Never more proud to be a Scouter.

[geoffav]

A Scouter is an adult involved with the BSA program. I was not a Cub or Boy Scout but became a Scouter when my son became a Scout. That was many years ago. I've done a few different jobs but now serve as the Chartering Organization Representative for my Church. While I'm proud of our Church and BSA Troop that is not the source of my spike in pride. I posted about one of our young Scouts over a year ago and we lost him last Thursday to cancer.

Original link here:
Prayers for a young Scout

These guys performed very well today. A few times I noticed some of the boys had tears streaming down their face but continued to do their tasks. I stayed busy and only fought off tears once when I watched one of our Eagle Scouts remove his Eagle Scout Medal and place it on our fallen Scout. My son is a Life Scout and put together the Color Guard today, he has over 50 merit badges and will finish his Eagle Scout project in the next 2 months. He just turned 14 and is the center boy in pic 2.


Brendan will be laid to rest on Monday. Today we arrived at our Scout Hut at 0800 and we did not finish until 1530. It was a long day for us all.

I'm very proud of these boys!

[geoffav]

We will wear the black neckerchief with purple woggle until Veterans Day.

[2FAST4U]

Very nicely done. You and the boys have honored him well. You are all to be commended.

[geoffav]

Originally Posted by 2FAST4U

Very nicely done. You and the boys have honored him well. You are all to be commended.

Thanks, I need to unplug for a few hours and go do something with the family. If I don't, this is going to hit me like a Mack truck in a few minutes. We still have the interment on Monday up in Birmingham.

[Davey]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing............

[MVM]

That's a tough thing for those kids to go through. Had they all been together since Tiger Cubs/Cub Scouts?

[NAGA]

Originally Posted by MVM

That's a tough thing for those kids to go through. ...

I agree. Very sad. And what a tough introduction to real life at such a young age, but they proved themselves well. They, and you, should be very proud Geoff.

d

[geoffav]

Originally Posted by MVM

That's a tough thing for those kids to go through. Had they all been together since Tiger Cubs/Cub Scouts?

No, a few crossed over to Scouts together but we have a Troop with some diversity. My son and 4 others were never Cub Scouts. We have 2 boys who are visiting from South Korea, 2 from Australia, and 5 from active military families. We have MANY religions represented with Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, and atheist. We often partner with the LDS Troop in town and had representatives from all of the local Troops at the service.

When Brendan crossed over to Scouts from our Pack, many of the boys switched to other Troops. I'm not sure why but the result was he had Scout friends in ALL of the local Troops. The events of the last 16 months might appear to be littered with coincidence but I think of it as a divine plan.

[VPR-KLR]

Your boys have performed their duty with distinction, honor and a level of maturity lost on a significant portion of our society.

I believe a crisis does not build character. It merely exposes it.

[geoffav]

Originally Posted by VPR-KLR

Your boys have performed their duty with distinction, honor and a level of maturity lost on a significant portion of our society.

I believe a crisis does not build character. It merely exposes it.

We made this an all volunteer event for obvious reasons. The practice started with 50% of the Troop early in the week. Thursday night we had 75% ready to go. The morning of, we had every available Scout in the Troop involved with ten or so from other Troops insisting on doing something. I'm pretty sure it was a lean day on Fort Rucker as well, much of the work force was in the Chapel yesterday.

The unintended consequence of the last few months has been significant growth in all of the local Troops. Soon we will be back to teaching knots, working with things that cut and burn, making fire, and camping.

[geoffav]

The final pictures for this story are below. We had an issue with the bus about 1 hour from home but had it fixed in a couple of hours. Other than that we had no real problems.

The Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo is a beautiful place.

[2FAST4U]

Very, very nice!!

[geoffav]

The ceremony is not done graveside anymore at this National Cemetery.

[Stinson Pilot]

Wow! Lots of reasons to be proud of those guys.

God Bless...

[NiceGuyEddie]

great photos, you are looking a future CEO's, engineers, entrepreneurs, cops, teachers, and otherwise great future men.

thanks to it's teaching, it's discipline, almost all Boy Scouts turn out well.

I will never forget Scoutmaster Woody - he always said, "I know only 1% of you will make Eagle Scout. But my goal is no matter how far you go, later on in life, I want you to be 'that much better' than the Average Joe on the street."

he was right.

[geoffav]

Originally Posted by NiceGuyEddie

great photos, you are looking a future CEO's, engineers, entrepreneurs, cops, teachers, and otherwise great future men.

thanks to it's teaching, it's discipline, almost all Boy Scouts turn out well.

