Chapter 10

After dinner, I cleaned up and put on my scout uniform. Tonight I was going to Springfield for the camporee planning meeting. Mr. Harris was punctual. On the way down he wanted to talk about the fire. He wanted the details. How much smoke was coming out of the window when I first spotted the fire? How hot was the door, did I have the palm of my whole hand flat or just touch with my fingers?

I finally asked him why he wanted such fine detail. It turned out he is a volunteer fireman with the West Liberty fire department. He had never been in a multi-story office building fire and wondered how close his training was to the reality. After I found that out the trip was smooth as we talked our way to Springfield.

When we walked into the conference room everyone stood and applauded me! I didn’t know what to do, so I kind of waved and headed to the coffee pot. When in doubt hide behind a cup of coffee!

The Council Scout Executive and Council Commissioner both made a point of shaking my hand and telling me that I was a fine representative of the movement.

I just thought I looked like a Christmas tree. The Council Commissioner had patches above his left shirt pocket. I had never paid attention to them before. There were four rows of three. They all looked like knots in different colors. Some of them even had several little metal badges with the Boy Scout or Cub Scout emblem on them.

He also had a leather necklace with four wooden beads on it. It was cool. I would have to see about getting one of those. Those with his red Philmont jacket and Smokey Bear hat with the first-class emblem made him as bright as any Christmas tree.

The meeting was brought to order. Mr. Tolson was there and gave an update on the civil war re-enactors. It was going to be a full-blown encampment for them. They would have a full battery of four cannon present.

There were enough confederate re-enactors coming that they could do a mock skirmish. There would be enough black powder experts present that every boy in the camp would have an opportunity to fire a muzzleloader at least once.

It was mentioned that I would be the go-between the Scouts and the re-enactors. As Colonel Tolson put it, “Lieutenant Jackson will be our runner. While carrying out duties for the 6^th Ohio Volunteers he will be in the correct uniform.”

One of the concerns presented was obtaining a high ranking state or national figure to open the camporee. The Governor, one of our two Senators and several of the more prominent Representatives were all mentioned. I had a private thought but didn’t mention it.

The rest of the meeting was on the logistics of having thousands of youths and adults together for an event. The planning included emergency services for broken bones. It was a given with a group this large that there would be broken bones, maybe a snake bite or two.

Food poisoning was always a possibility with Boy Scouts. This meant a first aid station clearly marked and transportation for any serious cases.

There would be a fire brigade for the inevitable campfire that got out of control. We needed to have a site map to find units and personnel at need. There would have to be guided to lead each troop to its assigned spot. When it was time to leave, each camp would have to be checked out to ensure it was clean and everything removed including Scouts.