Starting two Jamborees ago, Jere Ratcliff as Chief Scout Executive (CSE), maybe it was Roy Williams, began handing out a patch to Scouts attending the Jamboree that he met. This year Bob Mazucca continued the new tradition with his own CSE patch:

Chief Scout Executive Jambo 2010 patch - front

Handing these patches out to Scouts is a nice touch by the Chief.

Until I turned it over…:

Boy Scouts of America CSE - Made in China

Now I posted last spring about the BSA being at best being insensitive, at worst being out right dumb, by having certain patches relating to the American labor movement made in China. Somehow I’m feeling that this is worse because it indicates our leadership does not get it. The comments are the same; he’s either being insensitive at best or dumb at worst. Now I hope our Chief is too busy to be designing and ordering patches but it means he is not being served well either by the Supply Division or by his assistant (who gets his own badge). But neither did he catch it.  He could at least have had his staff take the sticker off to make it less obvious. But no… they couldn’t even do that much. What message are they sending to our Scouts? What message are they Sending to our volunteers? Has he not looked at unemployment levels by age group (it is much worse for those under 30)?

The number I am hearing is that the Scouts need to raise $175 million to build the new jamboree site, more on that in another blog. How much are they asking for from China? Why should any American employee support Scouting? This patch is bad for our brand. It is bad for our leadership. Same conclusion as before – some heads must roll.

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There does not seem to be as many spoofs this year. One was some Marvel characters which confused some of the Scouts because of the Theodore Roosevelt Council set they heard about. Here are a couple I saw come through Collections MB.

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Marin Council did Star Wars again (they were the ones behind a Yoda set a few jamborees ago that were the rage of the Jamboree). They have three troops that each have a JSP and then each patrol has their own patrol medallion (a total of 12). Below is a picture of six of them. Some are confusing these as their JSPs but their JSP is a standard shape and is also a dye-sub patch.

These patches were priced at $200 for the 12 before the Jambo and $250 per set after. I don’t have a production quantity yet.

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Several councils, Central Florida has a whole set, put small electronics on the back of the patches. Below is one from Burlington County Council, NJ with a flashing eye (see patch centers as the new trend):

Central Florida added music generators.

Conquistador has JCPs with UFO’s and flashing lights. It will be interesting going through air port security for some.

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The hot air balloonists were present again. They were starting out Friday morning at the end of the exhibitor parking area (which did not make them very popular with exhibitors as it cut down the parking field). Also these guys were later selling their patches at a card table on Thomas Road. Given the selling prohibitions of years past this was pretty bold. Still, a nice site to see.

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Yes there were patches present at the Jamboree (and trading is one of the most popular activities, again…)

Besides sets the ‘trend’ this year are centers for the patches. Here’s one of Cascade Pacific’s:

Cascade Pacific red set.

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With the weather warnings and the heat warnings the announcement system has become a running joke. Its loud and one can hear it throughout the camp but you can’t understand a word they say after ‘Attention, attention…” Basically after an announcement we all look around at each other wondering what did they just say? Then we take a guess and hope we’re right (a weather rock would be just as useful for those who remember these from summer camps.)

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Missed a couple of days here. First was the monsoon that came through Thursday afternoon. We all became tent poles holding up the booth tops dumping out the water. Then it was picking up all of the soaked items. The sand drained most of the water away but everyone was walking around with wet clothes for the rest of the day.

On Friday we were swamped at the merit badge booth. We helped over 188 Scouts to complete and earn the merit badge. Heat broke so we only had a few hours of black flag, i.e., over 90 on the heat index.

Still haven’t seen much of the Jamboree and probably won’t. We’re one of the most popular booths at the Jamboree. Hats off to Paul Orgeron (Piedmont, CA), Eva Shoemaker, Gumby , Jim Erickson, Jef Heckinger, Harry Hinrichsen, Larry Trook and many more that I am missing (I got ‘delegated’ to be in charge today.)

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Lots of talk about the WV site won’t be ready for the 2013 Jamboree and thus the potential to be back at A. P. Hill. Part of the issues with WV – infrastructure – no utilities, no flat spaces, limited road access. Hmmmm…

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