A Scoutmaster's Blog

I just discovered tonight, as I was checking out some Scout forums, that the BSA national office appears to be looking for a new site to hold the National Jamborees. Don’t worry about the 2010 Jambo, that one will still be at Fort A.P. Hill. But future ones may not be. It is not about the military pulling their support of the Jamboree. They are not. In fact, it sounds like they will probably continue their support at the new Jambo site.

It appears that a letter has been sent to councils asking for their assistance in finding a new new site. This letter explains the reasons for moving the Jamboree away from Fort A.P. Hill, and what requirements must be met by a new site. You can read the letter for yourself by clicking HERE.

The next National Jamboree is only two and one half years away! It is time to start thinking about whether or not I intend to attend as an adult leader.

My decision will be based on the Boy Scouts of my troop. If several of them decide to attend then I will apply to be one of the troop leaders. If they don’t, then I won’t. But I think it would be great to attend another Jamboree.

I was the scoutmaster of Troop 1417 during the 2001 National Jamboree. I participated in a lot of meetings to prepare for that trip. But it was worth it. I was lucky to have a great team of assistant scoutmasters and junior leaders. I was also blessed to have a great group of Boy Scouts in my Jambo troop. Things went so well that during the reunion meeting held a few weeks after returning from the trip, I told the parents that I never want to attend another Jamboree again. The Scouts and leaders of Troop 1417 set the bar so high that I was sure I would never have another troop as good as this one.

Well, several years have now gone by and the itch to attend another Jamboree needs scratching. Of course, this being the Jamboree celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America is just one more reason to attend.

As far as I know, the Central Minnesota Council has not formed a Jamboree committee yet. I hope they do soon. I know it takes nearly two years to prepare for a trip of this magnitude. I would expect the transportation to be one of the biggest issues.

In 2001, the council sent two troops to the Jamboree. In 2005, the council was able to send three troops to Virginia, which was nearly ten percent of the Boy Scouts in our council. (We are not a large council.) It would be great to see our council send three troops in 2010. Or even four troops. Of course, the problem could be finding enough adults to accompany the troops. Just one more reason for the council to get started early.

The 2010 National Jamboree promises to be the biggest event in the BSA’s history. I think it would be great to be one small part of it. Now, I just have to convince my Boy Scouts.

Whenever Boy Scouts and adult leaders gather at a camporee, jamboree, or training session there is probably going to be some patch trading going on at a table or on a blanket on the ground, especially if the event includes Scouts from around the country or from around the world.

My introduction to patch trading was when I attended a Scoutmaster Fundamentals training course at Philmont Scout Ranch in 1984. I had heard stories about how seriously some people take this hobby, but it was only when I saw grown men sitting around a table with open three ring binders full of clear plastic pages of patches that I truly realized how big this hobby was. So many designs. So many colors. So many patches! I decided then that I needed to start a collection of my own.

I put Scouting patches into three main groupings: the council shoulder patch (csp), the Order of the Arrow Lodge flaps and patches, and the activity patches that you receive for attending a camporee or maybe selling popcorn. I like collecting the csp’s and the Order of the Arrow flaps. The only activity patches I am interesting in collecting are the ones given for an activity in which I participated.

When I attended the 2001 National Jamboree as scoutmaster of Troop 1417, I got the chance to see how popular this hobby has become for both the youth and the adults, and how much fun it can be to collect. The Scouts of my troop were excited after an evening of trading, and would often show me the patches they added to their collection that day. It did not take them long to discover which patches were very popular and which patches were not very popular. It was fun to see all the trading blankets laid out along the roadways of the jamboree and the hundreds of people making deals for the patches they wanted. The trade would always end with a handshake which signified that both participants accepted the trade.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the Boy Scouts of America has a policy that restricts trading. Boys must trade with boys, and adults must trade with adults. The boys and the adults are not to trade with each other. There must have been some problems with adults trading unfairly with boys, or visa versa. By the way, there is a blog about patch trading called Boy Scout Memorabilia Collecting. Check it out.

I am not a die-hard patch trader. I am more of a collector. I do have a couple hundred csp’s and lodge flaps in my collection which fit into three large three ring notebooks. My favorite patches are the ones I collected from the 2001 National Jamboree.

