Gerald Schilling, of New Jersey, is on the trading post security staff. He accompanied his son, Cory, to archery last week and both father and son had a great time until Cory realized he had lost his wallet. He was upset to lose all his money, but even more upset about losing the Totin’ Chip card that his dad had signed, his Boy Scout and school IDs, and a family photo. Both father and son checked the Lost and Found repeatedly and were losing hope of finding the lost wallet.
Three days later, upon returning to Subcamp 2, Cory had a wonderful surprise. His wallet was waiting for him and all of its contents were intact. Since Cory’s ID was in the wallet, Lost and Found was able to identify his subcamp and forward the property there.
This is not the only story about property and money being returned intact and it is a tribute to the Scouts at the jamboree. They live the law—A Scout is trustworthy.
my son Marcus Timberlake of troop 1029 subcamp 10 called home very upset that his four patches were missing. I believe that experience put a damper on his Jamboree experience. I did not think to tell him to check the lost and found not believing that someone would turn it in. after reading this I will suggest to him to check the lost and found and hopefully he will have the same outcome as Cory.
Brings an old man joy & pride to hear this story of Boy Scout code of conduct being honored.
Unfortuanately there is 1 scout out there that has not honored the code. My son Garrett Pohlman in Troop 904 had his whole bag of traded patches taken from his tent. This has put a downer on his trip. He is upset, since he worked so hard to earn all the money for this trip himself. Including buying the trading patches. It was quite an accomplishment. I am pround of him. I will have him check lost n’ found one more time before he leaves. Maybe it will be his lucky day.
Chris, I do hope your son finds his bag. He sounds like a great scout! We’ll say a little pray for your son. As my Mom always says: “God works in mysterious ways” Best regards!
Unfortunately, my son experienced a theft of his patches and fraud too. Several of his patches were stolen off his blanket by one scout as another distracted him and he fell victim to fraud when scouts traded knock off patches with him (that were later confisticated…which made the pain worse!). He is somewhat bitter about all this and told me he can’t trust anyone. Sadly, it’s hard for me to tell him otherwise. He also told me he may have to pull latrine guard duty because of vandalism.
I should point out, HE IS HAVING A GREAT TIME at the Jamboree and hopes to return in 2013. However, he will wisely guard his patches and other valuables.
I would like to suggest a penalty to Troops which have bad apples. Not unlike the NCAA, where when a member of a team is caught cheating, the team is elminated from bowl games for a certain period, I think troops should be banned from a future Jamboree. I know this is harsh, but THIS PENALTY WILL BE VERY EFFECTIVE. My son experienced a well thought out coordianted theft of his patches and fraud. Scouts buying knockoff patches are planning a theft in advance. The Troops should be held responsible.
Sorry, tough love is a form of love that works.
Bob
Bob,
I understand your frustration; however, we must remember that the general public along with Scouts attend the Jamboree. While I hate what has happened to your son, my hope is that it was a general attendee and not a scout who did this.
I have seen posting after posting on EBay of items from Jamboree. It is very disheartening. Items the boys should have been able to purchase were scooped up by private individuals and now being sold for a huge profit, sometimes 7 or 8 times what they paid for it.
While, as a parent, I wanted to attend and participate, as you said, many of these boys paid their own way. I wish the area was left to the boys.
I absolutely disagree with this. I am sorry that your son had this experience and it is very disheartening. However, this is not the NCAA. Certainly if the scout(s) are identified as being the ones involved in such actions they should not be allowed to return to the next Jamboree. But why should a boy who perhaps isn’t even a current member of the troop not have the opportunity to go to the Jamberee in the future??? Do you really think this type of punishment is fair to that boy? Unfortunately there are bad apples out there, but those bad apples need to be dealt with. Do not punish the innocent!
My son Steven is in Subcamp 4 troop 448 and I just found out this morning that he lost his phone, he is in search of it today and hopefully that it will be found. I have faith in the Scouting law that a Scout is trustworthy, since someone did call, I could not make out the name and the phone went dead before he could tell me where it was at. If a leader read this and knows about his phone could you please let them know. Thanks ever so much.
