Posted on 05/14/2009 4:51:30 PM PDT by Daffynition
IMPERIAL, Calif. — Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.
The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.
“United States Border Patrol! Put your hands up!” screams one in a voice cracking with adolescent determination as the suspect is subdued.
It is all quite a step up from the square knot.
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
“This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
...is it with liberals and Iraqi War Veterans? This again? Sheesh.
The did not have terrorist merit badges when I was in the Scouts. We did fun stuff like going camping.
Well, at least they have learned trigger discipline.
That is good to hear that someone is teaching our kids to stand up for America. Thanks for posting this.
Scout Ping
Try going door to door raising money for the scouts. You'd be surprised at the anti-scout/pro-homo demo-zombies out there. They're terrorists when the tell an 8 year old that scouts are evil.
I am sure they are doing this to paint the Boy Scouts as a bunch of xenophobic kooks—a bigger potential threat than the terrorists themselves. And homophobic to boot.
WHy not something that HAS happened?
A drunk Mexican shoots his old lady ‘case she drank some of his beer?
A whacked out meth head goes on a shooting spree
This whole “Iraq war vet” crap is starting to really (deleted) me off....
The once great boy scout program, being hijacked.
I thought kids should be allowed to be kids, and leave the heavy lifting of moral and civil teaching to the parents.
Teaching marksmanship is fine, But I do not like this at all.
Explorer posts - which are for older kids, 14 and up - are overwhelmingly law enforcement and fire related. They have been as long as there have BEEN Explorer posts.
Before my daughter went off to college, we were both members of a BSA Venture Crew. Venturing continues the outdoor adventure aspect of Boy Scouts, while Exploring is career-based. The Venturers meet with the Explorers for conventions, the SE group meets at Winterfest in Gatlinburg TN.
I would say from personal observation that 85-90% of the Explorer posts are police or fire. They have competitions and drills and always have. We would go and watch before we went off to the volleyball tournament!
I agree. I wanted to like this article. I’m a shooter, a patriot, and pro-Scouting. But the article was wrong on a few levels. First, the target was a disgruntled war vet. How convenient. Proof that Napolitano’s memo lives regardless of the official denial. Second, the NYT just couldn’t write a clean article without raising the issue of sexual abuse within the scout ranks. Not germane to the article and clearly a counter punch to the scout’s position on homosexuality. And the whole thing, with the government co-opting the scouts blurs the line between traditional scouting and government sponsored youth movements of the past.
The training looks like a blast, though!
—yep—this is a disgusting perversion of scouting, IMHO—
See post #13 then re read the article.
I thought kids should be allowed to be kids, and leave the heavy lifting of moral and civil teaching to the parents.
These kids are out of the target audience for Boy Scouting. You have to be 14 to be an Explorer - that's the age when Boy Scouts start slipping away to other interests.
'sides, there isn't a 15-year-old who doesn't think learning how to take out terrorists is cool.
I am sure that your description is what the NYTimes intended. Waiting for the ACLU to chime in.
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