(Really) Young recruits graduate at Pendleton

[unhappycamper]

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/aug/23/young-marines-camppendleton-kids-training/?st



Young Marines opens new recruit training session

Young recruits graduate at Pendleton
By Linda McIntosh
6:30 a.m.Aug. 23, 2013

CAMP PENDLETON — Thirteen youth from North County and surrounding areas earned the title of Young Marines after completing several weekends of training at Camp Pendleton. The group of boys and girls ages 8 to 18 graduated from recruit training and joined the ranks of Eagle Young Marines during a ceremony Aug. 10 on base. The guest speaker was Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood, a supporter of the program.

~snip~

Once students complete recruit training, they can join Young Marine encampments and class sessions that build leadership skills. Students advance through the ranks as they prove themselves.

The training instills discipline, leadership and teamwork“ it strengthens kids mentally and physically,” said Patti Siegmann, executive officer for the Eagle Young Marines. Siegmann, a retired Marine who runs the program with her husband, Dwayne Siegmann, also a retired Marine, who serves as the group's commanding officer

Young Marine's training covers topics ranging from citizenship, drug education and military courtesy to Marine Corps history, military terms and the Pledge of Allegiance. The program includes exercises to build physical fitness and classes on subjects such as land navigation and compass training, close order drill and mountain survival.

[Scuba]

1. They'll be in Syria next week.

[pipoman]

2. I think this has been going on for some time

On one of my stays on Pendleton at the base hotel there were a bunch of kids playing baseball in full uniform at the little diamond across the street from the hotel..the hotel clerk said it was the young marines program...this was probably 2 years ago..I thought it was probably kids of people stationed on the base..apparently not..

[Victor_c3]

3. I drive by a K-12 military school on my way to work

It appalls and sickens me every time I see it. Why would a loving parent want to inflict that onto their child? The military has developed a phenomenal methodology of turning people into willing and eager killers. Why would you want to do that to your child?

Peruse the first couple of section of the book On Killing by Dan Grossman and the statistics are startling. Quickly summarized, a researcher found that during WWII and earlier conflicts that only about 20% of people who saw an enemy combatant said that they were able to bring themselves to kill that person. After realizing that, the Army drastically changed its training methodology to train people to be more willing to kill. By Korea, that number grew to 60% of people willing to kill an enemy and by Vietnam, 98% of Soldiers who saw an enemy were able to bring themselves to killing them.