Romans 13:4 For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.
A group of wounded military veterans are taking their experience as soldiers to turn into elite law enforcement member aimed at stopping exploitation of children.
The H.E.R.O. Corps, or Human Exploitation Rescue Operative Corps, is a unique government-private partnership of National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
The Corps takes veterans and those transitioning out of the military and gives them intensive training on computers and digital forensics. The training is followed by a 10-month internship with law enforcement usually at a field office for Homeland Security.
“The HERO Corps is beautiful in its simplicity,” Laura Junor, deputy undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, told the recruits at their graduation ceremony. “It takes those of you who were born to serve and whose careers were cut short for reasons beyond your control and allows you to reapply your gifts.”
ICE officials say the former soldiers are the perfect ones to fight this battle because of the horrific imagery that can be found in this fight.
“They’re mentally strong. They’ve seen some horrible things, but these are also people who have the ability to compartmentalize,” says Danielle Bennett, a spokeswoman for ICE.
The veterans serving with the Corps say the mission is as serious as anything they’ve faced in the military.
“People ask me, ‘How do you do it?’ My answer is that pedophiles are worse than the Taliban,” says retired Staff Sgt. Nathan Cruz, who served for a decade with the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. “At least the Taliban is fighting a country that has an army that can defend itself. The pedophiles are targeting innocent kids that cannot do anything to defend themselves.”
“You put yourself in that perspective where that could be my kid,” Staff Sgt. Dahlia Luallen says. “Also, what I’d been through as a young lady, you think, ‘These guys are still out there. And I have to find them.’ ”
