Home of the Brave

Troop 50 and Webelos, with our tour guide Tiffany, at the entrance
to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning

        In place of a February campout, the Patrol Leaders Council chose to take a day trip on Saturday to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. The Museum, which opened in 2009, tells the story of U.S. Army Infantrymen from the American Revolution to the present day. The facility hosts over 300,000 visitors every year, including current Fort Benning soldiers, who are required to visit as part of Basic Training. The museum includes both indoor and outdoor exhibits, an IMAX theater, and two interactive simulators. The troop participated in a guided tour of the indoor exhibits and both simulations. In addition to Troop 50 Scouts, the group also included a number of Webelos Scouts and parents from Packs 29 and 811, who will be joining our troop in the next couple of months. 

       For the simulations, the troop split into two groups. One group headed to the rifle range, where they had the opportunity to shoot simulated M4 rifles. The rifles used lasers to simulate live fire. The second group entered the mission simulator, which featured a three station overwatch post and a simulated Humvee with two seats and a upper gunner's station. Both faced a large three part video projection screen on which the Scouts viewed their scenario. This simulator functioned much like a live action video game.

        The scenario was a mission to rescue international aid workers who were trapped in a village during an insurgent attack. Both stations viewed the scenario from their own point of view - the Humvee crew as they traversed the landscape in a convoy to rescue the aid workers and the overwatch soldiers as they covered the convoy from above. The scenario ended as they made their way back into the American base. After completing their simulation, the two groups of Scouts swapped places between the rifle range and the mission simulator. Some of the adults also participated in the simulations and everyone agree that they were a blast.

  
       
        Next, our tour guide Tiffany, who is a Scout parent with Troop 128, led us through the various galleries of the museum. We first went through the Last Hundred Yards exhibit. This exhibit gets its name from the fact that the infantry owns the last hundred yards of the battlefield. Airplanes, artillery, and tanks do their part on the battlefield but the infantry directly confronts the enemy in the last hundred yards of the attack. Life-size wax figures portrayed U.S. Army infantry soldiers in combat from the American Revolution, Civil War, World Wars I & II, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. It gave the scouts a visual history lesson and an understanding of the sacrifices made for our country. Equally impressive was the parade field that we were shown behind the museum. The field is used for graduation ceremonies from the various programs taught at Benning. Tiffany informed us that dirt collected from all of the battlefields depicted in the Last Hundred Yards exhibit is mixed into the soil on the parade ground. The army now considers it hallowed ground and they only allow veterans and active duty soldiers to enter the field.

       Following the guided tour, the troop fixed sandwiches for lunch and then spent some free time in the museum or the outdoor exhibits. Overall, the trip provided a good chance for the troop to interact with the Webelos who will soon be part of our unit. At the PLC on Monday evening, the consensus was that this was a great opportunity to learn something and have fun at the same time. Several Scouts mentioned the simulations or various exhibits as their favorites. Vincent told of seeing a statue of Rick Rescorla among the outdoor memorials. Rescorla was a platoon leader in Vietnam who later died on 9/11 after safely evacuating 2700 people from the World Trade Center. John noted that it was "pretty cool" that they had soil from the Last Hundred Yards battlefields spread on the parade field. It seems our trip served to inspire as well as teach everyone about the values we should all aspire to embody.

        For more photos, see the online photo gallery. 

Scouting for Skittles at the Food Bank

Scouts (left to right) Andrew, Michael and Mark sort food items collected
by area troops and packs into sorting cages so it can later be boxed
for redistribution by Food Bank member agencies throughout East Alabama.

In conjunction with Saugahatchee District's annual Scouting for Food food-collection drive, Troop 50 Scouts, leaders and family members volunteered Saturday morning at the Food Bank of East Alabama. The troop helped unload, weigh, and sort food collected by the district's Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops through Scouting for Food, which ultimately collected more than 5,600 pounds — nearly three tons — of food for the area's less fortunate.

Scouts "taste the rainbow" as they tackle repackaging
the first quarter-ton of  Skittles.

Food Bank staff had a project lined up for the troop to assist with as they awaited Scouting for Food deliveries to arrive — a project that had some Scouts mentally "tasting the rainbow" as they repackaged a literal ton of snack-sized Skittles into 10-pound boxes. It is common for the Food Bank to receive bulk food donations, even snacks and candies, that it must repackage for redistribution by its member agencies that include food pantries throughout east Alabama. 

Scouting for Food, an annual service project rooted in the founding principles of Scouting, helps thousands of families in need. Initiated by the Greater St. Louis Area Council in 1985, the program now encompasses the entire nation. Each year, Boy Scouts of America councils across the country gather goods from their communities for local food pantries to distribute to those in need. This “national good turn” emphasizes the role Scouting has had in the United States since its founding in February 1910.

Food insecurity exists in every county in the United States, with 48.8 million Americans living in hunger. Nationally, as well as throughout Alabama, roughly 1 in 6 people struggle with “food insecurity.” Different from poverty, food insecurity individuals and household lack stable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food because of the devastating effects of economics and supply.

