At National Guard program, teens get a second chance

Ok, this may not be civil unrest, but I think that it is still a social issue.

www.cbsnews.com...

Their reasons for dropping out vary -- from drug abuse or family issues to bad choices or simply bad luck.

I can relate to this, but my State didn't have such a program back in the seventies or eighties.

Each of the 16- to 18-year-olds volunteered to come. No one was forced to be there, or stay there. But if they do stay, the chances are high they'll leave with a high school diploma and a desire to pursue greater ambitions. They make up Sunburst's 14th class, and should they make it to graduation, they'll join the more than 120,000 others who have completed the national Challenge program.

120,000 is not a insignificant number when it concerns kids these days. They like Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airman volunteered to go through this program. They knew something was wrong and made a conscious decision to change it.

I applaud them.

I know that there are many who will say that they are being brainwashed...but really...are they? They made the choice to turn their lives around.

I've been down a similar road as these kids...but back in my day, I had to enlist. They don't.

Being a rebellious military brat, raised in a strict house, oddly enough, joining the Army helped straighten me out. Chances are, and I realized it then, when I was 17, if I didn't enlist when I did, I probably would have ended up in prison, or strung out on drugs or dead.

These kids have guts to realize they know they need help and seek it out.

I'll support you on this one.

I saw more things, did more thing, was exposed to more things, learned more things, saw more of the world , etc. ... than the normal citizen hardly imagines. The time I spent in a military environment was good for me. Glad it's under my belt. Considering I found a wife ... all the way on the other side of the world ... I wouldn't change a thing if Alladin's lamp were mine to possess.



-Cheers

a reply to: TDawgRex

My point of view Tdawg us that if it helps one person, then it was worth it.

Yeah, cause the answer to angry, drug addled, authority rejecting teenagers is to give them a gun and military training.

What could go wrong?

a reply to: babybunnies

Obviously you don't understand how the military works.

The military has been used for this exact purpose since its inception. It works in the same way boxing programs work for out of control kids.

a reply to: babybunnies

It helped me out in my youth, though I still challenge authority if I think they are making the wrong decision. Even did when i was serving.

I'm not brain washed by the military industrial complex anymore.

a reply to: onequestion

It also makes soldiers who are political pawns.