It's been a while since I posted to the blog. Just too much going on. I thought I'd start with the National Scout Jamboree held at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia. This is supposed to be the last Jamboree at A.P. Hill. In 2013 it is moving to the BSA owned high adventure camp called The Summit. The Jamboree was a lot of hard work by the volunteers but all of the scouts I talked with had a great time.
My job at the Jamboree was as one of the team of commissioners in Honest Abe, Subcamp 10. We were tasked primarily as working with the troops within the subcamp to provide information an help with issues they may have. For several days prior to the scouts arrival we had to take the area allocated for Subcamp 10 and mark off all of the campsites. They were already mapped out but translating the map to actual placement isn't easy. It took three days working in humid, 100 degree days with heat indexes aver 115. You get used to the heat, but what made this more difficult was they ran out of food for lunch and when we went to dinner there were hour long lines. Fortunately I still had my car and we were able to drive into town to get something to eat that day and the next. Below is what Subcamp 10 looked like just before the scouts arrived.
Arrival day is the second hardest day. We have to be careful moving buses and trucks through congested areas with scouts setting up camp. It's an all day event. Once the troops we give them some initial information, like where the bathrooms are located, and leave them to get set up. We go back later in the day to help them along with the check-in procedures.
As I always tell the scouts, there is much more to do at the Jamboree than you can do in the ten days you are there. I only managed to get to a few places. They Actions Alley staff opened the zip line for adult leaders and staff one evening, that was fun. I was at the NESA tent when the national president, Rex Tillerson.
We had nightly stage shows right across the street from Subcamp 10. Bill Mugnai worked on the stage which had a variety of entertainment all week that was pretty good. Indian dancers came out one evening.
The arena shows were a big hit. The closing show, which was broadcast as the Shining Light, in particular. That is the one Mike Rowe spoke at and gave a great speech that is available at http://www.ustream.tv/shininglight. The estimates were between 75k-80k participants in the arena that night all waving U.S. flags, it was very moving.
Another activity was the Conservation Area that had local and national conservation groups including its own Jamboree National Forest.
Move out day was our busiest day as commissioners. There is a big rush to leave with all of the buses and trucks trying to get in at the same time. On top of that it rained for only the second time during the Jamboree. A lot of the troops had already taken their tents down and were sleeping under the stars/clouds. We had a lightening warning around 3 a.m. so we got most of the troops into the dining and commissary tents. The lightening never developed but it rained all morning until about 9:00. Because we couldn't get the buses and trucks into the campsites it created a big traffic jam on the roads, eventually everyone managed to get out.
Then the long process of leaving started for us. We packed and at noon I got a ride to pick-up my car from the storage lot; me and a thousand other staffers. It took over two hours before I could get my car out of the lot and get back to the campsite. Just as I arrived they were towing the bathrooms away and had disconnected the showers. So much for getting cleaned up before we started the long drive back. We did manage to get into one of the barracks and use the showers there. It was close to 5:00 PM before we left A.P. Hill for the last time.
On the way back Dan Banko, Ed Allen, and I took a side trip to see The Summit, the new BSA high adventure area and future home of the National Jamboree. Here is what it looks like today. What you don't see is the security guards that are there to keep scouters like us out which there is construction going on.
