Blood, Sweat, and Gears

At the latest scout meeting, the subject was Auto Mechanics, which believe it or not, is an actual merit badge. After the usual beginning for every typical meeting, the scouts were led outside to the parking lot behind the playground for the skill session, where the flower orders were originally set out. At that place, several of the assistant scoutmasters had set up three stations to teach scouts about different aspects of car repair or to give them hands on experience: Mr. Adkerson with a station reviewing basics for tire, engine, and brake care; Mr. Van Keuren with a hands-on lesson on switching out tires (on the trailer, as the adults probably were not letting scouts swap tires on the real cars); and Mr. Ossman and a crash course in various car parts (although, since there were so many different parts - along with various car manuals Mr. Ossman had - it looked more like a flea market seller’s table). While the adults did a good job not showing it, they were probably belying some concerns over the cars being able to get back home without needing a tow truck, but in the end they were able to drive their vehicles back relatively unscathed, the extent of the damage probably being one car having a wheel with insufficient air pressure in it.

After the scouts had all been through the stations, everybody went back inside. Since the Auto Mechanics skill session had taken so long, there was no time for a game, but there were other things that needed to be done. Right after coming back into the church, the scouts assembled in the chapel to nominate scouts to be candidates for the staff position of Senior Patrol Leader. Then, after the scouts fell in again, Noah Rechtin talked about how he was taking names to be volunteer counselors for a summer Cub Scout day camp (apparently lots of people want to be stationed at the BB rifle range - myself included). Mr. Ashley was also present and announced the seven people who had completed BSA Snorkeling training in order to go on the Sea Base trip (5 scouts, two adults). No more announcements came after Mr. Ashley’s, so Will had everybody circle up and call it a night.

Ben Hallenbeck Troop Historian