Airman helps 'at risk' children

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Tudor
  • 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES FIELD, Azores (AFPN) --  While many take a permissive temporary-duty assignment to go house hunting prior to a move, Senior Airman Dan Magas went home to do another kind of hunting.

Magas, a security controller with the 65th Security Forces Squadron here, helped about 70 children in the Pennsylvania State Police’s Camp Cadet program at Clarion University get on the right path with their lives.

Magas and an Army senior noncommissioned officer served as drill instructors for the one-week course in Clarion, Pa. Donning his battle-dress uniform and his beret, Magas admitted the experience for the 12- to 16-year-old children was much like Air Force basic training.

“The first part of the week, we break them down, and then we (build) them back up again,” Magas said. “We aren’t the good guys at camp. That’s what the troopers are there for -- at least until the end of the week.”

Magas’ knowledge of the program -- that includes marching, classes, physical training and more -- is not just as the hollering DI pounding trash cans at 4 a.m. When he was 13, his grandfather, a retired state trooper, sent him through the program.

“I really didn’t have a choice,” Magas said. “He just wanted me to see what it was like.”

After that, Magas got hooked. He served as a counselor in the program during all of his teen-aged years and has attended -- on his own dime -- to act as drill instructor almost every year he has been in the service.

Meanwhile, his work has not gone unnoticed. First Lt. Lee Hoisington, 65th SFS operations officer, said it is people like Magas who epitomize the kind of selflessness and sacrifice bluesuiters are willing to provide to the community.

“It's an example of what the Air Force is striving for -- giving back to the community and to the Air Force itself. He's definitely gone above the norm,” he said.

While he pays his way to get back to his hometown and be part of the program, Magas said the rewards for having an effect on those 70 lives are priceless.

“When you’re out at a mall and one of the kids walks by, smiles and says, ‘Hey Sergeant Dan!’ then you know you’ve made a big difference in their lives,” he said.

Magas said he wants to become a Pennsylvania state trooper when his enlistment ends so he can stay involved in the program and help more children get a good start on life.

“It’s amazing to me to see the kids and their reactions” he said. “When I can get back with them, and show them what the military’s all about, that’s a great feeling.” (Courtesy of U.S Air Forces in Europe News Service)