Welcome Back! And Welcome to the "real" start of another Scouting Year. Unlike past years, however, 1996 - 97 promises to be a different animal altogether, as we are beginning to incorporate some of the changes suggested by the Scouts into Troop operations. We are still in the midst of determining exactly what it is we want to do, but you will doubtless note some modifications immediately. Others are coming; stay tuned....

We welcome an unusual Transfer Scout to the Troop this month. David Hun., a sophomore at Washington Lee High School who's been out of Scouting for several years, wants to get back in and try it "111 style." He's about halfway complete with Second Class as a result of efforts made with his original, overseas Troop. Please welcome him and father David, Sr.

In other "transition" news, congratulations to newlyweds Larry H. and Julijana B.; Rich S. and I both attended the wedding and reception, a gala affair! Larry and Julijana are spending several weeks in Ireland. In related news, Mark Bergeron is also engaged (to Diane), and they'll also be tying the knot just before Mark is transferred to New England this February. Best wishes to all!

As always, October and November are busy months on the Scouting Front. Finishing out October, we hit our Ninth straight Marine Corps Marathon this coming Sunday; also this Sunday is our first Fall Board of Review, starting at 7pm at the Parish Center. Our Fourth straight Venture Hike-o-Ree leads off November, followed by Scouting for Food, an (unusual) mid-November activity involving rock climbing and repelling, our Fall Court of Honor, and finally, our traditional Thanksgiving Weekend Old Rag Hike (maybe a different mountain this year, we'll see; Mary's Rock?) Watch those calendars, folks - it's gonna be a busy couple of weeks!

[As previously discussed, please review the following lists carefully for accuracy; if things are missing - we need to know immediately. YOU are the final safety net!]

After the summer frenzy, things have been a little slow for the first two months of fall - but by no means dead, oh no.... Starting off, Kenny E. completed Scout Rank, while John Cr., Billy F., Daniel Ho. and Adam S. all completed the First Class Practical Exam. In other Advancement news, Charles B., Dan Hu., Neal K., Stefan N., Jay P., Steven S. and Chris Tu. all completed the S2bc Module and thereby earned "Totin' Chip." On the Merit Badge front, Jay P. finished up his partial in Rifle Shooting, Will D. and Joe S. finished their partials in Hiking, and Joe also finished his partial in Backpacking. Finally, Peter L., Adam and Jamie S., and David and Matthew S. all finished Family Life. David, by the way, has now completed all his requirements for Eagle Scout, and should be heading into his Board of Review sometime in late November/early December.

Congratulations to each the above Scouts!

We started off the new Scouting Year with our Fourth Annual "Guns and Arrows" campout at Camp Potomac, Maryland, once again with our brother Troop 149 from Cherrydale Methodist Church. In contrast to past years, however, we had a much more relaxed schedule for this weekend ("Less is More"), and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a lot more. The addition of 12-gauge shotgun/skeet shooting (a new event) for the older Scouts was also a big hit. This one started off, as usual, early Friday afternoon, heading West out the Greenway and Route 7 for dinner in Winchester, then to Camp Potomac, located in Oldtown in Western Maryland. Camp Potomac is almost our "home base" now; we've camped there nearly 20 times over the last 9 years. As with past "Guns and Arrows" campouts, the Scouts stayed in the Dining Hall, while the Adults got the large lodge. Unfortunately, the Dining Hall was a real mess this time, since they had closed it down for the summer during that horrific stretch of rainy weather, and had done a very poor job of even the basics. Oh well, another chance to display some "Scout Spirit." After the Scouts had moved all the tables to one end, we spent almost 3 hours Friday night cleaning up, primarily the main floor and kitchen areas; Thanks especially to Matt B., Dan and Tim Hu., and Kim S. for all their efforts. Troop 149 showed up during the cleanup, and their Scouts quickly joined ours for mega-games of Logan's Run and Manhunter. The usual late bedtime, with crickets singing a raucous chorus.

Saturday dawned mostly cloudy, but with no rain predicted we were just as happy to not be broiled. Since we only had one intact Patrol between the two Troops, we divided all the Scouts into three "activity groups" for the weekend, and ran each group "round-robin" through four activities: Rifle Shooting/Gun Cleaning and Care, Archery Shooting, the Paw-Paw Tunnel Tour, and a camp improvement/service project (clearing a half-dozen trees that had come down across the camp's access roads during the recent hurricane.) In an effort to make the Archery Shooting more "interesting," we taped $5 bills to the targets for each groups final relay - if you nailed it, you got it. As you might imagine, the accuracy level this year was significantly enhanced! In another change, we offered the older Scouts (8th Graders and older) multiple relays of skeet shooting with 12-gauge shotguns; a most popular "alternate" activity! [Thanks to Dan Cr. and Jim S. for developing this new activity.] Top Honors for the day went to Greg B. (18 for 19) and John Cr. (18 for 23), both of whom qualified for their Shotgun Shooting Merit Badges on their first tries ever (amazing!) In addition, down at the Rifle Range, Jay P. and four Troop 149 Scouts all finished their partials in Rifle Shooting Merit Badges using my junior-sized competition-level .22 rifle.

