My son is in the process of applying to the USNA, and has no idea that his dad was in the Air Force as an enlisted member who received a bad conduct discharge (early 1980's). We have never shared this as we never thought it would impact him. He has the grades, scores, and involvement to be a viable candidate. Will the USNA search into his dad's background and find this out? On a positive note, he had 2 uncles who both served in the Navy and had no problems.
Son applying but dad has bad conduct discharge
- Thread starter kit kat
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The only place the parent's military background is referenced is in the Candidate Personal Data Record. It asks if a parent is a SA graduate, and about military status (ie. Active, Reserve, Retired, Separated), which Branch and Rank/Rate, and whether you are collecting retirement pay. It does not ask anything about type of discharge.
They only ask for your Lastname, Firstname and Current Address - they do not ask for you SSN, so they wouldn't have much info to base a search on anyway.
Not only that, but it would be incredibly unfair to a candidate to hold it against them.
He has nothing to worry about
They only ask for your Lastname, Firstname and Current Address - they do not ask for you SSN, so they wouldn't have much info to base a search on anyway.
Not only that, but it would be incredibly unfair to a candidate to hold it against them.
He has nothing to worry about
Old Navy BGO
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First, the Admissions Board does not search into anyone's background, applications are taken at face value, and the only person they are evaluating is the candidate. Thus, I wouldn't expect that something a parent did 30+ years ago would have any impact at all.
That being said, I believe there is a place in the application for stating whether parents are relatives have served in the military. I understand the dilema, but my recommendation would be to answer truthfully. If that means Dad sitting down with DS and telling him what happened, so be it. This type of parental history could come up later, e.g. during a background check for security clearance, etc, and DS is better off hearing about it from Dad than from some agent doing a background investigation, or worse, being accused of lying because he didn't include it on some form.
That being said, I believe there is a place in the application for stating whether parents are relatives have served in the military. I understand the dilema, but my recommendation would be to answer truthfully. If that means Dad sitting down with DS and telling him what happened, so be it. This type of parental history could come up later, e.g. during a background check for security clearance, etc, and DS is better off hearing about it from Dad than from some agent doing a background investigation, or worse, being accused of lying because he didn't include it on some form.
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I would go with the "don't offer more information than what is asked for" in this situation, and I would agree that (even if it came to light) it should have no bearing whatsoever on the application of your son.
Everyone probably has something in their closet that resembles a skeleton. There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep that hidden.
Now on the other hand, if he wants to drive onto the Yard, he'll need a DBIDS photo ID. That paperwork requires an answer to the question, "have you ever been convicted of a felony?" If the answer is "no", then he's still okay. That particular skeleton can stay on the hanger, if that's where he chooses to leave it.
Everyone probably has something in their closet that resembles a skeleton. There's nothing wrong with wanting to keep that hidden.
Now on the other hand, if he wants to drive onto the Yard, he'll need a DBIDS photo ID. That paperwork requires an answer to the question, "have you ever been convicted of a felony?" If the answer is "no", then he's still okay. That particular skeleton can stay on the hanger, if that's where he chooses to leave it.
Old Navy BGO
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Agree... also known as RTFQ/ATFQ (FYI --contrary to some interpretations, the F is "full, ie. Read the Full Question
). I'm not sure what information the Personal Data form asks for --but answer the question poised truthfully, to the best of your ability , nothing more or nothing less. With respect to hidden skeletons , its often a tough dilemma -- balancing the short term embarrassment and disappointment v. risk of son learning the hard way. (Frankly, I'm not sure what the level of risk is ... 30 years ago I probably would have said the risk was low, now -a-days not so much. )