Thursday, July 23, 2009

Troubled Youth Program Determined To Persevere

By Kris Lantz
Thursday, July 23rd 2009.

Alameda, Calif. - It's bootcamp. This means muster and chow, three squares a day and a lot of marching. But these are not your normal Navy recruits. They're actually not even Navy recruits.

In fact they are just teenagers. They are teenagers, many of whom have huge goals.

"Currently, I'm trying to get to the Naval Academy to become a pilot," says Petty Officer 2nd Class Evan Forayter, smiling through braces. At 16 he has already been in the program for four years.

It's something heard frequently around here.

Members of the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps -- a little known youth group -- the cadets range in age from 10 to 18. The core mission, according to the program's website, is to encourage development.

Anyone can join barring major medical or psychological issues.

"What we're looking for," says Lt. Jack Powell, "Is to create young, mature adults that are responsible."

"What I just read in the paper, at Annapolis there were like 1,250 (students) that are supposed to graduate in 2013 and 125 are, I think Sea Cadets," says Lt. Laneya Littrell, a volunteer with the program for 13 years.

Like a lot of adult leaders, in this program, Littrell joined with her daughter who grew up in the Sea Cadets. "I stayed and she left," she says.

The Sea Cadets are a non-profit group founded in the 1960s. They are supported by a grant from Congress and many of the units depend on military installations to survive.

But since the mid-'90s when a lot of the bases in Northern California began closing, finding areas to house trainings and drills has become difficult.

Lt. Powell is the Commanding Officer of the first unit in the nation to be based on board a former U.S. Navy Ship -- the USS Hornet.

He says the program depends on military manpower. The unit Powell commands has been shuttled through several installations in the span of only a few years.

It is an all too common issue, for the Sea Cadets, that started with the mid-'90s "Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission." That's when five military installations in the Bay Area were shuttered, along with dozens across the country.

There have been more than 300 closures in total since 1993.

"It's actually really shrunk around," says Powell.

That it only got worse after Sept. 11. is a sentiment Littrell echoes. "Because of the war and the needs of the mission," she says "They started doing a lot more training at the base and we were unable to get spaces. So we switched to Camp San Luis Obispo for two years and the same thing happened there."

hope and optimism is not lost on Powell though.

"While we are not able to pick from local military we are able get plenty of help from outward areas."

Because of this he sees the future as bright. Until that future arrives cadets will keep lining up for revile every morning. It is part of the hope that those young lives, in turn, make decent choices for the next generation.

http://www.seacadets.org/public/