By Pace Maughan
Boy Scout, Jamboree Troop 947
“Happy 100th Birthday BSA!” Those were the words said by Chief Scout Bob Mazzuca on Saturday at the Hundredth Year Celebration.
Over the past week scouts have been exploring and participating in tons of activities at the National Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. There are so many choices that we cannot get to them all in eight days. We have seen everything from Smokey the Bear to hot air balloons which were set up right in front of our camp.
On Monday, July 26, we worked hard to set up camp and started looking at what was available. Tuesday is when the real fun started. Most of the kids went to catch fish at a nearby lake where fishing and fly fishing was available. We also worked on various activities such mountain boarding, motocross biking, rapelling, scuba diving, snorkling, sailing and the list goes on and on.
Early on Wednesday morning, July 28, 45,000 scouts gathered together at a huge arena for the official opening ceremony. Sky divers descended and the air force honor guard spun their guns. But nothing was more inspiring than when the National Anthem was sung. The energy that was in the stadium during the song was so intense that tears were streaming from our eyes.
But those were quickly brushed away as we were joined by Bob Mazzuca, the chief scout, who spoke to us. Also Robert Gates the Secretary of Defense who earned his Eagle Scout as a youth gave us a motivational speech.
Thursday we traveled to great lengths to the other side of the vast encampment to see what was offered. For three nights kids slugged back to camp very tired after merit badges and activities.
Saturday we arrived at the arena once again two hours early to get good seats with 70,000 people. We got to see live coverage of scouting parties all over the country and F-15’s flying through the sky and parachuters too. As the show got under way we were joined by the scouting committee that formed the Jamboree. A huge hand of applause was given to the celebrity Mike Rowe from the hit show Dirty Jobs. He talked about his experience as a Scout and what he went through especially when he earned his Eagle badge.
The rock band Switchfoot performed a mini-concert for us.
The finale for the evening was a huge fireworks show. There was a lot of flag waving and yelling and laughter. It was a night to remember.
On Sunday, August 1 we met with other LDS scouts for the Sunday services. General authority, Elder Robert D. Hales spoke of making commitments and making preconditioned responses when challenges come in our way.
Our plans for the rest of the week is we will break camp and fly home to the McCarran airport at around noon on Wednesday. We are all excited to see our families.
To find out more about what we did during the last few days to visit our troop website at Troop947lvac.blogspot.com
Thank you everyone especially our parents for helping us make this trip of a lifetime possible.
