Scoutmaster Podcast 126

Here is my first question for you guys, the 10 most heard things from scouts at summer camp. I don't know, I don't pay much attention to scouts at summer camp, but I don't know stuff like. you know, where are my shoes and? and, um, ah, the spiders. um, what time is dinner On Friday after you? yeah, same time as all the other four days. Tom, you were just at camp. what, what did you hear all week? Can we go to the training post? Well, what do you think? Well, the first year, guys asking you know, can I go wherever? and I say: where's your buddy? You know beyond, you know, can I have a blue card? Um, can I have a blue card? That's about it. So the second question is: uh, what do you tell your scouts 300 times while you're at summer camp? Go talk to the senior patrol later. I don't know, I don't know. Oh, no, They look at me and they go. you, you don't know. no, I don't know. So where are we supposed to be? I don't know. Is there a campfire tonight? I don't know. Go check the schedule. found the board, And when I say that I mean it. it's like you know, about five minutes to seven, the other dolls will come around and go. we going to the campfire. Oh, is there a campfire tonight? Where are the boys? I don't know.

Hey, this is spot. count is number 126..

Welcome back to the Scoutmaster podcast. This is Clarke Green. Hey, what did you hear at summer camp? What did you tell the scouts at summer camp? There was a little sampling there from the guys in the Scoutmaster panel discussion. We're going to hear more of that in a little while, But first let's take a look in this week's mail bag. James Chaplin, who is an assistant Scoutmaster for troop 1833, wrote in to say: another great podcast. I enjoyed it and ordered the book free range kids after reading your review online. Thanks. Well, thank you, James. Another message about last week's podcast from Frank Maynard, who said: Lenore Scanesi views parenting with a fresh perspective and helps us break out of that kind of overprotective shell we have. Changing our children's activities too closely can take away from their sense of accomplishment, And that's exactly what we put back in scouting. The key takeaway in Lorraine's book was summed up in the interview: We're not raising children, we're raising adults. Thanks for that, Frank. Frank Maynard has a blog called Bob White's Blather. Make sure you go over and check it out- Always good stuff on there. Over on Google plus we heard from Robert Schleich who said: normally your podcasts are around 30 minutes and that's a perfect time for my commute to work. I found myself sitting in the car in the parking lot to finish podcast number 125 with Lenore Scanesi. I did not miss work, however. I just ate breakfast in the car instead of at my desk. Well, thanks, Robert. Thanks for your kind words there. Rick Stoner wrote in and said: yeah, that was a good show. I agree with the thought that the 24-hour news entertainment shows blast this stuff out to viewers as if it was happening in their neighborhoods, Not in the basic lack of understanding of statistics and probability. and no wonder parents are worried. Well, yeah, that's kind of the thing. It's not parent's fault if they get worried about stuff kind of irrationally because, like you said, Rick, it's just getting blasted into our homes and we believe that all this danger is right there in our neighborhood. Well, this week is our monthly Scoutmaster panel discussion where we're going to be talking about emergency preparedness and disaster training for scouts, and there are some excellent resources in the post that contains this podcast and we'll mention them during the discussion. So you want to make sure to check those out. And you know, without further ado, we're going to move right to that Scoutmaster panel discussion. So let's get started, shall we? It's time for another Scoutmaster panel discussion.

So we're back for another Scoutmaster panel discussion, and joining me is Larry Geiger, down in Vera, Florida. How you doing, Larry? Good evening, Clark doing good. And Tom Gillard in Tullahoma, Tennessee, who's baking away in the summer heat. How you doing, Tom?

We're doing fine, Clark, thanks. Tom actually can put a Dutch oven out in his driveway and cook dinner- Almost That's what he was telling me- 190 degrees on the asphalt. And Walter Underwood out in California, where it's disgustingly 80 degrees and very dry and beautiful. How you doing, Walter? It was fine. I was glad that it was pleasant today because I was helping build a house for habitat of humanity, So it would have been difficult in your kind of weather. Now, was that a scout thing? you did? Yep, it was with work. Oh, okay. So the engineering team went out and grabbed actual physical tools for change. Oh gracious, I hope you alerted the habitat people before you did that.

