As always, I would like to know what your sons thought of summer camp; especially for those Scouts where this was their first or second camp. What did they like, what did they not like, will they go again next year. Let's get this while the memory is still fresh, OK??? - Bob

Our only departure this month is a sad one indeed - TR 111-A (the Blue and White van) was donated on July 5th to Goshen Scout Camps as a replacement ambulance van for runs from Camp Post to Lexington (their current ambulance van is four paws up on the main lot at Camp Post.) Van A gave the Troop over 50,000 miles of service over the past 7 years, including the just concluded summer camp trip to Powhatan, and (I am hoping) will give Goshen at least another 10,000 miles - and it should, providing they keep the maintenance up to our standards, and don't kill the engine with heavy loads or steep hills.

Send a sympathy card to Larry and Rich; they're in mourning.

So now, we're in the hunt for TR 111-D, preferably another 15 passenger Dodge or Ford, less than 6 years old, for less than 8K. Keep those eyes peeled!

The Troop also enjoyed a brief visit from Ryan S., now a Life Scout in Heidelberg, Germany, during our summer camp orientation meeting. Ryan is enjoying converting the American Post Troop in Heidelberg to "Troop 111 Standards." He and JT B. (now in New Jersey) will both make Eagle possibly later this year or (more likely) early next year. They will be our third and fourth "Eagles in Absentia" over the past 10 years (after Phillip Arquette (Ann Arbor, Michigan) and Charles "Lance" Johnson (El Paso, Texas.)

Well, it it's early July, we're doubtless buried under an avalanche of Merit Badges - and indeed we are! The Troop earned over 150 Merit Badges at Camp Powhatan. The correlated listings (courtesy of some quick work by Matt and Suzy B.) are [(p) = partial (?) = needs to be verified]:

Chris B.: Canoeing, Rifle Shooting, Envi Sci, Basketry

Richard B.: Emergency Prep, Archery, Leatherwork

Chris B.: Camping (p), Lifesaving, Wilderness Survival, First Aid

Luke B.: First Aid, Riofle Shooting, Cooking, Orienteering

Charles B.: Indian Lore, Sculpture, Emergency Prep, Art, Camping (p) John B.: Leatherwork (?), Sculpture, Art, First Aid, Canoeing

Matt Cap.: Art, Sculpture, Emergency Prep, Nature

Matt Cas.: Woodcarving, Swimming, Leatherwork, Basketry, Indian Lore

Ray D.: Swimming, Leatherwork, Basketry, Woodcarving, Indian Lore

Dan H.: Wilderness Survival, Emergency Prep, Camping (p) Matt G.: Art, Wilderness Survival, Sculpture, Forestry, Camping (p) Todd G.: Canoeing, Archery, Leatherwork (?), Orienteering

Will K.: Basketry (?) (had a partial from Camp Tuckahoe), Sculpture, Indian Lore, Reptiles, First Aid

Neal /k.: Reptiles (?), Nature (?), Emergency Prep., Sculpture, Art

William L.: First Aid, Rowing, Lifesaving, Fishing

Shane M.: Swimming, Canoeing, Nature (?), Leatherwork (p) (?), Sculpture, Art

Nicholas M.: Wilderness Survival, Rifle Shooting, First Aid, Indian Lore

Jay P.: Lifesaving, Geology, Shotgun

John P.: Aviation, Camping (p), Rowing, Shotgun (p) Dale R.: Swimming, Basketry, Rifle Shooting, Woodcarving

J.T. R.: Basketry, Leatherwork, Rifle Shooting, Cooking

Michael R.: Aviation, Emergency Prep, Orienteering, Camping (p) Thomas S.: Geology, First Aid, Archery, Sculpture, Art

Charles S.: Swimming, Basketry, Leatherwork, Woodcarving, Indian Lore

Casey S.: Swimming, Basketry, Leatherwork, Woodcarving, Indian Lore

Carl S.: Geology, Forestry, First Aid, Orienteering, Sculpture, Art

Max S-D: Canoeing, Leatherwork, Cooking, Sculpture, Woodcarving, Art

Neil S.: Fishing, Rowing, Reptiles, Indian Lore, Sculpture

Dan T.: Camping (p), Nature, Emergency Prep.

Nick T.: Camping (p), Nature, Emergency Prep.

