Last month, in The Pig, I described the incident where we captured and executed a “communist infiltrator”, and how that little drama had helped us blow off a little steam and have a little fun.

While mental breaks are important in any high stress situation, the Pig incident was also an example of what I call a “teenager moment”. This is when teens give in to their natural tendency to rebel against authority and social norms. If controlled, like in the incident I described, they are harmless and can actually compliment the training. However, when uncontrolled, they can lead to hazing, harassment, injury, and even death.

I didn’t come up with the “teenager moment” idea until I saw an uncontrolled one two years after blowing that stupid pig’s head off. We were having a difficult year, and many of the less experienced staff were not performing to 77th RSU standards. This led to an unfortunate incident that was a real eye opener for me.

While bivouacking away from base, a cadet from another team caught a frog and pretended to interrogate it. He put his knife to its throat and demanded to know what unit it belonged to and what its mission was. When his friends laughed, he decided to go further. Eventually, he got so carried away that threw the live frog into the campfire just as his team leader and I were walking upon the scene.

We staff were pretty upset. Besides being a cruel thing to do (and something that could get the school closed down), it showed a complete disrespect for our surroundings. We were a very coarse bunch, and we DID like to play with the snakes up there, but we did NOT torture wildlife.

When asked about why he had done it, the cadet couldn’t come up with anything better than “I dunno, I was just playing.” This was an experienced, mature, and respected NCO who was normally really cool and professional. He was known all over Group XII as a funny and friendly guy. He had even taken on extra responsibilities at Group headquarters on top of his squadron job. This was not the kind of act we expected from him.

As I thought about the incident later, my experience with Miss Communist Piggy sprang up in my mind. Were the two incidents really that different? Sure, the pig was only a stuffed animal, but we had pretended to torture and execute her. I had taken pride in being the cadet to finally take her out. Was I any different than the sergeant I had berated for hurting the frog?

This really bothered me for quite a while. Eventually, I came to realize that while I wasn’t very different from that sergeant, the leadership provided to us was entirely different. Had I not had the good leadership provided in 1980, I might have ended up just like him.

That sergeant had been left to stew without any positive leadership. He was tired, sore and hungry, just as we had been two years before. However, I can’t remember one time my first year where I was bored or had nothing to do. I was working, eating and running from the second I got up till the second I lost consciousness in my tent. I never had any time to feel sorry for myself or get into trouble. I was too busy just trying to keep up.

This sergeant’s team leader had let him down in a big way. Even though this guy didn’t have his shelter up for the night, had not refilled his canteens, and hadn’t even changed his wet socks and underwear, he was just hanging out around the fire and goofing off with his friends. Had the team leader been doing his job, this sergeant would never have been in a position to do this stupid, pointless thing. Like me, he should have been too busy to get in trouble.

While keeping your people busy is pretty standard leadership stuff, it still didn’t explain why we shot the pig, or why this NCO had killed that frog. My team leader could have just kept me busy with CAP stuff that was relevant to the training we were taking. Tossing around, hanging, and shooting a commie spy had nothing to do with our training. This NCO had no history of torturing living things and killing needlessly, yet here he was killing an innocent creature just for kicks. Why would these kinds of acts ever come to be?

The answer, as I see it, is actually pretty simple. Teenagers like to rebel. They like to push the limits to see where they can stretch. They do things that they later see as stupid, even if they don’t regret doing them. These actions take place during what I call “Teenager Moments”. This is especially true when you are in a situation where you are tired, in pain, and constantly being told what to do. This is a fact of life that is sometimes overlooked by the more “by the book” kind of seniors and cadet officers.

My team leader and the rest of the staff in 1980 recognized these facts, and decided to go proactive. By taking command of the rebellion, they did several things.

First, they chose the form the rebellion would take. This meant they could ensure that we didn’t do anything that would break regulations or earn the school a black eye. While cruelty to animals was the result of that sergeant choosing his own rebellion, our staff picked a silly game that hurt no one, that reinforced our patriotic feelings and esprit, and that let us blow off some steam.

Second, they controlled the extent to which the rebellion took place. Instead of the grunts getting wrapped up in the moment and going too far, our staff stopped the fun when it had served its purpose, and only brought it back when it was needed. This took discipline on their part since they were teens just like us. They could have easily gotten carried away as well if they hadn’t been careful.

Finally, they reinforced their own authority. We began to see them as leaders in everything we did, even when we were engaged in normal, healthy teenage rebellion. The bonds that were established over those two weeks have lasted to this day. When we get together, I still find myself deferring to them, even though they aren’t even in CAP anymore. It just seems natural to let them make the decision on where to go eat or what movie to see. I see my own cadets do the same thing with me years after they have left CAP.

I should add a word of caution before you all go hog wild on the rebellion thing. You may have seen crazy and fun traditions at encampment or other activities you have attended. Unfortunately, many people forget that these kinds of things should be a small and unobtrusive distraction from the program. Often, people start thinking of them as BEING the program. These kinds of things should never take precedence over the training schedule.

I've seen first hand a Cadet leader ignore essential training during an encampment in order to make sure his Cadets had an opportunity to goof off. He didn't want to look like a bad guy by making his people put in time for extra instruction instead of participating in one of those organized rebellions I mentioned. The result was that his Cadets felt that the rebellions were more important than the training. All of the staff for this unit was surprised when, later during the encampment, these Cadets decided to rebel on their own and disappeared en masse from their barracks rather than do what they were supposed to be doing.

A leader of teenagers can enhance the cadet experience by setting up controlled rebellion among the ranks. The key is that the rebellion must be led and controlled by the teenage officers and NCOs, and they must maintain their self-discipline. They must also never lose sight of the fact that the rebellion stuff is NOT the mission, it is only a way of giving their people a release from the strictures of the mission.

I know this is a pretty controversial position to take. Normally, what everyone wants to know is how to get people to obey. To paraphrase an old friend of mine in the forums, the emphasis always seems to be on bending cadets to the leader’s will instead of trying to lead the cadets.

However, to do so goes against the natural tendencies of the teenage cadet. I have found that working with someone’s nature is much easier and more effective than working against it. If someone is going to rebel anyway, isn’t it better to control that rebellion and channel it into an appropriate direction?

One thing is for sure. If you don’t find some way of channeling that rebellious energy, the cadets will often channel it into unpredictable, and usually unacceptable, directions.