Page 71 - Never Fly Solo

44 | NEVER FLY SOLO
that happened when I was an eighteen-year-old fourth-class
cadet. The regulations required that we walk at attention at
all times when not in our room. Stiff, braced walk, chin in,
arms straight. Shoulders back and down. Square every corner.
This and many other rules at the academy seemed petty, but
they were the rules and we were expected to follow them.
After finishing class early one day, I returned to what
appeared to be an empty dorm. As I approached my room
and prepared to make a rigid and disciplined left face, I
decided to let my arms flail and bolt right into my room. Who
would see me? I closed the door and giggled like a little kid
who has gotten away with something.
In less than ten seconds, a pounding on my door made me
jump. It was Cadet Third Class David W. Smith, roommate of
Cadet Will Reese, a hardcore master trainer. You did not want
to get on either one’s bad side. “Nice job, Cadet Waldman.
You think the rules don’t apply when no one is watching? Why
don’t you join Cadet Reese and me for lunch tomorrow?”
I was doomed.
For the next month, my life was miserable. They ham-
mered me every day with incessant uniform inspections, five
extra “current events” (from the local news) per day to mem-
orize, and a slew of other exercises in attitude adjustment.
Not only was it a pain, it was humiliating. But I got the point.
Who wants to be a wingman (especially in combat) with
someone they can’t trust to do the right thing when no one is
watching? And while my squaring corners in an empty dormi-
tory hall really had no effect on others, I learned a valuable
lesson: integrity isn’t a game that one plays at.
Gen. George S. Patton famously said, “You are always on
parade.” How true. A trustworthy wingman has integrity
even when no one is looking.