Opportunity Knocks #60 - To be or not to be - MACHO

"To be macho, or not to be macho, that is the question. Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of.etc..etc.etc." Sorry. Couldn't resist a little Shakespeare. I wonder if he ever had to cancel a performance of Romeo and Juliet because of weather. I can see it now. Due to the Globe Theater being encrusted with a four to six inch layer of sleet and ice, this evening's performance has been cancelled. People are urged to stay in their castles and village huts and look out for ice falling off the turrets. Take your horses, pigs and cows indoors and don't touch your swords or your armor with your tongues. Romeo and Juliet are frozen solid in their respective dressing rooms.

Weather. It has been incredible before and it has been incredible lately. And for sure it will be incredible again. We had to cancel this month's campout because of the ice and sleet storm, the roads, the traffic, the safety concerns inherent with this kind of storm. Every monitoring weather agency was recommending that people stay in their homes and not even get out to go to the store down the block, much less traveling to Bartlesville for a campout at Camp McClintock. Bartlesville was snowed in. Power was out over much of the area. No electricity and no water. Roads were frozen solid. Side roads impassable. Highway Patrol was telling people in Tulsa to stay in Tulsa.

And yet I hated to cancel. We are campers. We should be able to handle anything that the weather can throw against us. Right? Isn't that right? Actually, no it isn't. Should we be going camping to prove some point about how we can handle it? Should we be going so that we can say to other troops who didn't go, "We went, we're tough, we don't cancel, you guys must be sissies." I've heard all that before and I've actually said that earlier in my life.

This ice storm was not the time to prove a point. So we canceled it. I was so proud of my Senior Patrol Leader. He displayed a lot of insight in cancelling the campout. I know he didn't want to. Each SPL only gets six opportunities to be the leader of his troop on an outdoor experience. No SPL wants to lose one because of weather. But in addition to teaching camping skills, one of the duties of the scouting program is to teach responsible leadership. Responsible leaders don't make foolhardy decisions that adversely affect the safety of the people under their care. In the military, they might if the prospective gains outweigh the potential loss. But in Scouting, nobody ever has to make foolhardy decisions. Not if they are trained. Not if they are smart.

I got an E-mail from one of my best scouts earlier in the week. He's at the University of Oklahoma now and he wanted me to know that years ago when he was a scout, he would have probably disagreed with our decision too cancel. Now that he is an adult, he agreed with the decision. I started thinking about this Opportunity Knocks when I read his note.

Kids think they are invincible. That's because they are kids. They don't conceive of the fact that they might on occasion be vulnerable. And, thinking that they are invincible, they often place themselves in circumstances of potential risk. It's up to the adult leaders of a troop to responsibly present the process of risk assessment. It's up to the adult leaders of a troop to teach concerned decision making. That's where scouts learn it. They need to learn it. They will someday have to teach it to their sons and daughters. It doesn't make any sense to rush blindly into horrible and dangerous weather because to do that we would be teaching our scouts exactly what they don't need to learn. The scouts learn by example. Do we show them "macho" or do we show them "smart"? They need responsible leaders who make responsible decisions. Parents need to know that their children are being led by leaders who think responsibly. Troop leaders are supposed to guide. Responsibly!

Back to that invincible thing. I want to tell you a story that I don't tell often. I don't like to tell it.

Years ago, an older scout from the Indian Nations Council was a Ranger at Philmont Scout Ranch. He wasn't in our troop but we knew him and we knew his dad. He was a Ranger. If you haven't been to Philmont, you can't possibly understand what that means. A "Ranger". Those are the elite scouts on the ranch. And I'm talking "ELITE". The cream of the crop. The best of the best. Everybody, adults included, looked up to them. To be a Philmont Ranger is only slightly less than being an Eagle Scout and in the eyes of some, it is a higher honor. This young man was a Ranger and he had been assigned to a crew. Two of his fellow Rangers were also assigned to crews. They all left base camp on the same day and through prior agreement, they had decided to leave their crews once they were in camp and they were settled in and then they were going to meet to do a little mountain climbing.

Each of the Rangers told the adult advisor and the crew leader of their respective crews that they were going to be gone for awhile and that they would be back before dark. The adult advisors didn't advise against this because these three guys were Rangers. They were in charge. They were the elite. A first year adult advisor doesn't tell a Ranger what is best. That just didn't happen.