During the last two years I have done most of my collecting from the internet. I have bought a few patches on eBay, but most of the new additions have been received from trading a dvd-r for patches. The dvd-r is a compilation of Scouting commercials and promotional films that I have collected over the last two decades. I trade the dvd-r for two patches, a council shoulder patch and an OA lodge flap. The trades have worked well. I have received some very nice patches, and the other person has received a dvd-r that they have put to use a variety of ways, including entertainment at district and council dinners.

I would expect that soon I will be starting my fourth notebook. After all, there are a lots of patches out there that I do not have yet!

It seems the ACLU is still filing lawsuits against the Boy Scouts of America. This latest case was actually the ACLU filing a case against the Department of Defense, trying to stop the BSA from having the National Jamboree at Fort AP Hill.

Here is an excerpt from the statement from the BSA:

    "The United States Congress has found that the military's logisticalsupport for the National Scout Jamboree is an incomparable trainingopportunity for our armed forces. The Jamboree requires the construction,maintenance, and disassembly of a "tent city" capable of supporting tens ofthousands of people for a week or longer.  Nevertheless, the ACLU sued the Department of Defense in 1999 over itssupport for the Jamboree. In 2005, a federal district court in Chicagoconcluded the Jamboree statute (10 U.S.C. section 2554) wasunconstitutional under the Establishment Clause because Scouting has anonsectarian "duty to God" requirement. DoD appealed the district court'sinjunction against military support under that statute for the 2010Jamboree.  In today's ruling, the federal Court of Appeals in Chicago reversed thedistrict court's decision, concluding that the taxpayers named as theplaintiffs in the lawsuit did not have standing to sue DoD in the firstplace."

I would like to thank Fred Goodwin for posting this link in a Scout forum that I belong to. I think it is time to stop the ACLU from filing such frivolous lawsuits and wasting taxpayer’s money. I do not understand why the ACLU has such a problem with the BSA, an organization that has been great for this country for ninety years.

The 2001 National Jamboree at Fort AP Hill was over. We had made the trip home. The camping gear was all put away. It was time to return to “normal” Scouting. Well, not quite. I still had one more Jamboree related meeting to attend.

A reunion meeting was held a couple weeks after our return. The Boy Scouts and leaders of both Central Minnesota Council troops, along with the boy’s parents, were expected to be there. This would be the last meeting of the 2001 troops. The agenda included a slideshow to be presented by our Jamboree chairwoman, and would also be a chance to share photographs, stories, and experiences. Of course, a few words by the two scoutmasters was also expected.

The meeting began well. Most of the Scouts and their parents were in attendance. Photo books had been spread out on several tables. The 8 x 10 group photos had been handed out. Unfortunately, our chairwoman with the slideshow was nowhere in site. We had a laptop computer and projector available so I improvised by showing photos that I had on cd discs. It worked out alright, but it was not as good as a prepared slideshow would have been. Our chairwoman did arrive later but it was too late to watch the slideshow.

It came time for the scoutmasters to speak. I stood up, looked over the room of Scouts and parents, and told everyone that I had a good time. However, I continued, “I never want to attend another National Jamboree again!”

There were a few shocked expressions among the Scouts and parents before I explained why I made that statement. I told them that I had been a part of a nearly perfect Boy Scout troop. The adult leaders, the youth leadership, and the troop members had been great to work with, and to be with. We did have have any real problems. The boys got along well with each other.

“I do not think I will ever have another Jamboree experience as good as this one was,” I said. “It was almost too good. I doubted I could ever have another group of adults and boys as great as this one. Thus, I did not ever want to attend another Jamboree again.”

Time moves on. I did not attend the 2005 National Jamboree even though the council sent three troops and needed additional leaders. However, with the 100th anniversary of the BSA being celebrated during the 2010 Jamboree I am beginning to think about attending another one. I wonder if it would be possible to get my former Jamboree troop back together.

Photos of my trip to the 2001 National Jamboree can be found at
http://www.melrosetroop68.org/highadventure.html

In 1999 Sue talked to me about it, I thought about it, I applied for it, I interviewed for it, and finally, I got it. I was going to be the scoutmaster for one of the two troops the Central Minnesota Council would be sending to the 2001 Jamboree.

