Young Marines

If you have a child in the family who is contemplating joining the armed forces, or who may want to join a group that stresses discipline, athletics, respect, and military type training, the child may enjoy the Young Marines. Children between the ages of 8 and 18 (I think) are eligible. The group my son joined meets at Sacred Heart of Mary Church on Monday nights. They excercise and drill. The group in non-denominational, and includes children from every possible background--just like the real marines. The children learn to look neat and to pay attention to detail. For example, my son had to do forty push-ups because his hair touched the top of his ears (and believe me, he has almost no hair).

Enrollment costs about $70. per year, and additional money for various events. Each year the group has a week long encampment--a boot camp--in the summer. The camp is at Tomlinson Run State Park near Chester WV. If the child passes boot camp, he is issued a uniform. My son received highest merit in marksmanship at bootcamp--in fact, he had the best sharpshooting scores they had ever seen. (I just had to put that in there). The excercise my son enjoyed the most at boot camp was uprighting the overturned raft. They went out into the river with these large, military rafts, dumped them over, and then had to set them right again, while wearing clothing.

They have other camp outs throughout the year. So far, they've been at Tomlinson. I think the camping weekend cost us about $5, but we also donated a little food for the group. The kids do some fundraising (selling candy) to defray costs. The group also does community service projects. For example, they helped at the Sacred Heart of Mary annual picnic, and last Saturday they cleaned the grounds of a Methodist church in Follansbee. They marched in the July 4th parade in Weirton. Next weekend, they will be helping with the Fort Henry Days at Oglebay Park.

So far, we've been pleased with the leadership and functioning of the group. Contact info:

Tri State
200 Preston Avenue
ATTN: Tri-State Young Marines
WEIRTON, WV, 26062
(304) 374-0992
Contact: Raymond Barth III