So these three Rangers met and conducted an afternoon of mountain climbing. They shouldn't have. It was against the rules to leave their crews. But they did it anyway. They were Rangers! And they didn't start back to their respective camps on time. They were late. And then they thought about the error of their thinking and they worried about getting in trouble. So they compounded their problems by making a bigger error. They decided to take a short cut to get back to their camps, maybe in time to avoid getting in hot water. Their short cut was devastating.

They decided to walk out across a cliff face in the area called the Devils Wash Basin. It's in the South Country. You Philmont veterans will know exactly where I am talking about. The one scout went as far as he could across the face of the cliff and found that he couldn't go any further...but he also couldn't go back. The other two Rangers backed away from the cliff and headed back to their camps to alert responsible officials of the ranch.

It was too late. They discovered his body at the base of the cliff the following morning.

One of the other Rangers was one of our Troop's Eagle Scouts. Shaun Pierson. He made his Eagle in 1975 so this happened in 1976 or 1977. Shaun was in the group that found the young man's body. Shaun will never forget it. I know I won't forget him telling about it. The young man who died was a skilled Ranger. But he never considered that he wouldn't be able to make it across that cliff face. He had the skills but he didn't use good judgment. He worried more about getting chewed out than he did about the potential devastating consequences of his decision making.

That funeral was tragic. All the scouts and young people had to deal with the fact that they were not as invincible as they originally thought they were. Children shouldn't have to learn lessons that way. This young man's friends were devastated. I remember looking over at the faces of his fellow Philmont Rangers. They were having a really hard time. W wished there was something we could have done for them. But we couldn't. It was too late for that.

I worry about safety all the time. And I worry about our scouts who think they are invincible. I worry about those scouts who place themselves in harms way, whether it be the way they handle a knife or a saw, the way they run in the campsite, the way they hike down the wrong side of the road, whatever. I know that our scouts get sick of all the safety concerns and rules and lectures before each of our canoe trips. But I don't care. That's my job. That's my responsibility. I want our scouts to learn about thinking responsibly. I want to show it to them by the decisions that I make. I want my Senior Patrol leaders to think about safety concerns with every decision that they make as well.

I want to close by telling you all that I am so proud of my current Senior Patrol Leader. He made a decision that was unpopular with many of his peers. But it was the right decision. It was the responsible decision. It was smart and safe. And it was made out of concern for the people he was charged with protecting. I want to be very clear. Our scouts are very lucky to have the Senior Patrol Leader they have today. The troop elected him to office. That decision made on an icy snowy day, proved for certain that the troop elected the right scout.

The sun will come out tomorrow. We'll have other campouts. But this one was cancelled for all the right reasons.

See you next week for Opportunity Knocks #61.

Opportunity Knocks #59 - Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, .... PRUDENT

We have had some amazing winter campouts. With the weather in Oklahoma as it is this weekend, I am sitting here reflecting on some of them. One of them in particular. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the camp and some of you out there might be able to help me. It was a camp near Okmulgee. Camp Tomahawk sticks in my mind for some reason but I'm not sure.

It was miserable. Couldn't make a salad. Vegetables frozen solid. Couldn't make eggs for breakfast. Eggs frozen solid. In fact, dropping a tomato from a height of about three feet, broke one of our metal tables. We all just tried to stay alive. Staying warm was a short term goal. Staying alive was immediate. It was miserable.

I looked out from the door of my tent to see my lawn chair added to the fire for warmth. I was told later that the chair just "blew" into the fire. Sorry, I'm not buying it.

I think it is wise to look at our winter campouts as a measuring stick for our personal camping skills. Surviving on winter campouts that test our skills should be something that we never shy away from. But we should also look at "going" on winter campouts. Sometimes conditions dictate that we not attempt to even go on those campouts. This weekend is an excellent example. Every reliable weather service and weather monitoring agency advised people to stay in their homes. We were scheduled to go camping at Camp McClintock in Bartlesville. Bartlesville was one of the areas hardest hit by the storm earlier this week and a second storm is expected today or early tomorrow. There was no water available and the power in that area was out. The police in Bartlesville recommended that we not come. I was reminded by Rick Hayes of a campout many years ago when I did a 360 degree circle, spinning like a top, at the bottom of the road leading into Camp McClintock. Rick and Jeff Stava were in the car. (Jeff..do you remember that?) I just didn't make the turn....no snow, no ice, and still I didn't make it.

