More about Leaving the Jamboree for home…(4 Aug 10)

(This is the final of my Jamboree blog entries; I have posted all of them along with other notes on my Posterous web blog (http://www.posterous.com/settummanque).  Some of the photos were able to be exported to that site but others did not make it — don’t know why.  Thank you all for reading and commenting!)

Its RAINING CATS AND DOGS this morning!!  How can I say “good bye!” with all of this rain going on??

This morning, I intended on going to the Longstreet area on post, sign out and get my Jamboree patch, coin or swift kick in the butt; and leave for Kentucky and my Dad and the rest of my family.  Was not meant to be.

I packed the rest of my things this morning as the rain poured, and then grabbed my “snivel gear” — red nylon jacket with hood, hat with broad brim and waterproof binder — and after looking back twice to insure that I did not leave things like phone chargers, stray patches, dirty socks or other things which are not in the trash cans, I closed the door to my room for the last time and turned in the key.

And paid for my room, thanks to a loan to my checking account.  It WILL be repaid as soon as my paycheck for doing this tour shows up!!  Thank you!!

I then drove out to the post —  the first task this day was to pick up a Scouter — I’ll call him Joe because I don’t recall his name honestly — and drive him to Reagan National Airport so that he could fly back home. He worked at Hometown News, and because of everything needed to close things up and get things packed up, it was tough for someone to “break away” and get Joe and his things to the Airport and get back. 

For those not familiar with traffic in Northern Virginia, just imagine a non-stop traffic jam starting about 5am in the morning runing until about 10am; and the afternoon traffic-jam in BOTH directions starting about 3pm and ending sometime around 7 or 8 pm.

That’s why we were leaving so early…to try to be in the quene for the traffic to be at the Airport by 11am.

In exchange (yesterday’s posting) for taking Joe to the airport, I got a display for my office room.  Not a flag — that is what I really wanted but the display works just as well — something to acknowlege my last time serving on the Department of Defense’s public affairs team during a National Scout Jamboree.

Joe and I talked about a little bit of everything — kids, families, marriages.  We talked about Scouting and the direction the BSA is taking with the Summit in West Virginia.  We talked about the traffic, our hometowns and the fact that America really NEEDS Scouting.

When I dropped him off, he gave me a complete Hometown News patch set — three patches, a CSP and his personal thanks for delivering him and his things two and a half hours early.

“Isn’t that what Scouts do, Joe?” I asked him as we embraced and then I got back into my van and moved away before I got a ticket.

I then went to the Pentagon, parking my van in the Crystal City parking garage.  The trip to the Pentagon was short — the goal was to see if “Uncle Big Jeff”, Colonel Jeff Keane was working.  Jeff has been my primary mentor as I moved from position to position in the public affairs career field.  He brought me on two tours to support him as his Deputy.  I helped him to complete a great national project for the Army.

He was not there, which meant that he was on his way back home to Massachusettes — and I should be on my way back to Kentucky. I’ll catch up with him sometime.  In the meantime, while I was walking around the “five sided puzzle palace”, I stopped by the Credit Union, updating my mailing address and getting some money to put into the van.  I also got something to eat, and observed some Scouts who days before were enjoying the Jamboree experience. 

Today, they were touring the Pentagon.

I drove back to Fort AP Hill, checked my email for the last time there, and then drove over to the headquarters for the Joint Task Force.  There, I swiped my Common Access Card to symbolize that I am departing; left my email and mailing addresses; and picked up paperwork reminding me of my obligation to fill out my travel information once I returned home.  I asked about the special Jamboree patch for each member of the miilitary — “We don’t have them, you’ll have to go over to the MOC (military operations center) to see if they have them there…”

So I did. Once there, I talked with two National Scouters who provided me with a special Fort AP Hill patch and a patch from the Jamboree Director, but no coin and no “Thanks” patch.  They did get my mailing address and promised that they will send me a patch when they got back home.

We’ll see. 

With that, my last tour as a member of a military public affairs operation during a National Scout Jamboree is over.  It was great to be able to contribute in this small way in the past and this last time.  I’ll be back home, a few months later will proudly retire from the Army, and have wonderful great memories of the Jamboree experience from the perspective of someone working it supporting the military members who supported the youth.