LTC Thornton is an Eagle Scout and has taken the Eagle Charge seriously.

“The final responsibility of an Eagle Scout is service. The Eagle Scout extends a helping hand to those who still toil up Scouting’s trail, just as others helped him in his climb to the Eagle. The performance of the daily Good Turn takes on a new meaning when he enters a more adult life continuing service to others. The Eagle stands as protector of the weak and helpless. He aids and comforts the unfortunate and the oppressed. He upholds the rights of others while defending his own. He will always ‘Be Prepared’ to put forth his best”.

His best is our country’s best and is the standard of excellence that has been represented by all those in Iraq rescuing the Scouting program from its lost way. In 2004, Green Zone service personnel tried to give Iraqi children a refuge from people who wanted to turn children into soldiers. That refuge was Scouting. The idea spread to Camp Victory and was waiting when LTC Thornton arrived on 23 May, 2009. It didn’t take long for him to find a notice asking for volunteers and he became a regular at the Tuesday planning meetings along with 20 to 30 others.

I became aware of Lieutenant-Colonel Thornton from the army’s program that recognizes excellent service, called Operation Tribute to Freedom. An article featured the LTC and described the excellent work he was doing in Iraq. He felt compelled during his interview to interject a few words about the Scouting movement in Iraq. I was allowed the opportunity to interview him when he rotated back to the United States and he affirmed the words in the article stating that rebuilding Scouting in Iraq is one of the most important things he did while there.

“It’s important that the children see the other side of the soldiers,” he said, “so they’re not scared”.

In fact, if you go to the web site for the Victory Base Council you can see many pictures of children interacting with the soldiers and wearing huge smiles.  Smiles are universal, but language isn’t so LTC Thornton said they rely on four to ten linguists to communicate with the kids. He impressed me with the information that one of the linguists working with the Scouts was an Iraqi national who has since achieved American citizenship and continues to work with the boys and girls to advance the Scouting program.

Lieutenant-Colonel Thornton’s world-wide travels – he has visited 22 countries and experienced their variety of cultures – allowed him to accept the differences he found in Baghdad, but he noted similarities in their Scouting program, too.

“Religion is a big part of the culture and meetings open with a prayer”. He also discussed how leadership development is a basic part of the skills passed on to the Iraqi children. The relationship between patriotic citizens and their government is another similar aspect of the program.

LTC Thornton described the close relationship between the coalition personnel and the Scouting program. The Iraqi Special Operations forces help to develop the activities and supplies for the kids and Scouting.  They’ve supplied several containers for storage, space for meetings and the Ministry of Education has appointed a general to help promote the program in Iraq. It’s an incredible reversal for the children. Where they had previously been indoctrinated to fight for their dictator they currently are assisted by the military to develop into productive, well-balanced citizens through fun, safe activities.

These activities are for both boys and girls. I was a little hesitant to ask about this aspect of the program because I was afraid it might reveal a gender bias in the program, but the Lieutenant-Colonel said that there are activities that they both engage in and love. They all appreciate the arts and crafts, camp-outs and community service projects like painting over graffiti, but they spar in intellectual enterprises, too.

“Chess is very popular with them”, he said. Looking at the LTC’s calendar Tae Kwon Do exercises must be popular, too.

The entire program is very popular with fifty to one hundred kids who show up to the Saturday troop meetings. It’s no wonder the army would want to highlight an individual like Lieutenant-Colonel Thornton. The impact on the future of these children cannot be overstated. They are taught to love their country, both in the nature-oriented and patriotic ways; they see the soldiers in their government as partners in their upbringing, not authoritarian military to be feared; and they are learning to be the good leaders of the other young citizens who may not have the ability to participate in the Scouting program. He has already affected the life of one very important individual, his son holds the rank of Life Scout, and now he has helped to design a program that will affect the lives of scores of Iraqis on a weekly basis.

Lieutenant-Colonel Thornton is back in the United States now, but doesn’t intend to forget about the kids in Iraq. He said there is work that still needs to be done.

