Troop 281 Cincinnati, OH

(Click to enlarge) (Older scouts were north of Gunpowder Creek) (Younger scouts were south of Gunpowder Dreek) This latest campout was the infamous “Survivor” campout, where the older scouts can test their wilderness survival skills in a real-life situation: getting stuck in a forest without any clue as to where to go and only the ten scout essentials plus the clothes on their backs to help them. Meanwhile, the younger scouts who were not high enough rank to try roughing it in the wilds of Kentucky set up camp by a pre-existing shelter located next to the Gunpowder Creek, their main goal of the weekend being to work on rank advancement, although they too would not have access to as many luxuries as they usually had on a campout due to some restrictions such as having to make all their meals over a campfire. The only two First Class scouts who were with the younger scouts was Ben M, the acting SPL for the non-survivor group, and me as the staff cook. FRIDAY Friday saw the two groups sp

Photos from shooting sports campout at Achewon, September 18-29, 2009

At last week’s Troop meeting, things got a little crazy. First, the youth staff announced that in November there will be a uniform inspection conducted every meeting to make sure scouts are in complete “Class A” uniform. There was a small commotion when it was added that wearing the “Class B” shirt (the white shirt with the Troop 281 logo on the front) was part of the Class A uniform, since it would be almost completely hidden under the Class A shirt, but eventually the situation was sorted out. After some more announcements, Greg B. told the scouts to form a “half-circle-nonagon” (A nonagon is a nine-sided polygon) for the skill session, although in the end the scouts just formed a half-circle. Confusing geometric-related commands aside, Greg did a good job of covering the basics of Wilderness Survival, the next campout (location still unknown to most of the Troop). He covered the essentials and the top 7 things anybody needs to survive in the wild for a little while: Water, the abili