A Scoutmaster's Blog

Boy Scout Troop 68 really did not have a regular meeting place during its first year in 1980, so we would sometimes have our meetings in the clubroom of our sponsor, VFW Post 7050. It worked out fairly well but the boys could not play any rough and tumble games there. Some parents did not think it was very appropriate to hold Boy Scout meetings next to the VFW’s bar but we really did not have many choices at the time.

The year of 1980 was the first full year of the newly reformed Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 which had started up in December of 1979. I joined up with the troop in April as a nineteen year old assistant scoutmaster. There was about 15 youth in the troop at the time, ranging in age from 11 to 13 years old. There was not much of a planned program that first year. We planned things from month to month, but soon we began doing yearly planning with the boys doing most of the planning.

The troop’s first camping trip was held during the summer at Uhlenkolts Lake, located about six miles from town. The grass was knee high when we arrived. It did not take long before we were pulling off the wood ticks. Lots of wood ticks. One boy came up with the idea of collecting all the ticks in a soda can which we then threw into the evening campfire. We could hear the popping sounds as the ticks exploded in the heat.

Once it was dark we placed the boys throughout the woods for a snipe hunt. Yeah, I know, we can not do that in today’s Scouting program, but back then it was not a big deal. One of the boys claimed he almost caught one of the elusive birds.

It was only a one night camping trip but for many of the boys I believe it was the first time camping without their family.

The troop did not attend a week of summer camp in 1980. There had not been enough time to prepare for it.

In August, the troop went on a one day canoe trip down the Sauk River which runs through Melrose. The boys and the adults had a great time. We even did a little fishing and swimming. Did we follow the safe swim and safety afloat guidelines? I don’t think so. I do not think anyone even knew about those guidelines yet. That came later after we attended training.

The troop attended the fall camporee at Parker Scout Reservation in September. In addition to the various activities, I remember waiting in line for Saturday’s supper and our troop receiving a ribbon during the Saturday evening campfire program. But the thing I remember most is the great egg war that involved three troops.

There was a short time Saturday during which the Scouts had free time. Some of the boys wanted to play catch but no one had thought to bring a ball to camp. A suggestion was made to use an egg. The campsite was shared by three troops so more boys began joining the game. The circle began to grow. The boys began tossing the eggs the more force. Some boys became too cautious about catching the breakable missiles. After a couple eggs were broken a few rules were made. One was that if you threw an egg too hard and the egg broke the catcher of the egg would get to throw an egg back at you.

The rules worked for awhile. Until someone threw an egg hard at another guy. Of course, the egg broke so the other Scouts were egging him on to throw an egg back. One Scout even ran off to fetch another egg to throw. Anticipation was high. Would the Scout through the egg back or not? I did not think he would. Until he did! That set off the egg battle. Scouts ran back to their camps to fetch the round white breakable ammo. By the time it was over three troops were nearly out of eggs for Sunday breakfast.

Luckily, no one got hurt, but it sure did make a mess.

After supper on Saturday, the Order of the Arrow set up several “carnival” style activities to keep the Scouts busy until the evening’s Call Out ceremony was scheduled to begin. Stations included activities like throwing a ball to knock down the stacked blocks, throwing a football through a hoop, and throwing darts at balloons. Candy prizes were given to Scouts who were successful. There was even a softball game and an Ultimate frisbee game being played.

The four Boy Scouts from Troop 68 were having fun going from one station to the next. Just before the stations were closed down for the evening we walked by a station which caught the boys attention. Two Scouts would stand on a 2×4 piece of lumber and then try to push or pull the other Scout off balance. The first to step off the 2×4 and place his foot on the ground lost the game. The winner stayed on the board to accept a new challenger.

A female troop leader had been playing the game with the boys and had won several contests. She was a larger woman and did have weight on her side, but the boys only saw that as a greater challenge. One of my 14 year old Scouts decided to get in line to give it his best shot.

When it came time to face her on the board he seemed to have a few second thoughts. How was he going to get her off the 2×4 when so many before him had failed? He finally decided to charge her with his shoulder down, hoping that brute force would knock her off. She caught him in a near bear hug and threw him off to the side. He laid there for a moment, accepted her hand to help him up, smiled, and then cracked a joke as he rejoined his buddies. We walked back to the barracks to get ready for the Order of the Arrow call out.

As we were changing into our uniforms this Scout went off to the bathroom. When he returned, he told me that he was not feeling well, had just thrown up, and had a bad headache. I told him to lay down for awhile and asked my assistant scoutmaster to sit with him while I took the other three boys to the OA call out. On the way to the call out I met the same woman who had challenged the Scout on the 2×4. She happened to be walking with the camp nurse so I asked them if they would go up to our bay and check the Scout who was not feeling well.

