Introduction

Hello, and welcome to “35 Years of Scouting.”  My name is Chris, and I want to share a little of what I've learned since I first put on a uniform and started treating outdoors skills as something more than just playing in the backyard.

As a Cub Scout, I started learning about tools, and thought a pocketknife was the neatest thing ever invented.  I started learning about teamwork and leadership, and working with a group to accomplish a goal. As an only child, this was very important to me, and I have to thank my parents who did an awesome job of running those dens and events when I was little.

I can still remember the day I put on a Boy Scout shirt… that tan cloth was a rite of passage out of childhood, and things started getting serious. Dad took a job overseas, so most of my Boy Scouting was done in Europe, where I started learning first aid, survival skills, cooking, camp craft, and took a real appreciation for our international brothers and sisters.  We worked with German and English and Dutch troops a lot, their different ways of doing things, and that gave me a real sense of respect for a multi-cultural approach to things.

I earned my Eagle Scout at the age of 17, and remember clearly the challenge posed to me at my court of honor… to give back more to Scouting than was given to me. I might be letting the cat out of the bag here, but it’s a trick.  It’s impossible to do, because every time you give something of yourself, you grow even more, learn even more, and so you can never give back more than you gain in the process. That hasn’t stopped me, though, and I’ve been working as an adult leader for well over 20 years now, with every age group and in nearly every position available to a volunteer Scouter.

So with that introduction out of the way, let me thank you for joining me as I chat about my experiences, my observations, and my concerns for the young men I work with today.  It’s a rough world and I think we owe it to our boys to prepare them as best we can, by acting as good role models, teaching them valuable skills and ethics, and challenging them to realize their potential.  My self-interest in this is I’ve got daughters, and while I work with them on many of the same issues, and don’t teach them any less than the boys, I hope the men they choose to be with someday are of quality, and I hope my work can improve the field a bit.

We'll discuss modern bushcrafting, wilderness survival, general camping, anything that comes out of the tradition of Scouting that we can all take advantage of today. 

Thank you and welcome to “35 Years of Scouting.”