BSA National Jamboree a Huge Success

The fireworks show was the largest ever held on a US military base.

The Centennial National Jamboree held at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia was a huge success. There were many highlights and those who attended will be talking about it for a long time to come.

At every Jamboree, the evening Arena Show is always a huge event and this year was no different. If you missed it, you can view it in it's entirety here. It is the entire show, from 5:30 PM till the end. If you cannot watch the entire thing, you owe it to yourself to watch the speech given by Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs. The control bar has several pre-identified parts of the show. Near the center if you pause over one of the markers it will say Mike Rowe's speech, click that, takes 15-20 minutes.

If you missed this Jamboree it is time to start planning for the 2013 Jamboree at the BSA's newest high adventure site, the Bechtel Summit! Instead of saying good bye to all of the new friends at A.P. Hill as we left, we said, "See you at the Summit!"

If you took pictures, and want them to go into the Troop library, make a CD and get it to ASM Tim Shannon. These will become part of the Eagle DVD collection. If you do it soon enough, they will be included in the upcoming Eagle COH. Also, select 5-10 of your best photos for inclusion in a soon to be added web page dedicated to Troop 204's participation in this Jamboree.

One Step Closer

Venture Crew 204 moved one step closer to reality July 15th. The organizing committee handed over their duties to the Crew Advisor and Crew Committee Chair. For more information go to http://www.crew.204bsa.com .

Welcome to Troop 204!

The goal of the Troop 204 Website is to provide a central location for ALL information relating to Troop 204. All forms, event listings and dates, trip info, guidelines, photos and contact information will be posted here and updated as regularly as is humanly possible. We ask that you please bookmark this main page and check back often. Updates & notices will be posted here as soon as we get them

The Troop took thirty Scouts to Summer Camp this year. All had a great time. As we left camp we posed in front of our Troop 204 sign at the entrance to Camp Comer.

Merit Badge Tip:

If you want to meet with a Merit Badge counselor at a Tuesday night Scout Meeting, do not just walk up to the counselor during the meeting. Meetings are Troop time and your Patrol probably needs your focus. Instead plan ahead and possibly arrange to meet the counselor before pre-opening. You can contact your Merit Badge Counselor in advance by phone, email, or seeing him/her at a prior Scouting activity. If your counselor is at the Troop meeting, that is a good time to arrange for other Merit Badge activities such as getting together to launch a rocket for Space Exploration Merit Badge.

Our Newest Eagles!

Elijah A. and Scott D. are Troop 204's newest Eagle Scouts with a date in rank of 06/17/2010. Congratulations guys!

Scouting Knowledge Question: With the number of Merit Badges Scott has, how many Palms will he be eligible for? You will have to ask him how many Merit Badges he has but it is over fifty.

Venturing Crew 204 is formed. If you are interested you can follow along on the new Crew website, http://crew.204bsa.com. From there you can easily find us on Facebook. If you are interested, contact ASM Mike French.

Eagle Court of Honor

Scoutmaster Ted Vinson completes the Charge. Peter's date of rank, is March.

The Spartan Patrol has just created their website. That makes the lack of websites for the Jedi, Thundercats and Rangers glaringly obvious. In reviewing the only other existing patrol website, Greenbar, we see that they have just returned from Cloudland Canyons. Well, better late than never. The rest of us have been back since October!

Ps. Be sure to run spell check and use correct grammar or your site may not be published.

Members of BSA Troop 204 attended the AAC Campout of the Century. A great time was had by all except for the adults who had to undergo emergency ear repair from exposure to the sonic blasts emanating from the stage area all Saturday afternoon.  }:^)>   This webmaster worked on the Shooting Sports Staff at the campout. We had over 1,000 Scouts come through the archery range and almost 500 Scouts participate on the rifle range.   SPL Daniel H and his staff did a great job leading our Troop for this unusual event.   Almost 4,000 Scouts attended the event.

*	Thanks for participating in the Scouting for Food drive. Troop 204's goal was 5,000 items. Our final count was 5,260 items.   * Round Applause, round of applause, get it?

IS COMING!

and Troop 204 is registered. Now what are we going to do?

What is ScoutFest? Where is ScoutFest? When is ScoutFest? Which ASM is responsible for BSA Troop 204's participation in ScoutFest?

Everything except the last question can be answered by clicking on the ScoutFest logo above.

When the last Scout Show (ScoutFest) was held in 2000, This member of the Troop was nine years old. Do you recognize him? He is an Eagle Scout and Assistant Scoutmaster now! Also in attendance that year was the U.S. Army Golden Knights Demonstration Parachute Team!

If you have questions or ideas, please contact ASM Tim Shannon.

Pictures Wanted!!

Have you taken pictures of our Troop this year? If so have you made a CD and got it to Tim Shannon? If the answers to those questions are in order, yes and no, please get busy. Your pictures are what goes onto this web site, but even more important they are what make up the Eagle DVD's.

Troop 204, over the last several years, has made a tradition of giving each Eagle Scout a DVD with pictures of all of the Troop activities spanning his tenure with the Troop. These DVD's will provide your Eagle with many fond memories of his friends and time with 204. But they will be incomplete without your help.

Mom's, are you considering or already started on a scrapbook for you Scout? If so you can get many images of your Scout from this library of 204 Scouting, just contact Tim Shannon.  Again, if the images are not there, I cannot make them available.

We are particularly lacking in pictures from the last half of this year. I need your help. Please make a
CD-ROM at full resolution of your images and get it to ASM Tim Shannon.

Leader Training Opportunities

Be sure to take advantage of the on line leadership training opportunities. From the comfort of your home computer you can take Youth Protection Training, Boy Scout Leader Fast Start, Safety Afloat, Safe Swim Defense, Troop Committee Challenge and Hazardous Weather. Just go to http://olc.scouting.org .

Click on the course you want to take and log in to your account. After successfully completing the course, You can print out the completion card. Be sure to show this to James Olson so it can be entered in the Troop records.

If you do not already have an account, you will need to create one. For this you will need your account number from the front of your BSA membership card. If you don't have a membership card you need to get registered with the Troop. See Donna Vinson to get the forms, and pay your Scouter dues.

Remember every Scout deserves a trained leader!