Guard Youth Corps Teaches New Drill To Md. Dropouts

By Sara Sklaroff

Early on a gray and rainy Friday morning, two dozen teenagers stand in rows in the dimly lighted canteen room of Building 4305 of the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground. At an hour when most people their age are just dragging themselves to school, these youths are ready for calisthenics.

The sergeant, a young man wearing a polo shirt and sweats, calls the platoon to attention. The chant begins: "More P.T., Sergeant, more P.T.! We love it, we love it, we want more of it! Make it hurt, Sarge, make it hurt!''

They are hardly regulation, these teenagers. Yet, today, and for the past six weeks, they have been trying out a new drill as the first members of the Maryland National...