Scoutmaster253

The quick answer is: Yes and No:-) Depending on where you get your tour permit,(regional or local)the rules might change. What I have read from National is that staying within 50 miles of AP Hill during the Jambo is "forbiden" by National Office. And remember, the Jambo is 10 days long. Another complication for visitors is the security issue. If the national threat level is at four or five, AP Hill will not allow visitors into the Jamboree. Those already inside will be ok, or so I am told. In any event, try to visit the jambo,it is a great experience!

One thing that we should ALL keep in mind... thosee people "at national" that you all are referringto are by and large VOLUNTEERS, just like you and me. Yes things get lost, and yes it takes months for even the simplest things to get accomplishe, sometimes, but I know that the folks involved "at national" or "regional", or at "council", are doing their best. They just have different priorities than you do.

I believe National will have a visitor's patch for sale, because they would be throwing away big bucks to NOT have one. And National has never missed a chance to make a few bucks from patch sales. I am troubled by the emphasis on the patches. The jamboree is intended as a celebration of scouting, brotherhood, scouting values, and much, much more. For me, to focus so much of our time on these artifacts detracts from the event. I do wish that every scout could go to the Jamboree, but before I feel sorry for them, I remind myself that every scout has an equal opportunity to go if they only acted early enough, or if they worked hard enough. Today, the Jamboree STILL needs hundreds of youth and adults staffer to man the various events and activities. Too young to go as staff in 2005? Get ready to go in 2010. And start preparing TODAY.

wxfcstr You asked about patches... from what I have heard and seen in our council contingent meetings, the patches for particpant youth and participant adults are almost identical (same colors including the border)except that the adult patches are about 1/4 inch larger in diameter. I have not seen the Staff version, nor have I seen the Visitor version, but I am confident that they will still have these variations as they have done in the past. I am sure that the visitor versions will be for sale in the online Jambo trading post, when it goes on line, and at the Jamboree proper. The 50 mile rule was made before my time, but it is as you surmised, to discourage non-participant troops from visiting the Jambo day after day, because they are staying just across the street. More later.

Bob White said: "Since they were gained under the scouting program the local councils has a claim as well ..." I disagreewith this point. Unless the council has played a substantial role in financing or otherwise directly providing the equipment fora new unit, Ibelieve that they have no claim what so ever on the gear. A scout unit belongs to the Chartering Organization, and the local council may only approve or deny the right of a CO to have a troop. Beyond that the council and the district are only active as support functions,providing training, program assistance, etc, and the CO is responsible for using the scouting materialsto provide an outdoor program to its youth.

The web site says 50 miles which doesn't make much sense. First they tell you to visit and then go see other stuff but they say, "don't stay nearby." So if you want to visit DC and see the Jamboree, you need to stay waaaay far away from one or both. Stay so far away that you have to spend half the day driving. 50 miles from AP hill is Richmond, Alexandria, and Manassas, Va. Does this mean that a troop from Manassas can't go camping at the local park? F.O.G. FYI: Alexandriais 72 miles from AP Hill, and Mannassas is 68 miles from AP Hill. Only scouts from Richmond (49.2 miles from AP Hill) would be inconvenienced if they tried to camp localy for those ten days in 2005. Thanks for making me check.

Bob, The BSA Jamboree Newsletter #1 states that "Every day from July 27 thru Aug 1 the Jamboree will be open for visitors". The BSA says we'll have visitors, and I am sure they asked the military if it was OK. Yes, I recognize that the military runs the joint and that the world is a lot less predictable than it was in July 2001, but let's try to not be so pessimistic, shall we? Besides, if someone wanted to 'invade' the camp, they'd sneak in by hiding inside one of the contingent Troop's equipment trailers, not a visitor's minivan.

Visitors are welcome at the Jamboree, except for the first and last days. The vast majority of things happening at the Jamboree are open to everybody. Only the "Outback Centers" and "Activity Areas" are restricted to participant scouts. Each Region has one of each Outback and Activity areas. BTW: Neither the contingent Scoutmasters or Jambo staffers took part in any of these activities, to avoid increasing a scout's waiting time. All participants are issued a color coded ID Badge which serves as the entrance pass for a scout wanting to do an activity. Anyone without a card, or presenting a card from another region, would be denied entrance to an Outback or Activity area. It might be that the 50 mile rule is no longer needed, if the ID badge worked as it was supposed to. WIthout the badges, there is nothing to stop a 'home' troop form driving to VIrginia, camping across the road from the AP hill gate, and coming into the jamboree each day to particpate as was common at past jamborees! Luckily, mother nature helps us here. After a couple days in the heat and dust of central Virginia it became very easy to tell a visitor from a participant... the visitors were wearing their class A's in the middle of the day, and they are clean!

F.O.G. re artifical rules: You can believe what you want, but I believe that if a unit would attempt to submit a tour permit (which we all do, right?) to camp within 50 or 60 miles of AP Hill during the jamboree, it would be denied, and the unit would have to find somewhere else to camp. I am sorry if that inconviniences a unit from Manassass or DC. The intent of the rule is to allow the 40,000 scouts from around the country, and the world, who sold a ton of popcorn to make their way to the Jamboree to have the best experience possible. Waiting in a que behind two dozen scouts who are "just visiting" is not what the contingent scouts signed up for. The lines are long enough with just the participants. As a contingent Scoutmaster in 2001, and again in 2005, I am glad that National is making the tough decisions for the good of the jamboree experience.

Our council (Great Trail, Akron, Ohio) has had a University of Scouting event for many years and it is always well attended (300-350 people). As a committee member, we review the attendance numbers for each class, and make changes if attendance is poor. We usually change about 5-10% of the classes per year, to keep things fresh. Check out the council web page (http://www.gtcbsa.org/) for last year's class offerings. It seems like the courses that deal with food (dutch oven cooking) are always a big hit. :-) Brian