“One of the next things is to get uniforms for them over there”, he said. Another opportunity is to get the parents of the kids more engaged in the program. No one has any experience in this new brand of Scouting and trying to get the dads and moms actively involved while the entire country tries to completely rebuild itself is as difficult as it sounds. Although Scouters in the U.S. can’t substitute for parents in Iraq they have been lending a hand by sending supplies to the Scouts there. Perhaps there are a few who want to help get uniforms together for the kids and their leaders. It would not surprise me if a project like that was to find support from units all over America.

Lieutenant-Colonel Otha Thornton is getting ready for his retirement from the military and returning home to Georgia. From there he should be allowed a good measure of pride for being one of the hundreds of military men and women who have acted as the Daniel Beards, Lord Baden-Powells, and Ernest Thompson Setons for the Iraqi Scouting movement. As it spreads, the future political, business, and community leaders will count their time in Scouting to be formative in their fortunes. The legacy of the hard work done by personnel like Otha Thornton will become realized in the peace and prosperity of Iraq’s future.

PostScript: Personnel in the Baghdad area who wish to become involved in the Scouting movement at Camp Victory can learn more at their website at this link: http://www.victorybasecouncil.org/node/9

Others who wish to contribute to the excellent work being done can learn more at this link: http://www.victorybasecouncil.org/helpout

Thank you!

 P.P.S.: Thanks to Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.com who can increase my traffic more with 4 words than I can with 1400. http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/99441/

Update: Another cool story featuring efforts with the Scouts in Iraq:

Scouts honor Iraqi Firefighters

Iraqi Boy Scouts Tour Weather Station at Victory Base

In 2019, the 24th World Scout Jamboree will be held at The Summit in West Virginia – BSA’s new high adventure base. This was announced by Tico Perez recently, not just that it was being worked on, but that it would happen. Of course, things can change.

Since 2019 is nine years away current Bear, Wolf, and Tiger Cubs are the most probable participants. It’s not too early to have a Scoutmaster talk about this global event at one of your year-end Pack meetings and have scouts start saving their nickels and quarters. It’s a great far-distant goal that will creep closer while keeping young scouts motivated to progress. A tiger den that makes a pact to attend the World Jambo together nine years from now – wouldn’t that be cool?

It most certainly would! My youngest son is a Wolf right now. The economy has slaughtered my funds this past year, but we’re talking about the far future when everything will be bright, sunny, and happy. I’m starting the penny fund now.

Okay, first off it seems likely that this could have happened. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) did state on its web site that they had sent a delegation of 6 to attend the UN Commission on the Status of Women and that they “were supported” by 10 Girl Scouts from Connecticut and Vermont (http://www.wagggsworld.org/en/CSW54). They also posted a written statement to the commission which says that because “27 percent of girls 15-19 in sub-Saharan Africa are married and 28 percent give birth by age 18″ they call on the international community and national governments to ensure that girls’ and young women’s health issues and concerns are addressed by “providing girls and young women with appropriate education, information, skills and access to health services and counselling to enable informed and responsible health choices, including providing non-formal education programmes for the social, personal and sexual development of girls and young women” (WAGGGSwrittenstatementfordistribution).

Since the International Planned Parenthood Federation shares this educational goal it does not seem out of line that they would be present and handing out literature including the brochure in question (HappyHealthyHot). It was published in England, but since the event discussed was at the UN, I’m sure it could easily have been there.

The real crux of the matter is who was in attendance and who was the intended audience of this panel? The C-Fam story makes it sound like all the adults were ushered out of the room and the panel started handing out sex guides to young girls. It’s more likely that only certain attendees were allowed into the panel discussion and that C-Fam’s whistle blower was a bystander without credentials to attend. So while it is possible that a small number of Girl Scouts may have been there (with their parents’ permission), this would not reflect a position by the GSUSA advocating for sexually explicit education during Girl Scout events. Girl Guides in the UK might be another story altogether.

