Use Me as an Example of what not to do as an ROTC Cadet

Nateman15

5-Year Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2010
Messages
112
This past week I made the stupid decision to ride my Calc assignment up to campus on my motorcycle without wearing my helmet.

And as fate would have it, my COC just happened to be running on the side of the road I was riding on. AND I just had my motorcycle safety briefing the week before and was explicitly told that it was against regulation to ride without a helmet.

I was told to report into my COC's office the next day where I was ripped harder than I ever have been ripped by anyone besides my parents. The main issues were disobeying direct orders from Cadre and disobeying Air Force Regs.

As an ICSP cadet, I have worked my butt off at building a reputation for myself and what kind of cadet I am. I am one of 5 scholarship cadets in my Det and I have one of the highest AS200 wing positions in the Det. This one dumb decision has threatened everything I have worked for this past year and half. My class ranking has almost certainly taken a big hit and I am still waiting to hear about what my further punishment will be.

Thankfully, I made the good decision to go in the next day in full service dress and have a conversation with my COC after the dust had settled a little. I didn't try and defend what I had done, but I defended my character and judgement. My COC looked very highly on me having the guts and determination to come back in and defend myself. So I feel like I have handled it as best as possible.

I just wanted to get my story out to you all, especially cadets. Dont get comfortable and complacent. That is when you get yourself in trouble. Learn from my mistakes and always keep yourself sharp.

Air Power
 
This past week I made the stupid decision to ride my Calc assignment up to campus on my motorcycle without wearing my helmet.

And as fate would have it, my COC just happened to be running on the side of the road I was riding on. AND I just had my motorcycle safety briefing the week before and was explicitly told that it was against regulation to ride without a helmet.

I was told to report into my COC's office the next day where I was ripped harder than I ever have been ripped by anyone besides my parents. The main issues were disobeying direct orders from Cadre and disobeying Air Force Regs.

As an ICSP cadet, I have worked my butt off at building a reputation for myself and what kind of cadet I am. I am one of 5 scholarship cadets in my Det and I have one of the highest AS200 wing positions in the Det. This one dumb decision has threatened everything I have worked for this past year and half. My class ranking has almost certainly taken a big hit and I am still waiting to hear about what my further punishment will be.

Thankfully, I made the good decision to go in the next day in full service dress and have a conversation with my COC after the dust had settled a little. I didn't try and defend what I had done, but I defended my character and judgement. My COC looked very highly on me having the guts and determination to come back in and defend myself. So I feel like I have handled it as best as possible.

I just wanted to get my story out to you all, especially cadets. Dont get comfortable and complacent. That is when you get yourself in trouble. Learn from my mistakes and always keep yourself sharp.

Air Power

Thanks for sharing. I'm sure it will benefit other cadets and midshipmen. I hope you successfully weather the storm and never do anything that stupid again (and it was stupid, even if it wasn't against regs).
 
So what you're saying is....
You're sorry you got caught?
Or what other rule can be ignored
until the punishment is too severe?
is it OK because you'll just get a slap on the wrist?
 
Dont get comfortable and complacent. That is when you get yourself in trouble. Learn from my mistakes and always keep yourself sharp.

Air Power

Very true. Anyone can make mistakes. You have to face them like you did and learn from them.

Best Wishes going forward.
 
I don't get how this really affects your standing. I guess things could be slightly different in the AF. In AROTC, they give us safety briefings all the time on motorcycle safety and how we should wear all this PPE. However, since we're not subject to any UCMJ you can't get in trouble for it yet. All they can really do is stress the importance of wearing the PPE.
 
-Bull-

It can impact him because he is a C200, as such his SFT packet will be submitted in the next 2 months, and part of that packet includes the CoC recs. Thus, his OML may change.
 
Not being hard on you, learn from this mishap, learn to be humble, and follow 'basic' instructions.

You hear about this:
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2012/sep/27/former-buford-standout-seriously-injured-in/
(Perhaps your COC is watching out for his group)
Read it again if you read it a few weeks ago.

Thankfully, I made the good decision to go in the next day in full service dress and have a conversation with my COC after the dust had settled a little. I didn't try and defend what I had done, but I defended my character and judgement. My COC looked very highly on me having the guts and determination to come back in and defend myself. So I feel like I have handled it as best as possible.

Perhaps the look your COC was a highly puzzled/'kid isn't getting it' look that you would try to dress up and defend your character and judgement for breaking rules after a briefing the day before.

Your wing position ('one of the highest' in your group) should be taken away.

You can't defend your the absolute one of the best, you f'ed -up. Apologize and state you will work on following instructions.


As an ICSP cadet, I have worked my butt off at building a reputation for myself and what kind of cadet I am.

You just had a briefing, and couldn't obey a simple instruction. What other instructions have you broken that the COC has not seen?

Unless your group has a bunch of f'-ups, you certainly proved you haven't worked hard enough to hold a top leadership position. I am sure there is at least 1 other member that can move ahead of you into your 'one of the highest' flight leadership positions.

Practice some humility buddy.
 
-Bull-

It can impact him because he is a C200, as such his SFT packet will be submitted in the next 2 months, and part of that packet includes the CoC recs. Thus, his OML may change.

That's the only thing I could think of as well, but I still disagree with that since he isn't binded to anything telling him what he must wear in terms of PPE.
 
Not being hard on you, learn from this mishap, learn to be humble, and follow 'basic' instructions.

You hear about this:
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2012/sep/27/former-buford-standout-seriously-injured-in/
(Perhaps your COC is watching out for his group)
Read it again if you read it a few weeks ago.



Perhaps the look your COC was a highly puzzled/'kid isn't getting it' look that you would try to dress up and defend your character and judgement for breaking rules after a briefing the day before.