When the three boys and I arrived back to our bay after the ceremony we discovered that a few council people and the nurse were hovering near the bed of the ill Scout. The nurse said that the Scout had a concussion. The council staff had already phoned his mother and they all thought that we should take him to a nearby hospital in Little Falls to have him checked out. When the Scout tried to sit up to go to the car he got very dizzy and his head pain increased. His vision was blurred. He immediately laid back down. Oh no, did he have a neck injury also? We decided that it was time to call for an ambulance, just in case it was worse then we thought.

As a scoutmaster you never like to see anyone get hurt although you know the small chance of it happening is always there. You hope that there will never be anything more then a skinned knee or a little bruise. When something like this happens you think about the worst, but are hoping for the best. I tell you, it is almost like being a parent.

To make a long story short, I rode along in the ambulance to the hospital so that he had someone with him that he knew. The hospital staff asked him a lot of questions, attached five electrodes to his chest to check his vital signs, did a cat-scan of his head, and sent the scan to a hospital in Australia. After an hour in the emergency room they determined that he did indeed have a concussion, but nothing more. He uncle, who had met us at the hospital, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Since the Scout was feeling a little better they released him to his uncle’s care with instructions on what to watch for over the next day or two. I went back to Camp Ripley with another Scouter who had followed the ambulance to the hospital.

The council staff, the first aid and venture staff, the paramedics, and the hospital staff all did a great job. Everyone stayed calm and professional. But it was a bit of excitement that none of us really needed, especially the Scout himself.

By the way, I visited with the Scout and his mother Sunday evening when I dropped off his gear from the weekend. He still had a bit of a headache and a little tunnel vision, but he was doing much better and seemed to be almost back to his usual self. His mother was going to take him to her doctor on Monday to make sure everything was going well.

Saturday morning at the Central Minnesota Council’s Ripley Rendezvous started out well. The Boy Scouts awoke, got dressed, and made it to the dining hall a little early for a great breakfast of french toast, scrambled eggs, and sausage links. Even the weather was cooperating. The forecast had been for a wet cool day but the sun was shining through partly cloudy skies.

The day quickly soured for the Scouts of Troop 68 when we discovered the program schedule had changed. Our Scouts, who were all 14 years old and older, had registered for the Outdoors Experience program which was to introduce them to the various high adventure bases and have them participate in team building exercises. It sounded like it would have been a good program, but it did not happen. The people in charge of the Outdoors Experience had backed out of the activity too late for a new program to be planned in its place.

So our boys were placed into the First Class Adventure program, designed for 11 and 12 year old Scouts who were working on their Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class Ranks. This was a big mistake. Within 45 minutes my Scouts were so bored they decided to head back to the barracks. I now had four teenage boys on a military base with nothing to do. Not a good situation. I needed to get them in a program fast or we may as well load up the gear and head home.

I walked to the event’s headquarters and just happened to catch most of the event’s leadership in the office. I calmly explained my troop’s situation, that the boys and I were pretty disappointed, and that we were thinking about going home. They understood the problem, made a quick phone call, and were able to get the boys transferred to the range program if I was able to drive the boys to the site which was a few miles away from the barracks area. I agreed, went back to the barracks to talk to the boys, and soon found myself driving the Scouts to their new activity. The boys spent the rest of the morning rotating between the archery, rifle, shotgun, and black powder stations. The rain stayed away. The sun kept shining. The boys had a good time.

We returned to the barracks with two hours of free time before supper would be served so we decided to visit the Camp Ripley Military Museum. This became a highlight of the weekend as the boys looked at the uniforms and weapons used by the National Guardsmen over the generations through the wars. They were also able to climb onto many of the tanks and military vehicles that were on display outside of the museum.

A potentially bad day had turned out well. Unfortunately, the day was not yet over, and the worse was yet to come…
(To be continued.)

This year’s Central Minnesota Ripley Rendezvous proved to be challenging for me as the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68. It almost felt like Murphy’s Law was trying to prove to me that it still applies even after nearly three decades of being with the troop.

The troop originally had five Boy Scouts and three adults registered for the annual event. Four days before the outing I received a phone call from the father who had planned to attend. Due to a family matter that came up he had to back out. My assistant scoutmaster and I still were still going so we were still covered in the two deep leadership department.

A few days before the event I got a phone call from the oldest Scout of the troop telling me he would not be attending. A Scout who did not register in time but wanted to attend filled in this spot after a few calls were made. Then, a few hours before we were to leave, I received a call from a mother who explained that her son had been sick for the last two days and would not be able to attend the outing. That brought our total to two adults and four Boy Scouts.

