A Scoutmaster's Blog

It has been awhile since I have placed a slideshow of Troop 68 on the blog, so let’s go back to 1983 for a look at what the troop was up to nearly thirty years ago. (Sometimes, I find it hard to believe I have been a leader of the troop for that long.) There are 111 photographs in this set.

This year’s closing arena program at the BSA’s 2010 National Jamboree was “totally awesome”, as Buttons would say. The Boy Scouts and adult leaders were entertained by Alex Boyé (who sang “Born To Be A Scout” from Scout Camp, The Movie”, national recording artist Switchfoot, and Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs. I watched the show online, and to tell the truth, it made me wish I was there to experience it.

I attended the 2001 National Jamboree. Our closing arena show was postponed one night due to storms moving through the area. Unfortunately, the acts and guests that were scheduled to appear, including President Bush, were not able to make it the following evening. The show became a program presented and performed by the participants at the Jamboree, just like a council camporee campfire program. And to tell the truth, it turned out to be a great closing program.

I recently came across a bit of information that caught my attention about the 1953 National Jamboree and discovered the arena shows featured well known Hollywood stars including Jane Powell, Hank Ritter, Debbie Reynolds, Will Rogers Jr., and Danny Kaye. But the person that really caught my eye was the emcee of the show, Bob Hope! I had no idea that Bob Hope had a connection to Boy Scouting.

I did some quick research on the internet and discovered that Bob Hope must have had a great relationship with the BSA. The Boy Scouts of America bestowed their highest honor on Bob Hope by presenting him with the Silver Buffalo Award. I do not think many people living today in Hollywood can boast about receiving that award.

I also discovered that Bob Hope starred in a movie, titled The Great Lover, in which he was the Scout leader for a group of Boy Scouts during a cruise. According to one description of the movie, “Mr. Hope stars as Freddie Hunter, a reporter who is chaperoning a troop of scouts aboard a ocean liner. The scouts see it as their duty to save Freddie from himself by making sure he doesn’t smoke, drink or enjoy the hug of a woman “other than his Mom”. The fact that the head boy of the troop is the son of Freddie’s boss doesn’t help Freddie when he decides to flirt with the Duchess Alexandria. But women are the least of Freddie’s troubles. There is a killer on board. This killer decides to frame Freddie for his murderous deeds. Fortunately, there is a detective on board, hot on the trail of the true murderer, but wait, Freddie discovers the body of the murdered detective. How will Freddie prove his innocence?”

Unfortunately, many of today’s Boy Scouts probably do not know who Bob Hope was, and how he was so much more than a Hollywood star. In his own way he was a fantastic leader in this country. He was always one of my favorites when I was young, and know that I now he was a great supporter of the Scouting program, he just went up another notch in my book.

As a followup to the previous blog article I thought it would be nice to know which presidents have attended BSA National Jamborees.

Following are presidents that have attended National Jamborees:
1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt
1950 – Harry Truman
1960 – Dwight D. Eisenhower
1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson
1989 – George Bush
1997 – Bill Clinton
2005 – George Bush

In 2001, George Bush was unable to attend due to inclement weather on the night originally scheduled, and had a schedule conflict on the rescheduled night. Ronald Regan’s 2nd polyp surgery was July 13, 1985 – before the Jamboree (July 24 – 30). He hosted a State Dinner July 23, followed by a trip to Camp David, so would have been well enough to travel.

I would like to thank “Be_Prepared” from the Scouter.com forums for this information.

I will never forget the Hiking Skill Award. “Why?” you ask. Because back in the 1980’s, while on an overnighter at a local state park, I decided to take the troop on a five mile hike to complete a requirement for this skill award. And we got lost. The five mile hike turned into an eight mile hike. Luckily, we found someone to drive us back to our campsite. It was not a high point for a young scoutmaster. I guess you could say I learned a few things myself from that particular hike.

The requirements for the Hiking Skill Award were:

1) Tell how to take a safe hike:
a. Cross country, day and night.
b. Along a highway, day and night.

2) a. Tell how to keep from getting lost.
b. Tell what to do if you are lost.

3) a. On a map, point out 10 different symbols, including contour lines. Tell what they represent.
b. Orient a map.
c. Point out on a map where you are.

4) a. Show how a compass works.
b. Give its eight principle points.

5) a. Show how to use a compass and a map together.
b. Using a compass and a map together, follow a route you marked on the map far enough to show you know how.

6) Take a hike in the field.
a. Before leaving, have your plan approved by your leader, including purpose, route, and clothing.
b. Take a five mile hike with your troop, patrol, or two or more other Scouts. Wear the right clothing. Take the right equipment. Follow good hike rules.

