A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to Night Ops 2015. This was the first time we have done Night Ops on this large a scale, and the first time we have done so at TrailLife USA’s Camp Aiken. We could not have done it without y’all!

Recap of the Event

This year, we got started pretty much on time. At ~10:00pm, adult volunteers were gathered for a briefing and to choose their stations, then they were sent out to their stations with radios to communicate back to the Command Tent. [Cell phone signal was … spotty, depending on the carrier.]

At ~10:30pm, we gathered the patrols to be briefed; handed out maps and instructions; and did a brief navigation check.

At 5:22am (Saturday morning), the last patrol finished; and, by 6:00am, everyone was asleep.

See scores for the event below.

Troop Master Minute: Saturday Night

Dr. Denton talked about strength training and how it relates to our lives. In strength training, you have 7 core areas that you focus on and you continually test the limits of what you can do in order to grow stronger.

Similarly, we must continually test ourselves and work hard to improve in all areas of life, including scout skills. Also, we will often feel like God is testing us; We should not get angry at God for allowing us to be tested, but we must realize that He is allow us to grow through the testing.

Done and Do: Sunday Morning

Mr. Luke Van Cleave and his troop led a morning worship service and delivered an excellent message. Mr. Van Cleave talked about Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and three words that Christ said: “It is finished.”

All too often we can feel like we need to DO good things to earn God’s love and forgiveness; and, in doing so, we come to the end of ourselves. In reality, we should DO good things because the deeds necessary to bring us into fellowship with God was DONE on the cross.

We no longer have to DO for it to be DONE. We do because it’s already been DONE.

Thank you Mr. Van Cleave and Troop 317 for leading the morning worship service. We were very blessed.

Scores

Awards were made for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place; for 1st place for each station; and one for Teamwork/ Team Spirit and Fastest to complete the course. This is the first year that we have had a 3 way tie for first:

1. American Heritage Girls Troop 513 – Badwolf patrol
2. American Heritage Girls Troop 513 – 221B patrol
3. TrailLife Troop 594 – Adventures / no-name

One area of improvement for next year is in the scoring sheets. We weren’t able to go through all of the scores to adequately rank every troop 1-12 for each event and overall. Next year though…

The top 3 ranks for each station & award winners:

Fire Station:

1. GA 513 – Badwolf
2. GA 513 – 221B
3. AHG 594

Water Safety Station:

1. GA 513 – Badwolf
2. GA 594 – Adventures / no-name
3. GA 594 – AHG

Navigation Station:

1. GA 513 – 221B
2. GA 594 – Adventures / no-name
3. GA 513 – Badwolf

1st Aid Station:

1. GA 594 – Adventures
2. GA 513 – Badwolf
3. GA 594 – AHG

Lashings & Knots Station:

1. SC 7777 – AHG
2. GA 594 – Adventures / no-name
3. GA 513 – 221B

Enemy Camp Station:

1. GA 513 – 221B
2. GA 317 – WH
3. GA 594 – AHG

Fastest Time Award: 

1. GA 513 – 221B
2. GA 317 – HB
3. GA 594 – Adventures / no-name

Teamwork / Team Spirit Award:

1. SC 9212 – B