"Outside" Magazine article

[theysawyoucomin']

Has anybody read the article about the Boy Scout and how we hurt kids in the great outdoors?

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. Credit belongs to the one who is actually in the arena; whose fate is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself on a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt

 

Some journalist from Arizona wrote and of course there was a reference to the 3 G's

 

 

[SequoiaWDL]

I'm sorry to say I hunted down the article and read it. Rubbish. Myopic. I think you meant high school journalist. Is this rags demo real outdoorsy types or fenced in suburbanites? And am I an inadequate leader because I'm not and expert outdoorsman?

[BrentAllen]

Yes, just more anti-BSA manure. She really struggled to find a way to throw in the G issue. Good thing she isn't going to let her son join - she sounds like she would be Captain of an entire fleet of helicopter parents.

 

http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200707/boy-scouts-1.html

 

The Big Idea

Demerit Badge

Is Boy Scouts of America doing enough to keep kids safe?

 

By Annette McGivney

 

MY TEN-YEAR-OLD SON, Austin, likes to hike, camp, and climb. He toddled across the Alaskan tundra at age two, hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon at four, and floated the Green River at six. In other words, he's a perfect candidate for the Boy Scouts of America. In some corners of the country it would be considered unpatriotic not to sign him up. But here's the truth: I'd rather see Austin pierce his tongue than earn a merit badge.

 

My distrust of the Scouts reached a tipping point in March, when 12-year-old Michael Auberry, from Greensboro, North Carolina's Troop 230, disappeared while on a camping trip in the Blue Ridge Parkway. Fortunately, after a four-day search, Auberry was found alive and well. He'd wandered away from camp, it was later reported, and gotten lost.

 

I was relieved, of course, that Auberry emerged unhurt. But then I got angry. What irked me wasn't the incident itself but the way Scout leaders reacted. I had followed the Auberry story on the Associated Press news wire, reading regional and national coverage of the search. Instead of apologiesa kid had been lost, after allwhat I saw was a round of collective back-patting by Scout leaders across the country who proudly recounted how the wayward boy had used his Scout-taught survival skills. "Preparing kidsthat's our motto. That's what we do," Ely Brewer, of the Mid-Iowa Council of Boy Scouts, told Des Moines TV station KCCI. Fine. Auberry knew how to make a bed out of leaves. But here's a thought: How about making sure he doesn't wander off in the first place?

 

Auberry's epic actually had a much brighter ending than at least a dozen incidents over the past decade in which Scouts have died or nearly died. Most infamously, in 2005, two Scouts and five leaders were killed in two separate lightning incidents and one power-line mishap. In unrelated BSA accidents that same summer, Chase Hathenbruck, 15, drowned in New Mexico's Animas River, and Luke Sanburg, 13, drowned in the Yellowstone. The year before, Kristoffer Jones, 14, died when he fell 1,000 feet from a sheer cliff while hiking in Utah's Zion National Park. But even these tragedies wouldn't be so tragic if not for the hubris that still managed to pervade the Boy Scout leadership. In March 2006, nine Scouts and three leaders were backpacking in Arizona's Superstition Mountains when they became stranded by a snowstorm. Unprepared for the conditions, they had to be rescued by helicopter. "The boys proved themselves to be men," leader David Perkins told Phoenix TV stations. Or the leaders proved themselves to be inexperienced: A severe winter storm had been forecast days before. I live in Flagstaff, Arizona, and had planned a trek in the Superstitions that same weekend, but I postponed it after a routine weather check. The typical response from Scout leaders to all of the above? Freak accidents.

 

Tell that to the parents who've sued the Scouts in recent years. One case concerns Matthew Tresca, 16, who was killed in August 2002 by lightning at a Pennsylvania Scout camp. Even though a severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for the area and lightning was visible in the sky, Tresca and other boys were sent by Scout leaders from the safety of the dining hall to their tents, where Tresca died after a bolt struck a metal tent spike. In 2004, in testimony for a lawsuit brought by Tresca's parents against the BSA in New Jersey Superior Court, meteorologist Ronald Holle, a lightning expert formerly with the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, concluded, "The national and local levels of the Boy Scouts of America failed completely to take into account any recent or current information on the impacts of lightning. The management of the risk of lightning was extraordinarily poor and at an extremely low level of understanding compared to similar organizations. If planning had been emphasized at the national level, and local individuals had used this information correctly, the completely preventable death of Matthew Tresca would have been avoided." The BSA reached an undisclosed settlement with the Trescas, part of which prohibited the family from talking to the media.

