cadet blogs

Return to the Academy, Spice Stories, and Applying!

(Choosing the Coast Guard Academy, Class of 2014) Permanent link All Posts

Hello again friends!

I’m sorry that it’s been almost two months since I last put up a blog. Things ended up getting really hectic with classes near the end of the semester and I hardly had time for anything else but school and triathlon. Speaking of classes, my load is a bit lighter this semester. The only class that I’m really worried about is Signals and Systems, an electrical engineering class that focuses on the mathematical description of different types of signals. For instance, what a sound signal might look like. It’s a challenging class, and I’m just hoping to get a good enough grade to stay in my major.

I didn’t want to just talk about classes in this blog though. I’m not sure if you guys saw it on the news or have kept up with what’s going around the Academy, but 14 cadets were recently kicked out for the use of Spice, a synthetic marijuana. Use of any psychoactive drug is a guaranteed way to get kicked out of not only the Academy, but also the military. The military has a no tolerance policy for these drugs, especially the Coast Guard. One of our missions is maritime law enforcement, and that often involves the search and seizure of illegal drugs on the water. The Coast Guard wants officers of integrity; officers who will not take some of the drugs they seize for their own benefit or use.

The thing is, nine of those cadets were from my class. I knew a few of them, and they are good people. But good people sometimes make bad decisions, which is what happened when a group of my classmates and five others decided to smoke Spice. At that moment they decided that using an illegal substance, by military standards, was more important to them than earning a commission. That throwing away a year and a half year was worth abusing their bodies. One of my dad’s favorite sayings has always been “the truth always comes out.” My former classmates might have thought they weren’t going to get caught; eventually though, whatever you do, will be brought to the attention of others. It’s so much easier to just follow the rules.

I don’t want any of you thinking that this is something that usually happens here. The actions of a few are not indicative of the attitude of the whole. This was a rare occurrence, and does not reflect the nature of the Corps of Cadets. Do not let this incident diminish the desire to attend this institution.

Many of you, I’m sure, are anxiously awaiting news on whether you were accepted or not. My advice? If you’ve already submitted an application, be sure to occupy your time with something else. Maybe throw more effort into school or whatever sport you’re in as of right now. It will help take your mind off of the waiting game.

For those of you who are still in the process of filling out the application, be sure to get letters of recommendation. Whether their from your coach, your employer, or your minister, be sure to get some of those into your application; they enable the admissions panel to see your whole person better, and allow insight into your character. Having letters of recommendation can only help your application. It’s hard to believe that in only a few more months the Class of 2016 will arrive and I’ll be cadre!

As always, feel free to email at Samuel.J.Keith@uscga.edu if you have any questions or need help with the application process.

As always,
Jordan

More about Jordan.

Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/16/2012 9:49 AM