J. T.: Leatherwork (p) (?), Woodcarving, Basketry, Swimming, Canoeing

Chris T.: Aviation, Backpacking (p), Camping (p), Lifesaving, First Aid (p) Mark T.: Swimming, Leatherwork, Woodcarving, Indian Lore, Basketry

Tom W.: Envi Sci, Rifle Shooting, Woodcarving

Chris W.: Aviation

Eric W.: Aviation

In other advancement news, Ryan H. and Nicholas M. both passed their Second Class Boards of Review just prior to summer camp. Neil S. also finished his last Second Class requirement and his Scoutmaster's Conference, while at camp.

Congratulations to each of the above Scouts!

1) Summer Camp Receipts and Photos - Please collect your receipts and forward them to Richard Bangs for reconciliation. Each receipt should have your name, "summer camp," and what it was for, listed directly on the receipt. Do NOT submit them (or duplicates of them) to Jim Holland or John Kennedy. Please complete this by NLT Friday, July 16th.

Photos should be processed into double sets of prints. All photos should be 4 x 6's; please do not get ANY other size, as they will not fit into the Troop photo albums. Receipts for photos should be handled as listed above. You may take all photos pertaining to your son(s), or deliver them to us for "signing;" in the latter case, you will get them back at the next Court of Honor.

2) Stamp Collecting Merit Badge (Message from Kim S.)

Dear Troop 111ers:
Another new merit badge is now available -- one never earned by our Troop to our knowledge. David Jickling, a friend of Duke Banks, has been recruited to offer Stamp Collecting.

Mr. Jickling is a real find! He has collected stamps his entire life; he shares his time between this country and Guatemala where he is on the Board of Directors for various Guatemalan stamp associations; is the author of several books on the subject; AND is an Eagle!

Among the activities planned for interested Scouts:
1. Using computer and Internet (including downloading several country-specific stamp albums);
2. Learning about sheet, coil, perforated, gum backs and the effect on the price of collectors' stamps;
3. Using stamp collectors' tools: magnifying glass, tweezers, hinges, etc.

. DATES: Mr. Jickling would like to meet with interested boys on Monday, July 12^th at 5pm. Completion must be by November 1^st, when Mr. Jickling returns to Guatemala.

MEETINGS: This one in July; two in September; one in October to the Postal Museum to commemorate "Stamp Collecting Month" and finalize details. Mr. Jickling has offered us a lot of flexibility, so if you have to miss a meeting because of vacations, etc. there will be opportunities for make-up.

REQUIREMENTS: On the Web at the US Boy Scouts Stamp Collecting Merit Badge Page or at the Scouts on Stamps Society International Wepage. Among these are Collections: You'll need between 50 and 250 stamps (of which you don't have to have ANY right now); describing the difference between our nation's and other countries' postal services (i.e., ours is Federal; Guatemala's is privatized and run by Canadians!)

RSVP: Let Mr. Banks know of your interest as soon as possible. This is a rich (not only in content) merit badge and possibly a life-long interest.

Please RSVP to Mr. Banks at his e-mail by July 7th if you are interested.

3) Summer Camp - Leftover "Stuff" - We have retained in the Troop closet everything from sleeping bags to dirty clothes to lawn chairs. As usual, most of these items do not have names listed on them (I can preach, and preach, and preach....) We have also received a number of queries for items that we don't have, but which were definitely unloaded from the vehicles on Saturday (that is, they went home with the wrong families!) Please review your stuff to make sure it is in fact your stuff, and also try to determine if you're missing anything. I will try to publish a list of what we have in the Troop closet in another mass email later this week. With Luck, we can reunite everyone with their various missing items. With Luck.

4) Other Summer Camps??? - Several Scouts have already attended or will soon attend other summer camps (sports related, aquatics related, theme related, whatever.) Note that these are opportunities to acquire Boy Scout Merit Badges *even if the camp has no affililiation with Scouts*. What you need to do is review what the camp offers, see how well that matches up with Boy Scout merit badges (we only offer 135 of them!), and bring the books along for the camp counselors to review and "sign off on" requirements. Note that they CANNOT sign merit badge cards, but that is just a matter of your son visiting with a local merit badge counselor upon his return to Arlington. Several Troop 111 Scouts have earned extra badges in this manner. Questions, please call me. - Bob

5) Summer Camp Patches, etc. - Several Scouts have already inquired about their summer camp patches. We have a patch for each attendee, plus new Bolo Ties for Scouts whose first summer camp was Shenandoah, Tuckahoe or Powhatan (Shenandoah's Bolo Tie was pathetic, and Tuckahoe didn't offer one, which is why we're giving these to all attendees where this was their 1st, 2nd or 3rd summer camp.) We will probably give these away at the next Court of Honor, later this summer.

