Demerits

Top photo is the demerit notification letter from LTC Stimus to my parents. Bottom photo sequence left to right: (a) cadets waiting to report for demerits after lunch outside HQ; (b) a cadet reporting for demerits to CPT Penfield inside HQ; (c) cadets checking HQ information board to see how many demerits they got (or others got); (d) cadets working off tours next to tennis court and showers area. [Note: Noun. demerit - a mark against a person for misconduct or failure; usually given in school or armed forces; "ten demerits and he loses his privileges" ] Anyone who attended ENMS understands the word "demerit" because the "demerit system" at ENMS was extremely effective -- at least while I was there. If you didn't take the "demerit" system seriously, chances were good that you'd end up sooner or later paying a price in lost privileges. The demerit system involved a rating period of time. During this period if you received less than 10 demerits, you did not lose privileges. You'd also qualify for the "Commandants List" and receive the blue "Citizenship" award front and center at a Sunday parade in front of everyone. This ribbon attached to your dress blues proudly proclaimed to the world that you knew how to keep your nose clean at ENMS. If you got 10 or more demerits in a given week -- well it was all over for you, at least for the short term. You forfeited being able to go on pass that week, including going home during regularly scheduled holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc. Goal number two was not to exceed 25 demerits within the rating period. If you did, you earned tours that had to be worked off. The typical tour involved an hour of marching with your M-1 rifle in full fatigues in a square on a barren dirt field about the size of a basketball court adjacent to the tennis courts and showers area while a member of the daily duty guard (i.e., Sergeant of the Guard) made sure you accomplished your tour. (See above far right photo.) Some tours might be worked off on other details like policing the campus -- collecting trash blowing around the campus. So, how did a cadet get demerits? An interesting aspect to the ENMS demerit system was that any cadet with the rank of corporal and up (cadet non-commissioned officer status of corporal up to cadet officer ranks) had authority to write up anyone of an equal or lesser rank.(I may need a little help in getting all this correct ENMS alumni.) So, if you were a corporal, you could write up other corporals (two stripes) as well as those of a lesser rank than yourself -- private first class cadets (one stripe) and privates (no stripes). This form of supervision applied across the cadet corps was very effective resulting in several hundred sets of eyes watching every one's every move. Becoming aware of this fact caused a change in every one's behavior, too -- at least for most cadets. Of course, the commandant and his assistant commandants could write you up, too. Consequently, the success of the ENMS demerit system is owed in large measure to the cadet corps policing themselves. Strange thing was that everyone took this responsibility seriously. But, there were a few hard assess in the crowd that played their roles to the max, too. They went overboard writing up the most insignificant infractions. When you learned who they were you steered clear of them. But, for the most part, if you got written up by someone, you probably had it coming. [Note: I went up against the ENMS demerit system the second month of my first year at ENMS. No doubt I was having a time adjusting to things. My parents received in the mail the above notification slip from LTC Stimus dated October 28, 1963 notifying them I had forfeited all privileges -- including allowances, passes, and visitors for one week beginning October 28, 1963. I don't remember exactly what I had done but I do remember receiving 11 demerits. The following Sunday I couldn't go out on pass -- a state of existence known as being "campused." That Sunday before the parade in my dress blues, I was assigned to a detail of cadets that policed the campus -- picked up trash and debris on the grounds. Because of this experience, I pulled in my horns and started to "think" more about what I did to cause others to take such notice of my behavior. Somehow I sensed that unless I stepped up my game, I was going to have a negative ENMS experience. Looking back, it was quintessential operant conditioning -- rewards / punishments. Not too long after this, I almost forfeited privileges again that could have cost me my Thanksgiving Day vacation with my family in Las Vegas. Here's what happened. During the week when JFK was assassinated November 22, 1963, I had received 5 demerits. When he was being laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, the entire senior school was allowed to watch the burial on a single "black and white" television set with rabbit ears attached. Those that didn't get a chair had to stand. As everyone shuffled in to grab an available seat (some jockeying for a better viewing position than others), I got a seat behind a taller cadet who blocked my view. As I jockeyed for a better seat, someone took the seat I was going toward and I got pissed. As I stood there totally whacked, someone in the back shouted for me to sit down. I turned and flipped the bird -- then I sat down. Well, the next day I received enough demerits for disrespect and profanity to make 9 for that week -- one short of being campused and not being able to go home for Thanksgiving. That woke me up real fast. From then on, I "thought" more about what I was doing than merely react to situations -- the first time I really started to face myself and it was quite unnerving.] It didn't take long for me to figure out the system and when I did, I just assumed that anyone with a rank of corporal and higher had a set of "write up" slips in their pocket --a small stapled packet of about 15 slips you got from the cadet company commander's quarters. Thus, with the drop of a pencil practically anyone could jot down your infraction with the time, day, etc., and toss it into the box at HQ for the assistant commandants to collect. Of course the commandant and his assistants were monitoring the validity and reliability of any charges against cadets. Here's how you found out if you were receiving demerits. At every noon formation before heading to lunch in front of the classroom barracks, a list of cadet names would be read by LTC Stimus or one of his assistant commandants in front of everyone identifying those who had to report for demerits. The list wasn't too long -- at the most five or ten or fifteen cadets. If your name was on this list, then after lunch you went to the side of HQ building and stood in line with the other offending cadets where you either played the guessing game regarding what you had done to merit demerits or you kept quite or shared what you had done to deserve your demerits --including the time, place, cadet or assistant commandant who wrote you up. When it was your turn to enter into HQ and report, you walked in with hat in hand, stood at attention and saluted one of the assistant commandants handling demerit duty that day saying, "Private Lauer reporting as ordered sir." The assistant commandant would return your salute and reaching for the demerit slip that was turned in with your name on it would say something like, "Says here that you were out of uniform yesterday after lunch around 12:30 pm outside the gym without your hat on. Is that correct?" The name of the person who wrote you up was never identified but you often could guess afterwards. You might want to argue your point but usually to no avail because the assistant commandant would drive home the infraction by stating that being in uniform at all times requires a hat on outside. Obviously, your name wouldn't have been on the list had the assistant commandant not agreed with the infraction and the person initiating the write up. So, you'd take in a deep breath, be dismissed, and hope the resultant damage to your citizenship record wasn't too bad. If you couldn't report for demerits after lunch, you had to go after dinner. The next day, you anxiously awaited the posting of demerits outside HQ to learn how many you got for your infraction. [Note: You could get demerits for a lot of stuff -- being out of uniform, late to formation, profanity/vulgarity, disrespect, smoking, off limits, etc.. You name it, there was a demerit for it. Some infractions like getting caught smoking resulted in 25 demerits -- all at once. Some cadets had 50 plus demerits and were continously working off tours in their spare time and during physical education period.] Oh, did I ever make the Commandant's List? You bet I did.