Planning for the Future

At the latest troop meeting, the main focus was on planning the next campout, the Water Sports campout. So, the first half of the meeting was pretty much the individual patrols planning their menus and deciding what gear they need to bring. Patrol Leader elections were held after the menus were decided, and after all patrols had voted for their candidates (or in the case of the Hurricanes, simply usher in the guy who volunteered for the job, that guy being Greg Brinkman), the scouts fell back in to get the results. The game of the meeting was the ever-insane classic, Spud! However, before long, the scouts abandoned the indoor game in favor of playing outside, and so the game was changed to Ultimate Frisbee. When it was time to fall in, Scoutmaster Dr. Reynolds had everybody gather outside, more specifically at the flagpole that had been Dillon Whitehead’s Eagle Project – a change of pace from the usual indoor procedure in order to honor the incumbent Eagle Scout. Otherwise the troop closed the meeting in the traditional clasped-hands circle like always.

While not part of any activity scheduled by the troop itself, Dr. Reynolds and four other scouts: Avery Reynolds, Jack VanKeuren, Greg Brinkman, and I acted as a color guard in the memorial service for the late Mr. Wayne E. Baughman. His widow, Linda Baughman, could not get the pastor of the service to allow a full military color guard in the memorial service (Mr. Baughman had served in the Air Force), so the scouts performed one instead, as Mr. Baughman had also served the Boy Scouts for about 52 years.

Ben Hallenbeck, Troop Historian