I was a coach/ sponsor/ chaperone for the AFJROTC drill team at a big high school in Nashville for several years. I saw that program turn a bunch of kids around who were on the borderline of serious trouble- - - -behavior problems, drugs, alcohol, gang activity, etc. Try getting 2,000 or so teenagers together from all over the country for a whole weekend, put them in a big municipal sports arena for 12+ hours, give every one of them what amounts to a 10 pound club, and do it all without any law enforcement whatsoever present. Now, compare that to keeping a simple football or basketball game from turning into a riot for maybe 3 hours, with a couple of dozen cops riding herd!
I firmly believe the citizenship and personal integrity training those kids received had a lot to do with the lack of disciplinary problems at those drill meets! Now, riding herd on a coed drill team with raging hoirmones in a motel 400 miles from home for an entire weekend- - - - -that's the stuff of a chaperone's nightmares!
Jerry
