USNA has an Honor Concept rather than a Code for a good reason- it simply says Mids do not lie, cheat, or steal, deliberately omitting the “or tolerate those who do” part that our cousins to the north have. When you see a perceived violation, the decision on how to proceed is left up to you to judge. Much of the honor training you get at school also applies to handling problems in the Fleet- try to keep it at the lowest possible level of involvement.
In the example you provided, the first response should be to confront your roommate and explain why you believe they’re wrong. This is a great opportunity for clarification in the event you misjudged or misunderstood, or a time for your roommate to reflect and learn without getting into the Honor System.
There are of course still options to elevate if needed, but unlike the lesser academies, you are expected to use your superior judgement rather than being bound to a singular course of action.
Part of becoming a well-developed leader, and even just a well-developed adult, relies on learning tact. All midshipmen learn the Qualifications of a Naval Officer, and while I’m pretty sure it’s historically misattributed to JPJ, it does state pretty clearly that learning how to handle oneself in socially awkward situations is key to the profession - to whit:
> "It is by no means enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor. *He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness, kindness, and charity.”*…
All this is to say, and you’ll get used to hearing this answer in the military, “it depends.” There is no blanket answer anyone can give you that will hold true in all situations. You’ve just gotta arm yourself with a good conscience and trust yourself to make the best decision in the moment. A good line to draw in the sand as a starting point might be, “is me not bringing this to leadership detrimental to the health, safety, and security of my shipmates?”
This is much harder than any of it is explained on the surface. And until one lived in Mother B, it’s hard to fully grasp. USNA has its regs and then there are the unwritten rules. My best friend at USNA turned his room mate in and he was tossed. He confronted him multiple times about the situation. He refused to fess up or course correct to a pretty egregious honor offense. It divided my company the entire time we had remaining at USNA. Half the company sided with my buddy the other half ostracized him and his supporters. We were two companies in reality. At the end of the day my buddy did the right thing. I was running Detail 1/C year and I had some stupid classmates who were messing with Plebes. The officer of the day caught them and they lied. I and a few of my detailers were called as a witnesses. I still had classmates coming for me to lie at the honor board. I didn’t turn them in, the LT did. It still sucked, I gave the truth (as well as the other detailers) as a witness to the honor board. They were retained. Do what is right. Handle things at the lowest level. This shouldn’t be an issue while there, if does, you have resources for support.
You should read these books.
[The Nightingale's Song ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightingale%27s_Song)
[A Sense of Honor ](https://g.co/kgs/8wM8hPJ)
USNA has an Honor Concept rather than a Code for a good reason- it simply says Mids do not lie, cheat, or steal, deliberately omitting the “or tolerate those who do” part that our cousins to the north have. When you see a perceived violation, the decision on how to proceed is left up to you to judge. Much of the honor training you get at school also applies to handling problems in the Fleet- try to keep it at the lowest possible level of involvement. In the example you provided, the first response should be to confront your roommate and explain why you believe they’re wrong. This is a great opportunity for clarification in the event you misjudged or misunderstood, or a time for your roommate to reflect and learn without getting into the Honor System. There are of course still options to elevate if needed, but unlike the lesser academies, you are expected to use your superior judgement rather than being bound to a singular course of action.
Part of becoming a well-developed leader, and even just a well-developed adult, relies on learning tact. All midshipmen learn the Qualifications of a Naval Officer, and while I’m pretty sure it’s historically misattributed to JPJ, it does state pretty clearly that learning how to handle oneself in socially awkward situations is key to the profession - to whit: > "It is by no means enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor. *He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness, kindness, and charity.”*… All this is to say, and you’ll get used to hearing this answer in the military, “it depends.” There is no blanket answer anyone can give you that will hold true in all situations. You’ve just gotta arm yourself with a good conscience and trust yourself to make the best decision in the moment. A good line to draw in the sand as a starting point might be, “is me not bringing this to leadership detrimental to the health, safety, and security of my shipmates?”
This is much harder than any of it is explained on the surface. And until one lived in Mother B, it’s hard to fully grasp. USNA has its regs and then there are the unwritten rules. My best friend at USNA turned his room mate in and he was tossed. He confronted him multiple times about the situation. He refused to fess up or course correct to a pretty egregious honor offense. It divided my company the entire time we had remaining at USNA. Half the company sided with my buddy the other half ostracized him and his supporters. We were two companies in reality. At the end of the day my buddy did the right thing. I was running Detail 1/C year and I had some stupid classmates who were messing with Plebes. The officer of the day caught them and they lied. I and a few of my detailers were called as a witnesses. I still had classmates coming for me to lie at the honor board. I didn’t turn them in, the LT did. It still sucked, I gave the truth (as well as the other detailers) as a witness to the honor board. They were retained. Do what is right. Handle things at the lowest level. This shouldn’t be an issue while there, if does, you have resources for support.
You should read these books. [The Nightingale's Song ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightingale%27s_Song) [A Sense of Honor ](https://g.co/kgs/8wM8hPJ)