 

THEN THERE'S THE BOY Scouts' mission itself, which is "to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices" (read the complete text at scouting.org), making no mention of wilderness skills. "We emphasize outdoor activities, safety, and stewardship, but do not consider ourselves an outdoor or survival training program," says BSA associate director of marketing and communications Eric Moore. That would make more sense if troops spent as much time playing kickball as camping.

 

"Unfortunately, many Scout leaders do not possess the level of decision-making skills that is required in the outdoors," says Ken Phillips, chief of emergency services for Grand Canyon National Park, who has been involved in numerous backcountry rescues of Scout troops during his 23 years there. "Many of the leaders of these trips are not used to the wilderness environment. The kids don't make bad decisions; the leaders do."

 

I can hear the protests, so let me answer: Yes, with more than three million Scouts and a million volunteer leaders in the United States, it's inevitable that accidents will happen. And competent, even excellent, Scout leaders with years of experience and training in wilderness first aid do exist. Plus the BSA mobilizes a vast number of volunteer leaders who sincerely want to help kids. But even kindergartners are taught to learn from mistakes. The BSA, meanwhile, won't divulge accident data and declined to share any statistics for this story. And they've let at least one opportunity to learn from other wilderness-education organizations wither on the vine. Drew Leemon, risk-management director for the National Outdoor Leadership School, says the BSA joined the committee for the annual Wilderness Risk Management Conference from 1997 to 2001, but declined to share accident data with the group. "The Boy Scouts expose so many kids to the outdoors, it's phenomenal," says Leemon. "We wanted the Boy Scouts to be more involved. We hoped their participation would rally the troops and lead to Scout leaders attending the conference. But it didn't happen in any great numbers."

 

Of course, the BSA national office encourages wilderness-safety and first-aid training for Scout leaders. But participation is completely voluntary. According to BSA director of camping and conservation Frank Reigelman, the group's primary means of educating troop leaders is through the Boy Scouts' Fieldbook and other BSA literature. "We provide various publications and planning tools to help volunteers with trip planning. The material is out there if they choose to use it," says Reigelman, who emphasizes that it's hard to enforce requirements in a volunteer organization with 47,000 troops across the country. That argument would be more convincing if they didn't manage to exclude gays and atheists from all BSA chapters.

 

I may rue the day I wished a tongue-piercing on my only son. The mere thought makes me cringe. But at least I know he won't need to be rescued.

 

 

[local1400]

Thanks for the article Brent. I only wish she had included more facts and figures for all to enjoy. Like, the number of teens killed in drunk driving accidents, drug overdoses, gang-fighting, or how about teen pregnancy numbers, drop-out rates, arrested youth, and on and on. The number of Scout deaths, while tragic, are not that high. EDITED PART: I almost forgot, ban golf and we could save hundreds from lightning strikes and heart attacks each year.(This message has been edited by local1400)

[GernBlansten]

Thanks for posting the article. I don't subscribe to Outside but was thinking about getting one at the newsstand to see the article.

 

Lets look at the authors main claim before discounting the article as anti-BSA manure.

 

The primary claim is the BSA doesn't train their leadership to handle emergency situations in the outdoors. On face value, this seems ridiculous, but think to what is REQUIRED of BSA leaders to take scouts into the wilds. All that is required for me to take any number of scouts is one other adult, a booklet called G2SS, a tour permit, YPT and have signed the DRP. (Note: the number of scouts isn't restricted by BSA, so the leader/scout ratio is unlimited)

 

I don't HAVE to be CPR certified, first aid certified, wilderness first aid certified, physically fit, trained in search and rescue techniques, proven skills in the activity pursued, equipped with radios.

 

Of course, BSA recommends and encourages leaders to be qualified and trained in the activities they engage in, but they don't require it. There is no retribution or consequences (except dead scouts and bad media coverage) when we don't do it. So is it any wonder that so many leaders are poorly trained and equipped to handle emergency situations and these incidents always end up in the media?

 

Do you think if Outward Bound had a lax policy for its leadership and had incidents similar to BSA, they would get a pass from the liberal media?

 

So from the perspective that BSA doesn't do enough to train their leadership, I think she is spot on.

[BrentAllen]

Gern,

I see her main point as being that the Boy Scouts are dangerous, and if her son joins, he is going to be at serious risk. That is ridiculous.

