MPs PUT THEIR DARE TRAINING TO THE TEST AT 3 KADENA SCHOOLS

TORII STATION, Okinawa -- Military police undergoing two weeks of Drug
Abuse Resistance Education training headed to school Thursday to see
what they had learned so far. And to do a little teaching.

The 23 service members from bases in Guam, South Korea, mainland Japan
and Okinawa visited three schools on Kadena Air Base to communicate
DARE's message -- making healthy life choices -- at a child's level,
said Rich Bargas, a DARE mentor/instructor with the Long Beach Police
Department in California.

Bargas and other civilian police officers heading up the training,
which was to end Friday, kept a close eye on the MPs to make sure they
sent the proper message to the kids.

"It's a trait common not just of military police but civilian police
that we sometimes forget we're talking to kids," Bargas said.

One of the most important goals of the course is to teach DARE's
lesson plans so that officers "put the information in a language that
(children) can understand. Speak at their level," Bargas said.

And DARE has a new method and message that aim to achieve
that.

"The old method, which is also the military and police method, was the
lock-step method," he said. "For the next 45 minutes, you listen and I
will talk."

Now, DARE officers are taught to engage students in conversation to
help them become involved in making the right choices, he said. And
rather than using the old DARE curriculum based on saying no to drugs,
the new focus is on making healthy choices -- and the consequences
choices have, Bargas said.

"I was really surprised at the amount of time that goes into preparing
for these classes," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Stogin, a U.S.
Naval Base Guam military policeman with 16 years of service.

Lance Cpl. John Devries, 19, with the Camp Foster Provost Marshal's
Office, said he never saw himself as a teacher.

But he was nominated for this course by his command and it's been a
positive experience, he said.

Devries and the other MPs attending the course will be certified to
teach DARE at the elementary and middle school levels.