6) Adult Campout Patches - To date, only one Adult requested a patch. The following patches are still available (LET ME KNOW!): Camp Tuckahoe (summer camp '98), Rideau Canal, Camp Potomac (Guns and Arrows Campout), Vint Hill Camporee, Camp Mahonegon (caving trip), the 1998 Marine Corps Marathon and the Projectoree.

7) Canadian Trip; Shenandoah Backpacking Trek - Expect several meetings for both of these. Note that both are wilderness treks, and involve weight minimalization and some advanced training BEFORE going. Much more information to follow....

Just before summer camp, a few select members of the Troop headed over to Ft. Myer (Spate's Hall) to enjoy the First Annual Chain Bridge District Dinner. This year's dinner included a recognition of all the Eagle Scouts from the District who earned their Eagles from June 1st, 1998, through May 31st, 1999 - including six from Troop 111 (we had 10 % of the District's total (58) this past year.) Brad J. ran the Opening Flag Ceremony, gave a brief off-the-cuff speech on the "State of the O/A in Chain Bridge District," and was recognized for his efforts in getting the local O/A Chapter off the turf. Josh Gartner (one of our new ASM's) handled the role call of Eagles, nicely done, while yours truly received a minor award (and a standing O, thank you very much) for my District level efforts over the past year. All in all, a pleasant evening. Our participants included: Bill, Greg and Nancy B., Josh G., Dan, Pat, Tim and Walter H., Brad (and Randy) J., Jeff and Kevin K., Rusty P., Sally W. and Lynch M. (Rusty's grandmother), and Jamie, Jim and Kim S.. Hank Dettmar, our Eagle Board Representative, also attended as our guest.

Next up was our annual migration to summer camp, this year to Camp Powhatan (the Blue Ridge Mountains Council camp) about 50 miles south of Roanoke, Virginia. A solid 6 hour drive. 38 Scouts and 6 Adults spent the week at Rock Ridge B and C, a very pretty set of campsites overlooking the camp's moderately sized lake and waterfront. The weather was quite reasonable through the course of the week - hot of course, and occasionally pretty muggy, with a few thunderstorms and showers mid-week, but all-in-all pretty pleasant. However, it seemed like we always had a breeze - and despite the proximity of the lake, the immediate area was almost bug-free. Lots of loud bullfrogs singing us to sleep each night. Best of all, the campsite had a large latrine with *flush* toilets and *hot* showers; quite a step up from the usual pit latrines at most camps, and a big plus for the Scouts. So much for "roughing it!" As one might expect, we took "command" of the latrine from Day One, and did so nice a job of it that we had Scouts and Leaders from other camps using it most of the week (this in addition to our neighbors in Rock Ridge A and D.) Only "downer" were the number of rocks in the sites - they didn't name it "Rock Ridge" for nothing! The whole camp, in fact, seemed to have thousands of rocks everywhere, and I made a week-long career of tossing several hundred of them back into the woods. The collective Scouts in Troop 111 also cleared our site of upwards of a thousand loose rocks in short order on Day One, which certainly helped avoid many a twisted knee or turned ankle for our Scouts! Worse than Tuckahoe last year - and just like last year, one has to wonder why the last 50 years worth of Troops did so little to improve the situation.

Sunday was dedicated to camp set-up, orientation and merit badge scheduling, plus the camp's opening campfire (not bad as these things go.) On Monday, we got right into it, with sessions starting at 9am and running through 5pm. Most of the Scouts were perpetually scheduled through the course of the day, so the camp was nearly deserted all morning and most of the afternoon. The food was "different" - unlike most camps, Powhatan uses a cafeteria style dining arrangement, with assigned seating by Troop. Decent food, too, despite some crabbing by the Scouts (who left many items untouched because they didn't like the looks of them.) Of course, the extensive supplemental food we had at the campsite, along with the best Trading Post/Snack Bar I've ever seen at a summer camp, were co-conspirators in the "dislike" for the food; it was actually pretty good. Free time was filled with Chess games, Card games, listening to all sorts of music on the Troop boombox, games of "pickle," soccer practice, fishing and mucho arts and crafts work. The camp lacked any post-dinner activities, so we really made an effort to provide in-camp diversions. The Indian Lore Merit Badge was particularly well run, and the campsite was filled with Scout-made spears, tomahawks, bows and arrows, and many other sharp implements of destruction. We also had Troop campfires almost every night, thanks to Matt "I am Not a Pyro" G., who by the end of the week was able to start wood a-blazin' merely by glaring at it. The traditional "Troop Campfire" was on Thursday night, when we did about 20 songs and a ghost story: "The Ghost of the Camp Potomac Graveyard;" another Troop classic. Other Special Awards:

