Posts Tagged ‘jamboree’


I was fortunate to be chosen as the scoutmaster of Troop 1417 for the B.S.A. 2001 National Jamboree. I had a great time at the event and shared it with a great troop of Boy Scouts and adult leaders from the Central Minnesota Council. I took home plenty of pictures and a lot of memories.

When I discovered that Boys’ Life magazine had created a video on VHS tape featuring many of the events and activities I had to buy it. Yes, you read that correctly. It was a VHS tape. DVDs had just arrived on the market but had not become popular in homes yet.

If I remember correctly, I bought the program as part of a three tape collection. Each tape featured a different Jamboree. The set included the events from 1993, 1997, and 2001. All three were created by Boys’ Life magazine.

I recently did a search on the Boys Life Scoutshop website and discovered that these videos are now available as DVDs. There are also DVDs available for the 2005 and 2010 Jamborees. If you wanted them all you could buy the set of 5 DVDs and save yourself a few bucks. You can find these at this link:

https://magazines.scoutshop.org/catalogsearch/result/?q=Boys%27+Life+Jamboree+Souvenir+DVD

Since I only have the VHS tapes I am very tempted to order the 5 disc set. The individual event DVDs sell for $11.95 each while the DVD set is only $40.00. That is like getting one event DVD for free!

I did not see any DVDs available for the 2013 and 2017 National Jamborees. I do not know if they made one for those events or not but there was not any listed on the website. That would be sad if there are not videos created for those two years.

Did you attend one of these Jamborees? Is this something you would consider buying? Leave a comment below and let us know of your opinion.

Five Boy Scouts and two adult leaders of Melrose Troop 68 joined nearly 3200 other Scouts and leaders for the 2011 Ripley Rendezvous. The event was held at the Camp Ripley National Guard Base in central Minnesota. Boy Scouts from all over Minnesota attended, along with some Boy Scouts from neighboring States and even Canada.

The program was divided into three activities areas, based on the age of the Scouts. The three activities were:
– Action Center Midway (60+ Displays, Demonstrations, Vendors and Hands-on Activities)
– Adventure Program (Shooting Sports and Voyageurs re-enactment group)
– Extreme (Climbing, Rappelling, Team Challenges, Biathlon Course, Military Demonstrations) – for Boy Scouts 14+ and Venturers.

Other highlights of the weekend were military displays and demonstrations, including live rounds fired by tanks, an arial photograph taken of the Scouts and leaders forming a huge fleur-de-lis (watch a future blog post for this picture), and the Camp Ripley Museum.

Saturday evening finished with a grand stage show that featured a band, singers, a comedian, a juggler, and acrobats. There was also a special presentation in which the commander of the Minnesota National Guard was given a Boy Scout banner signed by hundreds of Scouts and adult leaders. This banner will be sent overseas to one of our National Guard units to remind them that we appreciate everything they are doing and are sacrificing to keep us free and safe back home.

The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 had a great time at the Ripley Rendezvous. I believe I can safely say that all the Scouts and leaders that attended the event enjoyed themselves.

More photos of the event can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejb68/sets/72157625840936002/

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 am not afraid to say it. President Obama  has lost a few points of respect with me this week when he decided to join the five hosts of The View television show instead of talking to the 40,000 Boy Scout and leaders at the BSA National Jamboree.

I know, I know. Speaking at the National Jamboree is not in the President’s job description. He only does it if he wants to do it, and if his schedule allows it. But you know, he accepted the position of the honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America. Why wouldn’t he want to address the young men who are the future of our country. And do it live at the event?

I understand the Jamboree participants will watch a prerecorded message from President Obama. That is better than nothing. At least the Boy Scouts were worth his time to record a video.

I attended the 2001 National Jamboree. President Bush was scheduled to appear at a arena show to speak to us. Unfortunately, a storm went through the area and the show was postponed until the next evening. President Bush was not able to make it the following night so he recorded his message for us to watch on the big screens at the arena. (I personally did not mind watching the video. It saved us the time and trouble of going through presidential security.)

The difference between these two events was that President Bush made the effort to attend the Jamboree, where President Obama did not. It gives me the impression that he decided to sort of brush off the Boy Scouts.

Come on Mr. President! This is the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. You had a captive audience of nearly 40,000 young men of every race and background, the future of this great country. This event was not something that just came up suddenly. The planning for this Jamboree was going on for years. You could not find the time in your schedule to address the Scouts?

Yet, you could find time in your schedule to appear on a national daily talk show, and do some fundraising. This gave me the impression that being a celebrity is more important to you then being a leader of this country. And I know I am not the only person to feel this way.

Mr. President, you could have taped your talk show interview at any time. You only have one week to speak to the young men at the 100th anniversary BSA National Jamboree. In my humble opinion, you blew it.

Of course, this is my opinion and not the opinion of the Boy Scouts of America. I realize that not everyone shares my point of view. I also realize that the President will probably never read this blog post. But this is something that has been weighing on my mind this week so I wanted to write about it.

How to you feel about the President skipping a live appearance at the National Jamboree? Please keep your comments civil or I will delete them.

If you are involved with Boy Scouting in the United States you know that this is the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and the year of the 2010 National Jamboree. Council troops are currently putting the final touches on their plans to attend the event, and Boy Scouts and leaders are already planning what they will pack for the trip.

All this brings back memories of when I attended the 2001 National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia as the scoutmaster of Troop 1417 of the Central Minnesota Council. It also brought to mind that I have written about being a jamboree scoutmaster in previous posts to this blog. Check them out. They can be found at:

Jamboree Scoutmaster, Part 1 – http://www.melrosetroop68.org/blog/?p=47

Jamboree Scoutmaster, Part 2 – http://www.melrosetroop68.org/blog/?p=48

Jamboree Scoutmaster, Part 3 – http://www.melrosetroop68.org/blog/?p=49

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.