On May 2 through 4, Boy Scout Troop 79 out of Berne-Knox-Westerlo had the honor of going to West Point to participate in its 52nd camporee led by cadets from the military academy.  Over 7,000 Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Adventurers participated.

Our troop is boy run and we decided to be a light infantry unit.  This meant that we all carried in our own equipment. This included our food, tent, sleeping bag, clothes, first-aid kit, and burner to heat water.  For many of us, it was our first experience eating dehydrated eggs and bacon and the Scout favorite, chili mac. 

We arrived at West Point, registered, and put our backpacks on to begin the hike up the mountain.  After three miles, we arrived and set up our tents.  The next morning at 5:45 the cadets woke us up to be ready for PT (physical training) at 6 a.m.

We ran up a big hill and did a lot of other exercises.  After breakfast, we watched cadets do the opening ceremony.  There were a couple bad guys in a tower and the cadets flew in via a helicopter and took them out.  Parachuters dropped from the helicopter next and landed right in front of us! It was exciting to watch.

Our troop was ready to start the 15 stations, which were all run by the cadets — weapons, fire starting, zodiac races, rescuing injured through mud, and many others.  The stations showed us how the cadets trained for multiple situations in the field and gave us a try to do it also.  We had score sheets, on which they graded us, and on Sunday awards were given out to the winning troops. 

At night, lit by a huge bonfire, the cadets had a DJ and danced and sang on stage before thousands of Scouts.  It was a fun way to end the day.

We packed up at 6 a.m. on Sunday, ate, and headed to the closing ceremonies.  There, we lined up by troops in three very long lines across the field.  The awards were given and we all marched in front of the cadets and the director in charge of putting this program together.  It was a meaningful experience.

A lot of the cadets have been participating in this program for their four years at West Point.  They were all encouraging and pushed us to work our hardest. Everyone from our troop said he would like to go do it again.  Every Boy Scout troop should try and participate in this program.

Editor’s note:  Devin Longendyke, a member of Boy Scout Troop 79 out of Berne-Knox-Westerlo, is in charge of public relations for the troop.