For that matter, the IPPF brochure carefully avoids specifying an age for those it seeks to educate. They only say young people. There is plenty of stuff for people to be uncomfortable about or even strongly disagree with, but advocating sex for minors can’t really be one of them. I certainly don’t think this sort of information should be given to a Girl Scout. I really don’t want it to be part of our program as I said a couple years ago when WAGGGS started pushing for sex ed in Girl Scouts.

I think the C-Fam story is written to scare American moms and dads into thinking the GSUSA is trying to import that type of program here and I just don’t see justification for that implication. In any event I wrote to all the parties concerned to try to find out what the real deal is. Let’s find out if they write back.

Update: Color me impressed. I’ve mostly given up on people confirming stuff for stories so, unjournalistically (and I’m no journalist), I ask for information, but just write my blog post anyway because I rarely get a response. However, the President of Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, Austin Ruse, responded to my e-mail request for further information. His gave me every bit of information I asked for and I am grateful to him for that.

He confirmed that they only had one source for their story and revealed a talking-points type of response from an anonymous person somewhere in the Girl Scouts organization with an addendum for one particular council in Texas.

Earlier this month, Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) was honored to attend and participate in the 54th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations, where girls were encouraged to take action on global issues concerning women and girls. Our participation in that conference was recently the subject of numerous internet stories and blogs that are factually inaccurate and troubling. Here are the facts of that meeting:
·         The Girls Only Workshop was jointly hosted by Girl Scouts of the USA, UNICEF’s Working Group on Girls, Girls Learn International and The Grail. The meeting was only open to the girls and participating sponsors.
·         Only seven adults were in the room at the time of the meeting, each representing one of the sponsors of the event. No one from Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute was in the room to report on the event.
·         30 – 35 girls from across the world participated in this event. All teenagers.
·         The girls received a copy of the only document they were working on titled (“The Girls’ Statement”). No other documents were given to the girls as part of this event.
·         The room in question was also used to host other events over the course of the multi-day conference. Prior to our girls entering the room, we did not “sanitize’ the room to ensure that no trash or other items were left behind. We did request that those not associated with the sponsors to leave the room prior to our session.   
·         The Girl Scouts of the USA was not contacted by Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) regarding its initial story to discuss the facts of this event. Had they applied these basic journalistic standards, perhaps the true details of this event would have been reported.Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas (GSSWT) does not have an affiliation with Planned Parenthood.  Girl Scout policy states that any sensitive issues addressed with girls (including health and sex education) require parental permission.  However, please consider that Bexar County has among the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the nation, and for girls in some communities, it would be appropriate for them to receive sex education from a factual perspective in Girl Scouts.  To reiterate, any sensitive issues addressed with girls must be permitted through written consent by a girl’s parent or guardian.  

The Girl Scout organization does not take a position on family planning.  Our membership is a cross-section of America with regard to opinions on religious and social issues and practices. We believe these matters are best decided by girls and their families.

I have seen talking-point types of responses from Girl Scouts before and this seems legitimate, although its anonymous nature makes it somewhat questionable. The most troubling part of the response is “it would be appropriate for them to receive sex education from a factual perspective in Girl Scouts”. I don’t think I’ve seen advocacy of sex ed in American Girl Scouts before this. Even if it is a personal opinion and not a representative statement from the GSUSA it would indicate a mind-set within the organization I haven’t seen before and makes me worry that the WAGGGS position may become part of the GSUSA policy. I hope not.

The fourth bi-annual Namibian Scout Jamboree took place between the 26th and 30th of August, 2009 at the Cheetah Conservation Fund outside of Otjiwarongo. For four days, the Jamboree brought together 117 young men and women from 12 to 18 years of age to hike, learn survival and life skills, meet new friends, and share information between scout groups in the country. The programming was led by 32 scout leaders and supplemented by CCF staff. Reinwaldt and Vera Dorgeloh handled logistics for the Jamboree. Most scouts came from the north, and the rest came mostly from Tsumeb and Windhoek.

