When my younger daughter was in Advanced Individual Training for her Military Occupational Specialty, MOS, as a 25U, Signal Support Systems Specialist, at Fort Gordon, Georgia, in the fall and winter of 2010, AIT was interrupted for a ten-day break for Christmas. When she got home, she told us that every soldier was warned that they’d be tested for drug use upon their return to Ft Gordon, and that one guy had said, “F(ornicate) it,” he was going to get high while he was on the break. I guess that he wanted out of the Army, because they had only two weeks left in AIT.

And yup, he lit up the scoreboard when he got back, and I don’t know if he received a dishonorable discharge or not, but that kind of thing follows you for the rest of your life.

That was what came to my mind when I heard about several West Point cadets overdosing on fentanyl-laced cocaine over their spring break. From Le*gal In*sur*rec*tion:

Florida Man Recently Arrested in Connection to Overdoses of Six West Point Cadets

Wilton Manors police have named a suspect arrested as 21-year-old Axel Giovany Casseus.

Posted by Leslie Eastman | Monday, March 14, 2022 | 1:00 PM EDT

Late last week, I reported that six West Point cadets on spring break in Florida overdosed on fentanyl-laced cocaine.

There has been an arrest made in connection to this horrific incident.

Florida cops have arrested an alleged drug dealer they say sold the fentanyl-laced cocaine to several West Point cadets who overdosed during a spring break trip this week.

Axel Giovany Casseus, 21, was jailed Saturday in lieu of $50,000 bail, Local10 News reported.

After identifying Casseus, an undercover police officer was successfully able to purchase 43 grams of cocaine from him for $1,000, according to an arrest report, the network reported.

While in custody, Casseus admitted to selling drugs to the West Point cadets and his phone contained correspondence with them, authorities said.

Casseus faces felony charges as two of the six cadets remain in critical condition.

There’s more at the original.

At least two of the cadets who overdosed were members of the Black Knights football team, which might be why the story made the newspapers in the first place.

While I’m happy that Mr Casseus was caught, and I hope that, if he is found guilty, he spends a long, long, long time in prison, my main concern is that United States Military Academy cadets bought and used cocaine in the first place. West Point cadets are supposed to be some of our best and brightest, in an academy which puts them through rigorous and demanding coursework, and teaches honor above everything.

One would think that some of our best and brightest would have been bright enough to figure out that they might just have to pee in the cup when they returned from spring break. One would think that they would have been told that would happen, but even if they weren’t, West Point cadets should have been smart enough to figure it out on their own.

The cadet honor code is simple: “A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” These six cadets failed to show much honor in buying and using drugs. The cost to educate a cadet at the Military Academy is over $225,000 over four years, and while the stories do not tell us in which years the overdosed cadets are, they just pissed away $60,000 for every year they were enrolled.

More, they took slots over other deserving candidates, ones which we can hope would not have used drugs.

They have to be gone, of course. The Army cannot tolerate officers who use drugs, officers who may well have to discharge enlisted personnel who fail a whizz quiz. They should be fined for the costs the government incurred in providing their education.

Le*gal In*sur*rec*tion reported that not all six of the cadets were using drugs:

Not all of the cadets were using drugs. Two overdosed while “performing life-saving measures.”

That’s hopeful, but it’s still a potential honor code violation, if they knew that the cadets who were using drugs were doing so, and failed to try to stop them.

I would expect that, after this ‘incident,’ every cadet returning from spring break will wind up peeing in the cup; the Academy would be foolish not to do this. And I have to wonder: were these the only drug-using cadets, or are there more?