Getting Kicked Out

At a typical university around our great nation, if for some reason you need to switch schools you usually say that you are going to "transfer." At the Air Force Academy, you cannot transfer but you can "quit." You can quit and accept all of the negative connotations associated with quitting. This usually consists of you admitting defeat, surrendering to the USAFA gods, possibly getting disowned from your family, and wearing a mark of shame the rest of your life.

It should also be noted that you cannot join the cadet ranks midway through your college career. Even if you have three years of college under your belt if you want to throw your hat in the air with the Thunderbirds flying overhead you have to start all over from the beginning.

Besides quitting, the other way out of the Academy is to get kicked out. While everybody knows "that guy" who gets through somehow, I would like to assert that it is near impossible to get kicked out nowadays. The only path that has beefed up its kicking cadets out policy is the honor division. If you get into honor trouble as an upperclassman, that is surely the quickest way out of our institution. The other fast way out is to get two alcohol incidents.

It is possible to be on academic or athletic probation for multiple semesters. Even if you get "hard ARC'd," a majority of cadets that have shown some sort of improvement (even if it is barely anything) get to graduate. Kicking someone out for military-related events is the hardest thing to do. Even if everyone knows a certain individual is a dirtbag, and they continue to have paperwork pile up on them, it literally takes an act of Congress to justify forcing someone to leave.

I attribute this to what I call the "BCT mentality." At some point down the line in Basic Cadet Training, the leadership changed their mind on how we should look at kicking basics out. One day, the thought process was to get rid of the vermin of the flight that would not be able to handle the rigors of the Academy lifestyle. This served as a filter for all of the worthless kids who only got in because their daddy knows somebody. At some point, though, it was made clear to BCT cadre that if a basic left it reflects poorly upon the staff. It was no longer the basic's fault that they wanted to leave or that they couldn't pass inspections, it was the cadre's fault for not providing enough tools or being supportive enough. Even if a basic really wants to leave during basic training it takes days and days for their paperwork to process; and while that is happening everyone in their chain of command tries to give them a pep talk to stay and wait it out.

About a year ago a petition was sent out which basically called for kicking cadets out who were on probation for two semesters in a row and couldn't get off. This petition had overwhelming support across the wing but it was never taken seriously by the higher ups.

Everyone knows who they don't want to see graduate from this place. By letting scum escape with a diploma it degrades the status of everyone else in the long blue line. That's why I feel it should be easier to kick cadets out. I also have one other idea: at the end of every year each cadet should vote to kick out one member of their squadron. Kind of like an Academy version of Survivor, this would make everyone try their hardest as well as eliminate cadets no one wants to see lead people in the real Air Force.