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A few years ago our troop went to Polar Bear, a winter extravaganza of
camping in the snow. Over the weekend troops signed their Scouts to two
different course's of competition. Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First
Class entered the "Klondike" and pulled a dog sled around the camp entering in
12 stations of Scout Skills. The more advanced, "Challenge Course" of Scouts,
Star, Life and Eagle were thrown together to form patrols and figure out more
difficult and interesting challenges. In the evening there is a Cracker Barrel,
and then religious services, one for Protestants and Catholics. One Scout came
to me and asked if he could attend the first one. I asked him, which is that. He
replied, I'm not sure ... I asked what faith are you. He said, I think I'm
prostitute. One time during a camporee that we were hosting there was a scavenger hunt. We had everything on the list as did another troop. Then the official who was doing the scavenger said that if you ate the bug that was on the list to find you would get the extra point to win. Well of course one of are members in our troop ate a live fuzzy catapillar and we won. But while he was eating the bug one of the feet got stuck in his tongue and the paramedic had to take it out with a needle. It was the New Scout Patrol's (the Flaming Arrows) first real camporee. It
was around supper time and they were attempting to light the stove. I told them
to bring it over to a table that I was sitting at ( it belonged to one of the
ASMs, whose father had given it to him) they promptly brought the two-burner
propane stove with fuel over to the table. I showed them how to set it up and
light it. I turned it off and told them to light it again. I disappeared to the
bolo for a moment, and when I came out they had the stove lit, but they were
holding it upside-down over Dave's table I yelled something like "hit the fuel!"
which they must have assumed meant turn up the propane. I yelled "turn it off!"
and they lowered the propane until it went off. I got over there just as Dave
did to see the 4" burn mark on the table. We still laugh about it whenever that
table comes out. Over 40 years ago, Air Scouts were
in their last throes before becoming Explorers, and The North East Region, with perhaps,
the help of NY and PA ran a "Wings of West Point" mini-jamboree at the then
nearly closed down Stewart AFB, in Newburg NY. The program was sited in barracks and areas
of what probably had been a training squadron at one time. The BSA folks were recruited
from the attendees, while Sampson AFB, in Geneva, NY, furnished Drill Instructors to keep
us occupied. The program featured a week covering the better points of military training,
and when we weren't otherwise occupied, we had the run of the base, including the service
club and the base exchange. Towards the end of the encampment we went on a field trip to
the West Point Museum. From somewhere behind me a very sarcastic voice muttered, "No. A blind woodpecker pecked it out to scare off owls!". We didn't hear much from our noisy scout for the rest of the trip. Dave My rejuvenated Pack was having its very first Pack meeting. The theme of the month was
911 so I had invited a local Police Officer to speak. He was a large man, white haired and
obviously had eaten well during his days. Patrick Driscoll I served as a leader in a town north of Anchorage, Alaska where camping is great -- year 'round. Act One: One summer, we camped near a small lake called Duff's pond. We had a small stream flowing into the lake, name unknown. The boys rigged a rope stream over the stream and enjoyed splashing their bare feet in the water as the "Tarzaned" on that rope. Act Two: Same spot, but January. Temperature must have been 20 below (Fahrenheit). The stream, because it was flowing, still had some open spots -- one right under the rope swing. Sure enough, the boys got on the rope and started splashing their boot-clad feet in the water. I warned them that the boots would get wet, freeze during the night, and be difficult to put on in the morning. "Oh, no, they're waterproof. That'd never happen." was the reply. Sure enough, the next morning, there were a dozen pair of boots that were hard as concrete. On another winter outing, a couple of dads were standing by the fire chewing the fat as the boys and other adults were sledding. A Scout (unrelated to any adult present) came to the fire making the statement, "Mr. ____, I need to use the bathroom." He was told, "Just go in the bushes over there." Within a few minutes he returned with the same complaint, getting the same response two or three more times. Finally, in frustration and embarrassment, the boy said, "I can't open my zipper, my hands are too cold." Now what's a good "youth-protection" aware Scouter supposed to do in that situation but laugh at the poor soul? (We got his hands warm and sent him on his way). Most of the boys wore some type of insulated boot on winter outings. I occasionally had a boy show up in athletic shoes (they're good enough for Michael Jordon, after all). I always had a small stash of extra wool socks and boots obtained from thrift stores for such occasions. One weekend, a boy showed up wearing several pair of heavy socks, tennis shoes and cheap plastic overboots. The combination seemed fine, so I let him go. The next morning, he had some frost on his overboots, so he smacked them against a tree to dislodge the frost. The boots shattered in the cold like