Well, they WERE West Point cadets. They would have eventually popped positive on a urinalysis. A RIO that flew with me at times “popped” shortly into a six month deployment and he wqs off the ship within a few days.
When I was a cadet, they didn't do regular drug testing.
Must be an Army thing. When we started getting serious about getting rid of drugs in the Navy (after the 1981 NIMITZ flight deck accident) we were pretty aggressive with drug testing across the board. As a LT, I was in charge of that program in my first squadron and we put A LOT of dopers out. This was circa 1982-85. By the late 80s, positives had all but disappeared. We did have a small resurgence with newer drugs in in the early 2000s, but by the time I retired in 08, again drug use was negligible . These cadets should be dismissed with at least an OTH discharge.
same with the AF in the early 80's. from about 82-83 until i got out in 86, we were random tested fairly regularly. i think about every 3 months or so. first time they did that, about 10% of the squadron got popped. lot of guys out mowing lawns and picking up cig butts waiting for their discharge. zero tolerance. had one guy who swore up and down dominos had laced his pizza with weed. in those days dominos had a loaded pizza they called "The Destroyer". after his claim, we called it "The Career Destroyer". lol. they also started cracking down on DWI around that time. you could get away with one but you would lose a stripe. two and you were on the bus home. i knew a lot of guys who went home with a general discharge.
