A Scoutmaster's Blog

Former President Gerald Ford, at age 93, has passed away. It was news that saddened me. He was the first president that I, as a teenager, really started paying attention to. I thought he was cool.

President Ford was our first and only president that was not elected to the office. He did not seek the position, but it found him. He accepted the duties and responsibilities and brought dignity back to the White House.

Some people have called him the accidental president, and in a way he was. Some called him the clumsy president. Every time he stumbled or fell we were able to see it on the evening news. Chevy Chase became a star on Saturday Night Live by mocking this former star college football player’s mishaps. President Ford was the lucky president, surviving two assassination attempts.

President Ford was also the healing president. After the lies and scandals of the Nixon presidency, Ford brought openness, dignity, and honesty back to the office. He was well liked by both Republicans and Democrats. During his brief term he helped the country put Watergate and the Vietnam War behind us and began to move this great country forward once again.

A lesser known and sometimes forgotten fact is that President Ford was a Boy Scout in his youth. In fact, he was an Eagle Scout, the only one to ever serve as President of the United States. When he became the president he brought his Scouting values with him to the office – trustworthy, loyal, kind, cheerful, and brave. He did his duty to God and country. He kept himself physically strong, stayed mentally awake, and was always morally straight.

Unfortunately, President Ford did not win the next election to remain president. Fortunately, he did not forget his Scouting roots. He narrated a video supporting Boy Scouting, its ideal, and values. I wish I still had a copy of the video. It would be great to see it again.

With the passing of President Ford not only has the country lost a great leader, but Scouting has lost a great role model, supporter, and friend.

“May the Great Master of all Scouts be with us until we meet again.” I hope the Great Master has accepted this great Scout into his great kingdom with open arms. I hope to meet him myself one day and share Scouting stories.

Hello friends of Scouting,

As the year comes to an end I want to take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Great New Year.

As many of you have come to realize during the past twelve months, I am heavily into Scouting. I also like to play with photography, video, and websites. Although I have been the webmaster for our Boy Scout troop’s site for over eight years this has been the first year dabbling with placing video on the internet. I have uploaded over forty Scouting related videos to youtube.com and to the new video section on our troop’s website. My collection of Scouting commercials and promotions is now online, along with several short clips of Scouts from my troop doing skits and songs during their annual community Laughs For Lunch Show. I shall continue to post more as they become available to me.

I have also experimented with making videos with a puppet I like to call Buttons, the radical Boy Scout. Making the four videos has been fun, as much fun as seeing the number of views climb as people watch them. The best part of the videos that feature Buttons has been the emails from people telling me how much they and their children have enjoyed them. Keep an eye out for more of Buttons. I have three more videos planned for him to star in.

This has also been my first year experimenting with blogging (online journal). I have been trying to write at least one blog a week. It has been great to see that some people have actually been reading “A Scoutmaster’s Blog”. In fact, it has become one of the most hit pages on our troop’s website. The real surprise came when I discovered that a couple of my entries had been mentioned on other websites. I have heard that most blogs are discontinued after three months, so I guess I have already done better then most bloggers. If I see that people keep reading my blog, then I plan to keep writing entries to it.

I would like to thank all of you, my Scouting brothers and sisters, who have watched the videos and read the blogs. Your views and comments have made the work worthwhile.

May you all have a great Scouting New Year.

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!