From: Dr. Bob Klein (drbob@troop111.org)
Date: Tue Jul 30 2002 - 20:24:49 CDT
Greetings to All.
Back from the Ranch (Trek 32 NFM-2); fabulous time, but (as always) I'm
feeling like a wrung out dish-rag right now. Some pertinent advice and
comments later, if I can get my brain out of second gear.
On the Arrowhead patch fury, a little history is in order. The holding
of patches is a long-standing policy in NCAC, and derived from the days
when all NCAC contingents were on buses (4 days out, 3 days back).
Although "keeping the boys in line" was mentioned as a reason, that was
a trivial, mickey-mouse concern - the main issue was security, against
loss and (regretably) theft. This is hearsay, so take it as you will:
There were at least two significant incidents of theft on homebound NCAC
buses in the distant past; in the more celebrated case, the boy had
managed to steal (if a 13 year old memory of the story serves) about a
third of his bus-mates' patches (!!!). He was caught only because
several of the Advisors feigned sleep on the last night and caught him
at it. The patches were allegedly recovered from the boy's camera gear.
I don't recall the details of the second story, except that the boy in
that case had gotten about half a dozen patches before being caught.
On loss, we were told that the average loss of patches on a homebound
bus (47 people) was "1 per day". Who knows whether simple loss or theft....
A couple of pertinent remarks: (A) The above comments were told to me
in 1989, my first year as an Advisor, also the year of the gold-bordered
50th Anniversary Arrowhead (that is, BTW, the only patch I favor on
those few occasions when I wear a patch on my uniform). I was offered
$275 for that patch by a professional patch vulture at the 1989 Jambo,
when it was all of about 2 weeks old. [I counter-offered to sell it to
him for $1200, which I told him was the price it would take for me to go
earn another one; he declined, somewhat chagrined at my rather
unScout-like contempt.] I don't know what the red-bordered 2000 issues
are worth, but I'd guess at least a hundred bucks. These things can be
pretty attractive targets of opportunity - certainly the special edition
versions, anyway. (B) Theft from tents at Basecamp also used to be a
considerably bigger problem, before "F-Troop" was heavily suppressed by
the (fairly new) policy of sending all injured, slacking, or sick Scouts
home. (C) Philmont used to be considerably more hard-core about
replacing Arrowhead patches. They are a lot more relaxed about it now -
doubtless because you can snag a generic Arrowhead off ebay for all of
about $20. these days. (D) The distribution of the Arrowheads to the
Advisors at the Office when you get off the trail is a new thing - until
very recently, they were always given out at the closing campfire - so
there really wasn't a lot of time for the Scouts to be proudly sporting
them around anyway (the NCAC buses always leave at the crack of doom the
next morning). (E) On distribution at the closing campfire, nice
option, but those of you who have read my 2000 diary will recall that we
recovered about half a dozen or so red-bordered Arrowheads lying on the
ground as we left the closing campfire (the Crew Chief in that case had
held his envelope upside down as he was leaving, and we were the last
Crew to exit; lucky thing they had already turned the spots off down in
the amphitheater, so we were using flashlights and could see them). I
have also personally found 2 other Arrowheads laying in the dirt of
Basecamp in my 8 treks as an Advisor (and after confirming they weren't
one of ours, returned both to the Welcome Center). Personal
responsibility is something we all try to instill in all our Scouts, but
exhausted boys can (and do) get careless, especially when the Coyote
Cantina closes in 27 minutes, and those oh-so-wonderful ice cream cones
are singing their siren call....
FWIW, when I was the first NCAC Planemaster in 1992, I held an Advisor
and Crew Chief Meeting before the closing campfire, discussing the above
issues, and left the decision on whether to distribute or hold
Arrowheads entirely up to each Crew. My recollection is that they all
voluntarily decided to hold them. Also FWIW, our Troop tradition is to
distribute Arrowheads, Adventure patches, Contingent patches, 50-Miler
Awards, and bolo ties in a ceremony at the gate, in front of the
assembled parents and family members. The parents (whom in most cases
paid for the entire trip) deserve to participate too. I am still
suffering flash-burns from last night's ceremony at Washington National
Airport. It makes for an excellent capstone for the trip.
Anyway, using the Arrowheads to "keep the boys in line" was a foolish
comment by whoever was Dan's Contingent Leader. It has always been my
experience - and something I'm sure most of the experienced Advisors on
this list can confirm - that you'd need dynamite to get most of the
Scouts to wake up and get out of their seats during the return trip. I
have never had any Scout discliplinary problems on any of my return
trips - including my four multi-Crew trips - and strongly doubt if I
ever will.
I hope this sheds a somewhat "gentler" light on this subject.
- Dr. Bob Klein, SM-111, Arlington, VA
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