Well, I guess that just proves what we emphasize on this board ... all the great gadgets & supplies won't help if you don't have the "mental equipment" -- experience, training, common sense, whatever you want to call it -- to use your tools effectively. As GoatRider says below, telling your child as an absolute rule "don't ever talk to strangers" can really backfire if the kid doesn't have the judgment to adjust his/her behavior when the circumstances change. (And if Master Hawkins doesn't yet have the necessary judgment, then his parents should have exercised their own good sense and not permitted him to go camping without them until he demonstrates it.)

But like Bee, I definitely had to grin when I heard that the kid actually got off the trail when the SAR folks came close to him!

Well put, Sue. My sentiments exactly. I friend of mine got quite angry with me when I commented that the kid is too stupid to live. Should have left hik out there.

Mellow people,please! The mark of a caring society is not throwing inferior babies off a cliff like ancient Sparta, but honouring the uniqueness and often unseen or imagined potential in every individual regardless of how clumsy creation cobbled them together. We all get frustrated with stories such as this. Just don't let your rapid heartbeat march in step with hobnailed jackboots.

Good points all. I guess what I'm the most critical of is it seems like every year we are having a scout go missing here in Utah who carries no gear. It inevitably ends up that they were at a camp doing everything except camping. They should not set foot outside of city limits without a knife, a PSK, and the knowledge to use them. (I'm aware that I'm preaching to the choir here but at least I feel better <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />.)

Regards, Vince

Our scouts carry - and use - what we call "Ready Packs" or "Be Prepared Packs". They do not show up for anything without them - some even carry them to non-scouting functions. It's a big deal to me and to our scouts. (Like many of us here, they tend to carry more junk, er, gear than they strictly need - that's more of a struggle for me than them not carrying the right things.) Their gear is far from perfect/ideal/complete, but they have the basics covered. I try to issue them maps of some sort before every trip, which can be a real PITN here in the poorly-mapped MidWest.

Now go to summer camp or a Camporee. See the scouts with day packs? They're from our troop (and a couple of scouts from other troops who have camped with us and "got religion"). A few younger scouts in other troops may be wandering around with some archaic facsimile of a "desert canteen" until they get razed out of it by older scouts, and a few others will have a water bottle on a sling.

What does the Boy Scout Handbook stipulate a scout should have on him on EVERY outing? The "Scout Outdoor Essentials". Should we run a formal long term camp or council or district event and ignore that? Every place I have toured/visited/been does and the folks in charge - professionals and volunteers - either scoff or get a deer-in-the-headlights look when I try to discuss it. What's wrong with that picture!!!??? Pardon my army expression, but I believe in "train-as-you-fight"... there ought to be a less militant expression for scouts that expresses the same sentiment and it should be the adjunct to "Be Prepared". This, and similar issues, drives me up the wall about scouting in general. I have concluded that these things are unsolvable except at the unit level, which goes back to my "get involved with a troop" challenge.

BTW, every week at closing I ask for a current events synopsis. The boys have caught on that, in the context of scout meetings, I am interested in stories of lost hikers, community disasters around the world, cultural upheavals, etc etc. Collectively they amaze me - they voluntarily offer well-thought out opinions on the situations and point out the good and bad. I didn't even have to ask about the topic of this thread, and they tossed in that this is "the same place" that a lad went missing from recently (the unfound lad) and discussed the similarities on their own - their conclusions were 1) Buddy system and 2) Ready Packs. I'm not sure how well they translate that to themselves, but it seems to be worthwhile to spend 2-3 minutes on those topics once a week.

I'm going to go outside now and get some hot-weather exercise or the little rats will run me into the dirt at camp... gotta walk the talk.

Regards,

Tom

All sorts of things can happen with kids and it's very hard to get the full story out of them for multiple reasons.

We had a little boy go missing in my neighborhood back when I was a kid. We searched for him for a day and he was later fould sleeping soundly in a pumpkin patch, I kid you not.

It turns out a few days later he had a seizure at home and ended up sleeping that one off too. The little guy had seizures and just happened to have his first while nobody was watching.

The point being there was no logical process involved in his getting lost nor deciding to sleep for several hours in the neighbors vegitable garden. Where else do you take a nap when you're five? Mac

Can we just leave it at "The gene-pool needs more chlorine", Chris???

Troy

Tom, if we had someone like you this council, I might have stayed around. Thank the Light there is still someone who is leading scouts who actually reads the manuals. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Do your boys know just how lucky they are?

I read many of Tom's stories about his scouts and every time I think "too bad this is the exception rather than the rule". What ever happened to the "always be prepared" motto? Seems like Tom's scouts are the only ones.

We must remember, all of us have and continue to do stupid things, at least know I have and will likely to continue to do so. It is not the fault of the child, if he was not provided the appropriate guidance or if he or she has some minor or major developmental disability preventing him or her from taking the most appropriate course of action in a particular situation. If, as I suspect, Brennan has some developmental or emotional disability, he should not be prevented from enjoying and learning about the outdoors, but must do so under closer supervision or with a different form of instruction or guidance.

Being associated with Girl Scouts for the past 15 years, I am all too well familiar with parents who fail to provide the Leaders/Assistants with adequate health information (physical, emotional and mental) regarding their child in fear that they will be negatively labeled. In many cases having this information and a caring and wise Leader will allow for changes to accommodate or present information in a different manner. Thus allowing the child to be a participant in beneficial activities and can be done so, safely.

Pete