The Capital Guardian - Spring 2011

million annually, and he used to frequent
Frank’s restaurant.
“He’d say, ‘Frank, you’re still here,’”
Coombs recalls. “He wasn’t just a drug
dealer. He was a kingpin. He had a lot
of bling, cars, and women. He had so
much money he had to carry it around
in duffle bags.”
Unfortunately Rayful paid the price
that many do, and he isn’t enjoying the
fruits of his labor these days. He’s
doing more than one life sentence without
parole after being arrested at age 24
on several felonies, including dealing
cocaine. His legacy includes introducing
crack cocaine into the Greater
Washington area and running an
organization credited with at least 30
murders in what used to be known as
the murder capital of the nation.
“A lot of kids today see all the money
and the bling that goes with that
lifestyle,” Coombs says. “They want the
fast money. But I try to ask them,
should you do this to have all that or,
should you work for it? Sometimes you
just have to go out and work for it.”
His classmate Edmond had exceptional
marketing skills, Coombs said. If
he had applied his skills to a Fortune
500 company, he would have gone
straight to the top, he said, but it’s too
late for that now.
And what happened to his best friend
who didn’t get hired by IHOP way back
when? Well, the Rev. Grant Thompson is
now a pastor of a church in Washington,
and the two are friends to this day.
Challenge program puts
teenagers on the right path
By Lt. Col. Kevin McAndrews
Public Affairs Officer
Demetrius Peeler looked across the table and recalled the day he decided to do something with his
life. He’d been around enough of his friends to know the path they were headed in involved drugs,
robbing people and fighting, sometimes with guns.
“A lot of my friends have been lost to the streets,” Peeler said. “I just made up my mind that I didn’t
want to go that way.”
The same day he thought about his decision to go another direction, he was headed to the funeral of
a 20-year-old friend who was shot and killed the week before, leaving a 2-year-old son behind.
While he doesn’t think his friend was involved in any wrongdoing, his death underscored his thoughts
about graduating from the Capital Guardian Youth Challenge Academy a year ago. He’s now working at
the International House of Pancakes restaurant in Forestville, Md., and thinking about his future.
“Regular school wasn’t working out for me,” Demetrius said. “I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to
do, so military school seemed like a good choice.”
He’d heard about the Challenge program from his cousin, who also graduated from the academy. At
that point, he just had too much time on his hands in between school, and it was hard for him to focus
because of the things that go on in a rough neighborhood. He needed more guidance than he was getting.
Even though he was in a good school, “there were too many distractions for me. I needed to get
away so I could think about life,” he said.
Once he graduated from Challenge, Youth Challenge administrator Barbara Brown and Master Sgt.
Frank Coombs of the D.C. Air National Guard took him under their wing. Coombs is owner of the IHOP
where Demetrius now works. He’s finishing his GED and is exploring options like a railroad apprenticeship
in Atlanta.
During his time at the academy, he got involved in as much as he could, playing softball and basketball,
being a part of student government, and joining the Honor Corps, which has older cadets talk to the
cadets in the class coming up, encouraging them to stay in the program and graduate.
It’s hard and some people quit, Demetrius said, but it’s well worth the effort to graduate.
“It was a good choice for me,” he said. “It gave me a better understanding of life, and it’s given me
patience.”
After his cousin told him about the program, he did his own research and decided to go for it.
“I learned that life is about more than having fun,” he said. “It’s about getting knowledge, and
knowledge is power.”
Spring 2011 / CAPITAL GUARDIAN • 13