Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
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    Default Explorer Scouts training for anti-terrorism work

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/14explorers.html


    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.
    Explorers Train to Fight Terrorists, and More

    Todd Krainin for The New York Times
    In a training exercise run by Border Patrol agents, Explorer scouts from Visalia, Calif., prepare to storm a “hijacked” bus.



    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.”
    ............................................
    I don't know about you guys, but that quote from the deputy makes my blood run cold. It's almost verbatim from the youth training programs of past totalitarian regimes.
    The real answer is 42.

  2. #2
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    Default Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    Not sure I like this, starting to sound like indoctrination more than 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.
    http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/05/not...of-yesteryear/

    Now the active shooters part I might buy, but raiding pot fields, chasing terrorists .... not at ALL sure I like the motivation behind this

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    Quote Originally Posted by dc dalton View Post
    Not sure I like this, starting to sound like indoctrination more than scouts:



    http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/05/not...of-yesteryear/

    Now the active shooters part I might buy, but raiding pot fields, chasing terrorists .... not at ALL sure I like the motivation behind this
    The key here is it's an Explorer Scout Post, not a Boy Scout Troop; Explorer Scouts are somewhere in the 16-21 age range, and "specialized" (e.g. where I grew up, the local Explorer Post was aligned with the local sheriff's office.) The linked story gives no indication if this is a "border Patrol" aligned Post or not.

    But, however the Post is aligned, it certainly isn't the age 11 to 18 Boy Scouts (though, Explorers are a "part" of Scouting. Like Cub Scouts. Different Age group, different focus.)
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  4. #4
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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    Scouts who train with law enforcement will train to...enforce laws. Even those with which they or their parents may disagree. This has been noticed on more leftist sites, where people are screaming that kids are handling airsoft guns and that we're all gonna die in a hail of scout gunfire. Here it's the big bad government indoctrinating kids to become the Gestapo of the future.

    I think we place too little faith in young people. There are good and bad aspects in every sphere of life. They will learn, if properly guided, to think for themselves just like we did. There's a lot of good skills kids can learn from this program. Just look at the NYT link:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us...rers.html?_r=1

    - kids with muzzle discipline and fingers off triggers! It'd be a shame to deprive teens of this kind of experience because we have so little trust in them that we think they'll come back from camp programmed like robots and turned into drug warriors or school shooters.

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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    Well I know I find this hits me on a couple levels.
    First I find it disturbing that these kids are learning how to manhandle people and deal with weapons. Now dont get me wrong, Im all for children learning to respect a firearm. I think near every kid could do with some firearms safety lessons and pop a few off with mom and dad, or Uncle Joe. But training to take people down at 13? Hits a chord.
    On that note, this half of me wins: Whew looks like a blast! Wish Id had that when I was in scouts! Sure beats a .22 and a .410 with the instructors handing you a single round and practically guiding it into the chamber themselves! Id have been all over this!
    I agree with a previous comment. Every kid I saw had good muzzle control and kept that finger outside the guard. The teachers arent half assing it. Plus is training to fill a role as a border patrol agent or coroner, as the one young woman said, a bad thing? Good money, and we need some more guys on the border IMO.

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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.


    *ZOINKS*!!

    Sentry silencing??? Skills every Explorer scout should have, I suppose.


    Also, I wonder where the guy that wrote that went to school, obstreperous isn't a very common word.


    The next batch of JBT's

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    I don't see anything wrong here. The Scout's Explorer program is designed so kids over 14 can learn about a specific career. In this case, it is about law enforcement. I bet that many of these Explorers will become law enforcement officers eventually. There are also Explorer posts related to other careers, like EMT, aviation, etc...

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    Quote Originally Posted by Corn Flake View Post
    I don't see anything wrong here. The Scout's Explorer program is designed so kids over 14 can learn about a specific career. In this case, it is about law enforcement. I bet that many of these Explorers will become law enforcement officers eventually. There are also Explorer posts related to other careers, like EMT, aviation, etc...
    LEO's need to know sentry silencing?

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us...s.html?_r=1&em


    By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
    Published: May 13, 2009
    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.

    Explorers Train to Fight Terrorists, and More

    Todd Krainin for The New York Times
    In a training exercise run by Border Patrol agents, Explorer scouts from Visalia, Calif., prepare to storm a “hijacked” bus.

    The New York Times

    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.” ..............................

    On the face of it, maybe not too bad, but think about this and look at the potential targets they're training against. On a good note, I have no problem with training good firearm usage. Kids need that.

    That quote from the deputy sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? Why does history have to keep repeating itself?

    I still think there's more than one way to interpret this. The tin hat crowd has sounded alarms at things far less ominous than this.
    Last edited by Halftrack; May 15th, 2009 at 07:14 AM.
    The real answer is 42.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Group trains Boy Scouts to conduct drug raids, anti-terror ops

    What was that movie, kids parents would send their kids to this school because they where told the kids where to intelligent for ordinary schools, from the earlier stages they would learn martial arts and then by highs school they where taking apart guns blindfolded and putting them back together.

    Every one in a while a kid would go missing because he understood he was being brainwashed into a mercenary?
    Skeet is a sport where you are better to hit half of each bird then completely blast one and miss the other completely.

    The choice is yours, place your faith in the court system and 12 of your peers, or carried away by 6 friends.

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