Scout Troop Looks For And Finds A Dead Child

[Fehler 118]

Here is an article about a recent tragedy in my area, a young 4th grade boy missing since mid-March from a northern-Minneapolis suburb, body found by a group of Boy Scouts along the Mississippi River:  http://www.startribune.com/local/north/299455681.html

 

What some of my friends have keyed on is that the troop of Boy Scouts (all under the age of 13) were actively assisting/engaging in the search (after a prior sweep of the area from a group of 50).  The Scouts were doing their own search.

 

Not knowing what adult leadership may have been involved, would you have encouraged your troop to search for a dead body?  Maybe since the area was previously searched, did the leaders ok it thinking it was unlikely to lead to such a gruesome discovery?  The merit badge is "Search and Rescue", not "Search and Recovery".

 

And yes, I've seen "Stand By Me".

[moosetracker 132]

Well, having been missing for that long, you do loose hope of finding someone alive, but any search and rescue you participate in may have a sad conclusion where it's too late for a rescue, so any scouting group participating in this (even 1 or 2 days after the boy was missing) could have this conclusion..  the child floating face up and near shore sounds like the kids may have seen more then you hope they would, but hopefully the adults kept the boys from getting too close to the body, or get too close a look ..  I am sure scouts have hit this before helping in search & rescue after hurricanes or tornados..

 

I feel for the family, if the father is responsible then I do hope they get evidence, but what I can read from the story they just have suspicion.. So, if not guilty, hopefully he is cleared and doesn't go through life always under suspicion.

Edited April 13, 2015 by moosetracker

[Gone 435]

I'd do the following:

• Have anyone helping fill out an event form noting the possibility of finding the body.
• All "crews" would have two-deep adult supervision.
• Crews would be advised on search and recovery issues.
• Would work with CO regarding pre-event and post-event counseling.

Agree with @@moosetracker, this was a recovery event. Having kids below 15 might be a bit rough. If you've never seen a dead body even the toughest adults go wet. Not a scout event IMHO.

[Stosh 3452]

I see two possible outcomes from such an unfortunate event.

 

1) the boys will be traumatized and have to spend the next 35 years seeking professional counseling because of what they saw and did

 

or

 

2) the boys grow up to be EMT's, firefighters, police, military service, doctors/medical because of what they saw and did.

 

If anyone is worried about seeing dead people, I guess my mother didn't do it right because when I was less than 7 years old I attended the funeral of an infant.  What a terrible thing to expose someone of that age.  Maybe though it was a way to prepare me for ministry and the fact that I served 15 years as a Nationally Certified EMT-A as a volunteer in a small community that needed our help.  

 

I guess the "...help other people at all times..." doesn't have any qualifications on it and that has always haunted me.

 

If we have a disaster hit our town, I hope that I can help out a bit more than handing out sandwiches to the workers, but that's important too.

[Sidney Porter 104]

When I was 11 I had a paper route. I found one one of my customers dead sitting is a chair by the slidding glass door. She always sat in the chair. I notice that when the previous day's paper was there and she was in her usually spot. I knocked on the door and she did not respond. I called to police from the the next person on my route. Not tramatized.

 

When I was 13. My grandmother died in the house fire. I was their when they found the body. Not tranatized but In hindsite I probably should not of been there during that process.

[Stosh 3452]

Americans have some really strange taboo's about death that don't make much sense.  For kids the solution is either flush it down the toilet or bury it in the back yard.  This works great until Grandpa dies......

Edited April 15, 2015 by Stosh

[TAHAWK 1420]

Walking home from 3rd Grade  (Remember that?) down an alley, I and two friends discovered the body of an elderly man who had died in his garage,  We ran to tell the first adults whom we could find.  I have not thought of that occurrence for years.  He had a red bandanna in his hand.

 

As a Scout, I was involved in several searches for missing persons.  It was something Scouts routinely did back then.  We were cautioned in advance that the missing person might be severely injured or even dead.  As it turned out, our troop never found anyone.  Finding a dead child would probably have been fairly disturbing.

[Stosh 3452]

Dealing with children is far more traumatizing than with adults.  After 15 years of EMT work I can still remember every child I had to take care of.  After 15 years of ministry, I can still remember every child I had to do a funeral for.  

[JasonG172 244]

Americans have some really strange taboo's about death that don't make much sense.  For kids the solution is either flush it down the toilet or bury it in the back yard.  This works great until Grandpa dies......

