Campout you missed, and still regret it

[briantshore 14]

As I look back at my years of scouting, I did not miss many campouts, but here are 2 that come to mind.

 

 

Blackhawk Council, Sauk District Camporee, 1977. There is a stone bridge in Northern Illinois that Abraham Lincoln is said to have camped near when he served during the Blackhawk War. This camporee was helping to rebuild some fo the stones in the bridge that was falling apart with age.

 

Troop 45, Savanna Illinois. This was a troop campout around 1976-77. This was a troop campout held south of Mt. Carroll, Illinois. It was held on a farm where one of the boys in the troop lived. We were allowed to slaughter some chickens, pluck them and cook them. Those that attended talked about it for years to come.

 

 

Do you have a Unit/District/Council campout that you missed out on?

[IM_Kathy 32]

the only one that I can think of one that medically I wasn't allowed to attend nor will I ever be which stinks...

 

Son's troop sent 2 crews to Philmont summer of 2011.

 

I have an anxiety disorder (PTSD) and all the BSA HA and Jamboree do not allow any anxiety disorders. They don't even specify what type of anxiety disorder. From my son and adults that went that know my disorder and symptoms I would've been just fine. But it's hard to hide the disorder when the doctor writes it right on the form and then I have to list my medications. Now I know what affects me and I know what to avoid - and National Jamboree would be one that I definetely would avoid. But in talking to those that have done Philmont and Boundry Waters I could do either of those - though not sure about Sea Base as I haven't talked to anyone that has gone there.

[qwazse 4342]

IMK,

Seabase does have a lot of novel stressors. Not sure if they would be triggers for PTSD. But, I've seen normal kids freak out over:

being in 25' of open ocean for the first time,

being only able to get 44' away from everyone else,

being in a different part of the country with a different culture.

Heck our stay in Miami Beach was tough on some who thought English should be the 1st language in their own country!

 

To the OP, every campout I miss nags me to no end!

[Eagle92 110]

IMK,

 

With no disrespect, but you may never know when an episode may hit. One of my HS teachers had a flashback in the school cafeteria when a plate dropped. One of the most reserved, polite teachers I know, he taught theology BTW, became one of the most foulmouthed and vicious people because he was back in 'Nam under heavy attack for a moment.

 

Luckily another teacher who was a vet, and worked with the flashback teacher in the past, was outside the cafeteria and was able to get the situation under control.

 

Still, I do not see anxiety disorders as a problem.

 

As for me, the trip I missed and regret was the district camporee that if I attended, I would have been Tapped Out as a candidate into the OA. That was the last year Tap Outs were officially permitted.

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

There is a campout my son missed because of me and still regret. He (the one with Tourettes) was trash talking on the way home to a bunch of extra-virginal Webelo potential recruits. I told him to stop, and stop, and stop. Then I said "One more time you miss the next campout". Of course he didn't stop (in retrospect he really couldn't). So as soon as I got to the Scout Hut I got out and in all my fatherly glory forbade him from the next trip. The moment the words slipped out I regretted them.

 

Also an ugly ending to an otherwise nice weekend.

 

Turned out the next campout was the annual Survival Campout which he had prepped for a year--he viewed it as his "test of manhood". He missed it. My wife forbade me from backtracking. I went on the campout to help out but every meal was like ashes in my mouth.

 

I would like to say he learned something about controlling himself--but not really. And in 3 years we have never repeated that campout.

[gsdad 59]

Not a campout, but a complete summer. The summer of 1990, the 75th Anniversary of the OA. I was supposed to work on Treasure Island Campstaff again that summer but due to heat from my dad I had to back out. He was never supportive of Scouting and figured since I had just graduated high school I needed to a "real" job or enlist in the military. Looking back I should have worked the summer at camp and enlisted in the fall.

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

Not a campout but a party. When I was in 6th grade one of the girls was planning a birthday party that was the first real girl-boy party. (a pool party no less). I was a nice boy but not very popular. I was not invited at first and really, really wanted to go. I felt snubbed. A couple days before the party I did get an invite but declined in a snit. So I never went.

 

Big mistake. It was "the" party of the year and the reciprocal invites back and forth pretty much cemented the "cool people" well into the beginnings of High School.

[suzisk8 12]

Like gsdad, an entire summer. I was so sick last summer and my son missed out on so many of his first opportunities from his Tiger to Wolf transition. Day Camp, pack camp out, a couple of cool trips and earning his Summertime Award. Well, now that everything is diagnosed with me, I so totally over did it this summer with my son!

 

For me, in the past, not pushing my mom to find another Girl Scout troop to continue with Girl Scouts after Brownies. Our troop fizzled after Brownies and I wanted to do more. I always remember that summer at the local camp and wanting to go to Juniors.

[Sentinel947 1205]

My Scout Troop went to Northern Tier this past summer, and due to financial reasons (Read, College Tuition) I didn't attend. To hear all the awesome experiences my closest friends had without me was a pain.

[Eagle92 110]

Sentinal,

 

I can relate. I was suppose to staff NOAC in '96 and had to cancel last minute b/c of college bills.

[GKlose 24]

Circa late 70s, my troop went to Ely, long before it was known as the "Northern Tier" high adventure base, and then canoed in Manitoba, what I now this is probably the Boundary Waters area. I was just a lazy teen, and this one time the lethargy won out (honestly, I went on every other single trip, including Philmont the prior year and Maine National High Adventure the year after!). Sure, the guys came home with stories that I would have hated it, that they were climbing through muck the entire time. And I believed them -- until later on. When it dawned on me that I MISSED IT!

 

Then the year after I aged out, Seabase opened up. I would have been all over that, but I MISSED IT!

 

But that's okay, I'm a Scouter now -- Seabase 2014 or bust!

 

Guy