So, our Senior Patrol Leader and I decided that it was not prudent to put parents and leaders at risk by driving to Bartlesville. It was even risky for parents to go and try to purchase groceries during the week in preparation for the campout.

I have received several E-mails from people who have implied that Troop 26 is "going soft" by cancelling this weekend's camping trip. That sort of logic is just short of irresponsible thinking. These are people that I like and respect so I'm not going to come right out and call them crazy. But camping to prove some macho point or to win some silly award just isn't rational.

Surviving on the campout once we are there is one thing. Waking up on a Saturday morning to see that snow had fallen during the night, is a wonderful experience. Getting to the campsite during this kind of weather is an entirely different matter. It puts risk on people who are not camping, but just driving. If the highway patrol and the police and the weather services are telling people to stay at home after stocking up on the things people will need before the storm hits, what message does it send to our scouts if we travel to a camping site during the storm itself or knowing beforehand that one is going to hit.

So, this Opportunity Knocks makes the following suggestion.

Surviving "on" a winter campout tests our skill. Are we prepared? Are we ready? Are we equipped with everything we need to have a successful campout?

Going "to" a winter campout tests our judgment. Should we go? Is it safe for drivers? Is it safe for our youngest members? Who is affected?

We are charged with producing men. Not just skilled men. But responsible men. Men who make rational and prudent decisions. Decisions that do not place others needlessly at risk. This is part of being "mentally awake". This is part of and responsible leadership. This isn't about a troop going soft, its about a troop being smart.

And if anybody remembers the name of the camp near Okmulgee, please let me know. We only went there a couple of times.

Opportunity Knocks #58 - Plan to Be Prepared

Ladies and gentlemen. This Opportunity Knocks is going to be more like a Scoutmaster's Minute. My troop is holding a Troop Leaders Council tonight at the home of our current Senior Patrol Leader. This Opportunity knocks is about what is happening or should be happening at tonight's meeting. I hope each of you will remember back to a TLC that you participated in. If you do, think about how what you learned there as a scout has affected the rest of the things you are doing or have done with your life. This Opportunity Knocks is not just about Scouting. Maybe it started there but the lessons learned after attending your first TLC have far reaching affects. I can still remember my very first TLC as the Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 26. It was held at the home of my Scoutmaster, Zeke Dampf, back in 1959 and we were planning a campout. I was a ninth grader but I really hadn't planned anything before. That meeting was a first for me.

So..here goes. A Scoutmaster's Minute for your consideration.


Scouts....

How many of you have seen the movie "Gladiator" with Russell Crowe. It's a pretty good movie and one of my favorites. I really like movies about historical subjects and, although you have to be wary of the ways Hollywood presents history, this one was pretty entertaining. Fictional to be sure, but entertaining.

My Scoutmaster's Minute today is about one specific part of the movie. The very beginning. The Roman army under the command of General Maximus, the Russell Crowe character, was preparing to fight some Germanic tribe or tribes. The opening scene is about the two armies, Roman and German, staring at each other across a field. The battle was about to begin. And there are some very important lessons to be learned from watching that battle as it unfolds across the movie screen.

First, let's consider the Germanic warriors. They had passion. They had skill. They were strong and obviously not afraid. They would not run. They would fight bravely. But they would lose. My Scoutmaster's Minute today is about "why" they would lose. It's an important lesson to be learned.

Now let's consider The Romans. The Romans had a plan. You could tell that they knew what they were doing. As Maximus rode his horse down the line of his troops, he was satisfied that every soldier, every Centurion, every Captain and every General knew exactly what they were expected to do. As he looked in their eyes, he was measuring their knowledge of and commitment to "the plan". And as they looked into his eyes, they knew that he had done everything he could to put them in a position to win the battle. He put his faith in their abilities and they put their trust in him and his ability to plan. This coming battle had been planned and practiced. Signals had been developed so that each part of the Roman army could communicate with each other. Everything was timed. Nothing was left to chance. Every Roman participant knew what he was supposed to do and what the man next to him was supposed to do. Every soldier knew what to do if his commander was killed. The man who would take his place had already been identified and was prepared to step up if required. Every aspect of the coming battle was considered in detail. Every possibility had been discussed and discussed again. Hours and hours of detailed planning had gone into the preparation for this battle. The weather had been considered. The wind had been considered because it affected the flight of the arrows from the Roman archers. The battlefield itself had been selected with care because the Romans wanted to be coming from the high ground. The hiding place for the cavalry had been carefully selected. The cavalry knew exactly when to attack the enemy flank and the weakest point of the enemy army had been selected for the cavalries surprise entry onto the battlefield. The enemy had been considered as well. The number of the enemy. The method in which they would attack. Their weapons. Who their leaders were and what those Germanic leaders could be expected to do in any given situation. The Romans knew exactly what to expect.