Oh, yes, The English majors don't make mistakes because they follow instructions. Engineers have bright ideas, And today we're going to talk about one of the more tangible results of scouting: emergency preparedness: anything from a scraped knee to a real, honest to God disaster. And, Walter, this was your idea for a topic. And what's your involvement with emergency response?

Well, I'm a ham radio operator and I'm involved in a local emergency communication group And so that's my weekly kind of involvement, is checking in on that, And so I've had taken a couple of online courses about the incident command and read up on some things. Of course, I grew up in Louisiana, So I've been through a couple of hurricanes and out here I've been through a couple of earthquakes and I don't know, maybe you shouldn't live close to me- That's what everybody says in California- because the weather's so nice They don't want people there messing it up. Another thing: we had a city thing called Quakeville where people would camp in a city park And it was an awareness thing about earthquake. We had things and the Scouts were one of the volunteers for this, but we didn't have a particular job because they're not like Red Cross or somebody who had something specific that they know how to do and could fit into the system. But it turned out they were very useful because you need groups of these guys who can be safe in the outdoors, who can work together in small groups and get stuff done on their own, And so they helped lay out the campsites and help people set up their tents and stuff, and they would run messages And they were actually very useful for just whatever needed done. I think that our Scouts have capabilities far beyond their peers that they may not really appreciate. just in being able to work together as a group sometimes and having even the most basic first aid knowledge or the idea of having your head clear in an emergency, that would put them past their peers and a lot of adults, I wouldn't hesitate to say. Just being able to be comfortable and safe in the outdoors overnight and over a weekend, knowing about rain gear and staying warm, staying cool, staying hydrated. they'll don't know that. Tom and Larry, do you guys have any kind of? have you done any kind of like emergency drills or participate in any kind of community events like that that Walter described, The Air Force Base nearby their emergency drill? they will call us to come and be the victims. You know, we'll have a little name tag, and that's about as extensive as it's gotten In. Walter, one of Walter's posts mentions that you just can't go volunteer anymore. You have to go through some sort of training and you've got to be on the list. I don't know. aside from hurricanes, we don't get earthquakes and we don't get you know, we get some tornadoes occasionally but they're not like the kind like they get in the Midwest. You know, the guys do a search and rescue in the troop for emergency preparedness. They'll have a little you know emergency preparedness thing for their merit badge or they'll do a camp, but we haven't done a lot of that. There was a set of very severe storms on the East Coast last week That left a lot of people in Virginia and West Virginia even now, a week later, without electricity. I'm curious to know whether you know whether Scouts will mobilize to help out with that. So this is a program by the BSA that encourages us to get involved with local emergency preparedness agencies, community agencies and one of the main ones being CERT, And CERT is- help me out, Walter. you know what CERT is- Community emergency response team- and Scouts are in good shape to do CERT work. The first aid portion of it is typically kind of somewhere between a first aid merit badge, certainly, and Wilder's first aid actually was originally when help is delayed. So Wilder's first aid is perfect for a disaster. Scouts know a lot of things that go into that. Some of the other things are: how is emergency response organized, with incident command and the different divisions, which is a good thing to know that a lot of Scouts end up helping out in a very local way. So they're the people who know how to wash dishes with a camp stove and no dishwasher maybe. So very simple stuff like that. You know you could be a big help just with neighbors. You- I'll have a link on the post that contains this podcast on the blog there to these different resources. as we mentioned them. There's CERT and then there's also the BSA program.

You know we could take a look at various. you might look at different agencies and then we talked about Red Cross might be the sheriff fire department. fire department is very good at organizing incident command. They do that all the time And there may be just something like in our community we get flash floods in the winter And so there's sandbag locations and you can fill sandbags and hand out sandbags And so whatever, just kind of some opportunity like that in your area think about, when it comes to, you know, relatively untrained, with enthusiasm.