I feel for the boys who have had misfortune.They need to remember that those who do these dirty deeds will never have a peaceful life because they will continue to do these things until they get caught. Keep in mind the many wonderful memories and know that you are a good person and a great Scout.My grandson has had a great time ,even though he lost his glasses on the 3rd day(he got them back yest.). Happiniest of memories to all the Jambo Scouts.
Well, welcome to real life! My first international jambo wend I was a boy , my wole backpack was stolen,unforttnely this still happen even the most well prepared and screened people . It is sad? Absolutly! That remind us in any level of society, or even the what is suposse to be the bests ones, will be bad apples.
They took my backpack , but not my spirit of what I decided to be and believe.
If I catch one of those bad apples for certain he or she will be out from scouting organization. The best we can do is be with our eyes open and secure our belongs and don’t let this in ruin what we call stuff.
Remember no thief in this world can rob the values, the ones that are build inside of you trought your scout oath and law.
Best wishes
My son had a better experience. He lost his debit card and had to call home to report it lost. His id and lunch tickets were also with it. It took only one day for someone to turn it in. He got everything back. The BSA staff even brought it by the sub-camp. I checked with the bank and no one had used it. A boy scout is trustworthy.
and check on the scouts from our home Troop Nine in Danbury CT via the web site.
Again thanks to all the men and women that make this event possible.
My son lost his camera in the Merit Badge Midway area. A few days later, it turned up in Lost & Found, so good news here. I think most of our boys are trustworthy – certainly above the average.
I would also like to comment on patches being stolen from Scouts at this Jamboree. One evening when my son called, he was very upset about several of his jamboree patches being stolen. When I asked him to explain in further detail, he advised me that the patches were ripped right off of his scout uniform, which happened to be in his tent, and was done while the boys were away at activities!! Obviously, the thief who took the patches had to be pretty determined to get them, as I had personally double stitched them on by hand, so I know it would have been challenging to get them off.
Short of this happening, I would say that my son enjoyed his experience at the Jamboree, but this was certainly upsetting, and did not leave him with a very good impression of some fellow scouters. I know this is the real world, but it really is a shame and very disappointing that someone at the Jamboree would not be living up to the values of Scouting. My son, unfortunately was not the only scout in his troop that had things stolen from their tents.
Well I have a simialar case. My son called me yesterday morning crying his eyes out ‘ can’;t find my patches” he was at the trading post getting the last day’s patch of the jambo; when he came back to the campsite discovered his whole bag had dissapeared, all he had in there was about thirty, his pride position a blues bro’s patch just one, He was so upset he lost them that he can’t rem, if he took them into his tent or not he was putting them into his duffle getting ready for the deparure today and wanted to keep them safe , He’s on his way home now and never found them, He did have fun. Oh and the most earned piece in that bag was the 5k rocker , You see he got seperated from his patrol the day of the very bad rain and thunderstorm and walked all the 8 miles from the other side of A.P. Hill by himself His scoutmaster appauled him for his courage in not panicking and getting home safe and this his how he earned his 5k rocker.
I frimly believe scouts are trustworthy but there is always a bad apple in every bunch. I am proud of what he did this week and is coming home safe and material things don’t matter a lot and for those selling the day patches on ebay for $ 125.00shame on you they were a lot of scout that would love to have that to say they were there.
Felt it necessary to chime in on the reports about stolen patches. Our son, Matt McKee, Troop 1128, reported to us last night that all of his traded patches mysteriously disappeared from his tent. It broke our hearts to hear this as he was so excited when he called us during the week to tell us what he did and about the patches he traded each day at the Jamboree. This also put a downer on his trip. Naturally, he was upset, but trying to look on the bright side. To think a fellow scout would do such a thing. He will check lost and found before departing. We hope the patches will miraculously turn up.
I was sad to receive a call from our son from Troop 1128, Subcamp 11, the last night of the Jamboree and hear the disappointment in his voice after he discovered all of the patches he had traded throughout the week mysteriously disappeared from his tent.
He also worked hard to pay for his trip and it breaks my heart this is the feeling he’s leaving the Jamboree with. Yes, he had a great time at the Jamboree, but having his patches stolen (and the night before returning home) … well, it’s going to make that bus ride seem A LOT LONGER. This just breaks my heart …. and makes me steaming mad.