Wounded Warriors Train to Combat Child Predators Online

[proverbialwisdom]

http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/wounded-warriors-train-combat-child-predators-online

Wounded Warriors Train to Combat Child Predators Online

By BOBBIE O'BRIEN
FRI OCTOBER 4, 2013

[img][/img]
Credit HERO Corps
Justin Gaertner and his service dog Gunner pose for a photo during their HERO Corps training.

One retired Marine is using his battlefield training that helped him track terrorists in Afghanistan to find child predators back home.

Justin Gaertner joined the Marine Corps just days after graduating from J.W. Mitchell High School in New Port Richey. In five years, he did three tours, two of them in Afghanistan.

He was serving as a combat engineer, sweeping for improvised explosive devices (IEDs), when he was severely wounded.

“Honestly, I thought that life was over. When I got blown up in Afghanistan, I was like this is it I’m done,” Gaertner said. “I didn’t think I was going to live. I didn’t think I was going to walk again. I didn’t think I would ever do a tenth of the things I’ve done since I lost my legs.”

Justin lost both his legs and has other permanent injuries, but he has since become a world-class athlete with five gold medals in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games held this July in Tampa. And he recently cycled across America with a team of wounded veterans in 7 days, 12 hours and 21 minutes.

“The way it seems, I’ve done more things without my legs than I did with my legs,” Gaertner said. “I never thought that I would get the chance to walk again or get the chance to do something as great as being a part of the HERO Corps ever again.”

The HERO Corps is an acronym for the Human Exploitation Rescue Operative Corps. It is a pilot program that is training wounded veterans to track down online child sexual predators and pornographers.

Justin is one of 17 wounded veterans from Special Operations currently training at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He’s learning computer forensic analysis and digital evidence collection to identify and rescue child victims of sexual abuse and online sexual exploitation.

<>

Link from: https://www.facebook.com/protectnow

[proverbialwisdom]

1. PRESS RELEASE - 09/25/13.

http://www.protect.org/protectrelease

[center]MILITARY HEROES HUNT NEW ENEMY: CHILD PREDATORS

H.E.R.O. Child-Rescue Corps Puts Wounded Veterans on New Battlefield

ICE Director Sandweg: Veterans have the right qualities to protect children[/center]

WASHINGTON--An elite team of U.S. military professionals will soon be taking to a new battlefield with an urgent mission: to locate and rescue American children from sexual abuse and human trafficking.

The first 17 members of the H.E.R.O. Child-Rescue Corps are now undergoing intensive training at Homeland Security Investigation's (HSI) Cyber Crime Center outside Washington, DC. They'll join HSI field offices in November as human exploitation rescue operatives, or HEROs, hunting child predators and rescuing children in danger.

The unprecedented team is drawn from the ranks of America's special operations community, as well as warriors from all other branches of the military. Sixteen of the men also hold another unique status: they were wounded in the service of their country and are now returning to battle.

"There are hundreds of thousands of children in the United States who could be rescued tomorrow from sexual abuse if we dedicated the law enforcement resources," says Grier Weeks, Executive Director of the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT). "There's a war going on against American children. We're not sending in child advocates, we're sending special operations forces."

ICE Acting Director John Sandweg says the HERO combat veterans are just the people those children need. "These veterans have demonstrated courage, compassion and commitment. These characteristics, shared by so many of our ICE employees, are essential in those who seek to protect and rescue children."

The H.E.R.O. Corps is a joint project of the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Special Operations Command Care Coalition and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Upon completion of initial training in mid-October, the HEROs will join HSI field offices across the U.S. for a one-year internship leading to employment in law enforcement.

The H.E.R.O. Corps began work in August at ORNL, famed site of the WWII Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb. There they received a month of intensive training from the Weiss Child Rescue and Protection Technology Center, a program of the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT). The Weiss Center, established in early 2013 with a gift from Los Angeles philanthropist Debbie Weiss, funded development of the HERO initiative.

"This project will unleash the talent and determination of men and women who have demonstrated incredible commitment and valor," says retired Army Master Sgt. Rich Robertson of ORNL's International Security and Analysis Division. Robertson, known as "HERO #1" within the program, is a former special operator who spearheaded recruitment of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to the H.E.R.O. Corps.

SOCOM'S leadership embraced both the mission of protecting children and its potential as a way for wounded, ill and injured soldiers to transition back to purpose-driven careers. "The HERO program represents a great first step ..." says Brigadier Gen. Richard Keene, USSOCOM assistant deputy commander, "but we must continue to expand our partnerships with other government agencies and organizations within the private sector to ensure we fully honor our commitment to our veterans."

Equipment for the H.E.R.O. Corps has been provided by PROTECT, through generous private sector support. High performance computers were donated by CDW Corporation, Moose International and the Safe Surfin' Foundation. Specialized forensic tools and additional equipment were donated by Digital Intelligence, AccessData, Guidance Software, Western Digital Foundation as well as companies such as Stellar of Jacksonville and Cherokee Distributing of Knoxville. Thousands of PROTECT members also made the project possible, along with foundations including the Amon G. Carter Foundation, the Plough Foundation, the Haslam Family Foundation, and the Assisi Foundation.

"These generous Americans stepped forward to ensure our HEROs showed up for battle with the equipment they needed," says Weeks. "The HEROs are deeply grateful and will repay that generosity by taking those tools and saving children with them."

More information about the H.E.R.O. Child-Rescue Corps can be found online at herocorps.net.

The National Association to Protect Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, founded in 2004 on the belief that our first and most sacred obligation as parents, citizens and members of the human species is the protection of children. Website: protect.org.

[center]–End–[/center]
Updated 09/25/13 at 1:05 PM

More: http://www.protect.org/hero