Camp Disasters

Remember the Reader's Digest feature titled "Humor in Uniform"? Well, this thread is for our outrageous, funny, you'll- never-believe-it, but true stories of Ranger camping. I'll start...

We finally got to the 7000' campsite, in the clouds and a bit damp. Time to set everything up, but "Billy" doesn't feel good. Okay, just sit down. All the work is done and now Billy's playing. Time to prep for dinner, but Billy doesn't feel good. Okay, just sit down. Eats heartily with the rest of us. Late at night, we all turn in. Just as I relax, the sound of hurling comes from the boy's tent. Yup, it's Billy, with vomit all over his clothes and sleeping bag.

We clean him up and into dry clothes. The other commander gives his sleeping bag to Billy. I unzip mine and we share it. Again, the quiet is broken by another round of vomiting. Okay, that's it! The other commander says he's taking Billy home. But it's two hours away. No matter, he's going. Around lunch the next day, the other commander returns. How'd it go? Billy took a dump in the back seat.

That's awesome!

we've never had a disaster on that scale  

We did send a ranger to the emergency room once, but that wasn't on a camp out, it was inside the church

This one is pretty mild compared to the opener:

We had a campout, and were divided into 3 tents: Discovery Rangers in one, Adventure Rangers in the other, and the Command Tent.

Training schedule said that events end at 10:00 PM, and Lights Out at 11:00 PM.  Of course, the boys just considered that to just be a suggestion.

I finally managed to get them settled down and quiet at/about 1:00 AM.  

At 3:00 AM, a big wind came up, and the boys in the Discovery Ranger Tent began screaming, "Commander, Commander."

I got out of my sleeping bag & tent and ran over to the boys tent, wearing T-shirt, underwear, & combat boots.

I asked what the problem was, and they yelled, "Something is shaking our tent".

I said, "Yeah!  It's called the Wind.  You guys know that you were looking for a Patrol Name?  I've got it: the Bluebells (the little-girls' bible group)".

I tightened up the Guy Lines on their tent and went to bed.

Next Morning, it was time for First Formation.

I called, "Come on, BLUEBELLS.  First Formation!", to which they started yelling, "We're not Bluebells".

Some of the boys resisted the nickname, but some picked up on it.  When one of the boys would start slacking off or falling back, some other Ranger would yell, "Come on, Bluebell".

It's a Wilderness Survival merit campout, but we're going to keep it real small. Just 2 of us commanders and our 3 sons. We pick a certain area as the one to go to, because the map shows a spring. We backpack about 5 miles in and actually find the spring. But some rancher in way back years modified it. A pipe comes out the ground and into a small cistern. The outlet is actually underwater and the water itself? Thick with a variety of plant growth. Okay. We drain the cistern and clean up the piping. Catching the "new" water, we boil it thoroughly. One problem solved.

Food? We spend the next two days scrounging for a morsel. Even Les Stroud would've gone hungry. And then? An old apple tree lost among the pines, with 5 apples that deer couldn't reach. Fruit never tasted so good. We ate the cores, too.

Well. Grin. Many years ago.. about 19 years back. I had a grand idea. Survival Campout in August. 107 degrees in the shade. We went anyway because we had 2 rivers with in feet of where we were camped so we could cool off.

Man it was so hot. All we did was sit in the flowing river water and try and cool off. Sun was so hot it cooked your brain. Laid their and sweated all night long. Skeeters were dinning on hot sweaty blood.

Next day one of the Outpost council came down and sat with us for 2 hours and said..it's so hot I am going to have to go home. He left. One of my Jr. Commanders was gaulded from heat rash in his private area and I finally said uncle and we went home...was planning on spending one more night. It wooped me...too hoooten hot.

I have been to Camporamas where it was that hot but I had gear and shade and cool drinks to make life easier...

All my survivor camps are in cooler weather now. Plenty of clothes to wear to protect them and we do fine.

The boys are wanting to do one this year. So we will in Spring.

Mark Jones

Mark Jones wrote:Man it was so hot. All we did was sit in the flowing river water and try and cool off.  Sun was so hot it cooked your brain.  

Well, that explains a lot of things. 

 Got one through. GRIN!

Mark Jones

OOH.......Joe Sniper!

Years ago when I was either upper Pioneer age or just in Trailblazers, we went to one of my favorite places to camp and hike called Jones Gap State Park . The Sr Cmdr (aka "Dad") decided that we'd hike from our camp up to one of the peaks with a great overlook.

It was apparently too difficult of a hike for some of the boys because two of them really started to freak out. Dad decided to take them back down the trail, leaving the rest of us with a young man in his early twenties to continue up the trail. The plan was that he would drive the van up to meet the rest of us at the top. The young man was confident that he could lead us up the trail.... nope!

We took a wrong turn at some point along the way and ended up circling our way up the wrong peak eventually passing signs letting us know that we were entering into hunting lands.

This was before the time of everyone having cell phones, not that there would've been service anyway... We trudged through the mountains for most of that day until we finally came to a road! We flagged down a farmer driving down the road and he agreed to give us a ride after hearing our story. We hadn't prepared for getting lost in the mountains for hours and hours, so we all thought that we were going to die of starvation. As it were, the farmer had a couple bushels of apples in the back of his truck which he graciously allowed us all to have one. That was the best apple I've ever eaten!