Nothing had been left to chance.

Watching that battle begin, you had the distinct feeling that the Germanic tribes had no chance of winning. They lost before they ever took a step on the battlefield. And their loss couldn't be blamed on lack of bravery. It was due to a lack of planning.

Scouts, we have many opportunities to plan. Campouts, canoe trips, Courts of Honor, summer camp trips, Jamboree trips. And it is certain that the outcome of each of these events is directly related to the amount of planning that goes into each one. Planning is the function of the Troop Leaders Council. The TLC. They decide what is going to happen. They discuss it, plan some things and rule out some things. They plan for inclement weather. What happens if it rains? What happens if it snows? What happens if there is ice on the roads? They make sure maps are available. They plan for transportation. They plan for food. They plan activities and contests. They plan for advancement and games. If special events like canoeing or climbing are involved, then safety is a major part of planning too. They plan campfire ceremonies and chapel services for Sunday morning. They plan for adult supervision. They consider medical forms, first aid needs, and medical concerns for participants. They set assembly times, departure times, and return times. They discuss uniform requirements. They discuss special needs in terms of equipment and individual gear. Every event has its own set of specific detailed requirements. Everything is considered, discussed, recorded by a scribe, and then relayed by phone, announcement, or newsletter to the members of the patrols so that every member of the troop will know what is going on, when it starts, what to bring, when its over, how they are getting there, how they are getting back, who is in charge, and who will take over if the man or scout in charge gets sick or for some reason can't come. They make sure that all leaders and all parents are in the loop. Successful events are successful because of planning. Events that fail are usually failures because of a lack of planning.

In Scouting, in business, in sports, in the government and in the military. The Garden Club and the PTA. The Performing Arts League and the Society for the Preservation of the Flying Squirrel. All groups have one common denominator that determines the success or failure of the group's goals and objectives. Planning.
Whether it is a mom planning a birthday party for a group of seven year olds, a coach planning a Super Bowl showdown with another professional football team, a doctor planning an intense brain surgery, a general planning a battle or a Senior Patrol Leader planning a summer camp for his troop...those who plan well put themselves in position to win. And in doing so, insure the best chance of the success of the event and the success of each participant.

Our troop has had a great history. And that great history evolved in direct proportion to the efforts of those great men and women and scouts....who planned.

See you next week for Opportunity knocks #59.

Opportunity Knocks #57 - A BIG WIND in Heaven

"It's a small world after all."

Last Tuesday I attended the funeral services for my good friend Bob Barbero. It was sad, to be sure, but it was also wonderful to see so many of my oldest friends. Rommie Gorrell was there and Jack Lannon. Ed Herhold, Bill Dalton, Bob Bomer, Joe McCann, Mike Cox, Dick Baden, Don Davis, Larry Ward, and Ray Yarroll. Former Troop members and Eagle Scouts, Dennis Keener, Alan Hart, Bill McGhee, Adam Gist, Jeff Weaver, along with Bill Barbero, Bob's son.

Bob was dressed in his Scout uniform. He had his Order of the Arrow Vigil patch on his uniform and his Pine Tree name tag and his Silver Beaver around his neck. His Vigil blanket was draped over the casket along with beautiful flowers. The Order of the Arrow. The Brotherhood of Cheerful Service. A Vigil member. It occurs to me that cheerful service was what Bob Barbero was all about. He made every meeting he attended special. Bob made every kid feel as if Bob was speaking directly to him. I was always amazed that Billy (now Bill) seemed to so willingly share his dad with all the other scouts. Bob truly made every boy feel special. "Cheerful Service". Vigil member. Well deserved.

On one of my first campouts with bob, we were camping at Kunze's Farm. It was a great place. Ed Herhold and I were tenting on top of a little hill. Bob was camping down below us in a little valley. It rained that night. Heavy rain. The top of bob's tent filled up with rainwater and collapsed. On Bob. Bob woke up with a heavy feeling on his chest and thought he was having a heart attack. When he finally figured out that he was not having a heart attack, he got up to put his tent back together. He called out to Ed and I to come help. We pretended we were asleep. But we weren't.

