[Martinez]

Ok, I had an awsome thought at FLR and wanted to walk you guys through it. Who here knows about American Forces in Europe, Department of Defense Schooling (AFE DoDS)?

I'm a military brat. Grew up in the Air Force my first 15 years with some of that time spent in Germany during middle school. Living on the base, it was litterally an American getto. Every one around you is military, speaks english and your teachers are all Americans. There is not a whole lot to do most of the time, and the base commanders support nearly anything to keep the kids busy and active in a good environment. The military loves the Scouting movement, with nearly every base having a troop now. Our building, bus even the gear were completely free, second hand mostly but very fine stuff. They also love technology. I had video editing, computer literacy, and music composition classes while only in 7th grade. Which comes to the third part, money. A budget for a AFE DoDS is insainely huge, easily four times that of your typical district and they get alot of cool toys. With a graduating class of 50, we likely had the budget of one with 300 with some of the best teachers in the world.

So, my idea: lets see some AFE DoDS FIRST teams! From past experience, I think the higher ups would go for it whole heartedly. In my mind, FIRST is the best of the Boy Scouts combine with a technology aproach. It would also be a good opertunity to get a strong "foot hold" in Europe. So what I propose to do is write a letter addressed to the Base Commander and Principal for Bitburg American High School. Its been nearly 10 years, so I doubt anyone I know is still there. At this point I'd have to do some serious digging just to find an address. But hey, why the heck not?! Some time this week I'll draft a letter and post it here, see what fokes think before sending it off.