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Scout Class Memoir 2004 ©2005 Clint Hollingsworth
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Tuesday,
July 20, 2004 The
next day, we were given instruction on team movement. Which would establish
how we moved through the brush for the rest of the week (for the most
part) we touched on sneaky ways to cross the sand roads, learning and
using bird calls to reset the concentric rings, and body language. We
learned how to walk like a deer and roll like an opossum.
Billy,
whom I think is the new Tracker School head instructor, briefed us on
moving down the trail to cause the least disturbance, and I was a little
surprised to find how much of it I already knew. I had picked up a lot
more than I had known when on wandering classes with Jon Young. We also
learned to "sink and fade", something I was to have trouble
with on every outing. This
day, we were to meet our martial arts instructors, Paul, Keith and 'Nessa.
Proponents of Philipino martial arts, they would do a LOT of teaching
during the week. Tom appeared briefly to introduce them, and to assure
us that this art was VERY similar to the Apache Wolverine fighting that
Stalking Wolf had taught him. I
was a bit skeptical about how interesting this was going to be for me,
as I had studied Goju Ryu for almost 15 years, but I was very pleasantly
surprised. As much as I like the empty hand arts of Okinawa, there is
something to be said about coming at your passions from another angle.
I especially liked the stick work. Keith works as a bouncer, and I asked
him to show what he would do with the standard push, push and punch scenario.
He had me play an aggravated drunk, and as I pushed him a second time,
he sideslipped and put me in a beautiful thumb-locking "come-along"
that had me following him all about the workout area. Walking on my toes. I
worked with Ed,as my partner, and found him to be a charming friend who
helped me remember not only
my martial art skills but the exact wording from the movie Harvey that
I loved so well. Unfortunately, now I can't remember. (Gettin' old's a
bitch) That
night, we had no specific raiding targets, we were simply to scout about
the areas of the camp and try not to be seen. That didn't go so well... I
had gotten a little smarter about my camouflage. When you're at the Scout
Class, being clean is not synonymous with being successful. You get used
to it. I had found a burned stick, and scraped off black carbon, which
I then ground into my t-shirt and trousers. My Clothes no longer glowed
in the dark. As
dark fell, we were slipping out in a stretched out column, heading for
the heart of camp, when a shadow scout infiltrated our column, effectively
cutting it in two. The people in the back couldn't go forward without
running directly into the shadow scout, and the people in front, not knowing
what was happening, just kept going. This violated the team rule of keeping
together, but in the darkness... Eventually,
we hooked up again, and went down one of the main fire roads heading towards
camp and got caught almost immediately. Volunteer Eileen gave us a few
tips, and sent us on our way. Eventually, we got some scout coup. We snuck
into the main camp and stole a large aluminum bowl of popcorn from around
the instructor's fire. Ah,É the wages of stealth. Back
at our camp, we had to take two-hour shifts guarding the staves. We were
told that if they could, the shadows would sneak in and take our staves.
No team wanted that. I
spent my first few hours in my scout pit. It was just a little too shallow,
so I kept banging my knees on the roof, and I eventually I offset the
"hatch" of my pit slightly so that I had a steady stream of
air coming in through a crack. Unfortunately, it was just a little bit
big, and as I started to drift off a local toad wiggled in... And fell
on my face. After
sending him gently on his way, I crawled out exhausted from lack of sleep
and fell asleep on the ground under my coat. (Just in time for my 4 am
guard shift.) I
had come here to have fun, and here it was. |