Kent Shelby E-mailed me a funny story about Bob. I knew this story once but had forgotten it. Thanks Kent! Bob got a little too involved with some hard taffy on a Philmont expedition. It cracked his tooth and some of his fillings fell out. In the spirit of cheerful service, Bob buried his fillings right there. On top of the Tooth of Time. Those fillings are still up there. Bob's tooth became the "tooth of time on the top of the Tooth of Time!

Bert Shelby, one of Bob's dear friends and Kent Shelby's dad, and I, will always remember Bob pacing up and down Tooth Ridge during a raging thunder and lightening storm. Bob was the last thing we saw as we looked out through the door of our tent. Bob was frantic. He thought we should go for lower ground. He thought we were too big a target on that ridge for lightening. On the way up to the Ridge from Clark's Fork, Bob had pointed out every tree that looked as if it had been struck by lightening. The kids had already put up their tents and were asleep and Bert and I were close to being lights out. The rain was over and the storm was moving away. Bob was still pacing as we drifted off to sleep. I always thought that was cool, that Bob watched over our crew through the night, protecting us from the lightening.

One of my favorite Bob Barbero stories was at the 1973 National Jamboree. The adults were not getting up quickly enough so Bob elected to get them up by bursting into their tents with a frying pan and a metal spoon, beating one with the other as hard and as loud as he could. Bob almost got his ticket punched that day by a variety of adults. Bob was always going full speed. I'm not sure we could have caught him.

Another Bob legend is "the night of the thief". Bob woke up on a campout and distinctly heard someone stealing stuff out of the adult patrol box. He put his boots on and began yelling at the thief as he approached the dining fly. Bob jumped out from behind the fly to surprise the culprit but it was Bob who was the most surprised. The thief ...was a horse. He looked over at Bob like it made no difference and kept right on eating. It was true. Bob's bark was worse than his bite. The adults had known it all along. The kids knew it too. And apparently the horse knew as well.
When Bob was elected to the Vigil Honor in the Order of the Arrow, he received his Native American name as is the custom for Vigil members. The name is selected by the other Vigil Members of the Lodge and is sewn on the recipients Vigil blanket. Bob's Vigil name was Wendchen (I hope I spelled that correctly) taken from the Deleware dialect and it means "Big Wind". Oh how we kidded Bob about the accuracy of that name.

Another and final story about Bob occurred at the Eagle Ceremonies with President Gerald Ford back in 1979. Gerald Ford had finished his speech and his presentation of the thirteen Eagle Awards. He posed for a group photo with our new Eagle Scouts and then he headed for the door. Bob was sitting in the aisle and as Gerald Ford departed, Bob Barbero suddenly stood up and stuck his hand out..to shake the President's hand. The Secret Service, however, saw that as a "gun motion". They immediately stepped in front of the President, placed their hands on Bob's shoulders and sat him down. They remained standing there with their cool sunglasses on and their hands on Bob Barbero's shoulders until the President was out of the building. I guess the Secret Service takes no chances. That was the day that the Secret Service lassoed the Big Wind and kept him contained.

It is ironic that Bob Barbero and President Gerald Ford were buried on the very same day. They both made Troop 26 a very special place to grow up. One for a very short time, one afternoon in fact, and the other for a very long time. Bob will never be truly gone because as we move forward in life, we take our memories of him along with us. There is a special ceremony that they do at Pine Tree. Its part of one of the campfire ceremonies where they talk about great men in our history that are gone. The men in blue and grey, the pioneers, the trailblazers, the war heroes. With each historical reference, the Pine Tree staff member says to the members of the Pine Tree troop.. "And there is a part of him..in you." Well, I think that's true. Bob Barbero helped make Troop 26 what it is today. He has made it better for boys he never knew. He made it better for some not yet born. "And there is part of him..in them". And he will always be there. Guiding them with his wisdom. Encouraging them with his smile. Pointing them towards the stars. Bob is one of our legends. One of our very best legends. A great Scout leader. A great dad. A great husband. A great friend.

There is a Big Wind in heaven. And there is a great former President up there too. Maybe Bob will finally get to shake his hand.

See you next week as we begin an exciting 2007.