Sears: [00:00:00] This is Radio Stockdale. I'm Michael Sears at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the United States Naval Academy. We're talking about honor and specifically the honor concept at the academy and how that fits into our path to leadership, character and law as a midshipman and as officers in the Naval Service. I'm in conversation with Midshipmen Commander Teresa Collins, the brigade honor adviser, Midshipman Collins. Tell me exactly what the brigade honor advisor is and does.

Collins: [00:00:43] Thank you, Mr. Sears. The brigade honor adviser is responsible for running the Brigade Honor Program here at the Naval Academy, responsible for executing the honor process for all midshipmen, as well as educating the Brigade of Midshipmen in honor and character development throughout the yard and their time here.

Sears: [00:01:01] So you're one of the people on your team are responsible for basically running the Midshipmen Run Brigade Honor Program, right?

Collins: [00:01:11] We have three-tiered staff, the advisory staff, that's myself, my Regimental Honor Advisors, Battalion, Honor Advisors and company Honor Advisors who execute the mission, the moral mission of the Naval Academy by educating and promoting honor, education and development throughout the companies. I also have an investigations team. My investigations team takes the cases from start to finish. They investigate the honor infractions that are reported and bring them to board. The Honor Congress third tier is responsible for standing on juries and hearing those investigations in those cases of their peers, and then they also are responsible for changing the honor program and the honor instruction as it stands.

Sears: [00:01:59] Let me stop you for a second and jump into this. This concept of the Brigade Honor Congress, who is the Brigade Honor Congress? How you get appointed or elected to that to that office?

Collins: [00:02:10] Yes. So, the Honor Congress is composed of one hundred and twenty midshipmen person from every single company and class year, and they represent the brigade at large. They represent the Midshipmen for the honor program. What changes do they want to see? What processes do they want to happen? For every case, their big role is standing on jury duty. We have five Honor Congress members on every jury they work with, the four members at large who are other midshipmen in the brigade and together that nine-person jury votes on an honor case.

Sears: [00:02:45] So this is the Midshipmen run part of the program, and we'll talk about this in other episodes. But where do the officers come into this system?

Collins: [00:02:54] So we have an honor officer and on a case officer, and they do some overseeing of the honor program. But this is a midshipman run program. We execute the cases from start to finish and we do have a JAG legal advisor to ensure that due process is existent. But we are midshipmen run, and that is one of the unique things about the Brigade Honor program here.

Sears: [00:03:18] So if someone is put into the system, so to speak, what happens?

Collins: [00:03:21] So a report will come in and we will put it into mid. So that will announce the alleged honor offense to the Midshipmen chain of command in the chain of command. We appoint a brigade investigating officer. Those are second or 1st class midshipmen and they will go through the investigation and write an evidence package from start to finish from there. That case will be brought before a brigade on board. The Brigade Honor Board, composed of nine jury members, will hear the case and vote whether the Midshipmen is in violation or not in violation of the honor concept. So, the Midshipmen be found in violation of the Honor Concept. Then the Midshipmen jury will again deliberate on whether or not they recommend that midshipmen for separation or retention. This recommendation will go to the officer adjudicating authority and at that point, the officer leadership takes over and they complete the adjudication and the processing for any accused midshipmen.

Sears: [00:04:19] So how does this program, in the Honor Concept writ large apply to everyone or everyone else?

Collins: [00:04:24] It's simple. Midshipmen are persons of integrity. We are all midshipmen. That's our moral standard. It was created for us and by us as a way to agree on what morals we live by how to stand up to those ideals of the Navy. Every single choice we make every day will be based on directed by our moral compass, and it's our responsibility to follow through with that honor concept. That's what unites us together, even in our differences of who's an athlete, who's an engineering major whose company commander. Everybody still lives by this honor concept. And it's a way of life, really.

Sears: [00:04:58] Midshipman Collins, I hear you talking about the honor concept over and over again. So, so tell me, what's the point of having an honor concept instead of an honor code?

Collins: [00:05:07] So the Honor Concept has an essence of both truth and love truth being. We pursue the truth. And what is right? That's honor, but there's also an aspect of, yes, tough love, but also love with it. And with that comes the Honor Remediation Program, and so should image Shipman violate the honor concept. They have the opportunity to rebuild themselves and learn from that mistake through honor remediation, the honor code, which you see at both West Point and Air Force Academies. They have a clause that says cadets do not lie, cheat or steal or tolerate who do. We do not have a toleration clause and that is so that midshipmen and people in the brigade can hold each other accountable at their level. Should a midshipman who commits an honor violation take ownership and admits fault, their shipmates can hold them accountable at their level and have a counseling. And sometimes that is a better way to teach a person, and sometimes that's a better way to develop our peers in our classmates. We don't always need punitive measures, but the goal here isn't to be punitive. The goal is to be developmental. And that's kind of what shifts the statement from a code to a concept.

Sears: [00:06:18] You know, I think that's a significant difference there between a code and a concept. But tell me this how does the concept connect the midshipmen in the brigade?

Collins: [00:06:28] Well, honor is something that we hold together, we share together. You can think of honor as a group thing. It's a you are bestowed honor. You don't just have honor. You may have integrity. But honor is a collective force and that's what we stand for. Honor exists when a unit of people trust each other, and that's what we're getting out with the honor concept here in the brigade.

Sears: [00:06:51] Midshipmen Commander Teresa Collins. Thanks for joining us on Radio Stockdale talking about and really being the lead guests on this series on honor within the Brigade of Midshipmen. Thanks a lot.

Collins: Thank you.

Sears: You've been listening to the flag brief, a series of conversations with senior officers and civilian officials. Thanks for listening. You can hear more of our podcasts at stockdalecenter.com\podcasts.