Troubled Teens - life in a boot camp

  Anyone with military experience will be able to relate to the teen boot camp program. The military boot camps were the inspiration for today's teen boot camps that originated in Georgia. Typically, when arriving at boot camp (otherwise referred to as basic training in the military jargon), a training instructor boards the bus (all recruits enter the base on a bus) and begins to change the way in which everyone thinks, eats, talks and any other activity that was once considered to be a right. Before this time, there is conversation on the bus as the new recruits are contemplating an issue that is completely unknown to all on the bus. Suddenly, when the instructor (referred to as a TI) embarks upon the bus, a new world is viewed and everyone is told the story that is forever engrained in the minds of all involved: I am your mother, your father, your brother, your sister and even your pet dog!

  The whispers start, seemingly from the back of the bus, but even this is brought to sudden halt when the TI approaches one person on the bus, at random and asks why someone is talking. The world changes before one's eyes. Everyone stops talking as the TI begins to yell (at the top of his lung capacity) to get off the bus in an orderly fashion, starting from the back to the front of the bus and as each person passes by the TI, the word rainbow is used to denote the fact that the new recruits are somehow different from the others on the base. Another pack of soldiers, called a flight (in the Air Force) marches by and stops directly in front of the pack of people who just disembarked the bus and they are instructed to look at these new rainbows as they are called because of the many different colors obvious with respect to their clothing. Looking around, the only color that is seen in as far as clothing is concerned is the same: Olive Green, the color that will be a part of the soldiers lives from the day they enter the military to the day they pass through all of the obstacles of basic training, or boot camp as it is commonly referred to.

  Although this is a representative view of what it is like to be a troubled teenager sent by his parents or required to attend boot camp by a Juvenile Justice of the peace. One might, however, consider the differences between the two types of boot camp, their operational philosophies and the type of person enrolled in the two types of boot camp, as the differences are much more than those aspects that make them similar. For example, most military schools, or boot camps are privately owned companies that offer an environment that consists of discipline, hard work, and a specific degree of teamwork, an essential aspect of both the teen boot camp as well as military basic training. For example, in the military, perhaps one of the most important characteristics the leaders desire to instill upon the recruits is a sense of membership and teamwork. During one specific experience, a Training Instructor entered the barracks for a surprise inspection. Immediately, and without any warning, the door opens and everyone stands at attention at the foot of his or her respective bed, adjacent to a footlocker. During the inspection, the TI approaches what looks like one of the best looking beds in the barracks, picks up the mattress (with no help) and throws it out of the window near the bed. The TI then looks around, and waits. Nothing is said. Then he leaves the barracks, but first stating the following: I will be back in ten minutes, airman! I want that bed back together with its mattress!

  What happens immediately following the situation can easily be the topic of a thesis on the dynamics of a group in a society. Within a few moments, a leader emerges from the group and decides to bring the battle home, addressing the rest of the airmen (an airman is a member of the USAF), informing all of them that this is nothing more than a test to ascertain to what degree the team will emerge as a group of people who are willing to help the one person who needs help. It worked then, and it will work now.

  Military schools attempt to be similar. They are typically privately owned and they are usually modeled after other institutions, such as West Point. If there were one institution that is world renowned for its reputation of being a harsh, environmentally cruel school, it would have to be West Point. If one would consider the official mission of West Point, for example to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor and Country; professional growth throughout a career as an officer in the United States Army; and a lifetime of selfless service to the nation, and compare it to the military cadet in teen boot camp, there would not be much differences. To wit, most military school cadets are expected to be obedient and they are expected to act with a specific degree of professionalism. This is especially true if the student is in the military school for the sole purpose of making the military a career. However, although the differences between West Point and some of the military schools are merely with relation to the ages of those who join, the missions are strikingly similar.

  From the military perspective, at least by those who have had personal experience with the concept, the boot camp environment can become an excellent place to properly implement a basic training program within anyone's life. Historically speaking, the military boot camp gave birth to the concept of what is now called basic training. The array of exercises is chosen carefully to condition the body and the mind in unison through a course of repetition and endurance that, beforehand, was considered impossible. The all too common sound off, one-two, three, four will become a combination of words that one (possibly) was never exposed to, at least not with respect to marching. Before starting boot camp, the typical person (a young man, or a teen) was probably a person who was very accustomed to the idea of coming home, grabbing a soda and sitting down in front of the television and popping off to mom or dad without a care in the world. But, with the advent of boot camp (or basic training, whichever applies the most), the concept is all but gone from one's life for a period of one to two months. From that point forward, the persons identity is completely erased; and its all part of the idea to take an individual, strip all sense of self and then rebuild the person into a well-oiled machine that is prepared to deal with problems not on a personal level, but on a higher, more confident level using the idea of teamwork. Unfortunately, troubled teens almost never actually desire to be at a boot camp as opposed to the typically responsible adult wishing to serve their country and pursue a career at military run boot camps. This mentality / maturity difference is substantial and in many cases the plan to get help for troubled teens at boot camps will backfire and the troubled teens will become more oppositional, isolated and defiant as a result of attending teen boot camps. True the teen may pretend to behave around his parents almost universally the first few months after returning home from boot camp this transformation will be more out of fear of going back to teen boot camp than the internalization of a changed teen intent and desirous to make positive long term change in his/her life.