More photos from the troop's day of service are available on its online photo album. For more information about the Food Bank of East Alabama, visit www.foodbankofeastalabama.com.

Troop receives top marks in national 'Journey to Excellence' program

In its first year of eligibility for a Journey to Excellence unit award, Troop 50 achieved the top-level "Gold Award" unit status through metrics designed to measure various program-related outcomes in Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troop, and Venture crews.

First implemented for calendar year 2011, "Scouting’s Journey to Excellence" is the Boy Scouts of America's performance recognition program designed to encourage and reward success and measure the performance of units, districts, and councils. The program, also referred to as “JTE,” replaces the previous Quality Unit Award program and provides an annual assessment system for Scouting units, as well as for councils and districts.

Scouts and leaders in units that achieve gold-, silver- or bronze-level awards in the JTE program are able to wear a patch designating that recognition on the right sleeves of their uniforms.

Through the JTE program, units are assessed on performance in key areas, which include increases or decreases in the amount of advancements earned by their Scouts, membership recruitment and retention rates, prevalence of required training among registered leaders, frequency of short-term and long-term camping, use of the patrol method and boy-led troop concept, frequency of service projects, Webelos-to-Scout transition, troop budgeting, courts of honor and parental involvement, integration of physical fitness programming, and timeliness of unit recharting.

Some take-a-ways regarding Troop 50's performance in 2013 include:

• 50% of Scouts advancing in rank
• 100% membership retention — 15% above the maximum required of gold-level units
• 31% increase in membership — 21% above the maximum required of gold-level units
• 8 short-term camp-outs
• active monthly PLC meetings and an annual planning meeting
• 14 service projects — 8 projects above the maximum required of gold-level units

Finding the way, while being healthy, and tracking animals

Monday's meeting combined several different topics from outdoor skills to staying healthy. It was also marked by the return of a number of Webelos Scouts who have decided to join our troop in the coming months. Senior Patrol Leader William started the meeting by introducing the troop to the SCOUTStrong program, which is associated with the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award Challenge. The goal of the program is to promote a  healthy lifestyle through good eating habits and a regular regimen of physical activity. To earn the SCOUTStrong award, youth are required to meet an activity goal of sixty minutes per day, for at least five days per week, for six weeks out of eight. Adults can also participate with a daily goal of thirty minutes of activity. Along with the physical activity, participants set weekly goals for healthy eating. It was revealed during the presentation that the scoutmaster had already registered to start the program and completed sixty minutes of activity earlier in the day. Further information may be found at http://www.scouting.org/scoutstrongpala.aspx. The login for the online tracker is found at https://www.presidentschallenge.org/BSA_91/.

Next on the program was the Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, John, who conducted a class on identifying animals in the wild. This met requirement six of the Second Class rank requirements. He covered the ability to stalk wild animals by following their tracks and distinguishing between similar species based on small differences in the tracks. He also discussed how to determine an animal's identity by the type of habitat it creates and the scat it leaves behind. The visiting Webelos eagerly joined in the discussion and asked a number of interesting questions.

John fields questions from the multitudes

   

With Ethan standing in for the sun,
it is shown how the movement of the
 stick's shadow creates an East-West
line on the ground.

The final part of the program was spend on land navigation. Mr. Baird explained how contour maps can be used to identify the terrain features of an area and how knowing the shape of the terrain can help you find your way. He also showed how to determine the steepness of a grade by using trigonometry, although that exhibit was mostly met with quizzical looks. In a more practical demonstration, Scouts were shown how the shadow cast by an upright stick can be used to determine north, south, east, and west. Other methods for determining direction were also demonstrated, including the use of an analog watch to find south. Unfortunately, the rain clouds hid the stars from view, which precluded a visit to the parking lot to identify the North Star.
 
At the close of the meeting, the Scouts were once again congratulated on reaching the gold level of the Journey to Excellence in 2013. Scouts and leaders were presented patches for their uniforms to signify this important achievement.

We are family

This evening, Troop 50 continued its work toward completing Family Life Merit Badge. The merit badge, which is among those Scouts are required to earn as they work toward the rank of Eagle, teaches Scouts to recognize the important role they serve in their families, the benefits of healthy family conversation, how Scouts can help solve family problems and avoid conflict, and how Scouts can better serve their families through regular chores and special projects.

Troop Committee Chair Rob Stanford led the merit badge session. Several Webelos Scouts visited the troop meeting with intentions to cross over in April also sat in for the merit badge discussion.

Following the merit badge class, Scouts brushed up on their knot-tying skills through modeling the "EDGE" — Explaining, Demonstrating, Guiding, and Enabling — method. Senior Patrol Leader William worked with Webelos Scouts on basic knots like the square knot and bowline, while Scoutmaster Andrew Baird worked with older Scouts on advanced knots like the sheet bend and hurricane bowline.