Favorite Scouting Memories

[firstpusk]

My first son at his Eagle Court, my mother, my mother-in-law and my wife with tears in their eyes.

 

My younger son and all the other scouts making me proud of the teamwork they built on JLTC staff this summer. It is good being Course Director.

 

On the St. Croix, watching an eagle almost take a fish within 15 feet of the canoe of two of the younger scouts. My brother and I were the sweep and we chuckled as the scouts stopped paddling and talking stared in absolute awe.(This message has been edited by firstpusk)

[Tamegonit Arrowman]

My favorite Scouting memory is going through the Ordeal...that was a great experience...

[red feather]

Oh, boy this is interesting. Hope the way back machine is working....

 

as a youth:

 

one overnight that was so cold we had to stay near a very large fire all night to stay warm

 

helping carry my dads vw bug out of the mud after it got stuck during an overnight

 

helping rescue a climber who had fallen and was badly hurt

 

being called to join Mic-O-Say

 

earning my eagle and later having a COH named for me

 

going to natl jambo in 69 and intnl jambo in 71 did not realize what I had done until some years later. Then I was a little stunned

 

helping shear sheep to earn my Animal Husbandry merit badge

 

as as adult:

 

watching my sons grow

 

the overnight when the topic around the adult campfire was farts (had to be there)

 

seeing my boys tapped into Mic-O-Say and eventually both earning their Runner

 

going canoeing in the Boundary Waters

 

seeing the many scouts over the years grow up and become fine young men, true returns

 

watching a scout run in his sleeping bag to get away from a tree frog

 

so many to list, but thank you for making me think of them all

 

yis

[bsat4jb]

(This message has been edited by bsat4jb)

[bsat4jb]

Earning my Arrow of Light

 

Placing second in the Pinewood Derby with a gold colored arrow shaped car called..what else? The Arrow of Light

 

Crossing over into Boy Scouts

 

Earning my First class with my then best friend

 

Serving two terms as Troop Guide and helping the new guys advance

 

Seeing the hole in the bottom of a hammock.( ok, I'll explain. At my last summer camp, I was about the only person who didn't waste twelve bucks on a cheap hammock from the camp trading post. One day, I came back from COPE class and everyone was making fun of [name deleted to protect privacy]. I asked what happened, and apparently he had been laying in a hammock when two guys started swinging him. He went higher and higher until finally that cheap hammock couldn't hold him anymore, so the bottom fell out and he went flying! He was ok, but it made a great story.)

 

Snipe hunting

 

Hiking the Pine Mountain Trail and 16 miles of the Appalachian Trail in preparation for Philmont

(going next summer)

 

Making one third of the cost of Philmont on a single fundraiser

 

Helping the young scouts build a "catapult" out of scout staves. It launched a bag containing two cups of flour all of three feet.

 

Going through OA Ordeal

 

Getting Brotherhood

 

Being elected Chapter Chief in my chapter(no one else ran...maybe I should have said "no" more than six times? But it has been fun. I may actually "run" next year!lol)

 

Being on two OA ceremony teams(pre-ordeal and Brotherhood)

 

Naming my JLTC patrol the "Alabama Chrome" patrol(that's duct tape for you yankees)and making our flag almost entirely out of... again, what else? Duct tape!

 

Thats about all for now, but there are so many more that I can't remember

 

YIS, JB

[packsaddle]

Heavy canvas tents without floors or netting. Shivering through fall/winter nights with just a thin blanket (that's how the cowboys did it in the movies), sleeping pads were unknown to us. Homemade packframe built from steel conduit. Heavy canvas backpacks with no hipbelts. Competitions in the Scout Expositions (these don't seem to occur anymore, at least not around here). Skinny-dipping in cold mountain streams (nope, I wasn't a 'bankwalker'). Catching, cooking, eating nearly every form of wildlife we could see in the woods, no utensils...and liking it because we were hungry. Hiking to the river to play on the dam (100' tall unguarded spillway) to throw rocks at the carp and gar below. Catching the the same fish stranded below after a flood, cooking and eating them on the spot, again no utensils (yes, carp and gar ARE good to eat).

[Overtrained]

Although I have many, there is one that stands out.

 

I was at the National Explorer Congress in Washington DC. The night of the big elections, I wandered into the auditorium to watch people setting up. The National Officers were all on stage rehearsing when my Exploring Executive walked up behind me and said, "You'll be up there one day"

 

I had no such aspirations but the seed was planted. Two years later I was on that stage.

 

Coincidently, my advisor, while a was a national officer, was my PTC instuctor a few weeks ago. Hadn't seen him in twenty years.