20 May 2010 Get out the vote and find a home

20 May 2010 Get out the vote and find a home


At the age of 8, while living in Olivette, MO, I became a Cub Scout. I recall the Pack, shepherded by parents, going door to door putting “Get Out the Vote” hang tags on door knobs. The candidates were Eisenhower and Stevenson. I knew that Ike, the incumbent, was a military man who had worked magic in the ETO during WWII. I knew much less about Adlai. It didn’t matter. The purpose was to involve young boys in a civic process, making them part of the process of a national election.

I stayed in Cub Scouts, through various relocations, until the age of 11, when I became eligible to become a Boy Scout.

Cub Scouts had provided some semblance of belonging to a group after moving into a new community and school. The grade school I was attending was heavily invested in running a flag football program to feed the town’s high school needs. Athletes were at the top of the heap even then. I made an effort to join but a skinny severely myopic kid wasn’t of much use to the coaches who ran the local youth sports teams. I attended practices and sat on the bench until I finally realized I was wasting my time.

Boy Scouting provided an opportunity to belong to another group, one that recognized personal goals and achievement. Once I settled on which troop to join, a matter of some importance as the troops were all sponsored by churches, I was on the way. Scouting gave me a chance to explore some things that interested me but which I could not learn in school or at home. Canoeing, rowing, motor-boating merit badges opened up ways to explore part of the physical world. Swimming and Life-Saving merit badges, required for Eagle, taught ways to keep myself safe in the water.

I advanced quickly from Tenderfoot to First Class. Learning basic scouting and outdoor skills took little time. The last three ranks, Star, Life, and Eagle, took a lot more time as the various requirements could often only be met while camping or at summer camp.

From the age of 11 to 17 I spent part of every summer at Scout Camp as a camper with my troop or as a staff member. We all had to have typhoid shots before attending camp in those days. The Council organized immunization clinics on three successive weeks and we all stood in line, shirts off, to receive our injection of typhoid vaccine. The first dose was harsh, gave me a low-grade fever and head ache. The rest were not bad to deal with. There were always passed out during these clinics.

Being on staff gave me a chance to pick up extra education, to practice a bit of leadership, and to learn still more skills that I would never have picked up in school or on an athletic field. I learned to shoot a rifle at 11. The Council had 7 old single shot bolt-action .22 rifles that had been in use since 1950 or so. They were not match-grade firearms by any means but I leaned to put the rounds into the black consistently, earned my Marksmanship merit badge, got my NRA Hunter Safety training and card while my school classmates were throwing balls back and forth and running wind sprints.

While my fellow students were playing football, basketball, baseball, and running track, I was learning to pack a canoe for a week’s trip, to build a fire without charcoal lighter. I was learning to sharpen knives, axes, and to use poles and rope to build structures without nails. While they were attending after-school games, I was learning Morse code, learning to identify local trees and plants, learning to cook over open fires with Dutch ovens, and to navigate with a map and compass. I was learning to use ropes and lines for all manner of purposes not taught in school. While my school classmates cheered for one team or another, I explored archery, public safety, journalism, citizenship, camping in all seasons, fishing, first-aid, tracking, and other skills that paid off later in my life.

Some of the things I learned kept me alive in VietNam. At least I believe they did.

Boy Scouting is often criticized as a para-military organization. It certainly was when I was active as a youth. Most of our Scoutmasters were veterans of WWII &/or Korea. Troop meetings had a bit of parade ground style to the opening moments. Our troop gear included a lot of Army surplus tentage; shelter halves that we learned to pitch securely enough to stay dry in most rains. Our Jerry cans were all surplus as was a lot of unit cooking gear.

I left Scouting when I entered university. I came back to it as an adult leader when my sons became Scouts. Rather than stay at local level I wound up volunteering at district and council level. I stayed involved until 1993. I may return again someday, but right now, things are wonderful as they are. I don’t have any need of a place to camp at a moment’s notice.

As a boy, I never saw any evidence of abuse, sexual impropriety, or exclusion due to who anyone was. There was a place for any kid who wanted to be a Boy Scout. As an adult, I know of one leader who should never have been accepted into the program and had concerns about two other adults. By and large the program provides adequate protection for the kids in that aspect.

On the other hand, Scouting has become a numbers game for the paid professionals in each council. The program brings in many kids before they are physically and mentally ready to explore what BSA has to offer, runs them through the program until they have hit the high points and then has nothing to hold them after age 24 or so.

The technology available to Scouting has changed markedly. I’ll take that up another day.