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A brief history
of troop 430
Scouting was founded by Lord Robert Baden-Powell who
was a British
General in Africa. In fact, if you go to Kenya, you can visit his
grave. While in Africa he designed a series of outdoor game activities
to "toughen" the men sent to him from England. The men enjoyed these
stunts and took them back to England, and thus, Baden-Powell had to
rewrite his Stunts program for boys. In 1907 he took a group of boys to
Brownsea Island off the coast of England and tried out his new program.
He gave them shorts, a shirt, and a neckerchief and divided them into
Patrols. As a result of this experience, he published a book in 1908
called "Scouting for Boys", the first Boy Scout handbook.
Scouting was brought to the United States by an
American
businessman,
William Boyce, who had been helped by a British Boy Scout when Boyce
became lost in fog on the streets of London. In 1910 on February 8 the
Boy Scouts of America was incorporated. A permanent organization was
established and President William Howard Taft became the Honorary
President of the Boy Scouts of America. Scouting flourished, and soon
after its introduction here, it was an important part of the lives of
thousands ofboys, not just in America but throughout the world.
Skipping ahead 50 years from the founding of the Boy Scouts, we come to
another significant date in the history of Scouting. The year was 1957.
Although many important events occurred that year, for many of us here
today, the most significant event of 1957 was the founding of Troop #
430. In this year, Reformation Lutheran Church received a Charter from
Boy Scouts of America to be the sponsor of Troop # 430.
Troop 430 had its first meeting here in Reformation
Lutheran Church
under the leadership of its first Scoutmaster, Arthur "Bucky" Spaide.
Since than for 46 continuous years, Troop 430 has provided a scouting
opportunity for the youth of this community and the surrounding
areas. The troop has had 16 Scoutmasters and has enjoyed the
behind the
scenes leadership of 9 Troop Committee Chairmen. Since 1957, Troop
430's
membership roles have contained the names of over 700 Scouts. A large
percentage of the Scouts have risen to the rank of Life Scouts and as
of
December 2004, exactly 50 Scouts have risen to the rank of Eagle Scout.
Troop 430 is an active troop and historically, we
have tried to
promote
individual advancement in rank. We also have tried hard to win awards
for the troop throughout the years. We do this because, as stated in
the
Scoutmaster's Handbook", "Scouting is education that is fun". The adult
leaders of Troop 430 have always viewed personal achievement and
competitive success as a Troop as one indication that learning is
indeed
occurring among our Scouts. The troop participated again in May of 2003
in the West Point Invitational Jamboree .This was the second time that
Troop 430 was invited to attend the West Point Invitational Jamboree,
having been previously invited in 2001. At this last Jamboree there
were
about 3000 scouts in attendance from all over the United States.
In the summer of 2003 Troop 430 had another
"first". The Troop sent
a
full crew of Troop 430 scouts and leaders to the Philmont High
Adventure
Scout Reservation in Cimmaron, New Mexico under the leadership of Dr.
Warren Renneisen. When you become involved in Scouting as an adult, if
nothing else, you gain an appreciation of just how much a Scout has to
learn in order to advance in rank, even in the beginning ranks, and
that
the achievement of the rank of Life Scout or Eagle Scout represents
literally hundreds of hours of learning and personal development.
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