Free time was taken up with a massive game of Ultimate Frisbee, plus multiple games of chess and "Magic" for the less physically inclined. Winding down the day, we all enjoyed a special dinner prepared by Jim and Kim S.; Beef Stew Boules, San Francisco style - excellent! As evening finally descended, most of the Scouts again opted for more games of Logan's Run, Manhunter, chess and "Magic," while the Scout Leaders enjoyed a lengthy session of guitar playing inside the Dining Hall, with music provided courtesy of Greg Bu. and yours truly (first time we've had a "duet!") Eventually, the Scouts tired of running around, and we finished the day with a `real' (outside) campfire. A very long day, folks!

Sunday morning, most of the Scouts in both Troops headed off to Church in Cumberland, then home. However, we still had some remaining work to do - several of the Troop 149 Scouts continued on finishing their Rifle Merit Badges, while John Cr., Billy F., Daniel Ho. and Adam S. all passed their First Class Practical Exams. After final cleanup and packing, it was off to Cumberland ourselves, then home. An excellent weekend! Participants included: Richard Ba., Greg Br., Matt C., John Cr., Billy F., Daniel Ho., Dan and Tim Hu., Kevin K., Jay P., John Pr., Johnny R-W, Ryan S., Adam and Jamie S., Matthew S., Steven S., Dan and Nick T. and Tim T. ...and Thanks to Matt B., Mark Ber., Dan Cr., Gordon P., Rich S., Jim and Kim S., Keith St. A., Joe T., plus Greg Bu., Gil K., Dave N. and Dave T. of Troop 149, all of whom helped make this weekend a great success.

Next up in September was our Annual "Webelos Night," where we run a quick set of participatory camping skill demos for the Cub Pack - always a big hit for all the Cub Scouts and Webelos. This year, we ran three demos: A Cross-Cut Saw Race, a Firebuilding exercise, and a Tent Set-Up exercise, running three groups through each in a "round-robin" arrangement. By all accounts, a tremendous success! Thanks to Richard Ba., Daniel Ho. and Stefan N. for their assistance in running the programs. By the way, the Cub Pack is planning on graduating 12 Webelos this March, most of whom will likely enter the Troop.

Starting off October, we hit our second "bike hike" weekend of 1996 - a fairly easy two-stage trip around the Patuxent Naval Air Station in Lexington Park and Point Lookout State Park. This was a much gentler (and in all honesty, more fun) event versus our first bike hike - the 35 miler around the Brandywine, MD area, last March. In an effort to reduce the overall stress associated with our fall campouts, we made this just a Friday/Saturday outing on the Colombus Day Holiday Weekend (everyone had Monday off); this seemed to help quite a bit. The weather was just spectacular - bright sunshine and reasonably warm the whole weekend long. We started off, as usual, on Friday afternoon - but I made a serious misjudgement in our out-of-town route choice, electing to try the Beltway over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Even at 4:15, a very bad idea, folks! An hour and a half to make it to Maryland, no fun at all. Once over the bridge, however, things were smooth all the way down Route 4 to Lexington Park. Entering into the Station, the Scouts were all much impressed with the huge, glaringly over-lit hangars on the primary road, each with its own array of military aircraft. After consulting some of the locals, we finally located the Boy Scout camping area, and pulled in; it was a nicely wooded area overlooking a large pond.

We ended up setting up camp in pitch darkness, but things went OK nonetheless (now the Scouts know why I have them set up the Troop tents in a pitch-black room for the last week of the T1 Module!) Once we had that done, it was off for an hour and a half of bowling at the "Drill Club" - tremendous fun, although we departed on less than friendly terms when the staff aggressively overcharged us for 4 extra games which we clearly hadn't bowled. [We've already smoothed things with the Scout Liaison Office.] By the way, no one looks to be much of a threat to bowl a 300 game!; in fact, I think even 200 was pretty safe. After that, it was back to the site and bed; we bagged on a campfire (even though we had the wood) because it was already pretty late. We were quite fortunate to be camping almost right on the bay itself, so the temperature stayed right around fifty degrees the whole night. I understand it was below freezing in Arlington that Friday night, so we weren't complainin'!

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, but (in a rare concession for Bob) we let everyone sleep in `til past 7:30, since we weren't on our usual strictly organized schedule (another example of "less is more.") The tents were all slightly damp from dew, so we decided to leave them up and get biking immediately - a most popular choice with the Scouts! After the usual last-second tire inflatings and seat adjustments, we wheeled out of camp for breakfast at the Base McDonalds, riding right past a large Church Youth Group holding a retreat in the next campsite over (it was pretty obvious that the whole lot of them would just as soon have joined us, but averaging three riders per bike is a little difficult to arrange!) Once everyone had "oinked out," we reviewed the base map and started off on a 10 mile perimeter loop - an excellent choice, giving a real overview of the entire Base. It's pretty obvious why Patuxent is considered to be one of the premier postings for Naval aviators; it's a very pretty place, with extensive Chesapeake shoreline and lots of parks and recreation areas. Tops for the Scouts was the takeoffs of two F-18's ("Hornets") on full afterburners right in front of us (less than 150 yards). The second pilot waved to us before taking off. Absolutely stunning noise - if you've ever been down to the runway at National, imagine double the noise of one of the passenger jets, and you'd start to get a feel for what these things sound like; just incredible. As Tim Hu. remarked: "Now I can die happy." A huge four-prop aircraft followed them off, so it looked like some kind of training mission.

