Army JROTC and The American Legion: A Perfect Fit for Troubled Youth

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Army JROTC and The American Legion: A Perfect Fit for Troubled Youth

The U.S. Army’s JROTC program has turned many at-risk youths into model citizens and future soldiers. But in Columbia, S.C., Legionnaires have adopted a unit attached to a state juvenile justice facility.
The James Leroy Belk American Legion Post 17 in nearby Camden, S.C. helps sponsor the young men and women of this JROTC unit of the Broad River Road Campus of South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ).
“Many of these students do not have the support of their parents anymore or they come from broken homes,” said Melissa Osborne Rhame, Post 17’s JROTC liaison. “We fill that role of parental support to these children and introduce them to Americanism and patriotic programs of The American Legion.”
Post 17 sponsors an average of two events a month with the 68 cadets. Post members assist the cadets in participating in community food drives; attend events at the school; assist and participate in the annual JROTC Dining In and fund cadets to attend summer JROTC camp. Post 17 members also assist with special projects, such as publishing and sending "thank you" booklets to South Carolina National Guard soldiers serving overseas. The Post Honor Guard went to the school to explain and demonstrate funeral honors. In essence, the Legion Family of Post 17 has become the Booster Club for this school's JROTC.
One of the most popular aspects of Post 17’s initiative with the JROTC cadets is the annual visit to the post, including the “supper buddy” program where Legionnaires pair with cadets as they attend dinner away from the juvenile justice facility. The Director of SCDJJ also attends and presents a report on new developments and activities in SCDJJ.
“We want them to know that there is a community out there that cares, and they are a part of that community,” said Rhame.
Together, the US Army JROTC program and The American Legion instill the concepts of duty, honor, and self-discipline in these young men and women.
The success of any juvenile reintegration program is measured by its recidivism rate. The JROTC program sponsored by Post 17 has a recidivism rate of zero. This is truly amazing when compared to the 67 percent recidivism of the general incarcerated juvenile population in South Carolina. Also, it is reported that some 80 percent or more of the cadets either enter the military, technical training or college upon graduation.
As American Legion National Commander Paul A. Morin stated in his commander’s message in the April 6, 2007 issue of The American Legion Weekly Update, “The members of Post 17 saw an opportunity to enrich the lives of these young men and women who were in a military based program that had a need

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