- Joined
- Oct 18, 2008
- Messages
- 262
I partook in a leadership course this last semester, and a big part of it was having your own “leadership project.” I came up with ending cadets drinking underage (at USAFA). It’s always bothered me that it gets shoved down our throats not to lie, cheat, or steal, but gets almost completed ignored that about half of all cadets underage drink (my AOC estimated 40%). I’m of the opinion that the continual willingness to break the law is worse than a little white lie. More importantly, if I could enact some new policy/training that stopped one cadet from underage drinking, a huge difference could be made in that person’s life. Compare getting discharged versus becoming a colonel, for example.
The only training that currently exists is something like a briefing in basic. All alcohol briefings afterward are only ever about over-21 drinking (like have a DD). I told this to my AOC, who’s given a lot of alcohol briefings, and it was like a light bulb went off in his head.
I am not going to get into the specifics about who I have talked to because I am not happy about it and don’t want that online. Going into this I felt like the problem was that leadership was ignoring the issue because they found it to be embarrassing to admit, don’t think it can be solved, or simply don’t care. I definitely still think that’s the source of the problem.
Pretty much I need to come up with how to solve this on my own. There are a handful of other cadets who have offered to help, but permanent party, for the most part, hasn’t been that helpful. The Commandant of Cadets apparently got excited when my AOC mentioned this to him, but I definitely need a plan before I go that high up. All I have come up with is having a one-on-one mentoring program where someone actually tells a freshman not to underage drink. I feel like it would be powerful if someone felt like they were letting someone down that they looked up to. I am planning on asking the Behavioral Science Department for help with getting actual research that would suggest effective ways to change someone’s mindset.
Comments and suggestions needed. Thanks.
The only training that currently exists is something like a briefing in basic. All alcohol briefings afterward are only ever about over-21 drinking (like have a DD). I told this to my AOC, who’s given a lot of alcohol briefings, and it was like a light bulb went off in his head.
I am not going to get into the specifics about who I have talked to because I am not happy about it and don’t want that online. Going into this I felt like the problem was that leadership was ignoring the issue because they found it to be embarrassing to admit, don’t think it can be solved, or simply don’t care. I definitely still think that’s the source of the problem.
Pretty much I need to come up with how to solve this on my own. There are a handful of other cadets who have offered to help, but permanent party, for the most part, hasn’t been that helpful. The Commandant of Cadets apparently got excited when my AOC mentioned this to him, but I definitely need a plan before I go that high up. All I have come up with is having a one-on-one mentoring program where someone actually tells a freshman not to underage drink. I feel like it would be powerful if someone felt like they were letting someone down that they looked up to. I am planning on asking the Behavioral Science Department for help with getting actual research that would suggest effective ways to change someone’s mindset.
Comments and suggestions needed. Thanks.