Blazer patrol Hike
I didn’t always have a love for scouting as many think I have had. I started out as a cub scout and then as a blazer and later a boy scout. I remember getting my button cut off of my shirt because it wasn’t buttoned during a uniform inspection as part of a major stake cub scout activity. I remember feeling bad as a scout left camp to walk home because boys were making fu of him and even threw raw eggs at him. I learned first hand as I watched that raw eggs do not always break when thrown art someone but they do leave goose eggs on the head. I love to play some of the games, like Capture the Flag”, but learning the morse code was not as fun and pretty hard work the only paid off after winning a morse code flag contest at a district camporee. I couldn’t swim either so getting me Eagle Rank was not a possibility until someone who could swim found out and decided that I couldn’e give up an Eagle rank just for two merit badges that she could teach to me. The thing that probably really made scouting come to life for me and to become a lifetime love was being called to teach the Blazer Patrol in Primary when I was only 17 years old. It may have been just a way to help me want my Eagle rank or just because they needed a Blazer leader and I was available as the son of the second counselor in the Bishopric. It doesn’t matter much why as the fact that it worked. I got my Eagle rank because I told my boys I would, because a leader took interest in me and taught me to swim, and because my parents never gave up on me either. I learned that year as I taught primary while also going through my senior year of High school that there was a lot of value in the scouting program. 6 or 7 boys looked up to me to teach them to have fun in scouting while earning their badges and filling their requirements. We played the games and did a lot of activities in and out of class but I only specifically remember one hike. We had to cook and take a five mile hike as I remember. I loved to go up to Snow Draw and the Big draw so that of course was where I took the boys for that hike. We chased jack rabbits and cooked dandelions in the bottom of the draw on a small fire that they started with only a little help from me. It was fun. As I think about it now however that was a lot of responsibility to place on a 17 year old boy. We did not have any 2 deep leadership at that time and so I had the boys all to myself as the sole leader. It scares me as I think about it now but then it wasn’t at all out of the ordinary so I didn’t even consider the possibilities of problems then. I will always love the boys from that patrol just as I do all of the boys I have had in scouting since that time. They are still my friends and I love it when I bump into them even now. In fact I write this only a couple of weeks after seeing one of them at UVU. He was walking back to his car when I saw him and so we talked for a few minutes before he continued his journey home. I also see one of them every now and then if he is at the station he owns when I go to get my car oil changed. Yes they will be friends forever.
