I have been an Assistant Scoutmaster for nearly a decade with this
infamous and vaguely distressing inner-city boy scout troop.
I can put a positive spin on the group, because it has plenty of genuine strengths. The scout leaders are hardworking, responsible, and follow the BSA guidelines, including the ones which make no sense whatsoever. We've been all over the map; in the last decade Troop 4 has set foot in Arkansas, Hawaii, Missisippi, California, New Mexico, Louisiana, and various parts of Texas. Scouts in Troop 4 get free food, free camping gear, free clothing and handbooks, free road trips... we do not ask any of the scouts to pay dues, we don't insist on wearing standard scout uniforms - T-shirts and jeans are permitted - and we have an outstanding list of scouts in the last few years, who have reached the rank of Eagle Scout, and many of them have stayed with the troop as leaders after they turned 18, because they like the road trips, campouts, team games, parties, and various special occasions.
I also acknowledge that campouts and meetings can be unpleasant sometimes in Troop 4, due both to uncontrollable natural forces or inexperience, incompetence, and blatant misbehavior of Troop 4 scouts. I remember burnt food, misuse of tools, loud yelling for no
reason, random acts of stupidity, insect bites, injuries, objects getting hit with axes, torrential rain, scalding summer heat, spiders, scorpions, fires, theft, broken cameras, broken windows, tent shortages, hideous stenches, blisters, cuts, wasp stings, splinters, blood, sweat, tears, desperation and exhaustion, and the look of panic in the eyes of the leaders who keep trying to keep things under control when something goes wrong at a scout event.
So I'll admit that being in Troop 4 can be difficult. Scouting tests our mental, emotional, and physical limits. Obviously, you'll get more out of this program the longer you stick with it, but if you stay in Troop 4 long enough? We've been in remote wilderness, in snow and desert and swamps, in canyons and on beaches. We've hiked up mountains and hiked 20-mile routes in 102-degree heat. We develop leadership skills, emergency preparedness and survival skills, first aid... we can tell you how to navigate by the sky, how to build a shelter, collect rainwater, how to fish, use a knife safely, how to start a fire without a lighter or match. We've built physical strength, and prepared for hurricanes, fires, and disaster scenarios. Stay long enough and you can learn CPR, bandaging, knots, crafts, swimming techniques, cooking, and selected topics chosen from a long list of merit badges. And yes, Troop 4 has won local contests for our accuracy with rifles and shotguns... and thoroughly failed to identify the seemingly obvious body parts of a horse. (One boy confused 'hoof' with 'neck'... it was embarassing!)
I also look back at Troop 4 as a comedic goldmine. Nowhere else have
I found so many things that are so crazy and thus so easy to spoof.
Troop 4, you see, is no mere boy scout troop. It's the oldest
continuously running scout troop in the Houston, Texas area,
and - to my knowledge - the only scout troop to have become a
multimedia franchise. Other scout troops may have recorded
videos, sure, but how many have deployed a FundLaser?
How many troops can boast this many Eagle Scouts and yet also so many unmotivated dropouts who show up but fail to reach Basic Scout
after a year? Only a troop as special as Troop 4 could have someone there for five months without being able to register them or figure
out their name... that's Troop 4. Pathetic, yes, but pathetic with a
lot of awesomeness mixed in there somewhere.
So take a look around; we've redesigned this website, it's back,
and it's set to expand - rapidly - complete with videos, comics,
and hopefully some video games.
If, for some insane reason, you still want to visit boy scout Troop 4 after browsing this not-approved-by-the-BSA website, we tend to meet on Mondays at 7:00 PM, at Redeemer Lutheran (5700 Lawndale, Houston, TX, 77023). I say 'tend to meet' because some meetings get cancelled - you can't guarantee how many people will show up to a given meeting. Usually it's somewhere between 'none' and 'fifty'.
