More on the Centennial BSA Parade!! (25 Jul 10)

WHEW!! The temperture was in the high 90s with a “feels like” temp of 109. As I drove into northern VA, my van’s “outdoor temp gauge” said “106. I think this is the highest temp I’ve ever seen in this van!!

No Photoshopping here, buddies and buddettes!! That’s the temp outside my van (not inside…I had the AC on “full pump!”)

I signed up, like many Scouters from all over the nation did, to march in this historic parade alongside other Eagle Scouts. They were to make a selection/cut and notify us sometime in the first week of June. I guess their coordination problems kept them from doing this, and I received my notification that I would be marching along with the physical coordination information two weeks before I left for the Jamboree.

The question, which I posed to several people, was “in which uniform should I march in?” As this is a Scouting parade, the official COMPLETE (no “mixed and matched”, no “top and jeans”) — the COMPLETE OFFICIAL BOY SCOUT UNIFORM (to which I have four!) was “official wear” by those participating…

…except for Eagle Scouts. We were encouraged to wear the uniform or outfit that we wear in our daily work. As “Mr. Walton”, that would mean a suit and tie. As LTC Walton, that means one of the Army’s current uniforms — the Army Combat Uniform (the digital camo outfit most of you are familiar with and which I wore when I was working in Germany and before that in Iraq this last time) or the Army Service Uniform (what many of you called the “dress uniform” or the “formal uniform” — dark blue (heavy!) jacket, white shirt, light blue pants with belt loops and gold braid down the seams).

After much back and forth, and listening to recomendations, I chose the Army Service Uniform WITH BERET instead of the service cap. This is the uniform as an Army public affairs officer I wear the most anyway when I am working with the public…so that is what I wore.

I arrived at the parking garage in Crystal City at 11am. I had a time finding an entrance into the garage large enough for my van and the carrying space above it — the clearance is 7.5 feet and many of the openings said “6 feet”. I finally found one, went in and found a place to park. I chose to park in Crystal City after the guard at the Pentagon shooed me away, saying that I could not park there for the period of time I was going to leave my van for.

After I had secured and gathered my drinks in a bag — it was already hot in the basement and I was already sweating — I made my way to the Metro station. The materials sent to me electronically from the Parade sponsors said that the best way to get to where I needed to be at was to take the Metro.
I did but I was one stop early. I should have stopped at Smithsonian and instead I stopped at Federal Triangle. I had a long walk to where I needed to sign in at.

Federal Triangle…the Metro opens up here, in the courtyard of several federal buildings. Not the stop I was supposed to get off on but it was interesting to see…

“Eagle Scout?” the lady asked me. I nodded and she got me a band to place around my right wrist. “Don’t lose this or you won’t get any of the packet things at the end. Hurry up!! They’re lining up now and the Parade already started!”

This was at 12:45 — the parade was supposed to start at 1pm but because of the weather – hot now, with a big chance of rain later in the day — they went ahead and started the event off.

I found my way to the Eagle Scout area and for a minute thought I was in the wrong place. Then, I saw Bill Fox — or rather, he found me.

We embraced — I had never met him prior to this, and we stood around and talked Scouting and the parade. Soon, other Scouters who have heard of me or saw my photo on my website or here on Facebook came around and we greeted each other.

Bill Fox, a Scouter from New York. He has been following me on Scouts-L and other placed on the Internet for decades! I finally got to meet him after we’ve traded emails back and forth several times on several topics!

WOW!! I felt like a rock star for a few minutes…I did not truly REALIZE just how many people I have touched over the past what, 17 or 18 years, through the Internet and email and appearances at local Councils and camps!! One guy said that “although I left Scouts-L because of all of the commotion, I still followed YOU. You’ve given me such great advice on how to deal with my Scouts…” Another guy just wanted to shake my hand and thank me for my service to Scouting and to the Army (I told him I was getting ready to retire from the Army). A Scout Executive from a Council in California found me while I was in the “potty break line” and someone was asked to take a photo of the two of us together.

Then, there was Julius Jackson. The last time I saw him, he was working the Sea Scouting exhibit at the 2001 National Scout Jamboree. Julius is a holder of the Quartermaster, Eagle, and I think the Young American Award too. I saw him in passing at the last Jamboree but we didn’t talk… I asked to take a photo of him to show to my Mom that indeed, there are PLENTY of Black men still involved in Scouting like I am. I showed it to her on my way back from that Jamboree…she wasn’t convinced (“Two black people in a sea of white doesn’t prove anything except that they had to let you two in…” she said. More on that in a followup note).

Julius Jackson and myself…I haven’t seen him since the 1991 Jamboree…he’s working for the federal government in the District…and wants to go into the Public Health Service! Go man go!!!

Anyway, Julius was glad to see me again…and I was extremely glad to see him. More photos.
More talking. More standing around, waiting for the Eagle Scouts’ turn to march down Constitution Avenue like those Scouts and Scouters did in the 1930s.

Finally, after two hours of standing and talking and waiting (some took naps in the shaded area we were corralled in), the word came for us to stand in line, get a small US Flag, and to wave it as we marched down the street.

MAN!! It was an AWESOME feeling, marching down the street with several hundred fellow Eagle Scouts, receiving the applause from the folks lining the streets. My fellow Transatlantic Council Scouts and Scouters were on the side of the street at 10th and Constitution….and they cheered for me and even said my name. A press guy took the photo of the guy four rows in front of me — he was dressed in one of those Explosive Ordanance Disposal (EOD, like the ones in that recent movie about the EOD folks in Iraq!) and I felt a LOT cooler than I KNOW that he felt.

EOD guy…I KNOW that he had to be “hotter than a mug” in that outfit!!! He marched the ENTIRE LENGHT of the parade route wearing the complete outfit!!

We marched down the street — Internet Scouters saw me and shouted “WELCOME HOME MIKE!!” and I almost lost it there…I wished that my mom was still alive to see me….and ALL of the Eagle Scouts, old and young, marching together in front of a large helium Eagle which at times seem to want to eat us for a snack!

The contingent from the Transatlantic Council (TAC) in Europe…they came for the Jamboree but also watched the parade and cheered for me, a member of their Council’s Executive Board, as the Eagle Scouts marched down Constitution Avenue!

The main reviewing stand during the Centennial National Scout Parade!!

Finally, we made it to the corner whereby we were told to continue to march down and grab some water and have some water from two fire engines mist over and onto us to cool us down more.
The clouds in the sky got darker and the word was put out — take cover, because a BIG storm was coming our way.

No big “Eagle Scout photo” at the BSA monument would happen this day! Rats!!

Julius, Bill and I found cover — as the rain poured on us — at a coffee shop. My uniform was DRENCHED — I mean it was as if I took a dip in a swimming pool and came out. We met some other Scouters who joined us to warm up and after an hour or so, the sun came back out and we made our way to the various Metro drops and we said “see you…”

So the words of the day were:

Whew!, Wow!, and Man!!

If I am to pass away, I will do so happy in the knowledge that I was a part of American Scouting history once again and that my grandchildren will be talking about how “granddad took part in the big Centennial Scout parade in Washington DC.” How he got wet from head to toe and the fact that although the temperture felt like 100 or more…that he wore the uniform that he retired in as an guy in the Army as he marched down the street.

They will also probably laugh at the way Grandday looked, wearing his “baker’s man” hat and the rows and rows of medals. That’s okay….