U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground hosts Boy Scout leader training

YUMA PROVING GROUND, Ariz.-- For over a century, the Boy Scouts of America have relied on adult volunteers to inculcate young boys in values like trustworthiness, loyalty, thrift, and reverence.

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground Munitions and Weapons test officer Jonny Clark knows this first hand. Associated with the program in some way since he was eight years old, Clark eventually became an Eagle Scout.

Today, Clark has four sons in the scout program and in his spare time serves as venture crew advisor for Crew 8004 in Yuma.

"I love everything about the scouting program," said Clark. "It teaches the youth values and skills, and good leadership traits."

Clark volunteers at least 20 hours per week to the program, from attending weekly meetings in the evening to activities weekends. The scouts he advises go on at least one camping trip per month, meet local professionals in their workplace for mentoring opportunities, and perform service projects big and small. One recent weekend, for example, the scouts helped an elderly neighbor remove a downed tree from her yard.

Clark's commitment to the program extends beyond volunteering hundreds of hours per year devoted to his sons' crew: he recently took time off from work to serve as a senior patrol leader for a Wood Badge training patrol that spent two long weekends in and around YPG's Cox Field.

Wood Badge is the training course for all manner of adult scout leaders, from scout masters to troop committee chairs. During the course, instructors assume the roles of young Scouts to model the behavior an adult scout leader should expect from their young charges.

"A big part of this training is teaching the leaders that that the youth should lead the troop," Clark explained. "It's all about what the youth are capable of."

Though the erstwhile scout leaders committed six days to the training, the staff leading the course had to volunteer even more time.

"The staff has been training since September," said Patti Pace, course director. "We've been getting ready for this, learning what we need to learn, and now we're putting it into action."

In the first week of training, the prospective scout leaders engaged in a variety of classroom training activities and slept in two large tents on Cox Field. Outdoors skills such as fire starting were a prominent part of the curriculum, but Clark says the most important aspect is teaching the adults to facilitate leadership amongst their young charges.

"A big part of this training is teaching the leaders that that the youth should lead the troop," Clark explained. "It's all about what the youth are capable of."

YPG employees Quentin Sorenson, Adrian Groggett, and Kevin Crookston were among the staff led by Clark.

"He's a good guy," said Pace. "I had been in another course out here with him when he was a scribe. With the responsibility he took then, I knew I could trust him."

During the training, the group also had a surprise visit from another former Eagle Scout, Yuma Test Center commander Lt. Col. James DeBoer. Among other things, DeBoer credits Scouting with allowing him to be accepted into the U.S. Military Academy.

"It was a great experience for me," said DeBoer. "When I applied to West Point, one of the things worth the most points was to be an Eagle Scout. They told me that, statistically, Eagle Scouts had the lowest dropout rate."

For his part, Clark seconds the beneficial aspects of scouting for children.

"The leadership I learned in my youth has definitely helped me in the workplace as well," said Clark. "The things you learn in scouting apply in all aspects of life."