Re: [Philmont]: safety policies at Philmont

Restrooms and showers at the Training Center do not follow any rules that I
know of. This is different on the camping side. As a former staff member I
know the rifle ranges have NRA qualified staff. I went to the Whittington
Center and Philmont has two permanent employees who are Training Counselors.
All staff members ( all 1009 this summer) go through a National Camp school
for their position, Philmont does their own during Staff Training. Does
this mean that everything is perfect at Philmont? No, indivuals may be
trained in one area and know nothing about some other programs.i.e. PTC
staff usually know little about the real backcountry camps.
Some items have been historically ignored or were in place long before any
standards were written. I would suggest you write the General Manager at
Philmont and let him know of any aberrations you may have seen. As a former
Backcountry Camp Director, it was important to give the scouts a greater
experience than they could get at their own summer camp. We were never
allowed to violate any of the scouting safety rules but had every tool
needed to bend them. We were able to do things a regular summer camp staff
couldn't because we had so many staff available and a tradition to be
different.
Do know that most of the high adventure safety rules came out of Philmont,
and that the permanent staff will listen to you. I would not expect a PTC
tent city manager to know that all the rifle range staff have a current NRA
card stapled inside of their staff employee jacket but I would expect the
director of program would be able to give you a list of qualifications of
any staff you might have concerns about.
About the PTC showers, I still am baffled.

David Ramos
Backcountry Staff1981-1991, Treks 1999,2001,2003

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Received on Tue Aug 5 22:43:55 2003