7) Take a hike in your town.
a. Before leaving, have your plan approved by your leader, including purpose, route, and clothing.
b. Take a five mile hike in a place of interest outside your neighborhood with your troop, patrol, an adult, or two or more other Scouts. Wear the right clothing. Take the right equipment. Follow good hike rules.
c. After you get back, tell what you did and learned.

(There was alternative requirements for Scouts who used a wheelchair or crutches.)

The following is an excerpt from the journal I kept during my Boy Scout troop’s trek through Philmont Scout Ranch in 1986:

Ute Springs Camp was the smallest of the various camps at which we stayed.  The site we chose was quite small.  A little trickle of a stream bordered the east side.  The south and west sides were rimmed by steep hills.  The sloped gradually upward toward larger site which the PA group was using.  The stream had to be crossed to get back to the trail from the site.

Ute Springs was so small that we decided to leave the tents packed and sleep under the dining fly.  By adding a tent fly to each end of the dining fly we increased the sheltered area enough for everyone to sleep under and have enough room left to store out packs.  It was pretty nice little idea.

A commissary and trading post was located a half mile down the main trail from the camp.  We collected our next four day s worth of trail food there.  Everyone also stocked up on batteries and junk food.

The scouts had a surprise for me when we got to camp.  The commissary had a “swap box,” placed outside the door.  Crews could swap food they did not care for for foods that other crews had left behind. When I was not watching the Scouts traded some of the food we didn’t like. In the trade they picked up a couple of boxes of tomato flavored cup-a-soup since they knew there were some meals coming up that I did not care to eat. I thought to myself that this act of consideration was quite thoughtful of the guys. It also restored my confidence in them regarding thinking about others.

The campfire program we held at Ute Springs was quite unique from others we had held. We set the stage for a reunion of our crew members which was to be held in twenty years at this very campsite. Each person would give an account of the last twenty years of his life. All life accounts had to be fairly believable.

Scott volunteered to be the first Scout to arrive for the reunion. According to the scenario, he had already made camp by the time the rest of us had arrived, one by one.  The guys were a bit confused as to how they should enter camp as if twenty years had past so I set the stage by entering the campsite “first”. Brian came in next. Jeff and Robert came in together having met along the way. Gerry was the last to arrive. When he walked into camp we all busted out laughing. He looked and walked exactly the way his father does. It was uncanny. We exchanged greetings and handshakes as each person arrived. Each of us found a place to sit around the campfire. Then the stories began.

Gerry was the first to tell about his life “since he left the troop.” When his wife received the invitation in the mail regarding the reunion she had had to contact him at his archeological dig in Africa. He left the dig site, and the 500 workers, in the care of his assistants. Gerry’s wife had already written two lusty novels and was currently working on a third. Her first novel, Sex Under The Eucalyptus Tree, was a bestseller. They have son, who they have named Gerry.

Brian is a staff sergeant in the army. He is currently stationed in West Germany. He has fifteen years of military experience and plans to retire from the army in other five years. He hopes to receive a government job after his stay with the army. Brian has remained unmarried and has no children.

I live in California with my wife and four children, three boys and one girl. My sons, ages 15, 13, and 9, are all involved with Scouting. I hold the committee chairperson position of their troop. Several years ago, I sold my shares in the three lumber years I had a partnership in, and started producing movies. My first films, Rocks Of The Piedmont and The Red Bandanna, broke even at the box office. The next project I will work on involves the adventures of a troop of Boy Scouts.

Robert has chosen Montana as his home. He and his wife are raising two children, and boy and a girl. Robert has always been interested in cars. His automobile collection includes fifteen cars, one of which is a Lambourgine(?). His three auto body shops keep him quite busy.

Jeff is still unmarried. Ann, his girlfriend while he was a Scout, dropped him in his senior year for a basketball player. Florida is were Jeff calls home. He works at a school for handicapped children where he receives a lot of pleasure from working with the kids. He has adopted two children, one boy and one girl. Both kids are handicapped. Jeff spends as much time with them as he can. They often go to amusement parks, museums, or other fun places in his 1986 black Jaguar.

Scott, his wife, son, and daughter have made a home in Texas. He owns his own architectural firm which is doing quite well.

It will be interesting to look each other up in twenty years and see how close these predictions came to real life.

Tonight was Jeff’s turn for the first bear watch. Robert agreed to stand watch with Jeff if Jeff would do the same for him. They woke me up at 11:00 for my turn. I was tired, and did not want to get up, so I traded watches with Robert as long as he was already up anyway.

Thirty minutes later our camp was hit by a downpour. Jeff and Robert scrambled for shelter under the fly. Within minutes small streams were flowing down the hills, and we were in their paths. Everyone was moving gear and sleeping bags to drier spots. The plastic ground cloths were repositioned to to keep the water from flowing over them.

Gerry missed it all. Once again he was unwakeable. He never saw the rivers of water as they past below our plastic sheets on their way to the stream on our east side.   Fifteen minutes later I too was asleep. Needless to say, bear watches were canceled for the rest of the night.