You know that's your chance. Program I was mentioning was emergency preparedness for Boy Scouts and it's a program of Boy Scouts of America. It's been around for several years and there is a pin that you can get, if you so desire, for doing a few requirements.

And for Boy Scouts there are three requirements. One is to earn first aid and emergency preparedness merit badge. One's to participate in creating an emergency plan for your home And one is participating in emergency preparedness training conducted by community agency. And I got to looking at that. I'm going to send that over to the patrol leaders council see if I can get them interested in that. But the secret, Clark, is what you just said is is I think I'm going to point my PLC. See, that's you know, too often somebody calls the Scoutmaster and the Scoutmaster says, oh sure You know, and goes and organizes 20 or 30 scouts And that's really. I mean it's certainly an emergency. that can be done because you know there's nothing wrong with us helping out, But most of the time it ought to be like you said, you pointing the PLC. why don't you go call this guy? You know we do the research to find things like that that are compatible with our program. We kind of check them out ahead of time, off to the side. But but we don't do them And we point the guys at them And sometimes they'll disappoint us, They'll just blow it off. But other times, when they jump on the bandwagon for stuff like that, it's really kind of neat. They take off and that's when the really good stuff- to me anyway- happens. There is a great resource that is Assert Youth Disaster Training Resources page. It's a PDF file and I'll make sure to link to that on the podcast, But that has a lot of different ideas about different agencies that you can partner with. I looked up on the SERT website what I could find locally And there's actually quite a few out there And it looks as though they would be very interested in partnering with scout troops and helping to provide training and things like that. That's where, if you've got the time to do the training, that's what you're, that's what we're talking about. but in a true emergency, what you said in the beginning, where you just you call everybody and take them there immediately, is totally different. But yeah, I agree, Let the scouts buy into it and go with that direction.

Yeah, I think the last thing I would want to see if I was running a community disaster training course would be somebody showing up with 15 or 20 boys who had absolutely no interest in it at all because somebody just thought it was a good idea. Right, that's what you have: spontaneous volunteers who are people who just show up and you know, it's kind of like Little Rascals- hey, kids, let's make a movie. And then you've got typed resources, and a typed resources says somebody who can operate this radio, you know, with these forms and that kind of stuff. And so if you have a typed resource, then you can just say you go do this and the problem is solved. but you'll never have enough. You know, we've reflected that we're kind of ahead of the game just because we're used to going camping. You know, everybody has this kind of mindfulness about watching out for each other and everybody has at least a basic level of first aid training. The scouts have proven again and again over the past century that they're very valuable in emergencies. Most of these agencies, most of these response agencies, want people to have a level of training, And it's not necessarily a really sophisticated level of training. it's just a little. you know they want people not to create greater emergencies by quote unquote helping out, And so you'll need groups that are competent but maybe not specific and you'll have holes to fill. And I think that's really where the scouts are gonna fit in. And you know we have the ePREP Merit Badge which says: take place in a practice or a real emergency. We can't schedule the real emergencies, but those are, and maybe it's time for ePREP to be updated with InstaCommand System. I think that I'm really looking forward to the search and rescue merit badge. Yeah, that was just recently announced. within the past couple of weeks, new merit badge, SAR, search and rescue. Have you looked at that any closer than the announcement at all? Walter, I have not seen any requirements. I've seen that the right people are involved in doing the merit badge and kind of defining it.

And actually the new radio merit badge was updated a little fairly recently And there's been a big uptick in radio merit badge and involvement with the radio amateurs and just communication. that's another thing to get trained in.

