I started my scouting career in 1988 as a Cub Scout in Pack 199 in the Southern Sierra Council. When my father got me signed up, I was 9 years old and I had competing interest. At that time I had already been in volved with AYSO Soccer for a year prior. Through the remainder of my Cub Scouting career, scouting was in heavy competition for my time with my soccer obligations. This was even more so when during my last year in Cubs as a Webelo I decided to also get involved in Scouting Baseball. After all this activity and due to missing some Cub Meetings to make room for the other activities, I ended up missing out on my Arrow of Light…

When I came of age for Boy Scouts, my father sat me down and gave me a choice, it was ether Boy Scouts or soccer, but it was certainly not going to be both. It was an easy choice for me, I loved Scouting and just simply sucked at soccer, I also sucked at baseball. So the decision was made and so naturally I transferred into my first Scout Troop 199, where I dove into Scouting like a fish to water.

During my first year in Troop 199 my father somehow talked the Adult Leadership in the Troop to allow myself and my best friend at the time (also a new member of the Troop from Pack 199) to be included on the High Adventure 50 Mile by Foot and 50 Mile by Float trip that the older and more experienced Boys had been planning and preparing for. I was not prepared at all and the only camping experience I had at that point was a few one or two night outings and most of those had something to do with pulling trucks right up to the campsite. This trip however involved dropping the Troop off in the middle of nowhere Arizona on the Upper Colorado River and spending two weeks on the river, camping wherever we happened to pull off.

This trip exposed me to many life changing experiences (Almost legitimately dying on three different occasions [My dad literally saved my life], my first experience with hypothermia, filtering water to live, pooping in the wilderness and visiting Indian burial grounds, just to name a few). These experiences, although scarry at the time, they drove home for me that I made the right choice. The following year (1992) Troop 199 chose to do a more traditional Scout Summer Camp experience. That camp ended up being Camp Kern the Scout Camp owned and operated by the Southern Sierra Council. I fell in love, the following year (1993) I would end up attending as a Scout the first week of the season and end up staying the rest of the summer as volunteer staff. That would be followed by multiple years as paid staff as both a youth and as an adult. In all I would end up working for that camp for 11 seasons (1993 – 1998 2000 - 2005), to this day it still holds a special place in my heart.

After my last season with the camp and after aging out as a scout (Did not get Eagle, missed by a merit badge and a service project.) I have stayed involved in scouting (except for a short period between 2013 – 2017) at various levels. Do to work and a need for new experiences, I have relocated to the East Coast and am currently involved as a Unit Commissioner for the Crossroads District in the Garden State Council. I also volunteer as an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 177, where I specialize in providing a program and guidance for the youth leadership of the Troop.

Scouting is an integral part of my life; it has had a major part in making me who I am. I credit it for the relationship that I had with my father, the head that I have on my shoulders and who I am as a man. I take pride in doing my best to make sure that other Scouts get that same experience. Notice I said Scouts, I am so excited that young ladies now get to get the same experience.

I am a very by the book person when it comes to Scouting. What I mean by that is that if the Scout Handbook states that a scout will be able to do something, well then, they should be able to do just that. It’s called the promise of Scouting. I got to experience it; it changed my life. I want all scouts to experience that promise and grow from it. I hope that you see that reflected throughout this section of my site.