As we expected, our gear was drenched in the morning. Within a few minutes over two hundred feet of rope was stretched between the trees. Sleeping bags, foam pads, clothes and ground cloths were hung on every available foot of line. We waited as long as we could before repacking it, but it was not long enough to dry everything completely. There was a good chance that we would be sleeping in damp bags tonight.

This and other Philmont journals and photo galleries can be found at http://melrosetroop68.org/highadventure.html

Footnote: It has been over 20 years since that night at the campfire. Gerry still lives in the area but the rest have moved away from Melrose. Robert stops by for a visit a couple times a year. Jeff and Scott live near the Twin Cities. I have not seen either of them for years. Brian is the only one who came close to doing what he said he would do. He did actually enter the military and made a career of it. I think I have seen him twice since he graduated from high school.

The First Aid Skill Award was required for the Second Class Rank back in the 1970’s through the 1980’s, which meant that most Boy Scouts earned this belt loop. It covered basic first aid skills. Many of these requirements ended up somewhere in the new rank requirements of 1989. The First Aid Skill Award requirements were:

1) a. Explain what first aid is. Tell how to act in case of an accident.
b. The dangers of moving a badly injured person.
c. Tell the best way to get medical help quickly. Show that you keep the names, addresses, and phone numbers for mediacl help were you can find them quickly.

2) a. Show how to treat shock.
b. Show what to do for “hurry cases” of serious bleeding, stopped breathing, interna; poisoning, heart attack.

3) Show first aid for the following cases: burns and scalds, blisters on feet, bites or stings of insects, chiggers, ticks,  bites of snakes and mammals, skin poisoning, sprained ankle, object in eye, nosebleed.

4) Explain first aid for puncture wounds from splinter, nails, or fishhook.

5) Use a bandage to hold a dressing in place on the head, hand, knee, and foot.

6) Make an arm sling.

7) Tell the five most common signs of a heart attack. Tell what action you should take.

By the way, depending on when you earned the skill award, you may have gotten a belt loop with a red cross or a green cross.

Before there was a Family Life merit badge there was the Family Living Skill Award. This skill award was not required for any of the ranks but could be used as an optional for Tenderfoot, Second Class, or First Class in the 1970’s through the 1980’s. Here are the requirements.

1) Tell what is meant by family, duty to family, and family council.

2) a. Make a chart listing the jobs you and family members have at home.
b. Talk with your family about other jobs you may take on for the next two months.

3) Show that you can look after yourself your family, and home. Do four of these:
a. Inspect your home and grounds. List any danger or lack of security seen. Tell how you corrected one.
b. Explain why garbage and trash must be disposed of properly.
c. Look after younger children for three hours. Use good health and safety practices.
d. List some things for which your family spends money. Tell how you can help your family in money matters.
e. Tell about what your family does for fun. Make a list of fun things your family might do at little cost. Do one of these with a member of your family.
f. Carry out a family energy saving fun.

4) Explain how you can get help quickly for these problems: medical, police, fire, utility, housing, serious family problem. Post a list of these directions in your home.

I find it interesting that even back in 1972, the year the skill awards where introduced to the Boy Scout advancement program, that energy conservation was a part of the program. Requirement number 4 would be pretty easy now. Just call 911 for most of those problems listed.

Only four skill awards are left First Aid, Hiking, Physical Fitness, and Swimming). Are you enjoying this review of the belt loops, or would you rather I move on to other things?

After six skill awards that began with the letter C (which is half of them, by the way) we arrive at the Environment Skill Award. Some of these requirements made it to the new rank requirements in the late 1980’s. Some of them almost seemed like they were preparing the Boy Scout for some of the environmental themed merit badges. Here are the requirements:

1) a. Tell what is meant by environment.
b. Describe how plant life, animal life, and environment relate to each other.
c. Explain the oxygen cycle.
d. Explain the water cycle.

2) Tell how sun, air, water, soil, minerals, plants, and animals produce food used by man.

3) a. Make a three hour exploration of a forest, field, park, wetland, lake shore, ocean shore, or desert. Make a list of plant and animal life you recognize.
b. In the outdoors, spot and name ten wild animals by site or sign (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, mollusks).
c. In the outdoors, spot and name ten wild plants.
d. Know how to identify poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac.

4) Do one:
a. Study a plot of ground, ten square feet. Report on the plants and animals you find.
b. Make a closed terrarium that includes animals, OR make an aquarium that includes both plants and animals.
c. Keep a daily weather record for at least two weeks. Tell how weather affects the environment.

5) Display at least six newspaper or magazine clippings on environment problems.

I can not help but think how easy it would be to compete that last requirement with all the oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico at the moment, and all the talk about global warming.