The Lord's Bootcamp!

[2ltAlexD]

Did you guys see that horrible show? It's a bunch of brainwashing! If the parents want discipline for their kids, then they need to get them into CAP as Cadets! Oh it's sick! They made them shovel rocks! Yuck! Tell me what you think?
It was a documentary on CBS today called fourty eight hours. It showed the camp The Lord's Bootcamp. Sorry if it would be a bad discussion.

[0]

Are you saying that we should take problem children that need a sense of discipline?  There are programs that ware specially suited to work with youth like that.  We can work with those that need a little help, those that are almost there but need a little push to get the rest of the way, but not those wild out of control kids.

[lordmonar]

LOCK....LOCK....LOCK!

[Capt Rivera]

LOCK....LOCK....LOCK!

yeah lets lock this... who needs freedom of speech anyway.

[Tubacap]

*Disclaimer*

I am currently working on a plan to integrate with our local "boot camp" type organization to use our squadron as sort of an exit strategy for selected youth.  Some kids need the discipline that our cadet program has to offer, and that is all they need for a variety of other areas for them to grow. 

I don't think it should be seen as a bad thing, I think that you need to have a very good idea of what your getting into before you sign onto one of those programs, and be able to commit the resources, both time and mental agility, to making this happen for our potential cadets.

[2ltAlexD]

Um no, I don't want to make one. I was just commenting on if anyone had seen the tv show.

[lordmonar]

LOCK....LOCK....LOCK!

yeah lets lock this... who needs freedom of speech anyway.

Don't go there.....This is going to quickly turn into a urinary olypmics of a major size!

[isuhawkeye]

Illinois wing tried to integrate with troubled youth.  the program was called CYAP (Chicago Youth in Aviation Program) As I recall it ended VERY Badly.  Maybe some of the IL folks can expand.

[Capt Rivera]

LOCK....LOCK....LOCK!

yeah lets lock this... who needs freedom of speech anyway.

Don't go there.....This is going to quickly turn into a urinary olypmics of a major size!

Close your eyes then... keep your opinion to yourself instead of stopping a discussion that hasn't had a chance to start....

[Major Carrales]

While the idea of offering youth an option to gangs is a noble one, let me just add this...

I have seen CAP turn around kids, give them focus and develop skills (like learning how to learn to pass Aerospace and Leadership as well as learning through Bloom's Taxonomy via the Model Rocketry); however, students that are already into major issues and emmersed in a bad home environment offer challenges that CAP just can't offer.

Here is why...

1) We just don't have the time with them.  I deal with students on a daily weekday basis as a Teacher, and still that is not enough.  1 hour for 189 days of a year isn't enough.  A weekly CAP meeting would not be enough to deter a student that has already been in a gang experience to "take the high road."

2) We just don't have the resources.  Common sense and what worked for our children will not be effective here.  We don't have people trained specifically to deal with their needs.  This can lead to the wrong path.

3) What parents will allow their child to covort with what are considered by an uninformed public to be DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS and general juvenile delinquents?  You will see a decline in the positive areas traditionally effective in the name of working with would be cadets that may not ven achieve the Curry Award.

4) Already people on these forums point to things such as ES and other non CAP curriculum activites to be "suspect."

Should we help them, I would say yes... when they have come far out of the abyss and are on the right course or if they are only just going down the wrong road...that is when we work best.   But, to be fair, here are some...

Possible solutions:
Special Cadet Units that minister to these children

Outreach to them via Sucessful CAP Cadets (lack of the ability for "interventions" may yield little results)

[jpnelson82]

I think someone isn't getting the idea behind this particular camp. The kids attending "The Lord's Bootcamp" don't have real true discipline problems at all. Their problems are primarily social problems, In my opinion, they do not have a DSM-IVB classification. They are there to become "soldiers for christ," not to be ironed out. Someone with a DSM-IVB classification, in some cases needs more help than CAP can provide without risking someone getting a 2b by overreacting.

[Flying Pig]

CAP doesn't have the time, nor is it designed to help youth who have true discipline and emotional issues. Seniors would spend the majority of their time dealing with the issues related to that than they would helping cadets who really want to strive.  We had a member who wanted to direct kids from the local juvenile correctional boot camp into CAP as some sort of a condition of probation.  Great motivation on the part of the SM though.  The problem is that CAP requires a significant commitment on the part of the cadet AND the parent.  In many cases, many of your issues would also be in dealing with those particular parents as well.
I have no issue offering kids CAP as a way to provide direction, or motivation or an alternative, but we have our hands full dealing with cadets and parents who really want to be there as it is.  Now if they along with a parent (or even by themselves) show up to join, that shows me there is a ray of hope there, and they will be welcomed and treated like any other prospective cadet.  But Im not standing at the gate with recruiting fliers.

Let me take a selfish turn here......And that is that many of the seniors I know, including myself, are not in CAP to spend my time dealing with kids who come out of correctional boot camps and the problems associated with them and their families.  If they want to join, then they join and we wont exclude them.  But, I joined CAP to spend time with a certain caliber of professional people, Seniors and Cadets, who enjoy performing the missions we provide.  The parents and Seniors I know joined for the same reasons.  We aren't here, nor are we equipped to be social workers.

And for further explanation, I refer you to Major Carrales' previous post.

[2ltAlexD]

Okay, I did not mean for this topic to turn in this direction. I was refering to the tv show. I did not mean for the auxiliary of the Air Force to take criminal kids. Sorry, I should have been more clear.

[Flying Pig]

You know....after I went back and really read stuff, we took this in a whole different direction than what you intended.  But I think most of the comments came in response to Tubacap's post about the boot camp.

[MIKE]

Topic title made me think it was gonna turn CAP into Come and Pray instead of Come And Pay.

[Tubacap]

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to derail the topic.  I assure you that the association is very limited and not a come one come all for the young criminal effort.  The idea is to take students who already went through the "boot camp" type thing, did well, and just need a structured positive environment to succeed.  Not the hardcore drug addicts. 

What is the show like?  What is the point of it?  Behavioral?

[2ltAlexD]

Well, the show is about a Christion mition training center. You can watch the video at youtube and look up the Lords Bootcamp.

[Gunner C]

[deleted] Thought better of it.  These spiritual twinkie programs - their main reason for being is to make money.  Putting "Lord", "God", etc on it somehow makes them worthwhile. It has as much efficacy if you put "Gunner's Boot Camp" on it.  Wouldn't change a thing. As a matter of fact, if you put my name on it, you'd get sued.  You wouldn't have the authority to use my name.  I wonder how they think they have the authority to put the Creator's name on it.

GC

[JayT]

[deleted]  Putting "Lord", "God", etc on it somehow makes them worthwhile. It has as much efficacy if you put "Gunner's Boot Camp" on it. 

I'd actually watch that then ........

[jimz]

What is the show like?  What is the point of it?  Behavioral?

The clips I saw of it remind me of the film "Jesus Camp"