We woke up at 4:00 am in order to
finish packing all of our gear and be ready to board our buses at our
scheduled pick up time of 6:00 am.
The boys worked fairly effectively at
getting all of their personal gear packed up, the tents taken down
and folded and all of the gear packed back in the storage bins that
it was originally stored in when we arrived.
We got to the bus staging area with all
of our gear at 6:06 am … not too bad. Unfortunately, there weren't
any buses there yet! We waited for quite a while, watching for our
buses to come down the road. Finally, at around 7:30, two of the
three buses showed up. Fortunately, one of the two buses was ours, so
we loaded our gear on board and got on the bus. Just before we were
about to leave, the Scoutmaster from the other bus, which was
supposed to pick up the Venture Crew at the Foxtrot base camp, came
on our bus and told us that the bus they had was too small to fit the
Venture Crew. We would have to take the Venture Crew with us!
It took us about 45 minutes to get to
the Foxtrot base camp to meet the Venture Crew. We got them loaded on
the bus and started the trip towards home.
The original plans called for the three
buses to stop for lunch together in Harrisburg, PA. Given our late
departure, and the fact that our buses were all about 30-60 minutes
apart from each other, the decision was made for each bus to stop
independently, and then head for home. We found a place in
Harrisonburg, VA where there were several restaurant choices for
everyone to get lunch. We made it a short stop, only 35 minutes, and
then we continued on the road home. Our GPS devices were indicating
an arrival time around 7:15.
We pulled into the parking lot right
around 7:15, as expected, and the boys all got off the bus to meet
their families. Everyone was glad to be home!!!
Some final thoughts ...
My experience at the 2017 Boy Scouts of
America National Jamboree had its ups and downs. There were some
great moments and, unfortunately, there were also some terrible
moments. In retrospect, I'm not sure that I would go to another
Jamboree as a contingent leader, but at the end of the day, I'm glad
I went. I had the opportunity to do this with two really great
gentlemen as my Scoutmaster partners, and we did our best to make it
a great experience for the boys.
During my time at the Jamboree,
unfortunately, I witnessed a good deal of un-Scout-like behavior. It didn't seem to be limited to one Troop, or one region of the country, but rather a systemic problem. There was extensive use of foul language and vulgarity. During the
exit from the Saturday evening show, I saw groups of scouts locking
arms and “plowing” through crowds of people trying to get back to
their camps. I heard stories of scouts “ripping off” other scouts
in patch trades, and I also saw a lot of “unhelpful” scouts. For
anyone reading this, whether you're a scout, a parent or a
Scoutmaster, please remember that one of the requirements for each
scout rank is to demonstrate that you live the Scout Oath & Law
in your everyday life. You live the Scout Oath & Law through
actions, not words.
I really hope that everyone who
attended the Jamboree had a great time. For most of us, this is a
once in a lifetime opportunity. Despite what I just said above, there
was also a whole lot of awesome at the Jamboree, and I will remember
this experience forever.
Peace Out Boy Scout!
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