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caption:
Camporee Smoke
Troop 21 Scouts, left to right: Jared Jordan, Raihden Albino and Nathan Olson started a fire without using matches when the Putnam Boy Scout troop attended the 2018 Nipmuck District Fall Wilderness Survival Camporee. Photo by John D. Ryan.
Scouts learn
survival skills
PUTNAM — “Don’t get yourself into a survival situation, if you can avoid it.”
That’s the first thing that members of Putnam’s Boy Scout Troop 21 were taught during the recent 2018 Nipmuck District Fall Wilderness Survival Camporee.
The gathering of Scouts from throughout northeastern Connecticut was designed to teach outdoor survival skills, such as using a map and compass, starting fires without using matches, building a survival shelter, wilderness first aid, finding wild, edible plants and sending emergency distress signals.
“Scouting events like this teach practical skills that build self-reliance and self-confidence,” said Troop 21 Scoutmaster Peter Lombardo.
“We also followed the standard Scouting practice of having our Scouts work together to learn the skills being taught, as well as setting up their tents together and each taking turns cooking for the troop. If a young man can work with and cook for a group of people out in the woods, then they’ll be far more capable and self-confident when they get home.”
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Now that the fall camporee is over, Troop 21 is preparing for next month’s wilderness camping trip, another hike, a Providence Bruins game, a winter camping trip, a food drive for local needy people, a weekend at an archery range, and finishing the troop’s annual program next June with its annual fishing trip.
Boy Scout Troop 21 has been chartered to, and meeting at, St. Mary Church of the Visitation on Providence Street since its founding in 1995. Although Troop 21 is chartered by St. Mary’s, Scouts do not have to be Catholic or be members of the church. “We’re open to any boy 11 to 17,” Lombardo said. “Also, boys with special needs are welcome and Troop 21 does not turn away any boy for financial reasons. “
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