Chapter 56 - Scout Class - part 3 — from my book Changes

Primitive camp as the sun gets low.

Chapter 56

Scout Class - part 3

The next night raid we did was to stalk another mock up party.  This one wasn’t too far away and we were sent to scout the area out during the day and do some recon.  Our instruction was to move in the way of the scout as we worked our way to the site, even before we got close.  Honestly, not being used to taking our time got in the way of being very stealthy.  Hurrying is not the way for a beginner scout.

Moving that way in the daytime felt a little weird, too, because much of the approach was out in the open and we were very vulnerable to being seen.  There was a lot of running and ducking and trying to sink and fade under blueberry bushes that were only about 18 inches tall, when Tom’s truck zoomed by a couple times.  I imagine he had a good laugh watching us.

Fortunately, as we approached the party site, there was a little berm that we could belly crawl up onto, to peer over the top and see the party site, which was situated in a large depression on the landscape.

After our recon, it was back to camp to have dinner and start getting our camo on.

Once it was dark, about 10pm, our team met up to go over strategies and make our plan.  Us older folks were trying to discuss what we would do, but there were a couple younger guys in our team who just wanted to get going!  They were raring to go and impatient, chomping at the bit.  We caved and ended up giving up and taking off half cocked.  I was frustrated by the lack of planning.

We moved fairly quickly to the berm, taking the long way on back trails that would be less traveled so we could stand and run.  When we got close, we crawled up the berm and peeked over.

The party was in full swing, with a great big roaring fire in the center or a large cleared off space.  The instructors were throwing big pieces of wood on the fire, or sitting around being loud, and pretending to be drunk.  There was loud music blasting through the night air and a lot of raucous laughing coming from the party.

The goal of the scout teams was to stalk up and try to take something without being seen.  There were chairs, a table with some food items and cups for drink.  The instructors were sitting around the fire, but would occasionally get up and walk around, or walk to the table where things were waiting for some brave soul to try to steal them.

My team split up, two by two, so we could approach the party from different directions.  Debbie Tremmel and I decided to go over the top of the berm, where there were bunches of trees and bushes covering the side of the hill.  The hill was steep on the far side, and I was having a blast going over the top face first.  I challenged myself to slide on my belly down the other side, using the branches of the bushes to slow my movement to imperceivable.  That was my goal at least.

That 20 foot steep slide was the most fun I had that day!  I was there and nowhere else.  I was fully present. I never once thought about the future of the past.  The slide through the sand, roots, and little branches was pure sensory, moment to moment, delight.

Debbie was right next to me and we had to control our giggles as we occasionally whispered to each other.

Once I got to the bottom of the slope, I knew I would be easy to see since the space between where I was, and the fire, was wide open sand.  I didn’t want to get up and leave so I decided to see if I could camo myself in the sandy dirt.  I thought of that flat fish that fluffs up the sand and silt at the bottom of the ocean, so I tried that.  I flattened and stiffened my hands and shoved them into the sand around me.  I wiggled and dug and tried to bury myself in a thin layer of soil.  I threw all caution away, knowing I would be picking up a body full of chiggers, but I chose not to worry about that.

Finally, Tom’s son T-3 started walking toward Debbie and me.  As he casually strolled by he said, “I can see you.”  That was our cue to get up and start again, but I didn’t want to stop pretending I was invisible.  We ignored him at first and stayed in place for a few more minutes.  Finally Debbie and I decided to get up and run off,  back up over the hill and out of sight.

By then, the rest of the team had grouped up on the top of the berm, behind trees, out of sight of the party goers, and we decided to call it a night.

It had to be about 2am by the time we got back to camp, moving in a half hearted scout like way.  We sucked, but I didn’t feel too bad when other teams walked by, fully upright, not even trying to be stealthy.

The next morning, during de-briefing, I found out that no team got close enough to the party to steal something before being seen and sent back.  Tom would say, it is not a failure if you learn something.  This exercise, like everything at Trackerschool, if for our experience and learning.