Little did I realize how how work and how many meetings would be involved. I need to attend the council’s Jamboree committee meetings, meet my assistant scoutmasters, and start putting our team together. I soon discovered that the eight men chosen to lead these two troops were very dedicated to the cause, that we would work together well, and make a great team.

I found that one of my duties was to promote the Jamboree among troops in the council and to recruit members. I quickly recruited nine members out of my home troop. My assistant scoutmasters did a great job of recruiting from their troops. The council did a little promotion. It did not take long before we had enough Boy Scouts to fill both troops and had a waiting list of boys who would like to participate.

After the first “troop meeting” was held with the Jamboree Scouts and their parents, we began accepting applications for the youth leadership positions. The assistant scoutmasters and I conducted interviews from the list of applications and chose our senior patrol leader, ASPL, troop quartermaster, and troop scribe. I have to admit, we did a good job with our appointments. Our junior leaders became a great team to work with.

The troop roster was divided into four patrols of eight Scouts. We made sure that no patrol contained over two Scouts from the same home troop. Once each patrol elected its own patrol leader we had a full patrol leader council and could begin training sessions.

During the next year I attended several meetings a month to prepare for the Jamboree. There was the monthly committee meeting, the monthly leaders’ meeting, the troop meetings, training meetings, gateway building sessions, and more. Of course, this was all in addition to my usual duties and meetings in my home troop.

Scouting had begun to take a significant portion of my time through the years 2000 and 2001. But with a great cast of assistant scoutmasters, committee members, and junior leaders in both my home troop and the Jamboree troop, my positions of scoutmaster went smoothly.

In June of 2001 we help our pre-encampment which was basically a practice run for the Jamboree, with training mixed into the weekend. It was our first camp outing as a Jamboree troop. I am happy to report that things went very well. The only real problem to speak of was that we discovered some very loud snorers in the group.

Preparations were over. It was time for Central Minnesota Council Troops 1417 and 1418 to attend the 2001 National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia!

Sue stopped in to see me at my work office. While we were chatting she asked if I had given any thought to going to the 2001 National Jamboree. I told her I had not even thought about it. She explained that she was a member of the council’s Jamboree staff and that she thought I should apply to be an adult leader for the Jamboree. She did not give me much time to think about it though. Applications were due at the council office within a couple weeks.

So, I thought about it. Our troop did a high adventure trip every three years. The 2001 Jamboree happened to fall in the right year to be our troop activity. But the big question was whether the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 would want to attend the Jamboree instead of going to Philmont Scout Ranch, our usual destination.

At the next troop meeting I asked the boys if they would be interested in attending the Jamboree. I explained that if they chose the Jamboree then I would apply to be an adult leader for the event. The Scouts thought it sounded like it would be a fun time so I filled out the application.

Our council would send two troops to the Jamboree. Each troop would need four adult leaders, a scoutmaster and three assistants. The third assistant scoutmaster is usually filled by a young adult, usually 18-20 years old, that had previously attended a Jamboree. That left three positions for which I could apply.

After looking over the job descriptions I chose to apply for scoutmaster. The job would be very similar to being the scoutmaster of a regular troop. Besides that, it appeared to be the easiest job of the three open to me. I would just have to make sure that everyone else does their job well.

I turned in my application with only a day or two to spare. A short time later I received a letter asking me to go to St. Cloud for an interview. “An interview?” I thought. I have never done an interview for anything in Scouting in my life. It made me a little nervous.

One of my young assistant scoutmasters, Ben, who also happened to be one of my troop’s Eagle Scouts, had applied to be a third assistant scoutmaster for the Jamboree so we carpooled to St. Cloud for our interviews. Ben had attended the 1997 Jamboree as a Boy Scout. The interview was conducted by four or five members of the Jamboree committee. They asked some interesting questions that seemed based on problems during the 1997 Jamboree. I answered them as honestly and as best as I was able.

On the way home Ben and I talked about how we did during our interviews. We both felt we did pretty well. I also asked Ben a few questions about his experience during the previous Jamboree and how well he enjoyed it.

It was not long before we received notice that I would be the scoutmaster for National Jamboree Troop 1417, and that Ben would be my third assistant scoutmaster. Suddenly, I found myself to be the scoutmaster in two troops. Now the work would begin!