Need a legal/military advice. Serious.

[miko2d]

Dago: So, now we are blaming the politicians?   Geez, you just dont get it do you?   Its about accepting personal responsibility.

 Never hurts to blame the politicians. As for the personal responcibility, righ now I am actualluy accepting as much personal responcibility for that kid as I can - and he is nobody to me.
 Actually I've already steered one guy into US military before he even got into trouble.
 I appreciate your advice guys, but I need practical stuff for the current situation, not general rants of some abstract concepts.
 I will gladly discuss them in a separate thread.

Child labor laws are to blame? ...The Federal Reserve printing money... Free Exports...

 The whole culture of personal responcibility and work has been pretty much destroyed in US over the last 70 years. Socialist experimenting is the cause, the stuff I've listed - along with many other bad things like education, etc. are just the way it is expressed.

We have soldiers 19 years old right now carrying a rifle and worrying about dieing day to day in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They have to make more difficult choices, and they are almost without exception, making the right ones.

 Come on, 19 years old are not equipped to make right decisions. I was all eager to shoot the bad guys when I was 19. It took me quite a few years to develop my mind before I was equipped to understand whom to shoot and why.
 Teaching the boy structure, obedience, living with hardship and having to watch his step and thing ahead about his actions is pretty much all the good stuff that I expect from an army. The rest is the government propaganda that will probably have to be pried out of his brain.

You want to help your friend?  Help him get a job, if he hasn't finished high school, point him towards a program to get his GED. Teach him pride.

 One step at a time. Hard to scare peopel with future in a society where it is illegal to starve.

Don't expect the Army to make him a better person, challenge him to do that himself.

 One has to have character already in order to be able to make anyone a better person. Children do not raise themselves and expecting them to do so is a fallacy. Adults raise children.

 miko

[Gunthr]

Miko, I agree completely. I know exactly what you are talking about.  I screwed up a lot when I was a kid. (and I had both parents) But I am a law and order guy today. But I also know that sometimes, justice is served by throwing someone a rope instead of taking a pound of flesh that will kill the whole body and spirit.

I would just ask some of you guys: if serving in the military instead of going to prison at 19 years of age could straighten this kid out and give him time to grow a little, would you approve of it?

[Gadfly]

****ty troll-who stole Miko's PW?

[capt. apathy]

I only got my head straight - last time, at least - at about 35 years old - which seems exactly like the age most people agree a man grows up. It's not an accident that the founding fathers made 35 years old a legal requirement for serious offices.

 people grow up when they have to, it has nothing to do with age.  I started taking responsability at 18.  my little brother is 34 and still trying to find himself (curently looking in sharidan).

there's nothing wrong with trying to turn a kids life around.  I've hd a few friends send there kids over, sometime to stay for awhile sometimes just to talk to them and give them my number so they have someone to talk to that isn't their parent.

9 times out of 10 you're waisting your time (at least as far as I've seen so far, you never can tell when something may sink in years later).

but the 1 time is worth it.  the military could well be just the thing this kid needs but he may not be the thing the military needs.  t bad nobody could have caught him a bit sooner on this path and steared him that way before his curent legal problems.

I do have to agree with the one post though.  if he was stealing a cart load of shotguns, odds are he's not running with the wrong crowd, he is the wrong crowd.  that doesn't mean he's beyond hope though.

[Fishu]

Let's see..  if he goes to jail, it'll be prolly quite a short time and during the time he probably doesn't learn anything and is likely to get new "friends".

If hes put into military, it's likely to be longer time than in the jail and he gets a bit different kind of friends...

For the first time, hes probably more use in the army than jail.. on a short and long run.

I don't think his crime during black out was as serious as something similar (actually lesser) crime with the electrics working ok.
He needs to think twice more in the future and not do things on a whim, just because his "friends" thinks 'smart'.

[rpm]

Originally posted by midnight Target
Co-worker's son is in jail now doing 90 days on a first offense. He has already contacted the Coast Guard with favorable results. OTOH he was/is a trained EMT.

mT, when I joined the Coast Guard in 79, they would not accept anyone with an ARREST record. Convictions didn't matter...if you were arrested for anything (guilty or not) they sent you down the street to the Navy Recruiter.

miko...I think the boy is definitely headed for jail time. Probation Violation alone is a serious crime that usually draws a couple years lockdown, PLUS the original sentence and whatever he may get for the shotguns.

[Innominate]

Am I the only one who would see this kid doing hard time as a GOOD thing?

[mjolnir]

I, , having been appointed a in the United States , do solemly swear (or affirm) to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I bear true faith and allegience to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.


Surely all you guys out there with prior service remember saying this or something similar (think the enlisted oath is slightly different).  Personally, I don't want someone in my military who can't even say the oath of office without lying.

[Gunthr]

that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion

mjolnir, please note the subtle difference here. If the kid was offered such a deal that was agreeable to the parent, the judge, the DA, and the Army, the kid would be able to take the oath. It would not be an evasion of justice, nor would he be adjudicated guilty of a felony. Remember, this was common practise in the past.