Where 'camp' means crew cuts, camouflage

It's just past noon on a hot July day, as a formation of boys in sneakers and T-shirts - some hoisting rollerblades and hockey sticks - stomp their way toward lunch across the campus of the Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pa.

"I used to eat at Mickey D's," shouts a student drill leader with an earnest air and shorts that droop over knobby knees and skinny legs. "Now I eat my MREs!" echoes back a little band of comrades, using the shorthand for "meals ready to eat." The group exhibits energy, but as of yet only a bare minimum of spit and polish, crewcuts notwithstanding.

These boys are among the 320 campers enrolled at the Valley Forge Military Academy Summer Camp. But they are also part of an American trend: a renewed desire to expose young people to military traditions and education.

"Many boys want a taste of the military, but they don't want boot camp," says Lt. Col. David Williams, director of Valley Forge's summer camp and director of activities at the academy during the school year. That's why the four-week camp tries to position itself as a blend of military discipline and just plain fun.

The camp, which accepts boys ages 8 to 16, has seen a 10 to 15 percent increase in applications every year since 1994. That corresponds with a 5 to 10 percent annual increase of applications at the year-round school.

"There has been a resurgence of interest in the military-school experience," says Charles O'Malley, an independent educational consultant based in Annapolis, Md. "There's a perception among parents that more discipline and more morality are needed in society in general."

The number of military schools declined dramatically in the wake of the Vietnam War and a resulting disenchantment with the armed forces. Since 1950, the schools' ranks have shrunk from 160 to 40. At Valley Forge, year-round enrollment plummeted to about 500 by the early 1970s, from more than 1,100 in 1966.

But today, for the first time in decades, two new private military schools are being planned, in Florida and Virginia. At the same time, some troubled urban public-school systems are seeking to import what they see as the successes of military education.

In Chicago, a public military high school has been in operation since 1999. In Prince George County, Md., a similar school will open next year. A military charter school in Oakland is said to be inspiring interest in other California cities.

At Valley Forge, a number of the campers enrolled this summer are there to test the waters. If they like the camp, they may end up at the boarding school this fall. "Typically, about 30 to 40 percent go on to the school," says Colonel Williams.

However, he cautions, "I'm not sure camp is a good testing ground. It's a lot more fun."

Although the boys at the Valley Forge camp get their heads shaved upon arrival, learn to march in formation, and occasionally wear combat fatigues, much of their summer experience is more oriented toward simply having fun, boy-style.

The favorite activity seems to be paintball battles, although driving go-carts is a close second. "The most severe punishment you can hand out here is to say: 'No paintball, no go-carts,' " says Martin Kus, a counselor from Krakow, Poland, rolling his eyes.

Also popular are swimming and occasional field trips to adventure parks. And some boys thrive on more-militaristic activities like learning to perform on ropes courses, exercises designed to teach trust and team-building.

There is plenty of adult supervision in all these activities. The camp maintains a camper-counselor ratio of 8 to 1.

A handful of the counselors are women, but they work only with boys under 11. "The younger boys are sometimes homesick and they need a softer voice, a different perspective," Williams says.

About one-quarter of the camp staff are current or past cadets at Valley Forge, another quarter are US college students, and about half - due to a tight US labor market - are university students recruited from abroad.

The international flavor of the counselor corps is a good match for the geographic diversity of the campers themselves, who this year come from 34 states and 14 countries.

A summer month at Valley Forge does not come cheap. Although the academy itself offers scholarships for the school year, there are no scholarships for camp. Tuition ranges from $2,180 to $2,760, with additional fees charged for activities like riflery, horseback riding, Tae Kwan Do, and tutoring in math and English.

Parents who send their children to the Valley Forge camp may be interested in military discipline, but the motives of the boys themselves vary widely.

"I came here to get a piece of military life," says Raymond Hernandez, a seventh-grader from Engelwood, N.J., who proclaims himself very satisfied with the experience.

"I wanted to come because the camp is fun," says his companion Matt Booth, from Lower Burella, Pa.

But Nathan Sanet, a local eighth-grader, finds the activities less to his liking. "It's like a boot camp," he complains. "We have to do push-ups. It gets boring. My parents made me come."

Counselors, too, vary in their reactions to the value of the military approach for young boys. "It's sort of a totalitarian regime," says Mark John Davies, a counselor from Wales. "It's hard for the ones who don't conform."

But Aaron Pedrick, a student from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., has returned to the camp three times as a counselor after spending five years as a camper.

"I love it," he says, citing the order, discipline, and outdoor activities as some of the camp's most appealing elements. "There are so many things I learned here that I carry with me now in my daily life."

For Williams, one mark of the camp's success has been a 30 percent return rate, higher than in recent years. He estimates that while the majority of boys at the camp are favorably predisposed toward physical challenges and military-style structure, at least 10 to 15 percent are children whose parents sent them here precisely because they shrink from such demands.

"That's why we offer variety," he says. In general, he adds, "Parents want discipline and structure, and kids want fun things."

His job, Williams says, is to create a four-week adventure that achieves a balance between the two.

E-mail marjorie@csmonitor.com