Gather with Friends
It's impossible to fight the war on terror alone. It's impossible and it's ill-advised. You will encounter defeat under such circumstances, the forces of terror and fear so great as they are. It is wiser to build a brigade, recruit a regiment, assemble an army; and if numbers fail, institute a draft. No one should be allowed to shirk their duty to the world, their nation, their community or themselves to battle this war on terror.
Boot camp should be simple enough to organize. I recommend a happy hour at a bar central to your recruits' locations. May I suggest an establishment predicated on relaxation rather than distraction. (Distractions are one of the weapons deployed against us. The less we pay attention, the easier it is to scare the shit out of us.) Desirability of location will be inversely proportional to the number of televisions in the bar. No joke. Comfortable seating and decent snacks should be available, as well as a place to smoke.
Training will begin over half-priced pints of beer. If the beer was brewed within an hundred miles, all the better. Each recruit (or conscript) will be allowed no more than five minutes to bitch about their dead-end job, the evening news, or anything else over which they have no control. Then the real work begins.
Trainees will tell embarrassing stories about themselves. They will find a reason to laugh and a way to make others laugh, a reason to interrupt and a chance to be interrupted. Each, and not in turn, will talk about something good or something they love, something they are passionate about or something new they learned. This does not have to be joyous or free of concern. We aren't fighting on the side of joy or against warranted concern.
