Nov 10, 2011

Boy Scout Basic Training Other times

After I attended Scout Basic Training I became very involved in scouting on the District level. I started helping with the basic training courses as a staff member and eventually as the Scoutmaster for a couple of times. I always enjoyed the training and was able to see a lot of men and women become very involved in the programs and then the programs begin to move because they had leaders that were trained and willing to carry the load for the benefit of the boys.

In basic training there are a few specific times that stick in my memory. I liked the skit that we would do where each staff member had something that represented a job on the scout committee of the unit. I still have a small stepladder that has the three rungs or steps labeled with something for advancement in the unit. We had one person labeled as the Scout Master and each staff member would bring out their thing and hand it off to the SM, who before long was very loaded down with all of the items that we had. The ladder was usually the last thing we would pile on at which time the SM would look very frazzled. Then the committee member for Advancement would come back and take the ladder and explain the duties that he would then do to help the SM. By the time each staff member representing a committee position had come and retrieved the item the SM would be left holding a small sign with one word written on it, BOY. This would then very quickly illustrate that the only responsibility that the SM should have is that of working with the boy.

There was also the dividing of trainees into patrols. It was always very awkward for new trainees to be put with someone they didn’t know and have to work with them for the next three sessions of the training. It was always interesting to me though to see the Lord’s hand in the process of dividing the trainees because every time there was a fit for each person with that group that would manifest itself through the rest of the course in such a way that we knew the Lord had put them together not just dumb luck.

There was always the singing of songs that would really pull the course participants together into one purpose. Song are usually quite silly but by the time the course was completed it was obvious to every person there how much use there was for music in the life of a boy. There is always a lot of distractions for the youth now and music is one of the main ones so when you teach them songs with a purpose it really would carry home a message that would help combat the lousy messages in the music they are use to hearing.

Our overnight camps were always a highlight. The Friday evening meal was always fun since we just asked everyone to bring a can of their favorite soup and then we poured them all together into one large pot and that was the main course. It was always really good.

Then there were the short courses the next day. I remember one where we had everyone blindfolded and then asked them to raise their hand at the end of a minute. One man raised his hand at exactly one minute, it was the only time I ever saw it happen. We asked him why he was so correct and he simply explained “I count out loud to my children every night as they brush their teeth for exactly one minute.” He was obviously a very good father when it came to teaching his children and we knew he would also work well with the boys.

The ceremonies stick out in my mind also. There was one that we always used for the closing where we took each patrol on a hike in silence along the trail of the 12 points of the scout law. They could not speak to anyone but were just asked to put a small rock next to the sign if they would commit to living that particular point of the law as they went to each one. It was always a very powerful ceremony.

I have been greatly blessed trough my participation in Scout Basic Training and have many wonderful friends that I met while on each of these courses.