BSA National Jamboree
I'm working with 11 other adults to take 108 boys to Washington, D.C. and Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia to the BSA's National Scout Jamboree in July and August. One night on the road east, four nights in D.C., nine nights in a tent, and one night on the road west. Road and D.C. lodging will be in motels. If you're counting, that's a 2:3 ratio of beds to cots for 15 nights. We'll be traveling in three commercial motor coaches.
I've done this before: once in 1997 and again in 2001. We establish a budget, recruit leaders, recruit boys, beg for money, plan the tour, make the reservations, arrange for human and gear transportation, track down confirmations, scrounge gear, buy what we can't scrounge, haul gear, warehouse gear pack/ship gear, unpack gear, set up camp, tear it down, pack it up, ship it again, unload it, haul, and store it. I'm glad we don't do this every year!. Right now we're at the recruit boys, scrounge/buy gear phases. We've had a couple of boys drop out so we're trying to back-fill. The next one will be in 2010, the 100th anniversary of Scouting in the U.S. I hope to go again that year, but as a staff member, not a unit leader.
It's a fun/work roller coaster, The work begins at least a year and a half before departure and peaks when we load the truck prior to leaving town. It increases again when we arrive home and unload the truck and transfer equipment back to camp. There is a potential for plenty of fun during this process. The group doing the work is a pretty good bunch to work with and that helps make the work less onerous. I'm pretty sure most of them will pitch in when the hard work starts. I sure hope so. Last night I washed 56 5-gallon buckets we'll use to sit on and haul gear in. The corned beef they serve at Oaklawn thoroughbred Race Track comes from Chicago in 5-gallon buckets.
The fun really takes place when the kids are involved; kids say and do the craziest things. Many of them have never been out of the state. Most have not been to Washington, D.C. While we're there we'll tour the Capitol, the White House (I can pretend to be a Republican for a day ( I hear it washes off easily), the National Cathedral, parts of the Smithsonian, try to do all the big monuments and memorials, and do a day trip to Sharpsburg to see the Antietam battlefield.
D.C. is an amazing place the two or three days prior to the Jamboree. There will be over 40,000 Scouts and leaders at the Jamboree and most will be in Washington prior to the event doing the same things we'll be doing. I tell friends from D.C. that it would be a great couple of days for them to get out of town. I feel real bad for the families who plan summer vacations to be in D.C. during that period.
Within 12 hours of our arrival at A.P. Hill, over 21,000 tents, 5,000 dining flys, and 4,000 patrol kitchens and will be set up. Staff members, numbering around 8,000, and our military hosts will have already set up 20 sets of commissaries, headquarters tents, staff lodging tents, staff dining halls, and latrines, three trading posts, a merit badge midway where kids can work on over 30 merit badges, an art and science exhibit hall, a twenty station environmental interpretive display area, rappelling towers, BMX courses, BB and archery ranges, a portable pool where scuba is taught and tons of other stuff. It's truly amazing!
The opening and closing shows will take place on a huge professionally built stage with jumbotron sets in a gigantic amphitheater. Imagine 40,000 participants, 8,000 staff members all in Class A Boy Scout uniforms, and another 1,000 spectators, many in uniform in one place! Most people I know have never seen close to 50,000 people in one place at one time. There are only nine cities in the state over 40,000. It's a real eye opener. Some participants will walk as far as three miles in formation, starting three hours before the show to get there. It's a major logistics event. Each troop will have an appointed time and place to line up to start the walk. The closing show will include a message and maybe a visit from the President and a fireworks display that will rival the biggest and best anywhere in the world. Imagine twenty minutes of the best finale you've ever seen followed by five minutes of MEGA-finale.
Departure is less than four months away. I can't wait.
