Jamboree Visit
Entry posted by ChocolateFrogs
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My brother is currently attending the 17th National Scout Jamboree, down at Fort A. P. Hill, Caroline County, VA, from Monday, July 26th to Wednesday, August 4th. I attended this event 5 years ago, but it usually takes place every 4 years. This year, however, coincided with the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouting coming to America, and was scheduled accordingly.
My family visited me when I went, and now we visited him this year. We went down Friday and met up with him, and then he broke off to do some activities, and we walked around ourselves. We also went back on Saturday (staying at a hotel that night) to see more and to stay for the big Arena Show that night, with presentations by big scouters and Eagle Scouts and other fun stuff, like a performance from Switchfoot!
Before I get ahead of myself, let me show you some other pictures of the days:
What was also great was being able to meet the awesome BZPower member EmperorWhenua. No, seriously, he's totally awesome! It was great to meet him in person and it is a shame we could not hang out some more. (He also gave me some of his council's Jamboree patches from this year, so that was super-nice of him. Patches are a big deal in Scouts, especially at the Jamboree, but more on that Monday night.)
Now, finally, Saturday night was the Arena show, where all 45,000 scouts and scouters gathered, along with a great number of visitors to witness a celebration joining groups of scouts all over the country in the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. There was a huge stage where scouts painted "Happy 100th BSA" underneath a huge tarp, there were fireworks (the biggest fireworks show put on at any US military base!) and festivities, and Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs showed up--he's an Eagle Scout! And while he said that his job gets him plenty dirty, he has a shirt referencing the 11th point of the Scout Law: "A Scout is Clean, but not afraid to get dirty."
The show, compounded with my visiting for two days a place where I spend an amazing 11 days of my scouting life five years before, was really powerful, moving, and kind of inspirational. This is why I love scouting, and why I miss camping so much; the energy and excitement and patriotism from everyone there having a good time and bound together. Makes me want to be a part of the 2013 Jamboree, either as an assistant scout master or a Jamboree staff member. The next one will be in West Virginia at The Bechtel Summit, 4,000 acres generously donated to us for this purpose.
-CF 
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