Cadets, officers discuss ethics Published Nov. 5, 2003 By Debbie Kubik U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) -- With a laminated copy of the Honor Code on each table, 30 cadets spent several hours near here Nov. 3 listening to real-life ethical situations. Then they chose how they would respond as part of the academy’s character enrichment seminar.Cadets attend the mandatory character and leadership development seminar during basic cadet training and again each year.The seminar attended during the cadets’ senior year is designed to focus attendees on the ethical demands and dilemmas placed on Air Force officers, officials said.Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper, Secretary of the Air Force Dr. James Roche, and other senior officers and civilians were on-hand to observe the cadets’ reactions to tough ethical situations. Retired Col. Edwin Montgomery, a 1959 academy graduate, presented a situation for the cadets to consider.“You’ve flown several training missions,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’ve filled out the required paperwork, noting exactly what you did. Presenting this information to your boss, though, the lieutenant colonel asks you to ‘revise’ it and to add several more missions to your daily log. What would you do?”Several cadets squirmed in their seats but also formed resolute expressions on their faces. Cadet 1st Class Chris Diller was the first to respond and said that the colonel was asking him to lie, and that was wrong. Four other cadets agreed.The cadets discovered later, as in other scenarios given, that Montgomery’s story was from a first-hand experience.“And, what did I do?” Montgomery said. “I refused to change the information.” That lieutenant colonel never again asked him to do something like that, he said.Montgomery and other Air Force leaders challenged the cadets to dig deeper, and to respond not from their head, but from their gut. They also reminded the cadets that a line is drawn in each of their lives. The time to figure out where that line is drawn is ahead of time, not in the heat of battle.At the conclusion of the day Jumper, Roche and the undersecretary of the Air Force, Peter Teets, spoke with the cadets about their own ethical lessons.“No matter what the dilemma,” Jumper said, “eventually you have to figure out what’s the right thing to do.“In the end, however, it’s your character that will make the difference. It’s how well you have prepared yourself,” he said.Jumper encouraged cadets to consider how their actions will reflect on their institution, profession, family and themselves.“Our job as officers is to understand and recognize the right thing to do and have the courage to do it,” Jumper said. “It’s that simple.”