The other side of the story is that of Dad's who was frantically searching for us with the park Rangers after we didn't show up in a realistic time. He had no idea if we were hurt, dead, or just lost. The farmer drove us back to the ranger station at Jones Gap where they were able to radio everyone that we'd showed up.

So that's probably the worst camping situation that I've been involved with. I can tell you that truly feeling lost as a kid in the mountains was not a good feeling!

I got separated from other boys while exploring and had to get a ride back to camp.

Nothing scares me more than to have a group separate and go down different paths. I have been able to avoid these situations because "We all stop at the trail crossings and we all go down the same trail together" Yet last year I did have to drop a boy and a commander off at a Road Access along a trail because the boy was slowing us down to a snails pace.

I didn't worry about them because I knew where they were and we had a time frame we would pick them up. Trusting God and good judgement has kept me out of a lot of trouble.

Mark Jones

We did have a campout 15 years back. Rained about 4" over night and temps got down to 40 degrees. 2 outposts packed up and went home. We stayed. I woke up wtih 5" of water around my tent. I was dry inside..it was a new hi dollar tent. I told the boys if they every get scared or wet go climb in the bus. There was about 5 boys sleeping in the bus when I got up. It was a good memory for us. A disaster for the other 2 ops that left. They had boys that they had to keep because parents were not reachable.

Mark Jones

When in our mid-teens, my twin brother and I went on a one-week campout by ourselves. Hopped on our bikes, went to the waterfront and hopped a ferry to one of the San Juan islands north of Seattle. Celebrated the first night with a pound of bacon and saved the other package for the last day.

It was a memorable campout with my twin. Beautiful scenery and weather the whole time. On the last day, my brother grabbed the rest of the unrefrigerated bacon and threw it down, screaming. Alive with maggots. Took a few years before we ate pork again.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:I got separated from other boys while exploring and had to get a ride back to camp.

Whenever we go in the woods, the first thing that I do is to team each boy up with a "Ranger Buddy". They are to go NO WHERE without their Buddy. This includes going to the bathroom; they are to remain within eyesight or within conversational speaking distance.

If I see a boy alone, and he cannot show me his Ranger Buddy within contact distance, they BOTH get a Strike.

How do you pair them up? How do ya'll deal with some boys always wanting to buddy up and others not so much?

They'll be in the same tent (for the night-time pee break), so I don't pair someone from the Discovery Tent with the Adventure Tent.

If there are 2 guys in the same tent who want to be Ranger Buddies, I will let them, as long as it's not 2 "High Octane" Rangers who I need to watch.

We even had 2 little guys (I think that one was a Ranger Kid whose father was a commander, and the other was a young Discovery Ranger).  We made them Ranger Buddies, but they stayed pretty close to the Command Tent, anyway.

also....

In the field, we divide the boys into "Squads" (about 5 to 7 boys; because a Squad Leader can only keep track of 2 or 3 Teams).  If they venture anywhere out of the camp perimeter, their Squad Leader is to know where they are.  Otherwise, it is a "strike" for both AWOL boys and the Squad Leader.

I guess what I mean is, what do you do with boys that DO NOT want to be paired up with someone in particular? Do you force it, or let it ride?

Easy....

I've got your Parents' phone number. They can come and pick you up.

If you are in Royal Rangers, you are in a UNIT. You are part of a Team.

2 points of the Ranger Code are "Loyal and Obedient". If you refuse to be a part of your Unit as designated, you are not Loyal. If you Fail to Follow Instructions, then you are not Obedient. You are sent home for failing to live by the Ranger Code.

By the way, if 2 boys are Ranger Buddies, it doesn't mean that they are necessarily "married" to each other.

Last year, the boys made Field Latrines.  Now 2 teams would make 2 latrines.  If 2 teams wanted to work together and have 1 boy from each team working on a latrine (or other project) that's OK.  But if your Ranger Buddy from the other project has to go somewhere, you go with him, then come back to your project.

Oh.....

And the boys all know that, 5 or 6 times per day/evening, I will walk up to someone and say, "Where's your Ranger Buddy?"

I was curious how you handled it because on one camp (of two so far) we had two brothers who DIDN'T want to sleep in the same tent, but the other boys didn't want to sleep with either one because they said they stunk.... which I will neither confirm nor deny, but that was the situation. I made my oldest son sleep with one of them and the other went in another tent. He did so, but begged that I not do that to him again. Oh well, some leaders kid's get away with murder. Mine usually get the worst deal there is... I'm not sure if I've found the right middle ground yet...

Our guys are in 6-man tents. So if one "stinks", then the whole squad is sleeping with him.

The only "stink" issue that we had was when the boys were having Belching Contests. One of the boys puked in the tent (from making himself belch). The whole tent (the older boys, of course) got to share it. I believe that they did toss the Offender's pillow out for the night, though.

Have you considered shock collars if the two move too far a part...?

It's a late spring sectional campout at high altitude. When we wake up Saturday morning, there's 2 inches of snow. Most of the boys have never seen it before (and aren't dressed properly). They take off, screaming joyously. Half an hour later, three of them come back crying in pain. Their tennis shoes are soaked and frozen. Brought them inside a tent and got the wet stuff off, but the wailing continues. Solution? Three pairs of feet against my stomach. When they were warmed up, they put their shoes back on to play some more. At that point, they were on their own.

joecool wrote: there's 2 inches of snow. Most of the boys have never seen it before

that's an unknown concept in this part of the country