My hat goes off to anyone willing to take time out of his schedule (including workdays) to go down, deep in the heart of Texas in June, to help play nursemaid to some 50-odd high school ROTC cadets who want to learn to orienteer.

That's exactly what Spike is doing these days! He's down at a Boy Scout camp near Fort Worth, sweating it out in the sun, picking up ticks and chiggers, spending sleepless nights in a steamy hot cabin on a lumpy bunkbed, swatting at mosquitos, eating sloppy joes, Kraft Singles, and lime Koolaid for lunch, overcooked spaghetti and meatballs for dinner...

The camp has a single payphone. Spike called Mary up last night (using his alloted phonecall) to report on the state of things. Spike dictated his description of a typical day in camp to Mary:

Sid Richardson Boy Scout Camp is a grouping of 10 squalid and ramshackled cabins arranged around a field, and surrounded by concertina wire. Not a hint of shade can be found outside of the dingy cabins, whose soul source of illumination is an opened door or the bare 35-Watt bulb that hangs on a wire from the ceiling. Each cabin has 8 bunkbeds, and each is packed (apparently that's why the camp was limited to 80 entrants). The badly-stained mattresses stink of urine, and attract flies. The wood floor sags badly underfoot, and is littered with rat droppings. The air inside brings me close to gagging each time I enter.

I got a very ominous feeling the first time I saw our cabins, and then when we got our heads shaved, I knew I was in very deep trouble. JROTC was no pleasure camp!

We rise each morning to the sound of a bugle. Then Major V takes over... 20 laps around the perimeter of the camp followed by a series of pushups and situps on the dirt outside. Those campers assigned to breakfast duty, who had been up for an hour at this point already, began to dish out the food: sausage links, scrambled eggs, and cornbread. We had to get the food down in 5 minutes.

Morning orienteering was a "compass exercise". My job was to set a compass course in which the campers followed bearings and pacecounted in certain directions which eventually lead them to the "control", which was an unmarked place in the field. Those who failed to come within a few meters of the control were docked points (which led them to such unpleasant consequences as being assigned "latrine duty" the following day). I'm bored out of my mind, but I can't imagine what the kids are going through!

After the compass exercise and a bit more yelling and screaming from the Major, it was time for a well-deserved 10-minute lunch break. We had PB&J sandwiches, apples, and powdered milk for lunch today. The apples were a real treat - the first fresh fruit or vegetables we've had at camp!

After lunch we split up into groups. I took one group of the experienced campers and planned to talk to them about strategies for orienteering and training... Unfortunately most of the time was given over to the Major lecturing them on their "role in the new war on terrorism" and how "when" they found themselves in the Arabian Desert, they'd need to follow compass bearings because that's all they'd have to "go by". A few of the littlest campers began to cry, which earned them a swift and ruthless "dressing down".

Around the middle of the afternoon, the sun was beaming down mercilessly on the kids. It was time for their long run through the Texas woods! The Major had set up a 17 kilometer course in the woods outside the perimeter. The controls (about half of which I found because they had been placed within a couple hundred meters of the centers of the circles) were gallon milk jugs painted red on 2 sides. The map was a photocopy of the USGS 1:24,000 map, and not a very good copy at that! Worse still was the fact that we had no mapcases, and within five minutes of starting our maps were little more than sweaty clumps of pulp.

My rental car was parked outside of the perimeter, and looked inviting. If the Major hadn't confiscated my keys, I'd have been outta there!

About sundown all of the campers had returned, some appearing halfway to death. Canned peas and chicken fried steaks aren't exactly a good way to recover from a run, but it was good to get something for dinner at last!

After dinner, all campers sat around a fire while the Major told us stories about "Nam" and how he used to sneak up behind the VC and slit their throats or burn down villages with his flamethrower. It was all quite gory and a bit much for bedtime stories. I was glad to get back to my cabin and the incessant high-pitched whine of "my" mosquitos. I can't believe I forgot to bring my earplugs!

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), June 04, 2002

Answers

I got back from TJOC yesterday. I had a great time. It was a lot of fun (I'll be posting more about TJOC on my page at http://okansas.blogspot.com).

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), June 06, 2002.