Hey, ScouterStan, let’s talk about 10 forgotten skills that Scouting provides to youth through the Scouting program. Now these 10 things that I just came up with are not in any particular order. One’s not better than the other, and it’s not a countdown. It’s just 10 things that come up in Scouting as a skill that everyone should know.
#1 The first big one is basic navigation with GPS. We go all over the place without even thinking about all that’s needed for that to happen. In scouting, we teach compass skills. We even teach what maps do and how. The physical map can give you a bearing of your direction, of where you want to go. This navigation uses very little or very primitive technology. You can actually read topography maps and all the different kinds of maps that are out there to give you an idea of your direction.
#2 Knots and lashings. This is something that modern-day schools do not teach. Using a rope. How ropes are critical to a lot of different industries. Knots that hold and how to tie them. Lashings. You can lash together almost… about anything in a campsite. It is amazing how lashings can be used to tie 2 poles together to make just about anything from tables to scaffolds to just name it. It is amazing and lashing is one of those skills that is a natural progression of advancement within scouting.
#3 Signaling. Now this is very low-tech today. It can be anything from semaphore which is these flags in each hand and then the different shapes of the semaphore can actually give you different letters and this is a way of signaling across great distances. Now visual reception needs to be done either through binoculars or something of that nature. But as far as being able to signal a great distance, this is a great skill that can be learned in scouting. One of the other big signaling things that are out there are things like Morse code. Now this can be done with all kinds of ways of actually doing the actual signals, whether it be something with sound, something electronic that’s broadcasted through the air, or even a mirror that’s held in the hand signaling an airplane or a helicopter. Being able to use simple signals like SOS to get help in an emergency can be critical.
#4 Shelter building Scouts universally can build shelters in an extreme emergency to keep themselves and others out of the elements. Building a lean-to or having those skills, being able to lash together, using knots and ropes to lash together, a primitive shelter.
#5 Identifying plants. This can be critical, and this is a huge part of the scouting emphasis on Leave No Trace. We must leave nature the way it is and be able to recognize harmful plants, such as Poison Ivy. Different things are in the woods that are not good to get exposed to as far as plants, and being able to identify them is a critical skill.
#6 Using first aid with natural resources that are around you. Whether you’re in a waiting room and you need to make a splint out of magazines for a broken arm or in the wilderness where you need to make a carrying stretcher with a blanket in two poles. These are skills using your environment’s resources to help others at all times.
#7 Cooking. Yes, it is amazing how many freshmen in college live on cold pizza, and ramen.
It is really sad to see their nutrition values drop or plummet because they just don’t have the skills and ability to cook. Cooking good food at home is far less expensive than buying every single meal at a fast food restaurant, and it’s far healthier for you. In Scouting, we teach cooking outdoors, indoors, on the trail, you name it. Cooking is a huge thing and it’s enjoyable. It’s fun, it’s easy, and it’s important.
#8 What do you do when you get lost? You S.T.O.P…
[S] Stay calm. That’s the first thing. Have a seat. You’re lost, that’s the thing. Stop. This acronym is excellent, so staying calm is the first one.
[T] is for think. You want to think about where you have gone, what’s behind you? What are the landmarks around you? Think about where the nearest road is. Think about where you left your keys. You know where you left your car in the parking lot. There are a lot of things you could do when you’re when you stop and become unlost.
[O] The next one is Observe. Look around you see if you hear or see anybody. See airplanes. Do you see ski boats out on the lake? These are things you can observe. Where are the birds flying? Are they flying in One Direction or all over the place? That’s something you can do.
[P] The next one is a plan, S.T.O.P. The plan is the last one, and the plan is to make a plan. If you don’t, if you’re not found by say sundown, what are you going to do? Are you going to stay in place overnight where you are? Are you going to move to an area that’s nearby, leaving a signal that you’ve moved, how many paces in that direction? You know, that’s important. Something that scouts naturally learned early on is that when they’re lost, they STOP.
#9 Reading animal tracks. This is something that goes back to Cub Scouts. In Cub Scouts, we made plaster casts of reindeer footprints. I remember that as, a Cub Scout. And these plaster casts told a whole story. It told you by the way the footprint was left on the ground. It told you if the animal was running away from something. It told you if the animal was grazing or guarding. You know, just standing there looking around and observing. That tells you a lot about the animal’s behavior and what they do. One of the amazing things that I always thought was kind of interesting is that animals use trails. They make them and they go as a habit over and over the same ground, whether it’s feeding or moving around from nest to nest. It is something that animals do regularly and tracking them and and seeing those tracks in the ground can tell you a lot about where they are and what they’re doing. It also tells you if they’ve been disrupted. If you see nothing but old tracks, that means something happened. Either the animal became prey or you scared them away.
#10 Fires. We teach safety and in that is fires. We know how to build them. We can build a fire in the rain. We can use our Tinder and our wood correctly. So no matter if it’s pouring down rain, we could get a fire started. We can find different ways to start that fire. We can use Flint and steel. We could use a friction bow drill to create enough friction to create an ember. And that ember in a bird’s nest can start creating a flame and making a fire. So we can make fires in many different ways and we know how to put out a fire, how to use the right amount of water, how to stir the coals, how to water it again and keep doing it until the fire is cold and out completely.
These are just some skills that are out there, these 10 basic skills and I’m sure you could think of at least five more. This is all the different things that Scouting provides. And it’s amazing to me that it becomes incidental in the learning process of learning how to be a great leader that all of these things come into play, whether it be through advancement or just having a good time. These skills are amazing and as Scout leaders, we need to encourage all these skills and more. Look through the handbook. It’s got a lot of stuff in there, and you’ll quickly learn just by looking it over that the scouting values are always maintained. Our belief in the Scout Oath and the Scout Law is sacrosanct with Scouting, and it’s so important that we provide that guidance and that assistance to make great leaders and have a wonderful tomorrow. I’m so grateful to be with you and I hope to see you on the trail.
