More on Young Marines! |
A discount daycare service.
Parents should have interest and involvement in the Young Marines. The staff
does not get paid for their involvement in the Young Marines; do not treat
them like free babysitters.
A recruiting program for the Marine Corps
Though active-Duty, former, reserve, and retired Marines account for the majority
of the staff structure, Young Marines are not forced or bound by any form
of agreement to enlist. Though the Young Marine Program is helpful to any
future Marine, any use of the Young Marines as a training program for the
Marine Corps rests entirely on the shoulders of the individual Young Marine.
Who we are
The Young Marines is the official youth program of the Marine Corps League.
Founded in 1958 to promote the mental, moral and physical development of young
Americans, the Young Marines offer a variety of activities specifically designed
to develop greater self-esteem, discipline and self-confidence in its members.
Character building is the cornerstone of the Young Marine program, and all of its activities emphasize the importance of honesty, courage, respect, loyalty, dependability, and a sense of devotion to God, country, community and family.
Physical Fitness, a healthy lifestyle, and respect for one's body are important tenets of the Young Marines. The Young Marines are committed to prevent obesity and encourage a strong, healthly community.
Being the offical Drug Demand Reduction program of the US Marine Corps, Young Marines make a pledge to maintain a drug free lifestyle and are encouraged to influence family, friends, and schoolmates to share this commitment. Drug education and prevention classes are an integral part of the Young Marine education and training program. These classes are frequently conducted by qualified agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Young Marines is a youth education and service program for boys and girls, ages 8 through completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members. The program focuses on character building, leadership, and promotes a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines is the focal point for the U.S. Marine Corps' youth Drug Demand Reduction efforts. Its mission is to promote the mental, moral, and physical development of young Americans. All of its activities Emphasize the importance of honesty, courage, respect, loyalty, dependability, and a sense of devotion to God, country, community, and family. The Young Marines motto is "Our Youth is Our Future."
The Young Marines program educates and inspires the youth within our communities by promoting a healthy and drug-free lifestyle through instructional and adventurous activities. We develop responsible citizens using the volunteer
resources of a civilian and military partnership. The teamwork and Esprit -De-Corps enjoyed by the Young Marines help them discover the hero within.
The vision of the program is: Impacting America's future by providing a unique youth leadership program which nurtures and develops citizens in our communities, instilling the corps values of honor, courage, and commitment.
In today's world, there are many opportunities for young Americans to be led astray into crime, drug use, poor academic performance, and other vices. In the Young Marines, peer pressure (which is often the cause of these vices) is exerted toward wholesome ends such as school work, sports, physical fitness and other school and community activities.
The Young Marines Program provides an alternative for youth. The program seeks to instill a sense of pride in the youth - pride in themselves, in their community and in their country. Both youth and adult staff help to police their own ranks because it provides the opportunity for our youth to develop self-discipline and motivation by exposing them to positive adult role models, instruction and guidance. The advocacy of a drug-free lifestyle is particularly important given the pervasiveness of the drug threat to our children today and the resultant violence and moral corruption that drugs lead to by their nature. In view of the damage that illicit drugs do to children and American society as a whole, the need to mobilize all available resources with which to fight the battle against their use is obvious.
As part of the National effort to "stem the tide" of drug abuse, the National Defense Authorization Act for 1993 tasked the Secretary of Defense with the establishment of programs aimed at reducing the demand for illegal drugs. The Marine Corps' response was to officially recognize the Young Marines in July 1993, as the focal organization for the Marine Corps' contribution to Youth Drug Demand Reduction efforts.
The type of support that the Marine Corps itself is willing to provide for the Young Marines is detailed in Marine Corps Order 5000.20. This order authorized Marine Corps Bases and Stations, including Reserve Centers, to provide facilities for meetings, training aids, accommodations, demonstrations and other types of support on a not-to-interfere basis.