19 Kids & Counting: Joseph Leaves the Nest

The Duggars now have seven children of adult age, as Joseph celebrated his 18th birthday in late January of this year. At this point, only Josh (25 years old) lives outside of the Duggar home, though Joseph is the first to take an extended trip alone. That's right, this episode depicts him off to Big Sandy, TX for ALERT (Air Land Emergency Resource Team) Academy's nine-week basic training program. I want to talk about what a little research tells you about this boot-camp-type experience.

For starters, you not only have to perform physical requirements to pass, but you also need to keep a daily journal and memorize the book of 1 Peter (King James style). Should Joseph continue on to the next level (which could be more than another year of study), he'll receive training in areas like firefighting (like his older siblings), open water diving, and even evangelism. Even though ALERT was founded in accordance to Gothard's principles, the government does respect it as a relief organization, and has deployed the serving men in disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Oklahoma City Bombing. The training calendar suggests that the Joseph likely began a day or two late to allow for his eighteenth birthday to pass, as Unit 49 began January 19th, and his birthday is the 20th. I found him in several photos from that Unit, all of which are from Facebook:

first day, upper left

lower left

front of the dog sled

third in the tug-of-war

19 Kids and Counting "Duggars Take Flight" (S07E06): Joseph heads to Big Sandy, TX for a nine-week emergency resource team event. He'll be the first Duggar child going off alone, and that's the longest any of the kids have been away. [that's what happens when you don't let them study outside the home. although I'm surprised that none have taken extended mission trips, either.] Preparations include a short haircut (which he's always wanted), and an 18th birthday party (for which several Bates kids drove down). To travel the 300 miles to Texas, John-David flies him there in a small Cessna, with his instructor and JimBob along for the ride.

Trainer Steve shows up to take a look at JimBob's section in the pantry. He doesn't pick on much there, but when it seems that JimBob has gained four pounds (he's at 207; Josh is at 209), Steve puts him through an extra-vigorous workout.

TLC