After thinking about my last blog entry at joeuser I realized that I was beginning to get sidetracked. Reading comments is one thing but then answering is quite something else.
I was reviewing some of the blogs on this site and noticed that there were varying opinions on what a blog should be. Many of these opinions do not agree with my view. There is nothing really wrong with that. I guess a blog could be pretty much whatever one wants it to be.
Many at joeuser think blogs should be debating formats or boards where others can leave comments and blogger could respond to them if he/she wants. Some think blogs are supposed to be things that persuade one to believe their view on some subject or issue.
I think that my blog must remain a more personal thing. It is a place where I post my thoughts, experiences, and opinions. I think this is what I want to keep this blog focused on.
Experiences are what I must remain focused on because there is a lot of wisdom, a lot of memories, and personal history to be found there. I’m thinking about scouting right now.
Scouting years: The Boy Scouts Of America is arranged like a military organization. It has a lot of rules or brainwashing going on that many may not agree with. The Scout Oath is repeated at every meeting. . The Scout Motto is ‘be prepared’. The scouts have a lot of little saying, phrases and codes that can become quite annoying, but are used mainly for safety reasons.
While most join the scouts for the activities to progress as a scout you must accomplish certain task (it is a goal oriented organization) that usually involve activities like camping, hiking, and public service.
You earn skill awards and merit badges (patches) for accomplishing certain activities. All the activities required to advance in rank in the scouts are pretty civic minded or have to do with activities done in the great outdoors
If you want to get into camping, hiking and other outdoor activities (no matter what age) I highly recommend The Official Boy Scout Handbook. It will give you outdoor skills that can serve you a lifetime. If you like camping, sailing, hiking, backpacking, biking, fishing, or nature in general the book is for you. It is an excellent book that can serve you after your scouting years.
I served in various positions in the scouts. I was a quartermaster, patrol leader, and assistant senior patrol leader. I achieved the rank of star before I left. I was in the scouts for about two and a half years.
I joined the boy scouts at the beginning of my teen years skipping the Cub Scout and Webelos stages. Our scoutmaster was a Cuban American who had served in the Vietnam War. He had a metal plate in his head which he earned during that conflict and which he often talked about to anyone who would listen.
We were troop one of the Thomas A. Edison Council. Our meeting place was the basement of a Baptist church (most scout troops are church or temple affiliated) where we held scout functions, and earned skill awards and badges.
Our troop went on many trips of various types. The main type of trip we went on, of course was camping. We camped in all types of places and under all sorts of conditions.
The worse camping trips were ones when the weather was bad. We slept in a lean-to during the dead of winter believe or not and despite sleeping very close together I froze my butt off.
I felt like I was in Antarctica and there was no relief in sight. There was no place of warmth and comfort. What type of fool would camp in a lean- to in the dead of winter? I thought it was madness. I don’t think there was anyone else in those woods during those icy camping trips but the stupid scouts of Troop one.
On one hiking/camping trip, which only a friend, scoutmaster, assistant scoutmaster, and a rich hippy owner of an outdoorsman/ski shop and I went camping, there was extremely wet weather. It rained constantly.
We had to snake our way up a narrow trail with woods and brush surrounding us. It was the type of trail where you couldn’t place your feet side by side because the trail was so narrow. We wore our ponchos and backpacks (the packs seemed to get heavier as we progressed up the mountain).
The rain relentlessly poured down on us. I started thinking, ‘what I’m I doing. Why did I come on this trip’.
We finally reached a clearing where we agreed to set up our tents. It is a real pain setting up tents in the pouring rain. I did not want to get the inside of the tent too wet and did everything I could to keep it dry on the inside.
My friend and I had to share a not to spacious tent. Mike (our scoutmaster) gave us one of his gas lanterns for light in this dark cubbyhole. The lanterns are far superior to any large flashlight one might be able to carry on a hiking trip.