glass slippers. You should have seen the look on his face! Blaine S Nay; Anchorage, Alaska Humor #1 -------- During the early stages of an Eagle Board of Review, one of the board members asked the candidate to, "Tell me three descriptive terms that describe you." The Scout thought for a few seconds and replied, "Intelligent, hard-working and GOOD-LOOKING." Needless to say, the BOR was easy for the Scout from then on. Humor #2 -------- During a camping trip, two Scouts began "sword-fighting" with long sticks. I told the boys, "Stop...don't do that in this camp site." They quit and I thought the incident was over. About 30 minutes later, one of the boys ran up with his hand on his face. Blood was streaming out of a cut near his eye. I asked what had happened. His reply was that he and the other Scout had done exactly what I directed...TAKEN THEIR SWORD FIGHT OUT OF THE CAMP SITE. Humor #3 -------- At summer camp, a rather shy, young Scout came to me one evening and reported that he had a tick on his body. I asked "where" and he replied, "In a very private place." I inquired further and he finally told me the tick was on his penis. I accompanied him to the first aid building where the person in charge was a somewhat crusty, elderly male nurse named Charlie. The Scout went in the treatment room with Charlie while I stayed in the waiting area. I heard Charlie ask the Scout where the tick was and the boy told him. Charlie told him to drop his shorts and he did. Charlie reached over in the first aid drawer and pulled out a long pair of scissors and told the boy, "Looks like I'll have to amputate." Well, the Scout made an abrupt turn (shorts still around his ankles) as if he was going to run away. Charlie stopped him and told him he was only joking, and removed the tick with a pair of tweezers. Later, Charlie told me the boy's eyes were as large as silver dollars when he took the scissors out of the drawer and uttered the word "amputate." Humor #4 -------- During our Philmont trek in 1995, one of our crew members (age 14) decided he would go the whole trek without taking a shower. After the first two or three days we had established an "order of hiking" and this Scout was third in our 12-person crew. I was directly behind him. Around the 5th day, I couldn't stand the odor any longer and told him to get behind me. About 30 minutes later, I looked around and he was next to last in the order of hiking as everyone else had noticed his odor and made him move one place to the rear. The adult bringing up the end of the line was about 15 feet behind "Stinky" and making sure he kept his distance. By the 8th night, one of our adults had returned to base camp due to heat exhaustion. To keep from putting up an extra tent, the Scout whose parent had gone back to base camp decided he would tent with "Stinky" who had been tenting by himself until then. Well, the boy almost had an asthma attack due to the odor of his tent-mate. He began sneezing, stuck his head out of the tent and made several extremely funny comments about his smelly friend. Well, "Sneezy" survived the night and we made "Stinky" take a shower the next morning. When we begin preparing for our return to Philmont in 1997, I told "Stinky" and "Sneezy" that I would shave my head if they would spend their 10-nights on the trail together in the same tent. Given "Sneezy's" reaction in 1995, I never thought they would take me up on my challenge. Well, they did! They also got to help shave my head during a recent troop meeting, and our troop will have a mostly bald-headed Scoutmaster for a few more weeks. Calvin H. Gray Once, when we went on an outing to a "camp in a cave" (must have been hundreds of campers at various spots in this one large cave in Wisconsin), I came across one scout who had a fluorescent type lantern that was going dim "David" I said......"looks like your battery is going dead" "That's ok" he replied...."It's not mine!" Mike Goodnight It was a dark night at Cuboree and while making a trip for water (no flashlights) I met a cub from another pack coming from the other direction. I could see him stop ahead of me in a freeze motion and call out in a soft voice who's there. My answer was "ME". The fact that it was human voice, although an unknown person was enough and on he went down the path. Earl Bateman 40th Pack St.Catharines Ontario Canada This one is probably so common an experience, but I was unprepared for it as a new Scoutmaster. A new scout was on his first campout and attempting to pass his first cooking requirement. He was attempting to bake a potato in foil there in the coals and, lacking experience, and not paying attention, and being distracted by other boys in this exciting time, well, let's say it got away from him. He pulled out this blackened, charred, unrecognizable gob of aluminum and vegetable starch. I was inclined to offer him my heartfelt sympathy when he took me back with the offer, "If I eat it anyway, will you pass me off?" Thomas Stoddard After the Pack Meeting, a Cub Scout walked up to the Cub Master and said to him "When I grow up, I want to be a Cub Master just like you, so could you please do a better job". Troop 234 was hosting three WEBELOS Dens at this past year's freeze-o-ree. We gathered
at their meeting place just after dark. The older Scouts had decided not to take part
since the camp ground had been changed to an easy camp site and they had all been cold
before, so the new scout patrol was running the show. |
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