And are you a counselor for radio? I have. I've taught the course a couple of times And the guys like it. one of the things we do is something like a scavenger hunt, search and rescue kind of thing where you've got somebody running net control and a couple of teams out getting directions And the updates to the merit badge change things so that how did they change? So there's a regular kind of updating, but there's been a new memorandum of understanding between the Scouts and AWRL about working on it. There's several portable or not portable, but loaner radio stations now available from National that were donated by ICOM So people can sign up for that and get a multiple radio set up for a special event for summer camp. This sort of goes back to the emergency prep stuff. for the first day there was a cub pack. We use them as our patients and they put them out on the playground like this kid fell out of the swing and there's a little chicken bone with some blood sticking out of the shirt And we'd have the patrols go out and assess what had just happened to this kid and perform the appropriate first day. Yeah, scenarios are tremendous for teaching first aid and moulage the fake wounds. If you get actually get the guys into that, that can be really, really fun. I'm not sure that having the guys come up with the scenarios is a good idea because they tend to either make them insanely clever, or that someone was like attacked by ninjas and fell out of a helicopter or something and you know it's not you kind of need. it's an instructional thing. It needs to have just the right level of challenge. The whole setting it up, especially with the fake wounds, and then you know people, it's a great thing to get good at. Yeah, I was thinking the other day I guess some people are risk managers, some people are risk averse and then some people are just risk ignore, which, along the way, might have been me occasionally And for some reason, we always had all the right stuff there, but it occasionally almost seemed like an accident. I think that it was an artifact of actually doing the program and having first aid and first aid merit badge and safety- and you know, back in my day, safety merit badge and stuff- we just ended up with enough stuff and we didn't even know about it- adults or scouts to some extent- because I don't think of myself as a risk manager very much or very well, And maybe I just do it in the back of my head- and enough that we haven't had any disasters.

Well, you know, I like what you said about you know, when things have happened on your trips, that you already kind of knew what to do. You had this stuff and you had, because really being prepared is not about hauling huge amounts of stuff, It's about what's in your head and what's kind of in your fingers, that you've practiced it, that you teach first aid every year and you learn that, relearn it every year that way. So, and that's what the emergency drills are about and that's you know those kind of things is that's why we talk on the radio every week with the volunteers, just so that when something happens you know what to do. I've been on the scene of a couple of road accidents. I've been there when people were trying to revive somebody with CPR and you know, instead of being one of the 20 or 30 people who are standing there watching you, basically you know what to do. And a lot of that goes back to the way that we work in scouts, and I like what you said, Larry. you said it's an artifact of doing the program.

What seems to be, I mean, it seems to come out of it most. most of the time we do okay, you know, and not that Larry is such a great and wonderful risk manager and took all of this into account ahead of time.

