Photo By 1st Lt. Brianne Roudebush | A member of the California National Guard Counterdrug Task Force participates in the...... read more read more
CAMP SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.— Nine puzzled recruits stare at a series of ropes and wonder how they’re going to use a 2 1/2-foot plank to cross them. Their goal is to get themselves and a box of "serum" across the five rope hurdles and over a wall to fictional disaster victims without touching the ground beneath them. They begin to reach over a starting line to bridge the first two ropes with the plank but they can barely reach the first rope. In a moan of frustration, one of the recruits asks the question, “Is this even possible?”
The others ponder, chiming in with the same question, but before they can open their mouths, Staff Sgt. Robert Randall dispels all doubt.
“Anything’s possible,” he says.
These aren’t Army basic training recruits, however. Randall and six others from the Joint Task Force Domestic Support- Counterdrug (JTFDS-Counterdrug) program are Drug Demand Reduction noncommissioned officers working with Huntington Park Police Department’s (HPPD) annual Juveniles-At-Risk (JAR) program at Camp San Luis Obispo, California, during the week of October 2-8.
Seventeen youths from the Los Angeles area community were either court ordered or volunteered by their parents to participate in the 12-week program aimed at teaching potentially at-risk kids ages 12 through 15 to make positive life decisions. Some of these children have already gotten involved in petty misconduct, such as vandalism and school suspension. The intention of JAR is to reach out to the juveniles before they become susceptible to serious criminal activity. Parents are also required to participate in the program given that they are usually responsible for signing their children up for the JAR program.
“A lot of [parents] need support and they come to the JAR program,” said Karina DeLa Cruz, Community Service Officer for the HPPD who runs the youth programs. “They have their backs against the wall and ran out of answers so they sign up.”
The first week of JAR is a military style boot-camp built specifically to break the recruits down and build them back up with a sense of discipline, concept of teamwork and an overall feeling of confidence that they are ultimately responsible for making positive decisions.
California Army National Guard Soldiers handle multiple roles during this phase of the course. Most of their time is spent in the classroom teaching Stay On Track (SOT), an anti-drug curriculum geared towards making positive life choices, living a healthy lifestyle, and team building experience.
“We are here to run an adventure-based education program that consists of several components,” said Air Force Capt. Ruel Fuentecilla, JAR mission officer-in-charge of the military portion.
Some of those components included the Rugged Outdoor Physical Experience System (ROPES), a portable obstacle course that involved a number of physical challenges. Soldiers also taught and participated in a land navigation orienteering class and a leadership reaction course, a series of obstacles like the rope course the recruits were trying to cross, aimed at testing the team work abilities of the JAR recruits learned over the course of the week.
The activities challenge the recruits mentally and physically, hopefully instilling skills that will help the recruits resist drug use and make positive decisions.
“They might not find the first point or even their second point,” said Fuentecilla in reference to the land navigation course. “The lesson is that you’re going to make mistakes in life and as long as you correct those mistakes, you can get back on the right path.”
In addition the Cal Guard participation, the HPPD brought along a team of officers and staff. Some of the officers, four with past military experience (three former Marines and one Air Force veteran), assumed the roles of full-on military style drill instructors (DI), complete with the brown, round hats, piercing glare and in-your-face yelling.
The juveniles experienced a variety of experiences a new recruit would in military boot camp, starting with getting crammed onto a bus, spending the trip reeling from complete shock, not knowing exactly what to expect. They’re issued uniforms (shorts, T-shirt, a sweat suit and ball cap) and dealt with intense scrutiny on everything including uniform violations, barracks inspections, behavior, attitude and physical training. Just because this program deals with kids doesn’t mean the drill instructors treat them any easier.
“I am just as hard if not harder,” said Senior DI and former United States Marine Corps DI Christopher Wasik in regards to how demanding he is with kids as opposed to a military recruit. “I have to be hard on these kids because they’ve had no authority in their lives.”
The JAR program started in 1998 and Camp San Luis Obispo has hosted the program since. The HPPD has community outreach and neighborhood improvement programs along with JAR that provide youths and adults opportunities to create a positive community bond and keep people from turning to a life of crime. Most importantly it gives the children a sense of hope and a feeling that they can be contributing members of society.
| Date Taken: | 10.18.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2014 12:53 |
| Story ID: | 142879 |
| Location: | SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 246 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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