[Philmont] Health, safety and "what's best for the boys"

Mark says, "If the guys at the front of the crew get lost, or the guys at
the back go a bit slower and fall behind then I am not worried either."

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I respectfully disagree. Philmont is a crew event, not an individual event.
Your crew looks sloppy when it gets divided. The adults, who are ultimately
accountable, lose control when you get divided. If you are going to get
lost, it is better to get lost together than to get lost separately.

One of the great lessons that scouts and their advisers learn at Philmont is
how to work as a team. You do activities as a team, you cook as a team, and
you hike is a team.

Several times at Philmont, I have seen crews that got divided. I always
attributed this situation to poor adult leadership and to an inferior crew.
I doubt that the Philmont staff is impressed. They certainly would not let
you do the activity until your entire crew was there

Scouts have a poor reputation among public land managers, because adult
leaders fail to maintain control of the scouts. By allowing scouts to get
spread out, we lose control and contribute to this poor reputation.

Ultimately, hiking together is a health and safety issue. Sadly, I was on a
non-Philmont hike where the hiking group got badly separated. One scout got
lost. Fortunately, the sheriff's office found him before dark. I don't want
that experience again. Recently, we went on a day hike along the Pacific
Crest Trail or PCT. We had to exit from the PCT trail to get to the
trailhead where our vehicle was waiting. We exited the trail, hiked down on
a poor side trail, losing about 1000 feet of elevation and hiking about 2
miles. Near the end of the day, we got to the trailhead and discovered that
we had taken the wrong trail. Our vehicle was not there; it was at the end
of another trail. To make a long story short, we ultimately got to our
vehicles and got home many hours later than expected. However, we took the
wrong trail together. I knew where we were on the map and everyone was
together. If we had been separated, one group may have taken the wrong
trail, one may have taken the correct trail, and who knows how we would've
gotten together before dark.

Cheers.
David K. Palmer
Philmont '76, '03 & '06

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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
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Received on Wed Oct 17 22:28:36 2007