Son has question about Emergency Prep MB

[Gonzo1]

Son's question is "what do some scouts or troops do for requirement 8b: "Take part in at least one troop mobilization." He can certainly describe his part and do the after action review. He'd like to know what troops are doing for "mobilization" as he hasn't been in the troop long enough to see another scout do this part.

 

BTW, he asked me to post his question here.

Thanks on behalf of little Gonzo1

[scoutldr]

Never really gave it much thought...my scouts complteted it at summer camp.

[Gonzo1]

That's MY point, he started it at summer camp, but got a partial. So, his questin is about the kinds of mobilizations troops do.

 

[Beavah]

Yah, lots of troops throughout da midwest mobilized for the floods and bad weather, eh? Some to help with sandbaggin', some to help with evacuations, some to help staff emergency shelters or provide food.

 

I reckon another way troops mobilize is to help with a smaller emergency, like a family emergency affectin' one of da troop members. Providin' emotional support, respite, food, labor, companionship, job contacts, money for bills, etc.

 

I know one troop/crew with a bunch of youth trained as Skywarn spotters, eh? They get mobilized for any potentially serious bad weather.

 

Of course we do have some specialty units, especially crews, that perform auxiliary search & rescue functions on a regular basis.

 

If the troop isn't plugged in to this sort of thing and wants to be, best bet is to contact your county's emergency/disaster response team, through da county administrator, sheriff, or Red Cross.

 

Beavah

 

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

The Troop I serve has a Troop Phone Tree, the SPL calls the two ASPL's who each call 2-3 Patrol Leaders who then call the APL and then each boy is to call the next one on the list. Of course, many times the SPL is talking to a patrol member as no one has picked up yet, but the messages get sent, and left on aswering machines. This method is used to communicate when trip plans change with little notice. We run it for the EP merit badge, a message goes out, initiated by the Merit Badge Canidate , to meet at the Troop meeting place. He then goes to the meeting place and logs who showed up when and then traces down who didnt show up and why. Since the calls are unannounced, usually far fewer people show up then are called, but thats the process.

[scottteng]

We used to run a E prep exercise every year with a scenario like a downed plane and teams searching with maps and coordinates and first aid when they found the victims. Been a while since we did it. it would work well for a district camporee. Most of our boys do e prep at summer camp I assume they participate in some kind of mock drill like the one we used to put on.

[Knot Head]

We do a practice troop mobilization using a phone message system (calling post) and email each year. The troop members report to the local firehouse nearest our meeting place and the fire chief signs off that the scout showed up. The firemen like knowing they can round up some help in a hurry but lucky for us we have never been used in a real mobilization. We let the E prep guys count this as a troop mobilization. I suppose you could do this as a patrol also.

 

 

[mschwartz]

The group of boys in the Troop who were working on E-Prep (one of the ASMs is a firefighter and registered MB counselor for this one) did a really neat emergency rescue scenario. The town that we live in has a "reservation" (heavily wooded park with both paved walking/biking trails and more challenging hiking trails). The ASM got a "rescue dummy" from the fire dept, as well as a rescue basket. He and another adult went up into the woods and hid the dummy near one of the trails. The boys all met at the entrance and were presented with the scenario that a group of boys were hiking in the woods; one fell and was injured; the others managed to make their way out, gasping 'He's up there!' and pointing in the general direction of where they had been. So the scouts (we had about a dozen boys) did a grid search to find the dummy. When they located it, it had notes pinned to it regarding injuries. They had to do appropriate first aid, load it into the rescue basket, and pack it out, about a mile. (The whole thing weighed about 150 lbs - not a light load!). All involved thought it was a great activity, and the boys felt like they really did and learned something important.

[shortridge]

If your son is interested in doing more on this topic, he might suggest that the troop get Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, part of the Citizen Corps program. See www.citizencorps.gov/cert for more info - it specifically mentions Boy and Girl Scouts as potential members.

[highcountry]

This is a difficult requiremetn to address somewhat as there are fewer areas where a scout troop might mobilize and assist in an emergency situation. We live in the Colorado Rockies and myself and 2 of my ASM's are firefighters and understand what emegency situations we face, how they go down and where a troop might possibly preform a function where they could realistically mobilize. In this day and age, the lawyers and liability with trained first responders, teh BSA is not going to get called out to handle any tasks of any significance. About our only large threats here are a mass casualty highway accident or a Wildfire. Our department has 2 mass casualty trailers, one is a communications command post, the other is a mass medical supplies trailer. For part one of the requirement we explain to the scouts how our dept uses these resources and gives examples of incidents and how they worked. Part 2 is a group discussion on how the troop could mobilize in about the only scenario we could imaging using BSA to support in a large community event....assist at teh small animal shelter. When we have larger wild fires and areas have to be evacuated, temporary animal shelters are set up by SPCA and the Humane society. The scouts in our troop could serve there helping feed, water and care for small animals (Cats and dogs etc) who are at these temporary shelters during the evacuation. We don't actualy do a mobilization, but we dicsuss how it would be done, letting the scouts walk the adults through steps in the process, from phone tree notification, comunication with the organization running the temporary shelter, to safety, shared duty schedule and what tasks they woud do, a reporting/organization structure etc. We don't actually get small cages and borrow cars and dogs to feed as that serves no additional purpose.

[scoutingagain]

I had to read MSchwartz's profile. I was certain he/she was with the unit I serve. We did the exact same excercise 20mi. to the south. Dummy from the fire station and all with the identical results.

 

SA

[fgoodwin]

I understand that young Gonzo1 asked parent Gonzo1 to post the question, but seeing as how adult association is one of the methods, and its his MB after all, not the parent's, I should think young Gonzo1 would be better served by asking his MB counselor the question.(This message has been edited by fgoodwin)

[Gonzo1]

FGoodwin,

Excellent point, and, I agree. However, the SM has not yet identified the MBC for the badge as young Gonzo started it at summercamp and has a partial, but would like to finish it. So, after reviewing this one and another partial, young Gonzo wondered about the mobilization requirement. He knows I'm on the forum a bit and asked me to ask ya'll.

 

BTW, thanks for great responses, young Gonzo can now formulate a plan for a mobilization with the SM and whoever the MBC is.

 

Thanks,

G

[MollieDuke]

At summer camp, our counselor makes the participants mobilize to look for "little Annie" who is a rescue dummy we use for lots of stuff. They place "Annie" in a secret location and must search/sweep to find this dummy. Our home TROOP, however, got a dose of reality when we were at a local park one day having an outing. There was a terribly distraught mother who noticed we were scouts and came to request help finding her lost 4 year old son. He'd wandered off and we had to mobilize on the spot to help sweep the park to find him. As it turned out, he'd just gone to an air conditioned building to cool off, so it was ok, but the scouts present learned a very valuable lesson in being prepared at all times. When you wear the badge, you may be asked to perform the skill at a moment's notice, so you'd best learn it right the first time.