“We Were Prepared.” The Wisdom of Boy Scouts
Four boys died when a tornado ripped through their camp in western Iowa this week. It was a terrible loss. But it was also an example of how reasonable acts of preparation can save lives.
The Boy Scouts take great pride in being prepared. It isn’t a sign of weakness or neurosis--the way preparedness is viewed in much of adult land. It is a sign of strength. And here is what it looks like:
On Tuesday, the Scouts held an emergency preparedness drill. On Wednesday, the storm rolled in. When a Scout leader spotted a funnel cloud churning toward the camp, he flipped on a siren, and the boys began to run for shelter. Unfortunately, as is often the case with tornadoes, they only had a few seconds of warning, and many boys only had time to run under picnic tables before the tornado hit.
Afterwards, the boys and men who were not hurt--and even some who were--immediately took action. They wrapped their shirts around wounds and applied gauze and ran for help.
“If it had to happen, it was good that it happened at a Boy Scouts camp,” one boy named Ethan later told NBC. “We were prepared. We knew that we had to place tourniquets on wounds that were bleeding too much. We had first Aid kits. We had everything. We knew about this. We knew how to do it. If it had happened anywhere else, there wouldn’t be that many people who knew.”
Eugene A. Rugala said on June 14, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Dear Ms. Ripley, as a retired FBI agent and behavioral “profiler”, (and someone who has worked with Gavin DeBecker) your book is an excellent read and is right on in the comments that you make, that you, the average citizen is the frst line of defense when dealing with disaster. First responders will usually not get there in time to prevent an incident, but are more in the response mode.
I work much in the area of workplace and school violence, and while much has been written regarding possible prevention of mass shootings and response after the fact, very little has been done regarding what you should do if caught up in an event. I refer you to a 20 minute dvd which I am a talking head on which deals with this issue. You can view it at www. shotsfireddvd.com/preview, username: corporate, password: shotsfired. It emphasizes many of the points you make in your book, our goal was to make the individual mindful not fearful. Many corporations and over 300 universities are using it already as part of their overall violence prevention program. The emphasis is on employees or students becoming empowered and having a stake in their own safety and security. Would be interested in any feedback. Thanks for your contribution to this ever evolving field of the “survival mindset”.
Gene Rugala
Jeanne Rezabeck said on August 11, 2008 at 3:58 am
Many years ago, my husband was a Boy Scout and they were camping at the Fox River. The leadership of the Scouts ensured the boys knew what to do in the event of a tornado. Those lessons proved to be worthwhile teaching. Early morning, the sun was just rising, the sirens went off. As instructed, the boys headed for the river bank, got to the lowest spot before hitting the water. The pressure from the tornado began pulling my husband into the water. He was grabbing on to his fellow boy scout and was slowly being sucked into the water. Jeff had the boy’s pants around his ankles when the pressure of the storm let up.
Fortunately, no one was killed, some injuries, but it could have been a lot worse with no formal instruction.
Jeanne Rezabeck
Donna Beales, MLIS said on September 10, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I was a Girl Scout, and “Be Prepared” is probably in my genetic code by now because it was so pounded into us.
Now that I’m a grown-up, I’m a member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) in my area. CERT is about training civilians to become responders during a disaster.
We need to lobby for more CERT funding, and adults need to sign up to be trained.
More info at: http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/
Dave said on October 18, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Thanks God they were prepared as they could be. It’s very sad they four of them were taken but as the article states, it would have been a lot worse if it would have happened to a different group of unprepared people.
Dave
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After read this post I can remember my first scout camp. That was three days camp. Lots of fun I do over there.
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oh man, i have nightmares about being put into that kid of situation - having to know what to do and making life and death decisions. In high school, i was a life guard - i guess the reality of what could really happen didnt really “sink in”. now, i would never do that, i guess because i dont want to make that life/death decision… Although, just to be clear, if i was the only person around and someone was drowning - there would be much decision to make - you gotta just do it.
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Wound First Aid said on July 16, 2009 at 4:04 am
More scouts want to go to Philmont than there are slots available. Because of this, they have a lottery that draws the names of crews to attend. Each year a certain number of slots are provided for troops in the St. Louis Council, and our troop was able to secure a spot with the Council contingent.
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Buy Boztox said on May 30, 2010 at 4:11 pm
A terrible loss, although it may have been worse had it not involved boy scouts as those saved by their skills don’t show up in the stat.