America's Next Leaders

High school students Christian Douglas, 15, and Cody Hayes, 14, have recently graduated from the Kern County Devil Pups Youth Program, which took place over the past ten weeks at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. "I heard about the Devil Pups at school over the announcements," says 15 year old Christian Douglas, "When I heard it was at Camp Pendleton I couldn't sign up faster." The Devil Pups is a 62-year-old organization that trains high school students like marines. It was founded by Marine Corps Colonel A. Duncan Shaw, Sr. after he witnessed teenagers burning an American flag. He was disturbed by the incident, and wanted to create a program that instilled discipline and integrity into the American youth. "I've been looking into being in the military," says Hayes, "and I thought it'd be a good experience to kind of get my feet wet and see what it would be like."

To qualify for the Devil Pups, prospective students have to pass a Physical Fitness Test (PFT) and an interview by volunteer Marine Corps representatives. The test consists of four sections, each worth 100 points. To get a full score, applicants have to do a series of pull-ups, push-ups, and sit-ups, as well as a one mile run. The Devil Pups receive approximately 4,000 applications each year, and only 600 are ever accepted. If they are accepted into the program, participants then spend the next ten weekends training with volunteer trainers from the Marine Corps.

Training days start at 4:30 a.m. and end at 10 p.m., with intensive physical and mental training in between. Participants will often practice 'firewatch', where they patrol their building for a few hours after lights out. Physically, Hayes found the obstacle course the most challenging activity. It featured climbing walls and ropes, running all the while. Mentally, the jump from the 25-foot tower into a tank of water was the most difficult for Hayes. Douglas cites the tower jump as his favorite activity, and says that it, like the entire program, is about confronting your fears.

The program features several other physically challenging tasks. One such task was the mud run, where pups-in-training slogged through a trench of knee-high mud, doing push-ups and bear crawls and tug-of-war. One of the most challenging would be the climb up Ole' Smokey, the mountain that sits behind the camp. The hike is long and dirty, some areas being almost completely vertical. For completing the grueling march up the mountain, participants receive a commemorative coin bearing the program's motto; Growth Through Challenge. Douglas managed to complete the trek in 20th place out of 600 trainees. Over the weekends of training, parents receive two letters from their kids -- one being a standard form letter, the other being personally written by the trainee. While most kids wrote home complaining about the difficulty of the program, Douglas told his parents, "I wish I could do this every day."

On graduating day, Devil Pups from Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and Southern California stood at attention and Douglas was the only graduate from Kern County to be nominated for Company Honor Pup, indicating that out of 600 graduates, he ranked in the top 2%. The Devil Pups is a strict and intense program, but the benefits of it are outstanding. It teaches high school boys and girls to be leaders in their community, and puts them on a path of dependability and initiative. "People should join the program because it builds leadership skills," says Douglas. "It's helped me to reach my full potential," says Hayes "It's fun, but it's a challenge. You'll get a lot out of it as long as you put into it." According to Douglas, about 27% of Devil Pups graduates go into the military, while the majority of the rest end up working in law enforcement or first-response. The Kern County Devil Pups Youth Program, and the Devil Pups Program on the whole, is a prestigious organization that shows teenagers how strong they are and how strong they can become. Congratulations to Christian Douglas and Cody Hayes for graduating.