Army Pfc. Michael Diaz accepts his graduation certificate and congratulations from Maj. Scott Wile at a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer graduation ceremony Friday at the Grand Mer Hotel on Okinawa. Military police are now trained to work with children in base schools. (Erik Slavin / Stars and Stripes)
OKINAWA CITY, Okinawa — As a military police officer, Airman 1st Class Ryan Schmitt is trained to deal with a variety of frightening situations.
Now he can add one more such situation to the list — educating a classroom full of fifth-graders.
Schmitt is among 28 servicemembers and one civilian from the Pacific theater who were awarded a graduation certificate Friday at the Grand Mer Hotel for completing the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program’s two-week training course.
Part of that training included going into a school and using the skills and knowledge taught to each of the military police officers selected to become DARE officers.
Not being a natural public speaker, Schmitt was apprehensive at first but quickly eased into his role.
“I was expecting the kids to eat me alive, but they were well-behaved and enthusiastic,” Schmitt said about his visit to Kadena Air Base’s Amelia Earhart Intermediate School.
The DARE program at base schools emphasizes individual contact between trained servicemembers and students, with a goal of keeping the students away from drugs, violence and other dangers.
The DARE officers work with students full-time, said Gene Ayers, the DARE coordinator for the Virginia State Police who brought police officers from all over the United States to train the servicemembers.
Police officers and servicemembers, in their regular training, learn to put up an emotional wall so that they can perform unpleasant tasks, Ayers said.
In the classroom, “you have to learn to let that wall drop a little,” Ayers said. “If you go in as a brick wall, they will pay no attention to you.”
Servicemembers receive two weeks of classroom training and homework assignments. The training concentrates on speaking skills and teaching methods. Servicemembers also play roles as students to better understand their situations, Ayers said.
DARE looks for military police officers with effective communication skills, good moral character and plans to remain in the post for at least a couple of years, said Army Major Scott Wile, deputy provost marshal for the 94th Military Police Battalion at Yongsan Garrison, South Korea.
DARE officers must be role models at all times and cannot, for example, have a reckless weekend out on the town, Wile said.
“If you run into three kids, what are you going to tell them on Monday? When you lose your credibility with those kids ... you can’t recover it,” Wile said.
Many of the DARE officers are enlisted and not much older than some of the high-school students, which helps them relate, Wile added.
A DARE officer’s greatest asset may be the ability to get close to students and spot problems before they occur.
One of Wile’s DARE officers, Pfc. Adam Burnett, noticed a student whose behavior had changed abruptly. He got involved and uncovered problems in the child’s life that could have proven fatal, Wile said.
“It’s a great success story, because it’s a child that we helped save,” Wile said.