Another small snag occurred as we gathered to leave on Friday night. When one of the Scouts discovered his buddy was sick and not going along he suddenly decided he was not going to Ripley either. His mother said he was going. He said he was not. But after I had a short talk with him he decided to go along. (He ended up having a good time.)

Checking in at Camp Ripley was quick and painless. The council had send out an email with information so we already knew which building in which we would be staying. It was a simple matter of checking in with the barracks supervisor. Each of the barracks had eight bays, four on the main floor and four on the second floor, each with 23 cots. We were assigned to Bay 6 which was located on the second floor. We would be sharing the bay with two other troops.

The evening program went pretty well. Lights-out was scheduled for 11:00. The third troop in our bay had arrived late in the evening and were not quite ready when the time came for lights out. At 11:15 I announced to the bay that the lights would be going off in five minutes. All the Scouts were ready by then, but the other troop’s adults needed another minute. Finally, it was time to sleep.

Well, maybe not. The boys in the next bay were still yelling at each other and creating a lot of noise. After five minutes of listening to this I got out of bed, walked to the next bay (which had the lights out), and announced to the boys that a Scout is courteous and that they should be in bed and quiet so that everyone could get some sleep. I walked back to my bay and crawled into my sleeping bag. In five minutes there was nothing but silence from both of the bays.

As I laid on my cot I thought to myself, “Why didn’t the adult leadership in the other bay take responsibility to keep their boys quiet?” I should not have had to tell their boys to go to sleep. I felt like the grumpy old scoutmaster that I never had wanted to be. Oh well, it was quiet now. Time to get some sleep for the next day.

Little did I know what surprises were in store for me the next day…
(To be continued)

The Cub Scouts of the Central Minnesota Council will have quite a surprise when they attend Day Camp this year the Parker Scout Reservation. The medieval them will come to life like never before with the completion of the new Miller Castle. Yeah, you read that correctly. A castle! Complete with a courtyard surrounded by masonry walls and towers at the corners.

During last night’s district roundtable we were shown pictures of the nearly completed castle. I will not lie. I was impressed. From the masonry exterior to the medieval decor on the interior of the building it appears to have captured the feel of the “knights of old” very well.

Of course, the castle includes all of today’s modern conveniences. The building is well insulated and heated for year round use. It has a large modern kitchen and a large “commons” room for dining and activities. There are separate bathroom and shower facilities for the youth and adults. A “barracks”, complete with bunk beds, is available for troops and packs who wish to use the building for overnight stays. The basement adds one more storm shelter to the camp, in addition to a large storage area for program materials.

I am looking forward to going to Parker this spring and touring the castle. I believe it will be a great addition to the camp and will help to increase the number of Scouts, packs, and troops who use the facilities.

Pictures of the Miller Castle can be seen at our council’s website at http://www.bsacmc.org .

Today, the Boy Scouts of Troop 68 will participate in the yearly LPMRB outing. It is a twelve hour activity extravaganza that is very popular with the boys.

The outing begins with a few hours of rollerskating at a local roller rink in St. Cloud. “Rollerskating?” you ask. Yes, rollerskating, or inline skating. The boys still enjoy getting out once a year to skate. The younger boys learn how to skate while the older boys like to do some socializing. It is still a great social activity.

After the work-out at the roller rink, the troop heads to their favorite pizza place for supper. We have discovered that four boys per large pizza seems to work out well. As we eat, the Scouts review the day at the rink and talk about other subjects interesting to the life of teenage boys.

One topic that must be discussed is which movie to see when we leave the pizzeria. Of course, this being a Scout activity, no R rated movies will be allowed. A PG-13 movie could be allowed depending on the reason for the movie, and how strong that reason is. For some reason, I do not think that the new movie Twilight will be high on the list today. I think we will be going to the new James Bond flick.

The final activity of the day is Midnight Bowling at the local bowling alley. This will take place from 11:30 pm to 1:00 am. I am amazed by how much energy the boys still have at this point of the day. (Of course, some Mountain Dew helps things along.) They are usually still going strong, looking to bowl that perfect game, or at least get a strike on their score sheet.

I have heard from many parents over the years that the boys fall asleep quickly once they arrive at home. They usually sleep as late as they are allowed on Sunday morning.

I will admit that this is not your typical Boy Scout outing, but it is a part of our boy-planned yearly program. It is an activity that most of the boys enjoy, and it is very well attended. In fact, nine of the ten members of the troop will be going along today. It has proven to be a good one-day activity for these Minnesota winter months.