Hi All,
My new Outpost meets on Sundays instead of Wednesdays. So I have a meeting tomorrow night. I'm starting out working with Pioneers. We have just selected a patrol name after I spent a good part of 15 minutes last week trying to explain how crazy it was for us at LTC/NTC. It was inspiring. Anyway, they didn't want to just be the owl patrol. They chose this name "The Holy Rootin' Tootin' Hoot Owls." It is an original as far as I know, my patrol name at LTC was the "Barking Bird Dogs," and NTC was the "Eager Beavers."
I told them that now we have this Caddilac of a name for ourselves, we have to drive it. The other Commanders and I said that we need a song and a yell, and a bolo. The boys were looking at us funny as if they were saying "What in the world is he talking about?" Well, they will get their chance to find out soon. We are going to learn about the animal our patrol name represents. I'm going to the library and getting a video on owls. This way seeing what the bird does can inspire some imaginations and creativity. Then the Boys get to compare the Owl to the life of a Ranger. How's that? Well, let's see, a Royal Ranger is alert, and Owl is too. A Royal Ranger is Brave inspite of danger criticism or threats. An Owl isn't going to likely care about criticisms but he is brave when it comes to going after other birds and food. sometimes they are even bigger than he is. (and the rest is up to the boys to figure out) The other big thing I'll have to is talk about the seriousness of the whole thing that has to do with Osama bin Laden. We are only 50 miles from Washington, DC and everyone gets a little edgy when this topic gets brought up. My point to drive home is that even in playing, we don't want to laughing, poking fun of, or making off handed remarks when it comes to Osama and/or Anthrax. The concern is that something like that can be misunderstood very easily and perceived the wrong way and when heard by someone else, a big incident can arise out of it and for what? Our community is made up of a lot of military people stationed at the multiple bases in my area and including the Pentagon. We have the FBI Academy nearby, and I even have friends who are Secret Service and pilots. But the biggest part of the lesson is on sensitivity and understanding. Having done security for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia as I have, the best policy in dealing with our neighbors who are of the Islamic background, is one that we always are trying to drive home for the boys, it is "The Golden Rule" " Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do To You." It's never easy because if it was then why are we in the mess we are in now w/ Afghanistan? (it's a long story but you can find the roots of it in the Bible!)
The Lord's got it all under control, let us not forget. Pray. Pray Hard!
Be Blessed in His Name!
Iron Mike