During the four days, the scouts hiked 30 kilometers total between three base camps within the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Waterberg Conservancy farms. At three base camps, the scouts learned various skills including pioneering techniques, how to tie knots, how to build viewing towers, and about health and hygiene including first aid and HIV/Aids. The activities also allowed the scouts to participate in sports and games. As part of the lesson on survival skills, scouts also learned about mapping and compass reading, which they put into use during their daily hikes between base camps. At the CCF Centre, the scouts toured the education centre and learned about CCF research and participated in programmes about conservation and field research. The scouts watched demonstrations involving radio tracking and learned about human, wildlife, predators, and livestock interactions, and strategies for preventing conflict with predators.

The Camp Director of Namibia, Ellis Muller, led the jamboree. Mr. Muller has been in Scouts and worked as a Scout (Rover) leader for the past 14 years, and this is his first jamboree. Mr. Muller is an optical technician by profession, but as with all scout leaders, he volunteers his time and energy in helping prepare young people for successful futures.

“It has been a great success, and CCF has been wonderful. Everyone appreciates all of the opportunities that have been provided to the Scouts by CCF,” said Mr. Muller.

The Cheetah Conservation Fund is an organization dedicated to saving the cheetah and its environment through research, education, and conservation. CCF staff thoroughly enjoyed hosting the visit for the scouts. “From our standpoint, it has been wonderful to see our future leaders have an opportunity to learn and develop life skills these past few days. Because this program is not based in schools, the volunteerism involved on the part of the leaders is very important. The exposure these scouts get to nature is also significant. Speaking as a past scout, a strong relationship with nature helps a person build character,” said CCF Founder and Executive Director Dr. Laurie Marker.

I’d say the Disney Channel better watch out because these campers are real Cheetah Girls (and boys).

Praising the dedication of the scouts during the October 2005 earthquake and in the relief and rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons, Zardari asked them to “work together for unity, peace and solidarity”. He said scouting was one of the most organised movements in the world and called upon the youth to organise themselves to achieve greater heights. Zardari said the scouts had a duty towards God, their fellow human beings regardless of caste and creed, and to themselves, adding, “With this post you are duty bound to illuminate the path of peace as your duty to fellow humans.”
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Zardari advised the scouts to arm themselves with self-confidence and positive thinking. “Eliminate pessimism and prejudice from your thoughts and never be deterred by setbacks, slips and falls in life,” he told the scouts. “We all climb, we all slip,” Zardari said, adding, “Your station in life will be determined not by whether you slipped but by what you did when you slipped while climbing.” Later, Zardari, also the chief scout of Pakistan, distributed prizes among the students.Earlier, Pakistan Boy Scouts Association (PBSA) National Secretary Col Hashmat Abbas highlighted the aims and objectives of the PBSA and the achievements of the college.

I hadn’t seen an update over at the Iraq Boy Scouts website for Victory Base Council for awhile so I sent over a note asking if things hadn’t died down. Lieutenant Commander Eric Fretz, the energy behind the original volunteers’ organization, says that our soldiers overseas are still volunteering to help the kids and their parents keep the Boy Scouts in Iraq going strong. He also sent a copy of the latest newsletter that hasn’t even been posted to the council website yet.

Apparently, the troop meetings are on Saturdays and the kids have been learning taekwondo and making volcanos. Cool! Click on this link to pull up the PDF of the July 18th Victory Base council newsletter (or right-click to save it).

It’s really great to see so much volunteer work by our service personnel. As the website reminds us, these guys and gals are helping the kids on top of their full schedules as members of the armed forces deployed in Iraq. The newsletter also says that the kids are looking forward to a fishing trip and community clean-up. Have fun and make the world a better place!

More than 1,000 Scouts from 24 provinces in Indonesia participated in the cultural camp organized by Gerakan Pramuka (GP) national headquarters with the Indonesian Culture and Tourism Department from 21st to 25th June 2009 at the Pancer Door, a beach resort in Pacitan, east of Java.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik opened the camp, accompanied by Vice Governor of East Java Province, Syaifullah Yusuf and GP Chief Commissioner, Azrul Azwar.

