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I was fortunate to be selected as a 2nd ASM for one of our council's contingent troops. I attended a NJ in 1973 as a youth and had sent my two eldest sons together to the 2005 NJ. This time, I sent my youngest, who just made the cutoff (12th birthday in June)and was the youngest in his troop. While he was among those that we had concerns about entering the Jambo, he passed with flying colors, as did many of the others. The ones that seemed to have the most difficult time were the most surprising. There is a challenge to long-term camp with 36 boys who have not worked together for more than a weekend outting or two. Our adult leaders and youth leaders did a marvelous job of providing leadership where needed and following the patrol method. I was very proud of the troop, as well as my son. We may have to discuss another run in 2013 at the Summit.