Re: [Philmont]: 22 year old advisers

Another opinion, for what it's worth: It is not the age per se, that
matters, but rather the training, depth of experience, and overall
maturity. Usually the two are directly correlated, but not always. We
have all seen plenty of older Advisors at Philmont (and in other
wilderness venues) that couldn't be trusted to safely run a back-yard
barbecue, never mind take a Crew into the backcountry. And I have
personally seen some young 20's-year olds who were extraordinarily
competent. The prior comment concerning young Scouters with active
military experience being an excellent example.

But as a general observation, older means better trained, more
experienced, and more mature - all very good attributes. We all can
recall the old saw about who would you rather have in a tough fight, the
grizzled veterans with torn and dirty uniforms, or the spruce new
recruits that look fabulous on a parade field? (Keeping in mind, of
course, that in our case some of the "spruce new recruits" are 50 years
old.)

Anyway, there is a lot to be said for depth and breadth of experience.
Another old aphorism - anyone can camp in the sunshine. But can you
handle it when you have a cascading series of problems, multiplying and
then augmenting each other in a synergistic disaster? That is when
"been here before, seen this before" is an great comfort and safety net
- even if you don't recognize it at the time. I submit that in a really
hairy, multiple problem situation, a few 22 year olds would do quite
well, most would do OK, and some would disintegrate before your eyes.
The same is true of course, for an equal number of 50 year olds, but the
bell curve shifts a good amount to the left on the above scale. Who
would you rather have leading your Crew in a tight spot, John LeBlanc,
Calvin Grey, Jim Moss, Al Thompson - or yourself at the age of 22?

I plead the Fifth....

- Dr. Bob

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Received on Thu Aug 18 05:55:00 2005