Something needs to be done about our vetting new cadets

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010595

5-Year Member
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Mar 24, 2013
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26
Last semester, a freshman got kicked out for filming girls in the bathroom. 19 photos were found on his phone in total.

It gets worse. He started going to A & M and did the same thing, getting arrested a few days ago:
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...udent-said-man-recorded-her-in-a-11000238.php

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This kind of behavior is disgusting, reprehensible, and despicable in every sense of the words. We need a system that either vets applicants better or repeatedly beats them over the head with the values of the Air Force so hard that people like Sammy Tawakkol will disenroll themselves out of fear, knowing they could never covertly do something like this.


You all deserve to know about the presence of such a person, especially if you have daughters.

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Speechless!

I can only hope the photos were not dispersed via the internet and that those photographed have been informed.

For parents, if you look up members of your 2020 DD's squadrons, such as in the BCT yearbook, I believe you will see he was in 23.

He should have been held at Peterson from the outset of this. Let's hope he is prosecuted accordingly.
 
Unless he had a prior incident on record, or talked about doing this, or family members/references knew and covered it up, there is no way the SA would know this ex-cadet was likely to exhibit this behavior.

Every year, there are examples of criminal behavior by cadets and mids, who all went through the same hoops to get in, racked up the stats and leadership activities, got recommendations, got noms, got appointments, were the apples of their parents' eyes. Drug distribution, car theft ring, sexual assault, breaking and entering, stealing other mids' Rx for re-sale, property theft, murder...it happens, but for the great majority of the class, they are exactly who they present themselves to be, decent young men and women. The classes represent a slice of society today, and some bad comes in with the good. The Armed Forces do background checks, and later more in-depth investigating for security clearances, but people smart enough to get into an SA are often smart enough to not get caught at something before they get in.

I was sorry to see he did it again.
 
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Capt MJ said:
Unless he had a prior incident on record, or talked about doing this, or family members/references knew and covered it up, there is no way the SA would know this ex-cadet was likely to exhibit this behavior.

Every year, there are examples of criminal behavior by cadets and mids, who all went through the same hoops to get in, racked up the stats and leadership activities, got recommendations, got noms, got appointments, were the apples of their parents' eyes. Drug distribution, car theft ring, sexual assault, breaking and entering, stealing other mids' Rx for re-sale, property theft, murder...it happens, but for the great majority of the class, they are exactly who they present themselves to be, decent young men and women. The classes represent a slice of society today, and some bad comes in with the good. The Armed Forces do background checks, and later more in-depth investigating for security clearances, but people smart enough to get into an SA are often smart enough to not get caught at something before they get in.

I was sorry to see he did it again.
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And, if you Google his name, you will see all kinds of accolades and championships for "speed cubing" (Rubik's cube).
Not sure how anyone could have seen this coming, other than Texas A&M, if he was enrolled there as a student after being kicked out of the Academy.
 
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Just speechless. I live in this area and saw this story on our local news. Had no idea he was a former cadet. Sad. Many outstanding kids in our area who apply to academies and do not even get nominations or appointments here in our area and Texas in general. At dinner every night our family prays for our son and those making decisions about his future. Then this kid gets this once in a lifetime opportunity, an appointment to an academy and does this. I understand a previous post indicated that he had no previous record so there's no way admissions could have foreseen his choices. Obviously this is a very bright kid who has made some bad choices. Sad situation all around.
 
It happens.

West Point is experiencing a rash of cadets being arrested - a number of their athletes for drugs dealing, breaking into homes, etc.

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It's life. The military and service academies are not immune to it. While the vast majority of those in the military are upstanding individuals, you will always have some who slip through the weeding process. Stay in long enough and you will probably be faced with moral dilemmas.
 
Capt MJ said:
This made me LOL, for which I apologize due to the thread topic. More of a good snort than a laugh.

We have all run into people who seem perfectly nice, do good things...AND bad.
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Exactly! It's like saying they should catch pedophiles before they offend...ummm did they tell someone they like kids? How would an employer know? ESP?
I work in a Social Service benefits setting, I.e welfare...we had a LEAD worker who was adding extra benefits to clients cards then going to the ATM and withdrawing it for herself. Over $200,000!! People said "oh that's not the woman we know" EXACTLY! She as that devious.
Then AFTER getting released from prison she did it AGAIN to an employer!
There are bad people everywhere who hide their true selves. We can only hope they are discovered but it doesn't always work out that way.
 
The post above reminds me of working late in the Pentagon one night, and I had unexpected visitors. An NCIS agent and metro D.C.-area county sheriff's deputy had tracked emails trying to lure teenage girls via a social media site to a meeting place, to a Navy staff computer and log-in name. They had set up a sting, had all the evidence, were arresting him at that moment at the meeting place, and were at the Pentagon with a warrant to impound his work computer. He had a good career, family, no clearance or conduct issues. Commissioning source didn't even matter at that point. As far as I knew, he was a nice guy and capable officer. Key phrase: "as far as I knew." Smart humans can be bad smart just as skillfully as good smart.
 
Well, the recidivism rate for child sex offenders is more or less 99.9%. So, yes, agreed..since they essentially cannot be rehabilitated, life sentences sound great to me.
 
Heard during every newscast while the cameras pan over the crime scene tape, " he was such a good neighbor. Very quiet and he always waved. And this is such a good neighborhood"
 
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