This ain't the Webelos

July 28, 2006 1:12 PM

Border Patrol Scouts
posted by pwedza (20 comments total)

'It gives you a real cool feeling, like you're a real agent or something.'

Lovely.
posted by blucevalo at 1:29 PM on July 28, 2006

I bet they were all 'hall monitors' before, like, they became, like, 'Border Patrol Explorer Scouts.'
posted by ericb at 1:33 PM on July 28, 2006

“It gives you a cool feeling, like you’re a real agent or something”
posted by Smedleyman at 1:35 PM on July 28, 2006

Also WTF* is the DEA?
(first ‘W’ = where)
posted by Smedleyman at 1:39 PM on July 28, 2006

Damn Smedleyman, I thought I was going to get the first reference to hitler youth. Oh well, you're probably serious about it.
posted by bob sarabia at 1:40 PM on July 28, 2006

Well that's certainly creepy.
posted by chunking express at 1:45 PM on July 28, 2006

Damn Smedleyman, I thought I was going to get the first reference to hitler youth. Oh well, you're probably serious about it.

I thought of this, too. Next they'll be "rounding up" anyone who looks Middle Eastern.
posted by wfc123 at 1:54 PM on July 28, 2006

You guys would be hysterical if you weren't serious.

I think it's great they are stepping to protect and serve their country.
posted by keswick at 2:00 PM on July 28, 2006

Actually this is normal. Explorer Scouts are kids who check out certain careers. We actually do need border patrol officers. Its not crazy.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:03 PM on July 28, 2006

When I was a kid I wanted to be an illegal alien.

Until Genesis straightened me out.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:19 PM on July 28, 2006

Genesis had a way of doing that.
posted by blucevalo at 2:32 PM on July 28, 2006

Phil Collins, man.
posted by cavalier at 2:37 PM on July 28, 2006

What are you on about?
posted by keswick at 2:51 PM on July 28, 2006

I've never used this combination of letters before now, but... omg - what happened to bob-a-job week? What next, the "border patrol efficiency" badge? Only obtainable after you've rounded up 10 illegal immigrants?
posted by greycap at 3:02 PM on July 28, 2006

Explorers have been around for a long time. In fact, I remember there being law enforcement Explorer posts back around 1980. A badge for only ten immigrants? Nah, they'd earn that badge in half an hour. How about a cross between your border patrol efficiency badge idea and, say, the sniper badge or the K-9 handler badge?
posted by CodeBaloo at 3:36 PM on July 28, 2006

Call it the internship of the 21st century.

Back in my day, Explorers did all the coolest camping, mountain climbing, stuff like that.
posted by taosbat at 4:44 PM on July 28, 2006

Perhaps my take on the article is all wrong. My reading comprehension skills are poor. There's Nothing wrong with a pulpit in your house and telling your kids by implication non-Christians cheat all the time at monopoly. Insisting your homeschooled kid "learn about law" by raiding buildings - yep, nothin' creepy about that at all. Nothing like the Hitler youth where physical and military training were stressed over other kinds of education.
Cory Roddey looks forward to being a border patrol agent in the town he grew up in, meanwhile across the border in Mexico, Bielcka Ramirez is planning to go to college to be an architect.

And, the DEA: Drug. Enforcement. Administration.
They enforce federal drug laws. According to the piece, drugs are a big problem there. Interestingly, while the border patrol does do some counternarcotics work, the DEA has sole responsibility for enforcing U.S. drug investigations outside the U.S.
So - yes, Bush, is adding to the .5 agents per mile of border we have (by 2010), but where's the DEA on the Mexican side now? (yes yes Mexican cops crooked) My priority would still be the hardened criminals and drug dealers over the illegal immigrants, but y'know.
All that said, I see merit in job (and firearms) training and Captain Ford seems like a decent individual. I'm not denigrating the border patrol or internships, but the whole 'scout' thing and hardcore religious vibe is just weird.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:31 PM on July 28, 2006

For his part, Cory Roddey has never crossed the border — despite his goal of pursuing a career with the Border Patrol. “Truth is, I have no desire to go to Mexico at all,” he says dismissively. “I just don’t find it very interesting. I like it here, and I can’t find any reason to go over there.

“Most of my friends have the same views as me,” he continues. “And if they don’t, they’re not really my friends.”
posted by taosbat at 6:56 PM on July 28, 2006

How long do you think before creepy Cop-Scout-Trainee porn pops up in some obscure corner of the internet?
posted by ®@ at 10:04 PM on July 28, 2006

Phil Collins, man.

Crosby, Stills & Nash, even.
posted by pax digita at 9:14 AM on July 31, 2006