In their remarks, both the minister and the chief commissioner shared the views that at the camp, Scouts do not only learn more about the Indonesian culture but also have the opportunity to meet other people from other provinces and that Scouting events always create an atmosphere of peace and friendship.

Also on the occasion, the Minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GP, giving Scouts an opportunities to know more about their own arts and culture by becoming tour guides to their families and friends.

– Berthold Sinaulan
APR Honorary Correspondent/Gerakan Pramuka, Indonesia

Over 3,000 participants participated in a vibrant Opening Ceremony, with brass bands, a few short speeches, noteably from the Camp Chief, the Chief Scout of Iceland and the representatives of the European Scout Committee and Europe Committee WAGGGS and, of course, the Roverway song!. The Opening was attended by the Icelandic Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Katrin Jakobsdottir who delivered an inspiring address to all the young people.

The weather, over 20°C – almost a record for July in Reykjavik, was excellent and helped setting an excellent mood for the start of Roverway 2009. Before heading to the buses the participants formed an arrow on the ground – one of the important symbols in the Roverway logo!

After the ceremony all the Tribes took to the buses and headed for their journey where we hope they will establish friendships and experience the Icelandic nature and culture.

You can follow one of the routes on the rovernet.eu blog written by Caz Shields.
The International Service Team (IST) headed to the Ulfljotsvatn Scout Centre, to prepare Althingi the collective part of Roverway 2009, which will start next Friday.

The 2009 Pan American Jamboree will take place from December 26, 2009 to January 3 2010. It will be held in the city of Toluca, capital of Mexico.

Here is a brief description of the theme and what the Jamboree is going to be about:

The name of this 13 Pan Jamboree is “The Adventure of the Fifth Element”, the setting is a place where the weather gods have been made to teach this man the care of ecological balance. Participants formed tribes regardless of the origin of each and will be directed by the gods. During 8 days living the essence of each element to learn the virtues of each, passing tests and challenges that will give you the final preparation for making the Fifth Element reborn.

Hmmm. That just sounds weird. I guess it’s a reference to the Native American (is it proper to use Native American when talking about another part of North America?) beliefs in gods of nature. The other quote that is not an obvious Babel Fish translation sounds less esoteric.

We will be coordinating a national contingent to the 13th Panamerican Scout Jamboree in December 2009, in Toluca, capital city of the state of Mexico. The event is a wonderful opportunity to travel and learn about Mexico in an atmosphere of exploration and adventure and strengthen the Scout brotherhood. The motto of this great event is “Explore our territory, discover your spirit”. More than 8,000 Scouts from around the American continent are expected to attend the nine-day event. Bari Saunders, member of the International Committee, has agreed to serve as the BSA’s contingent leader. Bari and Esther Scoggins, of the BSA International Department, will be contacting those Scouters that have indicated an interest in attending this event. Do you have someone from your council interested in attending? Please contact Esther Scoggins at esther.scoggins@scouting.org.

Guess you’d better get on the horn to Esther if you want to go and plan on selling mucho maize de popping.

Approximately 350 people attended Saturday’s reunion of Armenian Scouts and their families in Pasadena Saturday evening.
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This particular scouting group celebrating 40 years was founded by Shahen Vartanian in October of 1968 in Tehran at a local AGBU elementary school called Nevart Gulbenkian.
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The group was headed by Jemma Ghazarian who is now the honorary head of the group in Tehran.
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In April 1997, the Armenian National Scout Movement was accepted into WOSM, becoming the 144th member. There are approximately 20,000 Armenians in the San Gabriel Valley and Glendale’s Armenian population has surged by 65 percent since 1990, with more than one in four of Glendale’s residents now claiming Armenian descent Glendale, which has the highest concentration of Armenians outside Armenia, is now home to over 52,000, up from 31,402 in 1990.

The story discusses the history within Iran and France of these Scouters who simply wanted to be part of the world-wide fraternity of Scouting. Once again, America has proven to be the place where anyone from anywhere in the world can come to celebrate their heritage and Scouting all at the same time.