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Health & Fitness

FEDERAL BUDGET CUTS HIT CLOSE TO HOME & OUR KIDS PAY THE PRICE

Due to Federal budget cuts, local sea cadets call to Save Our Ship!

We have seen the headlines "No More Whitehouse Tours", "Small Airfield Towers to Close". None of these really effect us in our community but there is one cut that is, and its hitting close to home.I write today as a proud parent of a United States Navy Sea Cadet. I want to let our community know how the United States government is letting our community, especially our youth, down. For over 30 years the Great Lakes Division of the U.S. Navy Sea Cadet Corp has trained thousands of local young men and women ages 13 to 17 on all aspects of life in the U.S. Navy. The USNSCC Great Lakes Division guides hundreds of our local teenagers to being upstanding, moral and constructive members of our community. The teenage years are difficult years, especially for the youngster and organizations like the USNSCC has had a big impact on my family and my child's life.The recent sequester cuts have slashed funding to our Cadet Corp. These cuts will mean the shutting down of the groups training boat the Pride of Michigan. The Pride is an 80 foot vessel that docks along the Clinton River in Mount Clemens and provides hands on training to the cadets. It takes the cadets on deployments of the Great Lakes, teaching the cadets seamanship. Alumni have gone on to attend the US Naval Academy, Webb Institute, the US Coast Guard Academy, and many go on to enlist.I cannot say enough about this amazing program and the countless opportunities that it has opened up to our children.  These are truely exceptional young men and women.Organizations such as the USNSCC Great Lakes Division are a vital building block in our community and the fact that they are under threat of closure is incomprehensible.Without the funding from the National Program, this will not be an inexpensive 'Ship to Sail', if you will; but we are a determined group desperate to Save Our Ship.For more information on the Great Lakes Division of the United States Navy Sea Cadet program, please visit their website at http://www.greatlakesdivision.org/

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