Schiff Scout Camp

  Early this past Saturday, I drove out to Wading River on Long Island for the "Suffolk County Council Protestant Committee Third Annual Retreat". The folks from the Committee met us in September at Islip Grange, and asked if we would be willing to help them out at their event. This yearly event has a different theme, and this time it was the Civil War.

There were close to 200 Scouts in attendance, along with adults from their troops, Protestant Committee members, camp staff, and a few Living Historians to help out. All together about 300 of us were there.

I arrived before dawn and set up my Field Hospital under a canvas fly that George had erected the night before. It's so much easier when I don't have to bring my own canvas.
George showed up not long after I did.

I was impressed at how much the Committee put into this. Half the Scouts were given a blue kepi and tee shirt. The other half, gray. Each Scout also received a mock musket carved out of wood. Their schedule was fairly simple. Groups of around 20 Scouts would rotate and visit different stations at half hour intervals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were served "Mess hall" style.

I decided that I would put the Scouts who visited my hospital through a 5 minute "Recruit Physical", and also gave each of them a form to fill out stating that they had passed.
For the most part they were well behaved, they were Scouts after all. There were a few who "acted up" though, so in keeping with the "Boot Camp" theme, they were dressed down accordingly to impress upon them the seriousness of what a soldier was expected to do.

My last group left me at 4:45pm. All the Scouts then went off to a different part of the camp field for a mock battle. I took this opportunity to load everything back into my car. I didn't stay for dinner. George had volunteered to lead their religious service that evening at 6pm. I don't think that he camped out that night with the rest of the group.

This was a nice event. The folks from the Protestant Committee and the Scouts were very friendly and appreciated that we volunteered to help out with their event. As I love this hobby, it was no problem for me at all.

I will post some photos if I can dig some up.