Chapter 59 Scout Class - part 6 - The Swamp - from my book Changes

Chapter 59

Scout Class - part 6 - The Swamp

On the way back to camp from one of our longer distance raids, we came upon a few shadow scouts on the road ahead of us.  As I mentioned before, the shadow scouts are experienced trackerschool students who are at scout class to help us learn.  The shadow scouts were just standing around, not trying to be hidden, which seemed very unusual for them.

Obviously my team could not continue on the road, but this was the designated road to return on, so… what to do, what to do…

We headed into the trees and brush on the right side of the road and made our way as stealthily as we could to bypass the road where the shadow scouts were.  To say we were stealthy is laughable; the dry leaves and twigs crackling and breaking as we moved along were pretty obvious signs that there were people in the bushes.  It didn’t take long before the shadow scouts started shooting either paint ball guns or air guns over our heads and yelling, “You’re dead!”

We backtracked and grouped up on the road to discuss our options.  One option was to just run past the shadow scouts and head back to camp.  That would be the easy way out and not at all scout like.  The only other option was to go through the cedar swamp on the left side of the road, which seemed improbably since the swamp was out in the open and there were no bushes to hide in along the edge.  For a few moments we were stymied.

Now, when I signed up for Scout Class, friends who have been through the experience themselves gave me advice:  camouflage your clothes before coming to class; be prepared to crawl along on your knees and elbows; trust your team and especially your point man.

All of this advice was great and I heeded it.  But there was one piece of advice I received that didn’t make a whole lot of sense until I got to this point in class, “Go through the swamp.  You have to go through the swamp.”  That’s all my friend Tim would say about it.

As we stood there on the road, I remembered “Go through the swamp,” and I relayed that message to my team.  There was some hesitation, and even someone said, “I’m not doing that!”  But because I had been told it was part of the class/game, I wanted to do it, so I volunteered to be point and lead the group.

I am so proud of my team for instantly agreed and followed me without any more discussion.

We snuck down to the edge of the water and silently waded in.  The bottom of the swamp was spongy and bubbly, and each step made a squishy, bubbly noise, so I lay down in the water, hoping I could float along noiselessly.

As I put my palm down to move myself along in the 18 inches of water along the edge of the swamp, my hand landed on something the size of a baseball that wiggled away out from under my hand.  At that point I realized using my hands to crawl along the spongy, bubbly, warm bottom of the swamp had some unknowns I was not interested in discovering with my bare hands, so I began using my lance as a tool.  By pushing on it and moving along it’s length until I got to the top, then sliding it under me until it’s full length was in front of me, and repeating the action of tiny hand over hand movements, I pulled myself forward, with the lance as my secure flooring.  It worked beautifully!

Eventually my whole team was laying in the shallow water following me, though I am not sure if they used their lances in the same way.  We threaded our way along in the shallows, avoiding bits of brush and reeds poking up here and there.

It was a full moon that night and at one point I turned onto my back to look up at the night sky.  It was beautiful.  I felt safe, peaceful, calm and full of life.  I glanced down past my feet and noticed that, one by one, my team also turned onto their backs briefly to experience that sight.

About half way through that stretch of swamp I noticed some vertical sticks on my right, sticking up out of the water.  They had obviously been placed there in order to create a box with a small opening.  My thought was, a turtle trap, and I looked at it more closely as I smoothly glided by, only to have a hand reach me from the left and run a red felt tip marker across my throat.  I was dead because of that distraction.

I turned my head to the left and saw the shadow scout sink back into the reeds as he pressed his finger to his lips, reminding me to be quiet and not spoil the lesson for the rest of my team.

I thought, ‘Wow!  That was so cool!’  I was grateful for the lesson in distraction and awareness.  I continued on to the far end of the swamp with my team following like a low, dark, slow, silent train.

When I got to the end of where the swamp was by the road, the shadow scouts called our team up, out of the swamp.  They congratulated us on going through the swamp and said that most teams just ran past them.  They were full of smiles and compliments.  I felt happy, and proud that we did well.

The next day in the lecture hall, Tom said there were only two teams who went through the swamp, and one of the teams in particular did a really amazing job.  I smiled, thinking it may have been my team.  I was feeling proud when Tom looked at me and said, “Not your team.”

Hmmmm…

That’s Tom for you.  That’s a coyote teacher.