After that, we continued on around the loop, with several mandatory stops for playgrounds (but of course!) Several more F-18's flew over as we neared the end of the circuit, then we finally headed back into the campground area. After some debate, we went ahead and took the tents down, then hit the road for Point Lookout, stopping for about a half hour at the Naval Aviation Museum right outside the front gate. A planned dropoff of the biking maniacs on Route 235 or Route 5 was quickly quashed once we saw the traffic speed and widths of the respective shoulders (as they say, "a clear Health and Safety Issue.") We ended up going all the way to Point Lookout and letting everyone do a quick loop on the promontory down to the point itself; not as exciting, but a lot better for the Adults' peace of mind! As you might expect in mid-October, the shoreline all along the promontory was thick with fishermen trying to hit the last of the summer exodus of stripers and blues heading south out of the Bay. We're going to have to find us another headboat for the Scouts this Spring. Once everyone had had their fill, we headed back to Lexington Park for an all-you-could-devour feast at the Western Steer, a steak place in town offering an excellent buffet for a very reasonable price. I think they about broke even on us - even Eric W. had three plates worth! Then it was back home for the Orioles' swan-song for the season. A fun event - we'll definitely be trying it again sometime.

Participants included: John Cr., Kenny E., Nathan and Neal K., Daniel Ho., Dan and Tim Hu., Stefan N., Ryan S., Thaddeus W. and Eric W. ...and Thanks especially to Dan Cr., who did most of the pre-arranging with the Scout Liaison Office, plus Mark Ber., Bill N. and David Sh., all of whom shared in all the fun.

1) You're Welcome! - Also attached is a letter from Brad Burr, the Council Executive for the Potomac Area Council, thanking us for all the work we did at Camp Potomac during the "Guns and Arrows" campout. For all those who attended....

2) Eagle Scout Projects, Clarifications - A number of our non-High School Senior Life Scouts have indicated that they are under the impression that I am not allowing them to start their Eagle Scout Projects. This is not the case! Any Life Scout can begin his project immediately. My only comment on this matter is that we would give the High School Seniors (Matt B., Keith Ge. and Peter L.) priority over non-seniors (especially in cases of dead time conflicts). It is now our stated intent to try and get all interested Scouts to Eagle by Christmas of their Junior Years; all Life Scouts, take heed!

3) Philmont Merit Badges - It is my current intent - since nothing else has worked - to have an "all-day" Sunday merit badge session to pass all interested Scouts (who attended Philmont) on their Hiking and Backpacking Merit Badges. This will be a round-robin affair with several qualified instructors present, plus will require some preliminary "homework" to have been done. Virtually all Philmont Scouts have already completed about one third to one half of both of these badges. Camping and Wilderness Survival are also possibilities, but will require an overnight to complete. Philmont Scouts from 106 and 647 may also participate.

4) Recent Trip Costs - Goshen, $ 192.04; Susquehanna River Trek, $99.47; Camp Potomac "Guns and Arrows" Campout, $25.22; Patuxent Naval Air Station/Point Lookout Bike Hike, $21.32.

5) High Adventures 1997 - John Cr., Billy F. and John, Nathan and Neal K. are signed up to go to the Florida Sea Base (with Troop 149.) Despite a dozen verbal commitments, only Brendan Mac. signed up to go to Philmont. I have already opened Philmont up to any interested Scout in the six "primary" North Arlington Troops; as of October 19th, five spaces remain. For your consideration, one more time - there is no guarantee that we will be going to Philmont (or anywhere else) in 1998; reservations are extraordinarily competitive, and getting even more so.

6) Scout Uniform Pants, Clarification - Several Scouts have already taken advantage of the new policy on pants; i.e., that any solid green pants closely approximating the appearance of Scout pants are acceptable as "Dress Uniform." This includes for Courts of Honor! - certainly I am not expecting anyone to spend $25 - $ 30 for uniform pants that will be worn but 2 or 3 times at formal functions before being outgrown; that's just dumb. I do, however, note that several Scouts' ideas of what constitutes "green" needs a little work. Once again, folks, if we start looking like a bunch of vagabonds, it's back to the real thing.

7) October Board of Review - The following Scouts are eligible to advance at the upcoming Board, provided they hold a Scoutmaster's Conference with me during this upcoming week: John Cr., Billy F., Daniel Ho. and Adam S., all for First Class, and Kevin K., for Star. John Ar. is also fully qualified for First Class, and has already completed his Scoutmaster's Conference. Michael S. and Thaddeus W. are also on the edge of qualification, needing only to pass the First Class Practical Exam. Note that a large number of Senior Scouts are short only teaching time to advance to Star or Life, as was detailed in the recent module handout; these Scouts should point towards the December Board of Review to have this work done.

- Dr. Bob, Scoutmaster

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17 June 2001