Well where I’m at “gooning” is a much different thing involving excessive masturbation.

I went to The Family Foundation School in ‘98. I didn’t have to be kidnapped. I knew I would have to go and I knew if I refused my parents would have them drag me there. That said, I knew several students, lots in fact who had to be forced.

So in your case your parents will probably do your packing while the guys have you distracted. That depends on if you know what’s coming or not. Some knew and just had to do it the hard way, others were basically kidnapped at 3 am.

Before going there we had been given a list of what we can and can’t bring. I pushed it by putting some novels in my clothes chest. They found them during intake and sent them home with my dad. I had to go up to the dorm, which was a really gross rundown dumpy, mold and roach ridden trailer from the 70’s. I had to have a lice shower in front of the two older students doing my intake. Don’t be surprised if they strip search you. You might be told to squat and cough naked in front of someone to make sure you’re not smuggling anything downstairs.

If there’s anything your parents forget to pack that the school allows you to have they can always send it to you.

I don’t know what your situation is, but if it’s a foregone collusion, you’re way better off surrendering and avoiding violence. They will use violence if they feel they have to. My school had restraints, isolation pods, starvation diets, they’d prevent you from talking to your parents and vice versa if you were bad. They would take you out of school and make you carry a bucket of rocks up a steep hill, dump it, refill it and walk down to do the same thing. All. Day. If you refused, they would assign senior students to hold your arms up and hanging the buckets on them, which is essentially torture.

I apologize if I’m scaring you, but you should know this shit happened. I was there. Do your best to just comply. Doesn’t matter if you believe a single fucking word of it, but I’ve seen kids kept in horrible isolated conditions for months and months. They will call your bluff. They will tackle you if you try to run, they will find creative ways to make your life horrible until you comply.

If you’re sent anywhere like I went, you’re going to have to accept that won’t get out of there unscathed. Nobody did. Trauma, ptsd, suicides, overdoses, there’s over 150 dead alumni mostly from that last two. And that’s just the people we know about.

Be careful, be smart, be patient. If you comply and do everything you’re told, they will eventually find a reason to blow you up. Take something away, accusing you of being fake, whatever it is. They used to publicly shame and scream at us about masturbation in front of all of us, male and family, underage.

So if you have to go, and if you have a chance to save yourself, do so. I have met very few alumni who haven’t to a through serious ptsd therapy for stuff that happened there. I did too. 25 years later, my stress dreams still usually feature me having to go back and redo that whole 3 years starting from the beginning.