JLTA 2008 Southern Missouri
District Royal Ranger Campground
Here is my perspective on the JLTA as the JTC
Camp Commander.
First off, Charles Bowser is doing a wonderful
job getting these camps going and providing leadership training to our
Ranger boys. He did outstanding coordinating four camps this year - DTC, ATC,
JTC, and AJTC. He also coordinated the JCE a month earlier, but you already
have a report on that.
DTC Camp Commander - Bob Triphahn
ATC Camp Commander - Jerry Millhouser
JTC Camp Commander - Rick Barnhouse
AJTC Camp Commander - Charles Bowser
I ran the JTC, so I give you a view of the camp
from my perspective.
This camp was conducted at the district RR
campgrounds. We had a little over 50 boys in attendance from MO, TX, and IL.
There were 30 in the JTC alone. Each day involved work on patrol projects,
classroom leadership training, campcraft instruction, team building
exercises (low ropes and others), and a council fire time in the evening.
The boys all lived in tents, while the staff stayed in the staff dorm. Boys
from each camp except JTC earned a couple of merits during the week. The JTC
boys refreshed on several campcraft skills including rope, fire, tool,
compass, and lashing, and spent alot of time on improving their dutch oven
skills.
The grand finale of our camp learning was a race
between the three JTC patrols where they had to build a sufficient fire to
do a given task, cross the AJTC's rope bridge, run a compass course, get to
the top of the AJTC tower, tie a series of knots, demonstrate a toolcraft
skill, lash together a "chariot," and carry a teammate from the Activities
Building to the new restrooms. The course took the fastest team 50 minutes
to complete.
After the camp, many of the boys headed to Merit
Camp. Most of the leaders headed to the hot tub.
Rick
Click on a picture to get a larger view.
