Dear editor:
We need a highly effective means of protecting school children and school personnel and we have a National Guard unit in many towns.
Adding a new and highly specialized unit for school protection would be the fastest and easiest way to provide protection. Our schools need people who are trained in weaponry and mental conditioning. To train them in the new program would be the fastest and most budgetary option for our nation without having to initiate an entirely new law enforcement program from scratch. This could be achieved within months and should prove to be cost-effective.
Asking schoolteachers to carry firearms and stay calm under fire can be dangerous. Schoolteachers may not be battle tested, but careful selection from these veterans could provide battle-tested soldiers who remain functional under fire and not afraid to engage killers. We saw this happen in a recent slaughter of school children.
Step one: Create a new unit within our National Guard, assigning only the most highly qualified troops who are calm under fire or simply recruiting men who have served as Green Berets, Air Commandos, Navy SEALS and Marine Raiders. These highly trained men have been through training that exceeds the imagination. America's veterans are a valuable asset and a waste of manpower to not capitalize on their resources. It's impossible to place a value on their training in arms, weapons and mental conditioning.
Step two: Where it is possible, build a 10-foot fence around the school complex topped with razor wire; including only two gates or as few gates as possible. Each gate would have a walk-through detector and manned by this new breed of soldier.
The new unit would simply recruit men who have served in special forces, which I have listed. A handsome bonus and good pay should produce many volunteers who could initiate America's School Protection Unit. There is an abundance of retired military personnel, as well as young men who have partial disabilities that would not allow them to continue in the military, but would do very well in this capacity.
Darryl Foshee
Hot Springs
Editorial on 07/04/2018