difficult child told me they use real weapons but without any ammunition. They must be the older weapons- he said they looked old and were all wooden. He said they start out learning how to take them apart, clean them, then put them back together. That sounds par for the course- that is one of the first things we had to learn in boot camp.
What I liked, along with the aspects that teach the kids self-discipline and instills self-esteem and confidence, is that there are occasions where they wear a dress uniform with their badges showing accomplishments and they look so proud in them. I noticed at the family picnic/ceremony last week that many adult staff/teachers were going up to the boys who were close to release time and reminding them how well they had done, not to forget how hard they worked and what they are able to accomplish, etc, to reinforce some positive things before they get released. It made me feel a lot better about the staff.
The one person on his IEP team, on the other hand, worries me a little. She really botched some things by getting difficult child's school evaluation from processing mixed up with another kids. She was adamant that difficult child had been a major behavior problem at school the entire time, which was not true. He had done so well behavior-wise at school the past year that the GAL used that against me by saying that all the problem must be me. Anyway, They will learn- I won't sign the IEP until they get that part straightened out!
I wish our state still offered boot camp for teens as an alternative to incarceration- I would have pushed for that a year ago!