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Crosswinds
Distict Camporee
at Camp Reeves
March
27 - 29, 2009
Hello
Scouts
and Families,
Another
Crosswinds
District
Spring Camporee has come and
gone. Our trip
from Apex to Camp
Reeves
in Carthage
was
a bit rainy but managed to clear up for
the Scouts to set up camp and
get ready
for the night. The theme for this
Camporee was “Adventures in
Scouting.”
Each Troop was asked to plan and run an
event during the day.
The Scouts
had an opportunity to try their hand at
several different activities
from knot
tying, sewing, blind folded tent
pitching, compass and GPS courses to
tomahawk
throwing. As you may imagine,
tomahawk throwing was a big hit!
Our
troop
planned an event
the required the Scouts to use the First
Aid Skill they learned from
Scout to 1st
Class and from First Aid Merit
Badge. We asked
our patrols to put
together daypacks with typical items
that a Scout may take on a day
trip.
These items included, a shirt, pants,
socks, toilet paper, belt,
magazines,
some first aid items (not a kit) and an
emergency blanket. We
had 6
different scenarios that Scouts may
encounter such as one of their
patrol
members falling and hurting his ankle
and wrist. Some
scenarios were more
challenging and some were geared to the
new scouts. The scouts were
then asked
to look in the daypacks and use anything
they had to assess the victim
and
treat them appropriately. A few
scenarios required a short
distant
transport. The event was timed and
the troop or patrol which
completed
the scenario fastest and most
appropriately won. We kept a
running list
of the patrols from around the camp of
the times, accuracy and some
deductions. At the evening
campfire we presented the top 2
patrols with a
hiker’s and basic first aid kit.
Our patrols ran
the event with little
help from the leaders. The older
Scouts started the day and
each patrol
trained the next in how to run the
event. We were asked to
identify our
area with signage. Ranger Rick
came to the rescue.
Our sign stood
out as a beacon to all who wanted to
learn and compete in first
aid. We
were recognized at the campfire with a
special award for the best sign
with an
Emergency Preparedness Starter Kit.
Thank you Ranger Rick for the extra
effort. Please see the sign at the
end of the troop meeting
on Tuesday. The
award
will also be there. Also
thanks to the Scouts for all their hard
work in preparing and
implementing the
event.
The
day
went on with
threats of rain. As the day
progressed the Camporee staff
made the
decision to shorten the day and start
the campfire 2 hours early as the
conditions
were deteriorating. All of the
afternoon events finished
around 2:30
PM. The Scouts began preparing
their dinner around 3:45 and
we were all
eating by 4:30. The campfire began
at 6:00 PM with the awards
presentation and the Order of the Arrow
tap out ceremony. We
had one
Scout and one leader tapped out.
Congratulations to David H
and Mr. Meyer
for being selected for the OA.
With
the
shortened
schedule and deteriorating conditions,
the decision was made by the
leaders on
the trip to pack up and break
camp. All of the other troops
made the same
decision to leave. Only 2 stayed
behind. Even the
organizers packed
up. Thank you to all of the
parents who received calls in the
late
afternoon telling them to expect the
Scouts home that evening.
I
want to expand on why we
made the decision to leave and come
home. It was not because
of the
rain. I do not want the impression
to go out that if we get
wet we come
home. Throughout the day we had a
weather radio as well as an
alert radio
on. Several leaders with
Blackberry’s tracked the
storms as they came
across the state. We were prepared
to hunker down and spend
the
night. However, with all
activities completed and the
possible
eventuality of severe storms in the
middle of the night, the decision
to leave
was made. Let me again say, we did
not leave just because it
rained, we
got wet or it was storming.
We
arrived
back at Apex
Crossing around 8:30 PM. All
Scouts did an outstanding job of
packing up,
and getting the gear ready for transport
in different vehicles.
I
hope everyone who
attended had a good time and learned
something new.
As
a
result of the way we
packed up and put gear in different
vehicles, your Scout may be missing
some
items or have items that do not belong
to them. Please bring
them to the
troop meeting.
Chuck
Gay
Troop 216 Scoutmaster
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