 

Think about how many Boy Scouts are out there, camping every single weekend. The percentage of accidents is extremely low, probably lower than any other camping group. Also remember this is a volunteer organization, which is supposed to be boy-run. We don't charge expensive fees and we don't have high-paid outdoor guides. Add all that up, and I'd be glad to compare our safety rating with any other group.

 

Read a book like "Death in Yellowstone" and see how dangerous the general population can be in the outdoors. Then go back and reread the requirements for Scout thru First Class. Given the choice, I'll take Scouting over a pierced tongue any day of the year.

 

Other facts to consider:

Mrs. McGivney holds a degree in Journalism, and she teaches the same subject at Norhern Arizona University. She oversees the campus newspaper. Her main success appears to be a book on Leave No Trace. Being prejudiced, I see the possibility of her being a liberal with an idealogical disagreement with the BSA over the G policy. I'm guessing she is the type that cringes when she sees a Troop of Boy Scouts coming down the trail, ruining her outdoor experience with nature - how dare they!

 

Finally, from an article she wrote on Survival Schools:

"Despite years of experience in the backcountry and hauling myself out of more than a few scary situations, survival school has been on my mind of late."

http://www.boss-inc.com/08bp.html

 

She allowed herself to get caught in "scary situations"? I'm not letting my son go camping with her!

 

Edited to add a success story from Summer Camp at Camp Woodruff:

The week before we attended, one of the Scouters had a heart attack in his Troop's site after walking back from the Friday evening campfire. The Scouts and Scouters started CPR and others went for help. The camp staff brought in the AED and got it going. It hit him 5 times before the EMTs arrived. They hit him once with their's. They got him to the hospital, where he recovered and was released the next Wednesday.

Plenty of other success stories out there as well - see Boys Life mag for one every month. A writer with an agenda wouldn't be interested in them, would she?(This message has been edited by BrentAllen)

[GernBlansten]

Getting caught in scary situations is part of the game. Being able to extract yourself is another part. Seems she is qualified to make a judgement on BSA leaders seemingly inability to do so. Since she is still around to right the article I can only assume she is able to do so.

[Beavah]

The percentage of accidents is extremely low, probably lower than any other camping group....

 

Drew Leemon, risk-management director for the National Outdoor Leadership School, says the BSA joined the committee for the annual Wilderness Risk Management Conference from 1997 to 2001, but declined to share accident data with the group.

 

Guess we'll never really know, eh?

 

I think it's fair criticism if our professionals aren't participatin' in the same level of safety and risk management professional activity as other groups.

 

Da rest of the article, though, is just anecdotal blather.

 

Beavah

 

[CA_Scouter]

Outside has always had a problem with the BSA. Some years back, they did an article on Philmont alleging drug use and homosexuality was rampant. I know some guys who canceled their subscription over that.

 

I agree with Sequoia and the Beav... amateurish, high schoolish journalism. Anecdotal blatherings... and the kicker... she teaches journalism? To whom, the writers at the National Enquirer?

 

Perhaps the best response is to inform Outside that we are using that article to line the bottom of the bird cage. :-)

 

 

[CalicoPenn]

Interesting article and even more interesting responses. As a species, we tend to react pretty defensively when our particular ox is being gored. No one has said that anything written in the article is untrue. The anecdotal "blatherings" (don't you just love that term) are well documented cases, and not just merely the "heard it from a friend who heard it from a cousin who heard it from a neighbor" type of anecdotal evidence that is considered a major flaw in any good journalistic or scientific article. The bringing in of 2 of the 3 G's effectively calls into question the assertion by a spokesperson for the BSA that it is hard to enforce requirements in a volunteer organization - perhaps more effectively than if she had brought up enforcing requirements for advancement (more people are aware of the ban on the 3 G's than on the requirments it takes to get Eagle).

 

This is an opinion piece, and what is interesting is that she makes common arguments from the other side - and those are certainly valid arguments. More importantly, she isn't taking cheap shots at volunteers. The thrust of her concerns seems to be more towards the professional staff and their risk management policies. Did any of us know before this article that the BSA was a member of the committee for Wilderness Risk Conference? Is anyone else as surprise as I am that they are no longer a member of that committee? Is anyone shocked that the BSA has refused to provide data that could prove useful in maging risk in the wilderness? I'm not - they seem to be quite secretive and have a "circle the wagons" mentality about certain things. The anecdotal evidence in the form of documented news stories is made even more powerful because the BSA hasn't done a good job of showing that there were, (For Example Only - of how such statistics could put things in perspective) - 15 million camping nights by scouts and leaders last year and only 150 lost, seriously injured, or killed scouts and leaders in the same period.

