It’s good that you realized that re-telling a lie (aka “bending the truth”) would be compounding the problem, because you are asked that question on every security clearance update through your time in the military. These things usually come out in some manner, and in the meantime, they can certainly gnaw away at your conscience. The more senior you get, the more severe the consequences.
There is a difference in someone reporting this before ever raising their right hand and putting on a uniform, and your circumstances. The military understands young people make mistakes, and experimental usage prior to military time is not unusual. Now, however, you knew better, you knew the zero tolerance policy, you’ve no doubt had briefings on it, yet you chose to do it, not once, but three times, and then lied about it. That’s not good, but you know that. I hope you have spent some time thinking about that, whether it was poor impulse control, peer pressure, etc., and how you will counter that in future.
Assuming at some point the discrepancy will be revealed between former reports and this report, you really don’t want to be in the position of being asked to explain yourself. Never good. Your instinct to stop this now and clean up the situation is a good one. As to the consequences for someone in your position, you will have to deal with that as an adult. Put it in perspective. You won’t be arrested, you won’t be imprisoned, you won’t have a criminal record, but you could be removed from the program, required to pay back scholarship money and other consequences. There is only one way to find out. If the worst case happens, you are still the same person with the same good brain and potential, but much wiser, who can start down a new path and still have a successful, happy and fulfilling life. You will also be a great mentor down the road, because you will understand humans fail but also recover and grow. These kinds of personal failures can be horribly embarrassing, uncomfortable, painful and just plain awful (explaining to family) - but you can emerge stronger and more self-aware.
Let us know how it goes. Take strength from the fact you not trying to evade this. That is admirable.
