Jambo feedback from the final day -Some nice stuff but it sucked.

[fotoscout]

People have different set points for reference. My reference/set point for bad food came in the mid-80s on an aircraft carrier in the Pursian Gulf. There was no bad food at the Jamboree .

 

Separately, the maps and distances between locales was published months in advance. There was a required video to watch when you registered that talked about the terrain and IIRC specifically talked about the ridge at the staff camps. IMHO, nobody has reason to say they were surprised by the terrain. Worst case, people who cared could get free topo maps from google maps to check out the terrain themselves.

My reference point for this thing continues to be one of honesty. BSA did not follow the scout law in advertising and hyping the event. IF.......IF, they had come out at some point in time and informed the participants that not all the activities would be available to them, then I'd have nothing to talk about. They would have had to do this in some meaningful way, not in the fine print. But they did not do that. Instead, they hyped this thing to the bitter end, leading everyone on with the belief that they'd be able to participate in ALL the activities that were advertised.

 

I believe that they were intentionally deceptive and dishonest.

[MattR]

One scout from my troop went and he enjoyed it. Only negative was the miles to get to some events. He couldn't do some of the events because of the time required to get there. Maybe 20,000 cheap bikes spread all over the place next time?

 

What was great was he had no problem with the heat. At summer camp he ended up at the medic with pretty severe dehydration. It wasn't that he wasn't drinking enough water but wasn't getting enough salt. I had electrolyte tablets but he didn't like the taste as his stomach was already upset. He did ok with gatorade. When he was getting ready for jambo his mom offered him gatorade packets but he said he only wanted the electrolyte tablets "because Mr R said they were better." It warms my heart to know that once in awhile a kid listens to me.

[Scouter99]

Only negative that I've heard from a youth so far was that he hated all the cell phone encouragement from National. He ended up delayed or alone because everyone in his troop was planning their activities around how much battery they had left: "Oh, I can only go X far, I've only got 5% battery" and/or "I can't leave yet I have to wait for my phone to be charged."

[Basementdweller]

I met with one off our Contigent Troop ASM over the weekend.....

 

He brought up the BBQ that was supposed to follow the hike to the garden.....Or the mountain......He mentioned that it didn't happen.

 

The other thing he mentioned he was glad that after the third day that they went with a truck and got their subcamps food...so the walk went from a 45 minute walk one way to 20 minute one way. So the boys could sleep in till 5:30 instead of getting up at 4:30 to get breakfast and lunch.

 

[Twocubdad]

I thought one of the big selling points of the Summit was it's compactness, compared to AP Hill. Everything was supposed to fitted onto a few hundred acres, not the thousands at AP Hill. No more four hour hikes to arena shows. What happened to that? And because it was built on a reclaimed strip mine, there was not more that 100 feet of elevation change across the entire site. All this directly from the lips of Jack Furst.

[Kahuna]

I thought one of the big selling points of the Summit was it's compactness, compared to AP Hill. Everything was supposed to fitted onto a few hundred acres, not the thousands at AP Hill. No more four hour hikes to arena shows. What happened to that? And because it was built on a reclaimed strip mine, there was not more that 100 feet of elevation change across the entire site. All this directly from the lips of Jack Furst.

My reaction, too! Seems to me it wasn't just hills but distance that was a problem for everyone. Another bit of mis-advertising.

[SSScout]

It was new, and different. It is a high adventure base. It has 10600 acres. It was a 90 minute hike from A camp to the Barrels or Ropes. It was a 90 minute hike from F camp to the Garden Ground, thru A camp. It was a 20 plus minute drive (departing!) from A camp to the rt. 19 gate. It is a big up and down property. Even 100 feet vertical is alot of hiking, (more than once! Not just up and down and done...) and yes, it was no doubt more than a 100 feet difference between all the camps and activities.

It will be tough to plan for railroad arrival, if not impossible, (bridge into Thurmond, closest Amtrak station, is too small for busses) so OtR busses will always be the transport of choice. Airports are many miles away. Old map has a spot labeled "President's Helipad", south of the LowGear trails. Hire Ospreys from the Marines??

Feeding 35,000 folks was/is/will be a challenge.

Lots of old hands could not come and flesh out the staff, so the staff there often did double duty . The "Voice from the Sky" announcing "WARNING< THIS... IS A LIGHTNING... ALERT" ("puny earthlings!!,,, surrender, resistance is futile!!") was ... interesting.... The swaying Consol Bridge was exciting in the wrong way.... The thousands of smiling boys was some reward (as my wife would say, "how can you pay to volunteer??") .

I really can't think of any other place where I will ever again use that duffle . Got a bag of patches and pins and maybe 150 pics on my camera memory..

Got a friend, now, in Gettysburg who will give us a personal tour of the battlefield and museums.

Hey, I'll be 70 in 2017...

 

[Basementdweller]

Ok so who else received the email from scouting and the west virginia department of heath?????

 

"....... in the unlikely event that you become ill, please report your attendance at the Jamboree to your healthcare provider".

 

 

Hmmm wonder why my lad was exposed too?????

[walk in the woods]

Here's the actual link to the report from the email if anybody is interested.....https://scoutnet.scouting.org/mml/i/myscouting/GL/Jamboree/Black_Flies_at_Garden_Ground_Mountain.pdf

[Momleader]

I was on staff, 3 mile-ish hike each way to my assigned work area didn't kill me. The biting flys drove me nuts. They bit through socks! As a non AT&T customer I found the text alert system a drag - delays on delivery. I didn't like hearing from kids that they would wait for 2 hours to get harnessed for the regular zip line, then hike to the launch pad, wait an hour to get to the top and when Ariel sports were (wisely) suspended for lightening. They had to do the whole process over. Why not find a way to fast pass those who at the launch pad once the area reopened. Luckily my own kid decided he can zip at catamount faster.

[oddball]

Just filled out my 2017 volunteer application, THEN I read this thread end to end. Sorry for dragging up a year plus old thread, but it does give me a lot of intel for the trip. Thank you all for taking the time to post your observations, both good and bad.

 

As for the volunteer fee... I have not read anything in BSA rules and regulations prohibiting a scouter from using a site like gofundme.com to raise funds to offset the volunteer fee. It seems to me if someone can raise $18,000 to rescue foo-foo dogs (http://www.gofundme.com/hazelbakerpaps), a fellow with NRA RSO, Rifle, and Shotgun instructor credentials ought to be able to find a few hundred folks to give up a couple of bucks to enable him to donate a week's vacation time to support the scouts.

 

[Basementdweller]

You seriously aren't asking us to donate money for you to work at the jambo?

 

I am guessing you should skip a couple of weekends at the range and pay for it yourself

[oddball]

You seriously aren't asking us to donate money for you to work at the jambo?

 

I am guessing you should skip a couple of weekends at the range and pay for it yourself

 

Given your other post today, I will choose to forgive your uncalled for rudeness and hostility. Please indicate where I asked any member of this forum for money?

 

You, sir, have no idea who I am, what my financial situation may be, or how much I spend out of my pocket on scouting already.

 

I am not ashamed to ask for a little help with the ridiculous volunteer fee associated with Jamboree. If anything, putting it out there to parents might remind them there's more costs to scouting than meet the eye. Just a week''s vacation to do Jamboree might cost me well over $1,000. Why shouldn't any Jambo volunteer ask for help making a national event available to thousands of scouts?