 

lol you are so very right Stosh 

[desertrat77 1144]

If I recall BSA history, many decades ago scouts were regularly called upon for such a mission.   They also ran messages and helped out during natural disasters, etc.   Society has changed quite a bit, as Tahawk noted about walking home from school.

 

If leaders and parents properly frame the experience for the scouts before and after, it should not be a life-long traumatic experience for the scouts.   Shocking and eye opening, yes.  A good lesson about life and death, yes.   As Stosh said, it may motivate them to be first responders. 

 

But as others have noted, many Americans keep death at arm's length, and rarely talk about it.   Then when faced with death, many folks are not prepared to deal with the thoughts and emotions that accompany it.

 

As the BSA slowly moves back to an outdoor emphasis, I hope we can also dust off this long-forgotten aspect of scouting from yesteryear--serving during a crisis.   Granted, there are all kinds of laws and societal changes that have developed since then, but I think there are still roles for responsible, trained scouts to help the community in emergency situations.   It would benefit the community, raise the visibility and value of scouting to others, and give the scouts a real sense of maturity and "being a scout is important to others."

 

Our youth are much smarter and tougher than we think.

[Rick_in_CA 401]

If I recall BSA history, many decades ago scouts were regularly called upon for such a mission.   They also ran messages and helped out during natural disasters, etc.   Society has changed quite a bit, as Tahawk noted about walking home from school.

 

...

 

As the BSA slowly moves back to an outdoor emphasis, I hope we can also dust off this long-forgotten aspect of scouting from yesteryear--serving during a crisis.   Granted, there are all kinds of laws and societal changes that have developed since then, but I think there are still roles for responsible, trained scouts to help the community in emergency situations.   It would benefit the community, raise the visibility and value of scouting to others, and give the scouts a real sense of maturity and "being a scout is important to others."

 

Our youth are much smarter and tougher than we think.

I would love to see that, but I fear that it's a forlorn hope. Our society is moving in the wrong direction (look at PA's new background check law, or the hysteria over leaving children in cars), and we need big changes before we can get back to allowing youth to help in any way beyond token activities in a crises.

 

Could you image this situation today? From the Milwaukee Sentinel - April 28, 1952:

Boy Scouts Fight Fire

 

Two troops of Milwaukee Boy Scouts received an unexpected lesson in conservation and fire fighting Sunday when they helped forest rangers and a company of national guardsmen battle a grass fire in the Lower Kettle Moraine area near North Prairie.

 

The fire the Boy Scouts helped extinguish was the smallest of three fires the forestry station at Eagle battled during the day, according to Forester Max Von Dahien.

 

Scout Troop 34 of Mount Olive Lutheran Church and Troop 141 of Sherman Park Lutheran Church were on separate outings in the area to watch field problems of Co. I.. 127th infantry, from Jefferson Wis. The fire started near the soldiers’ bivouac area. The approximately 50 scouts and leaders and the 75 guardsmen helped the foresters put out the fire, which burned over a four acre area. The blaze was under control in about two hours.

Today the boy scouts would just be moved out of the way. Plus, how many boy scouts even get any training on how to fight a wild fire now days? I did when I was a boy scout (not a lot, but we all got some basics).

 

In fact our troop put out a small grass fire once (it grew to about the size of a tennis court before we got it out). It was out by the time the fire crews got there. Our troop was on top of it because we started it (a careless scout had just lit a stove and he threw the match into the grass - he thought it was out). I missed that camp out (was home with the cold I think), but I heard all about it from my troop mates and saw the photos of the aftermath. Talk about a lectures on fire safety! Plus the fire department came out and gave us all a refresher on fighting wild fires.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Rick_in_CA

[packsaddle 753]

So Rick, how about that Heinie Show? LOL, and just look...54 cents for a movie at the Alhambra, OUTRAGEOUS! But...it's Laughton and 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'...can't go wrong. Less expensive at the others thankfully. Of course, there's "The African Queen", one of the best of all time playing at Riverside and who could pass up "With a Song in My Heart" at the drive-in? Gonna be some serious smooching tonight!

[Gone 435]

Americans have some really strange taboo's about death that don't make much sense. For kids the solution is either flush it down the toilet or bury it in the back yard. This works great until Grandpa dies......

@@Stosh, it's because of those low flow toilets, otherwise Grandpa might have suffered the same fate.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Mozartbrau