless driving, but was able to reduce the charges to speeding? Then for NROTC, when it says dealing with fines, should I just state I received a fine for Improper Driving or whatever happens or do I explain how it got got to that point?
 
References are typically people who know you very well. They will be asked how long they have known you, and how they know you.

You shouldn't need to inform your references because they know you that well. If they don't know of the incident, all they will say is their honest answer....not that I know of. If they know of the incident they would give the exact same answer as you...speeding, but the charges were reduced.

Most likely if you hire an attorney, and get the charges dropped, they(references) are going to forget all about it. They are going to think that it was just a speeding ticket and most people will not connect a speeding ticket with trouble with the law.

What I meant by informing them is not your references, but in your paperwork, which is where you would say, the only tickets you have ever received were Improper driving. You don't need to go into the whole story.

The TS clearance for AFROTC cadets occurs rising senior yr in college. This is a long, long time from now. Your true hurdles to focus on now are:

1. Getting a scholarship.
2. Passing the DoDMERB exam
3. Passing the PFT
4. Contracting

That needs to be your focus, not the TS clearance. Every yr there are kids that don't get waivers for the DoDMERB exam. Every yr. there are recipients that don't pass the PFT right off the bat, and that means they won't contract until they do pass.


I don't know about Marines, but I have been told many times here by Army posters not everyone in the Army will need a TS clearance. Thus, again you are worrying about something that you might not need for your career.
 
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