 

I've been in some pretty scary situations myself in the wilderness - no matter how well trained and how well prepared you are, the more time you spend in the wilderness, the more likely you will face scary situations. I've gone to bed on a clear night with no signs of any impending weather problems only to wake up when a falling tree dropped less than 5 feet from my tent in a thunderstorm with 50 mph wind gusts. I've climbed mountains on clear, sunny days only to have to retreat in driving sleet storms. I've stepped over logs only to hear a heart stopping rattle come from behind me. We can never fully protect ourselves or the lads we take care of in the woods from every thing that can possibly go wrong and my reading of this article doesn't lead me to believe the author is suggesting that it will. Rather, my take is that the author is saying that there a some basic tools that seem to be missing - and the BSA isn't as proactive as it could be to make sure their volunteers get access to those tools.

 

Calico

 

ps: I can't help but notice that already there was at least one comment about the "liberal" media in relation to this article. Help me out here, I'm trying to determine how an opinion piece that basically takes the BSA to task for not doing enough to help their volunteer leaders gain skills needed to take kids into the woods safely is liberal.

[hot_foot_eagle]

Is it the BSA that's off track, or the judgement of some individual leaders that needs examining? To borrow a famous line from a movie, "A man's got to know his limitations."

 

I'll bet the BSA "kills" more folks in the back country than most organizations, but then just how many organizations actually operate in the back country?

 

 

[BrentAllen]

I'll help you out - it is a real stretch to bring a policy about athiests and gays into a piece about safety in the outdoors. And yes, she is taking cheap shots at the volunteers. She blames them for the kid in NC wandering off. I guess she would have been short-roped to every kid in the Troop, to keep that from happening.

 

I was out at Yellowstone the year Luke Sandurg drowned. Do you know how it happened? The boys were pushing logs into the river, when one clipped his leg and knocked him in. Is the BSA supposed to put together a training course for every possible type of accident that might happen in the outdoors?

 

You help me out - what is the author's point in including these types of accidents? What type of training is she recommending that would have prevented the Luke Sandburg accident?

 

She says the BSA doesn't learn from its mistakes - what do you call the Guide to Safe Scouting?

 

Ken Phillips says he has been involved in numerous BSA backcountry rescues during his 23 years at the Grand Canyon. How many, we aren't sure. But he has stated before that during July and August, his group performs 2 - 3 helicopter rescues each day, and around 400 each year for the general public. My guess is the Boy Scout rescues represent only a tiny fraction of the general population rescues.

 

My Council offers Wilderness First Aid (which includes When Help is Delayed & Trek Safely) many times a year, all staffed by volunteers. We also offer Climb-on Safely, Safety Afloat and Safe Swim Defense training once or twice a week, every week, at Summer Camp. Please tell me of any other group that offers so many training opportunities.

 

As for NOLS, are you willing to pony up $565 for a two-day Risk Management Course? What about $595 and travel cost to Banff for the 3-day Wilderness Risk Management Conference? That trip would cost over a grand before you are done.

 

Here is one other clue for you about the intent of this piece - the title, Demerit Badge. The fact that this helicopter mom can't see all the positive things the BSA offers, and can only focus on the "dozen incidents over the past decade" tells me she has an anti-BSA agenda. Good luck to her with her son's pierced tongue.

[GernBlansten]

Brent,

Do you think the required training for BSA leaders is sufficient and comparable to other organizations who take other peoples children into the wilderness?

[BrentAllen]

Gern,

For a volunteer program, yes.

[GernBlansten]

So its OK for a fenced in suburbanite with no experience or training to take 30+ youth under the shield of the BSA into the woods and if he gets in trouble, its the liberal journalist professor who is to blame when she brings the situation of the optionally trained leadership and lax BSA requirements to light.

 

Last summer, during summer camp, the camp offered wilderness first aid to adult leaders. I signed up. I cajoled two other leaders from my troop to also take it. They did. Out of the dozens of troops at camp that week, we were the only three who did the course. I truly doubt, any other leader at that camp had wilderness first aid. Keep reminding me how BSA leaders clamor to get trained.

 

Sorry, but I do take the optional training when offered. I have 30+ years experience in the woods. I feel as though I'm thoroughly capable to take my scouts into the wild and deal with just about anything nature can throw at us. I just don't think many of my peers are as prepared.