ACADEMY HELPS FIGHT A WAR ON DRUGS

NAVAL AIR STATION MERIDIAN, Miss. - While Naval Air Station Meridian trains
pilots who will fight America's battles against foreign enemies, another entity
on the base is training warriors for a different conflict - the war on drugs.

The Regional Counterdrug Training Academy trains law enforcement officers in
various skills involved in the fight against illegal drugs, which has spread to
even the smallest towns.

"Our training is mainly targeted toward the small town police departments or
county sheriffs departments who don't have money in their budget for training,"
said Col. Sidney E. McDaniel of Mississippi National Guard, commandant of the
academy. "Ninety-nine percent of them, when they graduate from whatever law
enforcement academy they attend, that is all the training they are going to
get."

The academy, established in 1992 as part of Gulf States Counterdrug Initiative,
is funded through Department of Defense and is managed by Mississippi National
Guard. The school's Latin motto, "Perseverate In Pugna," translates to "Press
the Fight."

All training is done at no cost to the students, including room and board while
they are on campus at RCTA.

"It is on their dime to get here, but once they come through the gate it
doesn't cost them anything," said McDaniel.

RCTA was located at NAS Meridian thanks to efforts of Rep. Sonny Montgomery,
who retired from Congress in 1996. Part of the reason, McDaniel said, was to
help insulate the base against the Base Realignment and Closure process.

"It also is an excellent environment for this," said McDaniel. "Having it on a
secure, active duty base is really nice."

The facility originally was set up to train law enforcement personnel from
three states - Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi - but has since been expanded
to include Georgia and Tennessee. Law enforcement officials from those states
get first priority when enrolling, but McDaniel said no officers who apply will
be turned down, as long as classes are not filled.

"That doesn't keep them from coming from all over the country," he said. "We
have officers from Oklahoma fairly frequently. We have even had officers from
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police here."

The academy trains some 4,000 officers per year in 35 courses that range from
three days to two weeks. Courses run the gamut from teaching officers on
routine patrol what to look for and how to deal with certain situations
involving drugs to an intense, two-week course to teach officers how to work
undercover. There are some 150 officers at the academy each week.

While Mississippi National Guard runs the academy, instructors are active or
retired law enforcement officers.

"We try to provide the most relevant, realistic and up-to-date training we
can," said McDaniel. "We think our training is as good as any provided by
national or federal training agencies. We try to be a class act."

A class on gangs is taught by undercover policemen who have infiltrated the
gang culture.

"They look like gang members," he said. "They drive up on Harleys, they have
long hair and earrings and wear chains and leather. They can teach you more in
an hour about gangs than most people could in a year."

One of the most popular classes teaches officers how to safely plan and carry
out a drug raid. As part of the course, students "raid" a drug house while
carrying weapons loaded with "simunitions," or something akin to paintballs.

"They don't teach them that in basic law enforcement academies," said McDaniel.
"It gives them skill and experience they can't get elsewhere." McDaniel, a
Jackson, Miss., native who has been commandant of RCTA since Feb. 2002, soon
will retire from the National Guard. He said he has enjoyed his final
assignment.

"I am having a ball," he said. "The drug world is an environment most people
have no clue about. It is scary, it is intriguing, it is amazing these law
enforcement officers are willing to do this stuff. It totally amazes me, the
things that I see here, what these guys have to put up with every day dealing
with drug dealers."