My Summer at Camp Kickapoo
Chapter Two
Concerning Merit Badges

The sound of a lone trumpeter sounding out reveille sounded through the woods. The ear piercing sound caused me to roll over and slowly open my eyes. It was still raining outside my tent and the wind was starting to blow harder now than it had when I'd fallen into a fitful sleep. The wind blew the falling rain at a slant. My eyes still heavy with sleep tried to focus on my watch. It was four o' clock in the morning.

With the sound of the bugle call still echoing in my ears, I fumbled for my shaving kit. Finally after thirty seconds of searching I managed to find it. Once I had it in my hand, I stepped out of the cozy confines of my tent and into the pouring rain. You see, each of the campsites had two things, the first thing was kind of a shared fire pit that was normally located in the center of the campsite, oftentimes this would be nothing more than a ring of large stones surrounding some half burned pieces of charcoal.

The second thing they had was an outdoor shower. The shower was often nothing more than a simple, wooden framed building that was enclosed with weather-beaten brown boards. The water poured out of a rusty shower head and drained out of a simple hole in the ground. A gray concrete slab was provided for you to stand on. Beside the shower was a simple wooden table with an iron bucket. If you wanted to shave or wash your face, you needed to fill the bucket up with water. The water was often freezing cold, and yes, you had no hot water.

Oh and you had to shave every day. And if you had long hair like I did, you were required to keep it clean, free of tangles and pulled back in a ponytail. For most of my fellow scouts this was too much trouble and so they buzzed their hair almost to the scalp. But I liked my long hair, so I put up with the hassle of keeping it clean and free of tangles.

Oh and before you ask. If you had to pee, we often peed on a tree like maybe the cavemen of old use to do. And if we had to poop, we were required to dig a shallow hole in the ground with a shovel, and then squat down and over our butts just above the hole and then breathe a silent prayer to God above that the movement would be quick, clean, and painless. And hopefully not long, and drawn out.

But the first splash of freezing cold water pushed all those thoughts from my foggy mind. The water was cold, and tasted like mud. I felt myself starting to shiver as I started to apply a thin layer of white, snowy colored shaving foam on my cheeks. With fumbling hands, I dragged the razor across my face. For two, long, drawn out, painful minutes I hacked away the stubble that had grown on my cheeks since the last time I'd had time to shave. 

Once that chore was done, I looked around and then I applied another thin layer of shaving foam on my legs. Again for two, long, painful drawn out, and mind numbing minutes I hacked away at the tiny, almost invisible hairs that grew out since I left home two days ago. Next I tacked the hair under my armpit and then I stepped into the cold spray of water.

Now, you must be asking yourself why am I going through all this trouble? Well, because for one I don't like the sight or the feel of hairy legs. And two, I like the feeling of silky smooth skin. And three, maybe I thought I looked better with a cleanly shaven face and cleanly shaved legs? Maybe it just felt right.

The rain was starting to slack off a little now and as soon as I'd finished my morning shower it was nothing more than a light drizzle. I was shivering though, the freezing cold water had snapped me of all my strength. And my body was shivering like the lone leaf left on the last branch of a barren tree.

“What a hellish way to start a day.” I muttered under my breath and mostly to myself. In my haste to be the first one to get into the shower, I'd forgotten my bath towel and now I had no other choice but to sprint naked through the campsite toward my tent. My tent was located at the bottom of the campsite, it was located in an area that some long forgotten scout had named “Haunted Woods' '.  Because of well known camp legends that were told around the dying embers of a campfire, normally just before bedtime.

The rain fall from last night had turned the narrow pathways, trails, and dirt roads that were scattered around the camp into deep mud holes. The mud was everywhere, and there was no escaping it. Now common sense would dictate that all outdoor activities or classes had to be postponed because of the still drizzling rain. But no, I still had to attend my first class of the day.

You see, going to summer camp as a scout was much like going to college. You registered for classes, and you attended those classes and at the end of the class, if you completed all  the requirements you got a merit badge as a reward. Now, some of these merit badges are very easy to earn. Like you could complete all the requirements for the Art Badge in one afternoon. Some took a few more sessions to complete all the requirements to earn like the Reading Badge. Others could even take weeks or months to learn like Personal Physical Fitness.

The badges that would take a scout a few weeks and in some cases even a few months to earn, would normally be group projects undertaken by a whole troop. As a whole troop would work on that badge together. One of the best examples of a long term badge is “Advanced Life Saving” that one badge a group of older scouts would undertake together. Likewise “Personal Fitness” is another one. As it required a scout to keep a detailed log of their activities and tracking their progress toward getting into shape. 

The “First Aid” badge you could earn after a few days of hands-on lessons. But its sister badge “Advanced First Aid” required several days of intense hands-on training. Woodcutting, one afternoon. You get the picture.

Anyway my first class of the day was “Fly Fishing '' for that I needed to be at the lakefront as soon as breakfast was done. After that I had to hike a mile and a half from the shore of the lake to a simple, humble, red brick building that was located at the edge of the main cluster of buildings. Here I would take the last few lessons I needed to earn my “Advanced First Aid” Badge that I'd been working on for a while now. I was just a few more lessons shy from meeting the requirements of being rewarded that badge.

The Lunch, after Lunch I would walk across the road to a simple old iron shed. There I would spend a few hours poking away at my “Metal Working” Badge.  Then I had another two mile walk through the woods till I reached the shooting range located deep in the woods. There I would work on earning my “Marksmanship” Badge.

Then Dinner.

Then as the sun was setting. I would spend the remaining hours of the day holed up in the dusty, smelly, brick building that was called the camp's library. There I would spend pounds of flesh, and gallons of sweat pouring over dusty old books as studied for the last badge of my first hitch. That badge being the fabled “Law” merit badge.

And so, that is what awaited me today. As I fumbled to put on tan cargo shorts and pulled over a white short sleeve shirt, and slipped on my shoes, I breathed a quick prayer before leaving my tent and putting those shoes through their paces with a run to the dinning hall.