Cub Scout Leader Outdoor Experience

Recently I attended Cub Scout Leader Outdoorpart of one arm and ruined a jacket while trying to
Experience training. This was a 24 hour coursestir bacon in the bottom of our den's dutch oven.
starting Friday evening. If you are a leader whose(This had nothing to do with any inherent danger
Council officers this kind of training, I would highlywith using dutch ovens.) Later when we cooked with
recommend it.We were split up into 4 dens of 8-10foil packs we had the same problem. The fire got so
people and did everything as dens. We setup ourhot that some of the aluminum foil was melting and
10'X10' canvas wall tents, made a den flag, cookedthe food inside most of the foil packs was not
and ate together, and attended breakout sessionscooked evenly. Any part touching the foil was burnt
together. We cooked breakfast in dutch ovens andwhile other parts were a bit under done.Actually, I
made foil packs for lunch.Some breakout sessionsdidn't mind so much. I learned some valuable lessons
were directly related to Webelos badges: readymanfrom this. I think part of the problem was that they
(first aid), naturalist (bugs, snakes, birds nests, etc.),just used too much charcoal. If you can't control air
forester (trees and leaves), outdoorsman (campingflow, you can still control the amount of fuel. (After
gear), and geologist (rocks and fossils), There werethe experience at breakfast, I think I would have
also breakout sessions on setting up camp (tents,done something different at lunch.) Also, I decided
sleeping bags, weather), wood tools (knives, bowthat in some ways pressurized fuel can be safer than
saws, and hatchets), camp cooking, fire starting.Incooking over wood or charcoal. With a propane
the larger goup we were given information on topicsstove, you can easily adjust the size of the
such as games for cub scouts, doing religious servicesflame.There were some other things that I thought
at camp-outs, how to conduct an effective campfirewere kind of funny. For example, while on a hike, one
ceremony, and specific information on this summer'sof the trainers was telling us that when we are on a
Webelos camps.We also had an evening campfiretrail, if we come to a puddle we should walk through
ceremony. The staff did a great job with this. It wasit instead of walking around it (which would then be
very entertaining with jokes, skits, songs, and a shortcreating a new trail). This was due to the "leave no
inspirational talk at the end. The inspirational talk wastrace" philosophy. However, shortly after that we
based on NOTES FOR KEYNOTE ADDRESS FORwere herded off the trail to be shown various trees
JSCOPE 2000 By General Charles C. Krulak, whichand plants, and in the process people were trampling
was about the Roman military roots of the wordwild flowers. Also, they encouraged us to take rocks,
"integrity".Finally, one of the last things we did was gofossils, and arrowheads that we found to start our
on a hike that also doubled as a tour of the facilities.own collections. I always thought that was against
They also had us do a sort of scavenger hunt wherethe leave no trace philosophy.Another thing that I
we we supposed to take note of something small,thought was funny was the way they taught us to
something large, something beautiful, somethingstart fires. In the old days, scouts would learn to
mysterious, something magical, something from thestart fires without even using a match. These
past, something that represents the future, etc.trainers emphasized much easier methods. Some of
When we got back there was a little inspirational talkthe fire starters they showed us included: dryer lint,
where one of the trainers talked about how an applecardboard coated with candle wax, store bought fire
can be viewed as being all of these things and slicedstarters, and store bought fake logs chopped up into
the apple in half showing the star. He talked aboutsmaller pieces and wrapped in newspaper. Another
how boys see nature through the eyes of theirattendee mentioned making firestarts by mixing
scout leaders and how the boys are our future.Onsawdust and candle wax in a dixie cup. All these are
the whole, the training was quite good. The onlyinteresting ideas, but they seem like cheating to
problem we had was with the way the cooking wasme.Anyway, this experience really was fun and very
done. The staff had brought in a big portable fire pitinformative. Some of the sessions (especially first aid)
into which they dumped charcoal. There was no wayseemed far too short, but they were throwing a lot
to control air flow, and the fire got so hot that itof information at us. Also, it was fun just getting
was difficult to get close enough to stir the pottogether with the other leaders and meeting new
without getting burnt. In fact, I did burn the hair offpeople.