The 2017 Boy Scout National Jamboree, The Summimit, West Virginia - Page 7
| West Virginia |
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| In covering the 2013 Jamboree I suggested why West Virginia was chosen for the Jamboree site. I failed to mention that W. Va. is a beautiful state. Fog raising from the hills, wide beautiful vista’s, beautiful lakes and sunsets. To a city dweller or a flatland Scouter, it’s really quite unique and impressive. |
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| The US military was active in the Jamboree, perhaps not to extent as when it was held at Ft A P Hill, but all branches were represented with displays and service. The West Virginia National Guard was everywhere. |
 Deployed Resources set up and staffed a fully functional kitchen facility and dining tent, serving an award-winning menu to the military personnel, three meals each day. They also provided showers and sinks for the 800 men and women that worked at this event. A Certificate of Appreciation for both Food Services Management and Staff and the Site Crew for this event, presented by the West Virginia Army National Guard. People sometimes forget that a Jamboree is a wonderful place for military training of preparedness. Setting up facilities and being prepared to handle large crowds is what the military is often called on to do. |
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| President Trump at the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree |
 Since 1937 all Presidents of the USA have either attended or sent messages to Scouts at the Jamboree. Most politicians wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a good impression on 30,000 to 50,000 potential voters. Trump was there in person, in a business suit and tie for the address. Instead of a canned speech with platitudes about the BSA, he let it all hang out. Simply put, Trump was Trump and love him of hate him, it’s what he does. He touched on things that people were thinking and talking about, afterwards the speech was labeled political. After getting conflicting reports I printed out and read the entire speech, (something I believe few people have done). It seems that everyone has an opinion of Trump, again divided along party lines. The Scouts at the Jamboree responded overwhelmingly positively to Trump and booed when Trump pointed out that President Obama did not attend two National Jamborees. Obama was featured on a daily patch for sending a message, but there was no daily patch for Trump. Its rumored that National leaders were embarrassed by the level of enthusiasm for Trump and the booing of former President Obama. Trump would be the only US President that did not receive the Silver Buffalo. No matter what people think of Trump the fact remains that he got the support of about 48% of the electorate and the Scouts gave him a warm welcome. It seems foolhardy for a national volunteer organization to dismiss that percentage of the population. Trumps difficulties with the National organization go back years earlier when he donated a bus to a competing scout type group during the BSA-Gays difficulties, at that time he was praised in the press as being inclusive. Editorial– The Trump situation was part of something larger happening within the BSA and the nation. A gap had been developing between National level Scouters/professionals and grass root leaders. National BSA was continually trying to placate the BSA’s detractors and the BSA program was watered down, almost always to the chagrin of unit leaders. Slogans and programs that had been the mainstay of the BSA were discarded never to be used again. Onward for God and my Country, Strengthen the Arm of Liberty, Forward on Liberty’s Team, etc. In Chief Scout Executive Alden Barbers (1967-1976) unpublished autobiography, he suggested that the “Red Coats”, (Woodbadge trained leaders) were a problem. I’m not sure what that means other than trained leaders know how the program works and perhaps that’s a problem for National level leaders when so many things were being changed. Scouting has been practiced for generation's and continues to be administered, as it always has, on the local level. Unit leaders are often Scouts and sometimes son’s of former Scout leaders who consciously choose to bring Scouting to the youth of their neighborhood. National leaders asking them to apologize for the color of their skin, to quit waving the flag or not be so religious, is not a good way to grow a National organization. National BSA nor it’s Councils have any way to influence what happens in a church basement on Monday nights or weekend camp outs. Although their actions possibly could influence people that have a certain point of view from becoming Scout leaders. The big question beyond 2017 is will the enlightened generation replace older more conservative leaders in the future? Will the LBTQ community embrace Scouting and bring membership, and what will the national program be? What will the BSA’s chartered partners think of the direction the BSA seems to be heading. Will a National organization that operates on registration fees from it’s members, be able to survive with reduced membership and the potential loss of traditional leaders? Most people reading this love Scouting and hate to see it hurt in anyway. I hope I am overreacting, but time will tell. |
| Regional Insignia |
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 With the move to the Summit, Regions were deemphasized. Units had previously camped by Regions and activities were often held in regional subcamps, but at the Summit areas were “supersized” away from the subcamps. Unique Region patches were available in 2017. |
| The Trading Posts |
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The Trading Posts were well stocked with almost anything a Scout
could want. I commented in 2013 what a variety of clothing and hats
there were and this was repeated in 2017. The BSA has financial
difficulties, yet there are so many different things offered for
sale. This will probably change in the future. |
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| Paul Myers Goshen,
Indiana gimogash@comcast.net |