You know, I can't really say that. I think it gets. it's part of the culture of scouting- Let's say it that way- that we do inherently risky activities and we have to be prepared to understand what those risks are and be able to respond to things that go wrong. And you know, if you've been around for a few years and you've gone through these things several different times, they're kind of second nature, An artifact of the program. I'm fascinated with the phrase. I think that's a very good way of saying it. On May 30th I had an event. The fire truck showed up in about two minutes and then the ambulance was there- I don't know, I guess- a minute later and those guys were just amazing And of course it was in the hospital where all the real work took place and they put a stand in my heart and the whole thing. I mean those guys. it was amazing how, but they just knew exactly what to do. My doctor said they saved my life. I guess I've had several scouts who have ended up as firemen and EMTs along the way and I think scouting does prepare not only the skills, but the mindset and I guess, if you wanna use that artifact of the program kind of idea, but I mean if you can be as prepared as these guys are, and of course they have all the equipment and all the stuff, but still they've trained, they knew what to do, They didn't just kind of stand there and go, they went right to work And I'm impressed, Yeah, they practice, practice, practice. If they haven't done it in a week they'll practice. Well, and I had something about: oh, four years ago we had a meeting of our company emergency response team and we did CPR, kind of just a refresher, and Heimlich and stuff. and that evening at dinner my older son choked on a piece of shrimp as in not breathing, choked. And so my other son, Scout, calls 911 and I did the Heimlich and got it out. and you really have to honk on somebody to get that to work, I'll tell you that. But by the time they got there he was breathing again. That's what practice is for. There's a troop down the road 12 miles and the Scoutmaster is on the eccentric side and he- they were doing a model rocket shoot. one day He built his own engine. The alarms, the alarms are going off right now. You better believe it. He touched the match to it and it blew up and a piece of shrapnel went through and cut his femoral artery. The Scouts- immediately all the Scouts around- saw that and they jumped on him, jumped on that thing and put pressure on it and they called 911, the ambulance finally got there. They told him that if the Scouts hadn't been there- you know, if they somebody else had been there that didn't know what to do, he'd have bled to death in just a few minutes. but the Scouts knew exactly what to do and how to do it and it happened just instantly and they saved his life. Wow, So, yeah, so we call him Rocket Man now. But yeah, that was a scary time for him and you know You hear stories like that kind of regularly If you look for them. they're happening all the time. Somebody administers the Heimlich maneuver, somebody uses CPR, somebody uses that very basic first aid knowledge that they have, and you know they absolutely can save people's lives or prevent them from, you know, a greater injury. That is one of the things that is extraordinarily common from my experience in Scouting Circles. The BSA has the National Court of Honor that will present heroism awards to Scouts. They always had a feature in Boy's Life about a heroism award that had been issued Scouts in action. I always turn to Scouts in action first. It's interesting. I feel like those are probably under awarded in a lot of councils. I don't think people are quite aware of those because, yeah, there's three levels or something on that. The highest level is an honor medal with crossed palms and that is a scout that's demonstrated unusual heroism or extraordinary skill or resourcefulness in saving or attempting to save a life at extreme risk to themselves. And then there are several different levels of honor medal. There's a national certificate of merit and that is for someone who has performed a significant act of service that is deserving of national recognition. And then I think what you were referring to, Walter, is something called the local council certificate of merit, And this situation does not meet the criteria for the National Court of Honor Award but is an act deserving of recognition. I had several years ago, two boys within the course of a year or two who administered the Heimlich maneuver to a family member, one to a younger brother and one to a grandfather. I was made aware of that and I did file for a local council certificate of merit because I thought it met that criteria and we were able to present those to them. So, Walter, I think you're right. I think these things are kind of under rewarded because I don't know that everyone is aware that they're available. Well, and I think the Medal of Merit is one that's. some acts of meritorious service above and beyond may involve life-saving. it's not confined to life-saving And so- but you know, Heimlich maneuver or something like that, it's can be awarded for any meritorious action using some aspect of scouting skills or learning.

Well, there you go. So you know that's. I think we should recognize scouts and scouts for doing this kind of thing. I think it's an important aspect of helping everybody understand, you know, what a contribution it makes to the community when you're actually prepared for something, And you may be more prepared than you realize. Hope so, Hope so.

Well, you always feel a lot less prepared than you would like to be, but you may be the best prepared person in the room for the first hundred or so scouts that cut their fingers. You just, you know, begin to get good at it.

I'm up to 287. right now There could be award, for you could have like an extra little scout you know device on that, one for each one, An Oakleaf cluster With Band-Aid, With Band-Aid for a minimum of two stitches. I think we covered what I was looking to cover Next time. I don't know if you want to talk about Courts of Honor or ideas, or Oh, that'd be a great idea. Well, I had another idea, which was adults staying in shape. How do you keep up with scouts? Yeah, I'd like to hear that one too. Thanks very much, fellas, for joining us again for the panel on this podcast. Walter, thanks very much.

Well, thank you, And that one resource for youth in the disaster stuff was fantastic. I'm gonna be going through that. Yeah, I'm gonna be looking at that too. Tom, I hope it gets cooler for you down there. We do too. thanks a lot, And Larry, thanks very much for joining us. Larry, You're welcome. Clark, It's been fun. Well, thank you so much for listening