Captain Save a Thug

I always find myself wanting to help others. When I was a college peer counselor, I felt like it was my duty to help all students see the pathway to education. As a nursing student, I feel it is my duty to keep my family informed of the health...like the true difference between type 1 & 2 diabetes, telling my mom why she gets muscle spasm..etc
When it comes to my close friends, I like to see them prosper. I cheer them on when the need the motivation. I stick by them when the world is serving them a buffet of sour lemons. When they are angry, I calm them down. When they need to vent, I'm the ear that listens. I am there for the people I care about.
One of my best friends is trying to turn his life around. He is struggling between that phase of a teenage boy and being a young man. I see the potential in him to be successful if he stops taking 20 steps back. He joined the military to get away from being in a gang, fighting, drama, and his neighborhood. During those times, he would call me when he was hyped on doing something he knew damn well he should be doing. And I would talk some sense in him, and usually stopped him from fighting over illegitimate issues. So when he became a sailor, I cheered him on..my mom, my sis, and my brother cheered right along next to me. My brother being a Chief in the navy reach out, telling me that my friend can contact him if he ever needed help and advise.
But recently my best friend isn't doing to well the major changes he has made. He hopes to get sent to base close to home, well damn near at home, to partake in what he is familiar with-gangs. He knows he shouldn't go down that road, and I added my two cents of stuff he didn't want to hear but knows it is true.
Yes, I know, you can't change people if they don't want to change themselves. But at the same time, I don't want my friend to join the long list of statistics. He's interested in the medical field, he can run faster than Forest Gump, and he's intelligent. there is a lot he can do with himself, he just needs to stop looking at just today and expand his views. This is what makes me want to throw on my captain save a thug cape.
I want to help my friend, but some where in the back of my head..I can't help someone that doesn't want to be help..that doesn't want to help themselves...frustration!