Your wing position ('one of the highest' in your group) should be taken away.

You can't defend your the absolute one of the best, you f'ed -up. Apologize and state you will work on following instructions.




You just had a briefing, and couldn't obey a simple instruction. What other instructions have you broken that the COC has not seen?

Unless your group has a bunch of f'-ups, you certainly proved you haven't worked hard enough to hold a top leadership position. I am sure there is at least 1 other member that can move ahead of you into your 'one of the highest' flight leadership positions.

Practice some humility buddy.

I'm not sure what kind of tone you are picking up on, but the whole point of this is to show that I made a poor judgement call and am trying to make the best of it.

And who are you to say I haven't worked hard enough to have my position? I eat, sleep, and breathe AFROTC. I am doing ROTC things 7 days a freakin week.

This purpose of this wasn't to point out what I did. My intent was to show how easily someone can mess up.
 
jbsail,

I disagree with one portion of your post.
jbsail said:
Perhaps the look your COC was a highly puzzled/'kid isn't getting it' look that you would try to dress up and defend your character and judgement for breaking rules after a briefing the day before.

In the ADAF world he did exactly what they would do regarding his attire. If you get called the night before to report into the commander's office and you already know you are in trouble, you will come in wearing your full service dress. The big difference is he wore his coat and a long sleeve shirt compared to a short sleeve shirt and no jacket. As a C200 he may have his ABUs, but if I am correct this was not a LLAB day, so he did show good judgement understanding the seriousness of this situation.

I think any look might have been because Nate is an AAS cadet, and the adviser for AAS at his det is the CoC. Hence, the CoC knows him from a personal side more than just an avg cadet in a large det. The CoC was probably shocked that out of all his cadets, it was Nate he had to pull in.


If I were Nate, I would just expect he won't get a high vis job next semester, and that when it comes for his SFT rec. it might be dinged. However, I would make sure to bust my hump in every other portion of the SFT WCS to make up for any potentially lost points.


-Bull-
Honestly, I don't recall what is exactly stated on the AFROTC contract. Nate is contracted. It may have a loophole that discusses following direct orders, and his CoC may have stated this is an AF reg, and a direct order.

Nate,
Just keep showing them how dedicated you are to the AF, and AFROTC. I still stand by I think you won't get a job next semester or be asked to step down from your current position now to make your unit see he is serious about this issue. Most CC's are serious. In the yrs Bullet was ADAF, there were several fliers that died in motorcycle accidents, probably at least 1 at each assignment over the 20 yrs. he served.

Our DS wanted to get a motorcycle, it was a flat out NO. He thought we were worry warts, but accepted our decision. The night of his commissioning party at our home, his best friend riding his motorcycle wearing a helmet, was hit by a car 5 miles from our home. He was operated on and had to get pins in his arm. DS thanked us for saying NO. He realized with a UPT slot that accident could have been a career ender before his career started. Just my Mom's opinion...sell the bike buy a beater car.
 
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That's the only thing I could think of as well, but I still disagree with that since he isn't binded to anything telling him what he must wear in terms of PPE.

Well, since I am contracted, I am binded to the regulations. I am sworn into the reserves with my scholarship.
 
So what you're saying is....
You're sorry you got caught?
Or what other rule can be ignored
until the punishment is too severe?
is it OK because you'll just get a slap on the wrist?

I never said it was OK and I'm not just getting a slap on the wrist. I got threatened with disenrollment, suspension of scholarship, or conditional event.

The rest i'm not going to respond to because they are ignorant questions.
 
Nate,

I thought that was the case that because you are not a 100 anymore, and you are contracted you would be required to adhere to AF regs.

Quick question, does KS have a helmet law? That could be an issue because although you didn't get ticketed by the police if they have the law, your CoC knows you broke the law.
 
I'm not just getting a slap on the wrist. I got threatened with disenrollment, suspension of scholarship, or conditional event.



This would be the best lesson I would take from your experience.
There are no helmet laws in Kansas unless you're under 17 so you won't have to worry about laws being broken.
In the future--If and when you become an officer, how would you respond to people who disregard orders and ask ignorant questions?
 
Use Me as an .....

Nateman15,

I hope and trust that you have learned a valuable lesson here and that you never ever forget, what you have done. Every time we do anything there are consequences, to what we do. Thank you for sharing your story.

RGK
 
So what you're saying is....
You're sorry you got caught?
Or what other rule can be ignored
until the punishment is too severe?
is it OK because you'll just get a slap on the wrist?
This post is a bunch of crap! I bet you never screwed up.
 
I have to say I get what Packer was saying. Nateman15 was trying to help posters and discussed his issue publicly where he could have kept his mouth shut.

He received some negative responses that shocked me. His honesty to me illustrated he is going to be a great leader in the military.

Yes, he made a mistake, he is a sophomore in college, guessing @ 19 yo. As a Mom, I would be incredibly proud of him helping future candidates and cadets when his arse is on the line. Honestly, many cadets would be licking their wounds, worrying privately and dealing with the folks. He could lose @ 18K plus a stipend for his action, yet, he comes on here and says Don't be stupid like me, AFROTC means business. He put others in front of his own fears for the good of this site.

To me this is a teachable moment, not a slam a poster moment.
 
This post is a bunch of crap! I bet you never screwed up.

Couldn't agree more.

If every cadet had a hidden camera on them 24/7, there wouldn't be many cadets left, and that goes for the SA's as well.

Nateman,

Thanks for the post, it was a great lesson to share.
 
Nateman

Thanks for the post,
Not just a great warning to all readers but a great example of handling your self properly. You will be a fine officer.

Best Wishes again going forward.
 
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