A Scoutmaster's Blog

Anyone who has been a Scout Leader for awhile will have a few stories about Scouts acting without thinking about the consequences. I like to use some of these incidents as lessons for Scouts in later years, sometimes changing the names a bit to protect the innocent.

Of course, we as scoutmasters, and other Scout leaders, can be just as careless at times. We will get impatient and do some really stupid things in front of the boys of the troop. I am no different. I have done a few stupid things myself. I like to take the stories of these incidents and turn them into “lessons in stupidity”.

One of these lessons happened nearly ten years ago when the troop was camping near Duluth, Minnesota. It had been a busy Saturday so everyone was looking forward to relaxing around the campfire in the evening, both Scouts and parents. Unfortunately, the wood was a bit damp and did not want to keep burning. (Do you see where this is going?)

I did not see any flames in the fire ring, although there was a little smoke rising from the wood. I grabbed the can of white gas that we used in the stoves, told the Boy Scouts to never, ever do what I was about to do, and poured a little gas on the fire. After all, there was no flames, you know.

Well, there must have been a few hot coals buried in the wood pile because as soon as the white gas hit the wood I found myself engulfed in a fireball of flame to the astonishment of the Scouts and the concern of the parents. Luckily for me, it was a short lived blast, not quite hot enough to start my clothing on fire or burn my skin. It did singe my eyebrows though. I looked at all the blank stares from the boys sitting around the fire and replied, “That is why you never put gas on a fire!”

I was very lucky to escape injury from that lesson in stupidity. It has become a story I tell the new boys whenever we discuss fire safety. Troop alumni still like to tease me about that incident.

Last night during our troop meeting I gave the boys a new lesson in stupidity, but that story will have to wait until a future blog entry.

Several years ago our troop held a weekend camping trip at a public park at Lake Koronis in Minnesota. Activities included swimming, volleyball, football, and a massive water balloon fight. A few fathers attended this activity to provide leadership and transportation. This camp location was so popular that Scouts of all ages were in attendance. We had an excellent turnout.

The outing was a blast! Everyone, Scouts and adults, had a great time. As we sat around the campfire Saturday evening I asked the campers what they liked best about the outing. One of the older Scouts gave me an answer that caught me by surprise, and it is something I have never forgotten. His highlight was when the fathers played football with them (the Scouts). I saw a few other boys nodding their heads in agreement.

That simple statement hit a nerve with me. It suddenly occurred to me how seldom today’s teens get to play with their fathers. Teenage boys love to play. It is a part of their nature, part of how they identify themselves, part of how they learn to cooperate with others.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, fathers do not seem to have enough time to play with their sons. They work long hours, have more work to do when they get home, and often are too tired in the evening to do much more then sit in front of the television with the kids. Oh, and mom would like a little of his time also. Of course, this assumes that there is a father living at home.

Today’s teenage boys are not much better. They spend half of their day in school. Many are involved in school sports or some other extracurricular activity. Some have part time jobs. They need to spend time with their buddies, and maybe even with a girlfriend. Then add video games and the internet into the mixture.

Each generation has their excuses for not spending time with other, which made the impact of the Scout’s statement that weekend all that much stronger to me.

Hey Dad! You need to get out and play with your son! He will only be a teenager for several years, years which pass by very quickly. He will soon be leaving to go to college, make a life for himself, and probably start his own family. If you think it is hard to find time to play with him now then just think about how hard it will be once he moves out.

Hey Son! Put down that video game controller, grab a football or basketball, and take your father outside to play. Sure, it may seem like dad has forgotton how much fun it was to have fun and play, and you may need to help him relearn how to be a kid again. He has a lot on his mind but he needs to let it go once in awhile and have fun sometimes too.

This is one reason why I think Scouting is such a great program. Fathers and sons can spend time with each other outdoors and play together. Scouts, you may need to ask you father to join you on an outing or two. Dads, you need to get out of that lawn chair and run around a little. I think I can safely say that it would be a win/win situation for both generations.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of heavy rain falling on the canvas tent. “Boy, it is raining pretty hard,” I thought as I rolled over on my cot and fell back to sleep.

I was with the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 for a week at Many Point Scout Camp. We were staying in the Tyler Campsite in Buckskin Camp. Tyler is located at the north end of the road that runs through Buckskin. It is the campsite that is furthest away from the dining hall and beach. Due to it’s location, it is also the most quiet campsite in Buckskin, which is one of the reasons we like it. The campsite is located on a hillside so it has wooden platforms for the tents.

When we woke up that morning we noticed everything around camp was soaked. A couple of the Scouts complained that they had some wet gear, but nothing too serious. We also noticed that there was water in the deep ditch along the campsite. Due to the sandy soil we had very seldom seen standing water in the ditch. We thought it must have rained a couple of inches during the night.

Little did we realize how wrong we were.

As we walked through Buckskin on our way to the dining hall for breakfast we began to realize how much it had actually rained overnight. The lower-lying campsites had been flooded. Dozens of campers has drenched gear and soaked sleeping bags.

The worst damage had been done to Ten Chiefs Camp, located south of Buckskin. The road through Ten Chiefs crossed streams on each end of the camp. Both of these creeks had overflowed their banks during the night and had washed out the road on both ends of camp. Ten Chiefs had, temporarily, become an island. Food had to be brought to the campers by boat on that day.

The camp had received seven inches of rain during the storm. The water level of the lake had risen two inches.

The Boy Scouts and adults of Troop 68 that were staying in Tyler were very grateful that we had slept on a sandy and hilly campsite that night.