Wacky Personal Items/Contraband Found at Encampent

[SABRE17]

Had a cadet check in to wing winter encampment with a duffle bag full with 2 or 3 cases of Ensure nutrition drink. His parents were on hand and explained that the boy had severe ongoing stomach problems and needed the drinks to get proper nutrition since he often can't eat regular food. The kicker: when asked why none of this was on his medical forms the parents said they didn't want it to show up anywhere in his recoreds since he was planning on attending the USAF Academy and such information might keep him out. 

do believe the AFA will want to know that...

[Dad2-4]

Exactly. Our med officer asked the parents how they would be able to keep it secret, and how they could explain the "integrity" part of keeping it secret.

[nesagsar]

The problem with contraband searches after in-procesing is that the cadets may not be at fault. I remember an encampment on a military base at which the seniors had not checked the tops of the storage closets in the rooms, the cadets did because we were afraid any dust up there would count against us in inspections. My cadet flight found pornography and condoms left by the previous occupants: Air Force NCOs. We were not blamed for any of it because we were being supervised by the TACs during move in which is when we found the stuff.

[IceNine]

Of course there is always logic and reason applied during these inspections.

This is also partly why the the commander or commandant are the disciplinarians.  After more than a decade at the same activity you learn to think horses.

[JC004]

The problem with contraband searches after in-procesing is that the cadets may not be at fault. I remember an encampment on a military base at which the seniors had not checked the tops of the storage closets in the rooms, the cadets did because we were afraid any dust up there would count against us in inspections. My cadet flight found pornography and condoms left by the previous occupants: Air Force NCOs. We were not blamed for any of it because we were being supervised by the TACs during move in which is when we found the stuff.

Years ago, when I was in high school, I had a teacher pull me aside and ask me to open my backpack.  I opened all the pockets as they told me to and there was a flare.  Apparently they had decided to put a paper in my bag and saw it.  They were not satisfied with my answer of "I don't know" when they asked how it got there but apparently someone at home knew it was mine and put it in my bag in the process of some cleaning.  I grabbed the bag and left, not considering it might have something in it that might get me in trouble.  Luckily they believed me when I found out what had happened.

[ol'fido]

  Turns out it was one cadet producing the entire lot.  It took the entire weekend to narrow it down, and that was with a seasoned police officer guiding the investigations and stake outs.

Quote:  "Somebody needs to man up about these cookies!"

Gwaltney? Little odd, but good man.

GW-The official ILWG pointman for windowless bars.

[Chief2009]

During my basic encampment at Volk Field, we were in rooms that had TVs in them but did not have the coax cable to the wall outlet for the cable TV. One of the cadets in my flight apparently used the wire from his notebook to make the connection. He also left it in for the daily inspection.  I can't remember how many giggs he got for that.

DN

[IceNine]

He probably works for NASA now.  I'm not sure I could be mad about that.

[Eclipse]

Or Comcast...

[DakRadz]

He probably works for NASA now.  I'm not sure I could be mad about that.

Agreed... I was sitting here thinking, "How in the world....?"

Really though, anyone wanna help me out?

Or Comcast...

Nah, that's not interesting enough for a former CAP cadet Though he may be heading there since the space program is seeming kaput.

[Eclipse]

Really though, anyone wanna help me out?

Most cable TV comes in on coaxial cable - basically a conductor and a shield - just about anything metal could stand in.

[DakRadz]

Really though, anyone wanna help me out?

Most cable TV comes in on coaxial cable - basically a conductor and a shield - just about anything metal could stand in.

Roger that, thanks sir.

I'm still impressed

[SABRE17]

he had a notebook? like a laptop computer? or a spiral bound notebook?

[a2capt]

I'm gonna go out on a limb.. and say he had a stack of loose paper after that.

I swiped the third conductor out of a line cord for much the same thing once.. I mean, heck. They left the TV there. Taking the wire wasn't gonna stop some kids.

[Slim]

And this is why, at our site, we have services go around to the designated buildings and disconnect the cable at the entrance point into the building.

[nesagsar]

The last time I was at Volk Field (2004) they kept the cable on and my flight was allowed to watch TV anytime we weren't on duty. One day the encampment cadet commander was walking past my room with a basic flight cadet that had done something wrong and noticed that I was watching the history channel. The cadet asked why I got to watch TV and the response is "he is more important than you are". We got a good laugh out of that one.

[NIN]

It wasn't an encampment, but a weekend multi-unit (group level, maybe?) bivouac. 

As one of the senior cadets (I was a C/LtCol at the time, wearing C/CMSgt.  The sharp amongst you will note the incongruity in that statement), I was doing "shakedowns" with one of the other senior cadets (or maybe he was a newly-minted SM by then. My mind is a little fuzzy. He's a wing commander now) when I encountered one of my favorite pieces of contraband: the venerable M1911A1. 

My friend, the now-wing commander, was across the room checking out another cadet's gear when I called to him and held up the piece.  I dropped the slide into battery and squeezed the trigger.  I am still wondering why there wasn't a massive release of fecal matter. I don't think I've ever seen someone's eyes get so huge so quickly. 

It was, however, a complete put-up job. The weapon was one of those old "Collectors Armory" non-firing replicas, and the cadet who owned it had been asked to bring it with him for this expressed purpose.   Mission Accomplished!

I don't know if it was wacky, but it sure was funny.

[DakRadz]

So you knew that it was a fake, but your friend didn't?

It's either that, or you thought it would be a good idea to pull the trigger on a random gun you had found in someone's luggage... And that doesn't sound right

[IceNine]

Eclipse always say:  The bookends of bad ideas are "Hey watch this" and "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

^^This certainly seems to fit the bill.

[ol'fido]

This didn't happen at encampment, but I got woken up at about 1:30 AM(Note that is AM) and was told, "We found this clip of .45 ammo in a cadets webgear!".

"Well, does he have the .45?" was the only thing my brain could put together at that hour.

Apparently the story was that a cadet officer(who is now a funeral director) found some web gear laying in the middle of the campsite. He started looking through it to try to figure out whose it was and found the ammo, about 6 rds of 230 gr lead ball in a standard GI clip. Well the ammo was confiscated and later disposed of by the cadets squadron commander who was also there. The cadet said he didn't know how it got there except that maybe his little brother had been playing with his web gear.


"Sir, none of my guns are a .45"