mombee
September 19, 2009, 7:17am
6
<p>GoNavyXC, I remember the post you made back in May:</p>
<p>
Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I am very interested in everyone’s view on honor. I’ll be working with the Brigade next semester on the honor staff (4 stripes), so I’ll be here to field questions.</p>
<p>All cases are processed and administered by midshipmen. Many mids feel that honor has “softened” over the years especially after the EE cheating scandal and when the Naval Academy started to become more diverse in its endeavors, and I tend to agree.</p>
<p>It used to be that if you were found in violation, midshipmen THEMSELVES packed your bags and they were left outside gate one for you to pick up when you left.</p>
<p>The problem we have now is that the Brigade has no ownership of their honor concept. As a staff, we’ll be trying to give it back to the Brigade this semester and trying to show everyone that the honor concept is really the Brigade’s, and not the honor staff’s. We were elected (in a way) by our peers to represent the Brigade’s concerns on honor. </p>
<p>In the past (particularly Class of 2009) the staff has had the right idea about trying to revise the honor concept to fit the Brigade’s needs. 2009 made the most obvious push to make that happen. The Honor Staff of 2010 is going to create a climate that gives honor back to the Brigade by showing them that the staff’s job is to facillitate honor by cultivating it into our daily lives like it used to be. Honor is a foundation of everything we do, not just a few lectures during plebe summer and a few other times while we’re there.</p>
<p>It’s about Col. Ripley who hung from the bottom of a bridge for 3 hours so that he could line a bridge with explosives to thwart an enemy attack of 25,000. It’s about Admiral Stockdale and John McCain who didn’t give up information so that their comrades would not be compromised. It’s about Ross Perot who lost the Presidential Election because he did the right thing by telling Americans what they needed to hear instead of what they wanted to hear.</p>
<p>If people have questions about the process, I’ll answer them. Basically, this year’s honor staff plays for Team USA, so what the American people want and expect will be implemented into how we go about things. Getting the word out about honor is healthy and only helps our fighting force. I look forward to hearing back.</p>
<p>Brigade Honor Advisor for Investigations Ac-Year 2010
</p>
<p>You obviously feel changes need to be made. No change is simple. There will always be resistance. Now you talk of resigning. You are going to have to ask yourself whether you can do more on the inside or whether resigning is the only method to get everyone’s attention, and if you are successful, how you will then be effective from the outside. Don’t allow the first roadblock to cause you to throw up your hands in resignation. The Ethics Dept was created shortly after the EE cheating scandal, probably as a direct result of it. It can and should be a valuable tool in instilling honor. Secondly, I would ask you to reconsider whether or not this forum is a proper venue to air your differences.</p>