We managed to heat up water to make oatmeal (you carried your own water in your canteen). The meals were lousy during this trip partially due to the non-stop downpour. We ate beef jerky, trail mix, dried fruit, and oatmeal and drunk hot cocoa, instant coffee, and water (which I didn’t much care for because it was raining not just ‘cats and dogs’ but bobcats and Saint Bernards.
I should have taken in more water though because of what happened as we were coming down the mountain. I was in the rear as we were descending the mountain when all of a sudden I fell backwards on top of my huge backpack (these are not the types totted around in schools- this pack had a light aluminum frame).
I don’t know why I fell backwards. I wasn’t feeling dizzy or anything. I just fell. I laugh just thinking about it. Now, I was in the back. No one new I had collapsed and I couldn’t yell out for some reason so I just laid there until about a minute went by and then I heard loud voices in the distance say, ‘Hey, where’s Gerald!’. I heard my friend say, ‘I don’t know? He was right behind me’. Then they started yelling, ‘Gerald! , Gerald!’ There voices seemed to be getting closer and closer. I was finally able to yell back, ‘Hey, Yo!’
They found me stretched out on my back on top of my backpack. They immediately propped my legs up and gave me water. The lesson learned from this experience is just because it is down pouring does not mean your body is miraculously absorbing water like through osmosis. You must drink water when you are doing physical exertion for a long length of time.
I guess that was the lesson. I never really ever found out why I fell backwards. I felt fine….really.
There were pleasant camping trips too. We went to summer camp in one-week chunks during the summer. These trips were pretty pleasant. The weather was nice, the events were thrilling and educational, and one could earn merit badges.
The camp was run like a military base. Before morning chow we stood in formation and at attention before a flagpole where Old Glory was raised as we saluted using the three-finger Boy Scout salute. We ate in a giant log cabin looking mess hall. The food and drink were plentiful and quite tasty and you could pile it on. There were no limits. You could eat as much as you could stuff down your throat during mealtime.
At dusk we stood in formation and attention again as the flag was lowered (there was a bugler during the raising and lowering of the flag).
There were many badges (patches) to be earned at camp. This is how you move up in rank. One patch I remember getting was one for marksmanship (for the rifle and shotgun badge). The rifle used was a twenty-two. The bullets looked mighty small but they could still kill.
Scouts had to shoot at a bull’s eye target (a pretty small target at that) in order to get points to qualify for the badge. The qualifications for this patch weren’t that high but they awarded medals to scout masters who were really very good marksmen and our scoutmaster showed off his military training in this regard and earned a metal for being one of the top marksmen at camp.
I think the spookiest time I had at camp was the time I got separated from my troop soon after a nighttime jamboree broke up. I found myself at the small canteen store at the base of the camp. All the other troopers had made their way back to their camp sites and I was pretty much alone down there but the canteen was open so I went in and asked the guy behind the counter if he could drive me to my campsite using the service road (a small dirt road used to move vehicles through certain areas of the forest). The guy asked, ‘do you know where it is?’ I said, ‘Yeh’. He then asked, ‘do you have a flashlight’ and I said, ‘yes, but I left it at the camp site’. He said no to driving to my campsite but gave me a pin flashlight to find my way there.
Imagine, giving me a tiny pin light to make my way through the pitch-blackness of the night in the forest. This scared the crap out of me. I feared I’d be attacked by a snake, bear, or madman of the woods (kids!) or something.
I took a deep breath and resolved to make my way up the hill. It was spooky at first. I could not see anything with that tiny pin flashlight (I guess you can tell that I grew up in a city). Thankfully, as I made my way to my campsite I could hear other scouts and see campfires through the woods. Boy, was that a relief.
I think scouting was very good for me. I had a lot of great experiences and learned quite a bit while I was a scout plus the fact that there was a lot of camaraderie and friendships formed during my scouting years. I enjoyed being a scout and the scouting experience tremendously.