I've done this before: once in 1997 and again in 2001. We establish a budget, recruit leaders, recruit boys, beg for money, plan the tour, make the reservations, arrange for human and gear transportation, track down confirmations, scrounge gear, buy what we can't scrounge, haul gear, warehouse gear pack/ship gear, unpack gear, set up camp, tear it down, pack it up, ship it again, unload it, haul, and store it. I'm glad we don't do this every year!. Right now we're at the recruit boys, scrounge/buy gear phases. We've had a couple of boys drop out so we're trying to back-fill. The next one will be in 2010, the 100th anniversary of Scouting in the U.S. I hope to go again that year, but as a staff member, not a unit leader.
It's a fun/work roller coaster, The work begins at least a year and a half before departure and peaks when we load the truck prior to leaving town. It increases again when we arrive home and unload the truck and transfer equipment back to camp. There is a potential for plenty of fun during this process. The group doing the work is a pretty good bunch to work with and that helps make the work less onerous. I'm pretty sure most of them will pitch in when the hard work starts. I sure hope so. Last night I washed 56 5-gallon buckets we'll use to sit on and haul gear in. The corned beef they serve at Oaklawn thoroughbred Race Track comes from Chicago in 5-gallon buckets.
The fun really takes place when the kids are involved; kids say and do the craziest things. Many of them have never been out of the state. Most have not been to Washington, D.C. While we're there we'll tour the Capitol, the White House (I can pretend to be a Republican for a day ( I hear it washes off easily), the National Cathedral, parts of the Smithsonian, try to do all the big monuments and memorials, and do a day trip to Sharpsburg to see the Antietam battlefield.
D.C. is an amazing place the two or three days prior to the Jamboree. There will be over 40,000 Scouts and leaders at the Jamboree and most will be in Washington prior to the event doing the same things we'll be doing. I tell friends from D.C. that it would be a great couple of days for them to get out of town. I feel real bad for the families who plan summer vacations to be in D.C. during that period.
Within 12 hours of our arrival at A.P. Hill, over 21,000 tents, 5,000 dining flys, and 4,000 patrol kitchens and will be set up. Staff members, numbering around 8,000, and our military hosts will have already set up 20 sets of commissaries, headquarters tents, staff lodging tents, staff dining halls, and latrines, three trading posts, a merit badge midway where kids can work on over 30 merit badges, an art and science exhibit hall, a twenty station environmental interpretive display area, rappelling towers, BMX courses, BB and archery ranges, a portable pool where scuba is taught and tons of other stuff. It's truly amazing!
The opening and closing shows will take place on a huge professionally built stage with jumbotron sets in a gigantic amphitheater. Imagine 40,000 participants, 8,000 staff members all in Class A Boy Scout uniforms, and another 1,000 spectators, many in uniform in one place! Most people I know have never seen close to 50,000 people in one place at one time. There are only nine cities in the state over 40,000. It's a real eye opener. Some participants will walk as far as three miles in formation, starting three hours before the show to get there. It's a major logistics event. Each troop will have an appointed time and place to line up to start the walk. The closing show will include a message and maybe a visit from the President and a fireworks display that will rival the biggest and best anywhere in the world. Imagine twenty minutes of the best finale you've ever seen followed by five minutes of MEGA-finale.
Departure is less than four months away. I can't wait.
posted by steve | 7:00 PM
4 Comments:
Steve,
I have to tell you -- this would not be my first choice in a way to use up valuable vacation time. I do hope you enjoy this trip as much as you anticipate enjoying it.
Lana
I kind of got stuck on that corned beef in five gallon buckets comment and never really began to appreciate the truly awesome nature of the events that will transpire but I'm happy for you.
Sorry, one more question, do you go to the racetrack that much?
Did you know I'm married to an Eagle Scout? Sometimes I think my husband is disappointed that he didn't have sons so he could be a Boy Scout leader. Each grandson (2) in his family got a lifetime membership to the BSA. Nothing for the grand daughters (7). Maybe I'll send the husband off to DC to help you out! I think he'd love it. We still have all his BS tents, gear, badges, and blankets.
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