One youth Aspche counseled, who physically assaulted staff members at a mental health institution, was reacting to his own fears, Apsche theorized. His parents had subjected him to unimaginable abuse. After receiving MDT counseling — which combines behavioral science with concepts of acceptance and mindfulness, derived from Eastern and Western meditative practices — the boy changed, Apsche says, eventually enlisting in the Marines.
Washington Post, 2012-10-21
Jack Apsche has written a book about his new method of treating violent youth. It works really well: this one lad changed, and then enlisted in the Marines. He says he “hopes” to have the book published.
I don’t know if the humour there was unconscious or unintentional, but it is indeed hilarious. Unless you think the Marines might be poorly served by a boy with violent tendencies.
This is possibly even more fitting than you can imagine. Jack Apsche’s book is partly about his association with Gary Heidnik, the famous serial killer (and inspiration for the Buffalo Bill character in “Silence of the Lambs”). Heidnik also joined the army. He was rated, at basic training, as “excellent”. But somehow he lost his way and took to capturing young women and imprisoning them in a pit in the basement of his Philadelphia row-house where he tortured, raped, and abused them. Two of the women died and he was convicted of murder and eventually executed.