The "Somebody Finally Beat Bob at Chess" Award - Matt Cap. (first Scout to beat me since 1989!)
The "Somebody Finally Caught a Fish" Award - Will K. (who caught the only 2 fish of the week!)
The "Have Spear/Will Travel" Award - Neil S. (tops of about a dozen Scouts making various Indian artifacts)
The "Best Stool Ever Seen at Camp Powhatan Award" - Will K. and Nancy S. (comment made by the Handicraft Staff)
The "Cleanest Latrine in Camp" Award - Matt B., Nancy "I have 4 gallons of Pine-Sol here, and I'm not afraid to Use Them!" S., and Carrie T.
The "Waiter of the Week" Award - Luke B., who volunteered for just about every meal we ate.
The "Pyro" Award - Matt G., as noted above.
The "Finger Whittling" Award - a tie between half a dozen Scouts (we stopped counting cuts after the first 25)
The "Messiest Tent" Award - A tie between three sets of first and second year Scouts, who will remain anonymous to protect the guilty. Uggh!
The "I will never finish the Camping Merit Badge Paperwork, No Matter How Many Times Bob Bugs Me about It" Award - a tie between Christopher B. and Daniel H. - I'm STILL WAITING, Gentlemen!
The "Fastest Swimmer" Award - William L., who took first place and absolutely smoked a competition level swimmer in the Water Carnival.
The "Jerk of the Week" Award - to an unknown Scout in a neighboring Troop, who threw an emergency/Search and Rescue dye marker into the lake on Thursday morning, resulting in the cancelation of all morning aquatics that day while the Camp Director tried to figure out what it was. Sigh.

On a more serious note, Tim A. earned the BSA Lifeguard Award, a very tough course indeed (this was a re-cert, mandatory after three years.) On Thursday evening, we took part in the only Troop versus Troop competition of the week, a Water Carnival. The guys were stoked pretty good by an open (and repeated) challenge from the 2 year Reigning Champions, Troop 2 from the Blue Ridge Mountain Council. Well, Troop 2 went down in flames, with 111 and 326 sharing First Place Honors. Winning the PFD Race were: William L., Dan H. and Richard B.; coming in Second Place in the Canoe Race were: Luke B., John B., Todd G. and William L.. This was out of about 15 competing Troops. Max D., Neal K., Jay P. and Eric W. came in second place in their canoe race heat, while our third entry (Richard B., Dan H., Chris and Eric W.) foundered right after the starting gun. The third event (The Big Splash) was not our best, with only Charlie S. making a splash (Richard B. and Dan H. both basically fell off the board.) A lot of fun!

Our Wilderness Survival and Camping Merit Badge overnighters were also on Thursday night; Michael R. and Dan and Nick T. did the backpacking/camping thing, while Christopher B., Matt G., Daniel H. and Nicholas M. did the Wilderness Survival "under the stars" campout. Fortunately, the threatened thunderstorms never materialized, so it was an easy, starlit and cool night. Back at the campsite, Matt B. and Frank R. were terrorized by a nocturnal deer, who left a pile of "calling cards" by their tents just to show he/she had been around. This was our second visitor of the week, as I had chased a racoon out of the camp on Tuesday, around 3 in the morning.

Chris and Eric W. participated in the "New River" High Adventure Program all week, and gave it very high marks. Something for our Senior Scouts to consider next year.

To no-one's surprise, Troop 111 won the "Hound's Tooth" Award, with a perfect inspection score of 500/500 for the week.

All-in-all, a very pleasant week at camp. Scout Participants are listed under the Advancement section. Adults (and a sincere Thanks to each and every one who braved the week (or at least parts thereof)): Tim A., Matt B., Ray D., Frank R., Nancy S., Rick S., Carrie T., and Rick W.. Thanks also to the various drivers who schlepped all the way back and forth from Arlington. Thanks especially to Jim and Kim S., who worked tirelessly during the three weeks preceeding camp to get us ready for the merit badge programs and their myriad prerequisites, and to Matt, Suzy and Richard B., who handled all the extensive administrative chores.

Same station, same time, in 2000.

- Bob

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13 July 1999