Since then the first 17 members of the HERO Corp – 16 of them wounded veterans – have undergone training at Homeland Security Investigation's (HSI) Cyber Crimes Center outside Washington, DC; and have now commenced a one-year tour of duty as unpaid interns hunting out online predators from within ICE field offices.
ICE gets dedicated support in the hunt for predators, and although the interns get no pay and no guarantee of employment after the year, they get training in computer forensics and a powerful entry on their CV. But the AP News service reports that any financial incentive is not the interns' prime motivation. "I love challenges. And I have a family of my own," said [Oskar] Zepeda, whose military career was cut short by a hand grenade and the 25 operations that followed. "I feel I'm still serving my country and protecting my family at the same time."
Shannon Krieger, now working from an ICE office in New Orleans, said, "This was a new fight I could sink my teeth into. That's what really I was looking for. I wasn't just going to take a job so I can have a paycheck." But it is neither easy nor pleasant work. "I'm talking about young kids, 18-month olds, toddlers. This is some of the most horrible stuff I could conceive of imagining and I'm looking at it on a daily basis," she said.
The veterans have their own case manager to monitor their emotional state given the material they have to view on a daily basis. But their military training and battlefield experiences help. "I'm able to turn a lot of things off," Krieger said. "If I couldn't, I'd probably have gone crazy." Zapeda added that in his time in Iraq and Afghanistan, "I've seen it all. Trust me."
It is a promising partnership. Law enforcement gets the help of dedicated volunteers who have already demonstrated a strong sense of loyalty and commitment to their country, while the wounded vets get an introduction and training in a potential new career for the future.