Scouting: Scouter

Adult scout leaders are referred to as "Scouters."  So once my son became a scout, I became a Scouter.

Back Home Again! (top)

It's hard to explain the lingering camaraderie that lingers burning in one's heart. I'd been away from scouts for about twenty years. My oldest son had been a Cub Scout for five years, but I never really felt comfortable in Cub Scouts, even as a young boy. But Boy Scouts was different. I enjoyed the activities that Boy Scouts do so much more than what Cub Scouts do.  I really grew up in Scouting and I felt like I was back home the instant I walked into the troop meeting. And it felt great!

I volunteered to be an Assistant Scoutmaster. In part because my wife wanted me to accompany my son on campouts because of his allergies and asthma, but the other part of me joined because I missed it and I wanted to get back to working with the boys. I truly enjoyed doing that as a councilor at Owasippe. So I would be able to help both my son as well as contribute to the community. And I would be enjoying it at the same time!

It was a homecoming but a few things also surprised me. BSA now requires "two deep leadership," both to protect the boys and the leaders. That's something that was not an issue when I was a scout. Not that abuse didn't occur, I'm sure it did happen,   but it wasn't widespread or publisized so there wasn't any awareness. Also, much more mothers are involved. Some are on the Troop Committee and others even accompany the troop on campouts. That never happened in my youth! But it's the twenty-first century so why not?

Campouts (top)

Since twelve years of camping would result in a huge web page, I'm breaking them out by year.  The index below will link to separate pages, one for each year.

1999 Campouts

2000 Campouts

2001 Campouts

2002 Campouts

2003 Campouts

2004 Campouts

2005 Campouts