4/15/2000 2:25 PM

             What intrigues me about Philmont?

             At first glance there is history. Real, invented, and bent. From the Anasnzi Indians, to the Spanish, to the Wild West, on to Waite Phillips, and even a WWII plane crash. There are stories that people take back with them from that land that could not possibly be true, but it doesn’t matter. They experienced it at Philmont and that’s what matters to them.

            Scouters are a different breed all together. They are not the poster children for the local TV station collecting cans for the food drive. These groups are the ones going week in and out to Troop meetings, if for no other reason than to visit with friends. In my experience will do everything they can to get it right. They have a deep-rooted sense of what the organization means to not only them, but also more importantly the future. It is a unique partnership that helps mold some of the best and brightest for this new world. In a society that consistently worries about school shootings, teen pregnancy, and drug use, Scouts are quietly doing the same thing they have been for over 75 years. Leading.

            Philmont becomes, for most, the pinnacle of Scouting. It rolls up all the time and effort, the stories, history, outstanding efforts, and care that most Scouts come to think of when they say Philmont. A theme park it is not. It is a working cattle ranch first, then an environmental test ground for new and better ideas, and most importantly it is a hot bed of teaching and inspiration. Most Scouters feel that a single trip completes their ‘career’ in Scouting more than any award or honor could/would for them.

             I heard someone once say, “Philmont would be so much better if the Scouts did not run it. We could get so many things done there and wouldn’t have to worry about the rules and regulations that slow progress of what ought to be done.”

             While I do agree that Philmont is a bit slow sometimes on the change, being run by any other group than Scouting- I could not fathom it. If it were not for Scouting, Philmont would not be the magical land in New Mexico that it is. Try finding any other 218 square miles that literally thousands of people yearn to go to each summer. Build a private camp in Colorado on the same model and you would not even come close to finding the same furor that Philmont invokes. No, Scouting is Philmont and to break the two apart would be denying the bond that the two invoke in each other.

             Philmont is also the people that are there. I had the honor of working there for four summers. Each summer there are about 800 seasonal staff members living on this slice of heaven. They come from all around the globe. Back in 1992 I tented next to a guy who was from Russia of all places. It is a meeting place of some of the most outgoing great people of Scouting. Mind you, about 90% of the staff is aged between 18 and 24. Each summer there is a roll over of about 50% of the staff. And yet, each summer, I challenge anyone to find a more diverse group of men and women who could do ANYTHING.