I will never forget Scoutmaster Woody - he always said, "I know only 1% of you will make Eagle Scout. But my goal is no matter how far you go, later on in life, I want you to be 'that much better' than the Average Joe on the street."

he was right.

I agree. We had 2 Eagles last year and 75% of the Troop hold the rank of Life. We should have 5-6 Eagles on the 100th Anniversary of the rank. One of those will be my son.

Thanks again to all who Pray still for the family. The boys and adults learned much from this experience. The doctors gained valuable research that should help with future cases or might even lead to a cure.

[Big Easy]

Wow, what an incredible story. Congratulations to a fine group of young men.

I became a Scouter a little over three years ago when my son became a Tiger. My reasons started out a little selfish. I wanted him to make Eagle, and figured the best way to do it was to accompany him through the program. I was not a Scout as a kid, but easily recognized the value of the organization.

I was Den Leader for two years, and am now Cubmaster of Pack 221 with over 60 Scouts. This was one of my proudest moments in Scouting: (I'm the one in the goofy hat)

Troops Meet Troop 221 - YouTube

My plan is to launch Troop 221 this time next year. You set a fine example. Thanks for your service to Scouting.

[DMW]

Geoffav,

I am very proud of your scouts and very proud of you. Thank you for making the world a little better in your corner of it.

[geoffav]

Originally Posted by DMW

Geoffav,

I am very proud of your scouts and very proud of you. Thank you for making the world a little better in your corner of it.

Thanks, I wish there was something I could do to make Scouting seem cool for the older boys. At 16 - 17 we lose them to girls and cars --- we see them again as Scouters when they have boys of their own. Most of the credit goes to the Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters, they insist on the Troop being boy lead and boy run. Many of our projects won't look as good as those completed by adults but when you accept the results you end up with better Scouts and better men.

I could probably back away from Scouting and spend more time on finishing my hot rod. Then it occurs to me that we all gain more from the Scouting time. My goal is to train a great replacement, build a new Scout hut, and leave the organization with sufficient funds for the future.

I'll update this or the other thread with news about Brendan's foundation and how the research is going. God Bless.

[geoffav]

Originally Posted by Big Easy

Wow, what an incredible story. Congratulations to a fine group of young men.

I became a Scouter a little over three years ago when my son became a Tiger. My reasons started out a little selfish. I wanted him to make Eagle, and figured the best way to do it was to accompany him through the program. I was not a Scout as a kid, but easily recognized the value of the organization.

I was Den Leader for two years, and am now Cubmaster of Pack 221 with over 60 Scouts. This was one of my proudest moments in Scouting: (I'm the one in the goofy hat)

Troops Meet Troop 221 - YouTube

My plan is to launch Troop 221 this time next year. You set a fine example. Thanks for your service to Scouting.

Great video. I don't see anything selfish in your story. Hahaha, as we know, Scouting attracts a certain kind of person. It's too hard for those who are passive observers. You're doing great work with the Pack.

[NiceGuyEddie]

there were a few bad things about the boy scouts - we were the kids that got bullied, and let's say that in junior high the girls didn't exactly line up for our types, but in time, it was really worth it!

just learning about the outdoors, first aid, home remedies, HOW TO TIE A FREAKING KNOT camping, flag folding, and learning the concepts of rank, hard work, and honor, - totally invaluable in life.

twice a year, when the flag in front of my house becomes tattered, the neighbor's son comes over, we take it down, and we fold it properly. I salute him with the boy scout salute, he salutes me, and I hand him the flag. the reason we do this is because he takes it camping with him, and the scouts ceremoniously burn it.

I frequent Disneyland, and at the main entrance they have a flag raising ceremony, and also a lowering ceremony at sundown. when the flag is being raised or lowered, they ask people to stop where they are, and invite them to put their hand over their heart, and if you were in the military, they invite you to salute the flag. I was never in the miltary, but I proudly stand there and salute the flag with the boy scout salute.

I am involved in charity work now doing carpentry, but when I am past the physical age of doing that, I plan to volunteer with the local scouting group in my area.

thank you for sharing this story.

cheers,

.

[mn12]

Originally Posted by geoffav

Thanks, I wish there was something I could do to make Scouting seem cool for the older boys. At 16 - 17 we lose them to girls and cars --- .

That would seem pretty obvious....get someone to finance a FFR building patch

[Michael Stora]

Former Explorer Scout here . . .

I have been proud that up to this year, my employer has been one of the largest funders of the Boy Scouts of America. That's all I will say on the subject.

Mike

[dallas_]

Geoff,
Very touching. I'm sure everyone involved will remember this for the rest of their lives. Thanks for sharing.