The Southern Plains Region of Trail Life USA held its 4th annual Night Ops event just outside of Calvert, Texas on Nov. 2.
All year long, Trail Life troops’ 11- to 17-year-old members practice outdoor skills, including fire-building, knottying, compass navigation, first aid and much more. This year the event saw record participation with 106 Trailmen, divided among 16 patrols of five to six boys from troops ranging from Dallas to Houston.
Individual troops began arriving Saturday morning to set up their individual patrol camping areas, which are part of the judging process. Once their camps were set up, the Trailmen patrols took part in several hours of additional skills teaching. They were then issued a map of the property that included the waypoints for each of the nine challenge stations. The patrols returned to their campsites to prepare their evening meal and prepare their navigation plan, which was submitted to central leadership for approval.
When darkness fell, each patrol was introduced to the crowd with the presentation of their patrol flag and identifying patrol yell. The patrols began the course at 9 p.m., equipped with red lights, their map, a GPS-enabled tracking phone, a two-way radio and a backpack containing predetermined materials they would need at each of the nine stations.
Upon successful navigation and arrival at each station, the patrol received instructions for the challenge and was given a time limit to complete it. To add to the challenge, there were several groups of older boys patrolling the event area trying to find patrols not traveling quietly. If the patrol encountered these wandering patrols, points were deducted from their final score.
Once they completed every challenge, typically between 2 to 3 a.m., they radioed into central leadership and waited for approval to return to base camp for a brief rest and refuel at the community snack table. Trailmen exchanged their stories of fun, excitement and challenges briefly, before heading to their tents for three to four hours of sleep.
When the sun rose, the Trailmen converged for the morning presentation of the American flag, followed by morning worship presented by the area chaplain. This was followed by a presentation of awards for individual stations and concluded with the announcement of the overall event high-score patrol.
Meadowbrook Baptist Church, of Rockdale, is the Charter Organization for Trail Life USA Troop TX-1516. Troop TX-1516 entered one patrol, The Rattlers, in this year’s Night Ops event. This patrol was down one Trailmen, due to scheduling conflicts and ran the event with five members.
Even at this slight disadvantage, the Rattler Patrol of TX-1516 achieved First Place in the Water Rescue, Geocaching and Shelter Building events. They scored high in most other events as well as with the inspection of their patrol campsite. When the time came to present the overall points winners for First Place, it was the Rattler Patrol of TX-1516 that came out on top.
The adult leaders, parents and supporters of Trail Life USA Troop TX-1516 wanted to congratulate the young men of the Rattler Patrol on a job very well done.
“You guys worked together as a team to complete an incredibly difficult task and came out on top,” Troopmaster TX-1516 Patrick Whalen said. “We are all very proud of you!”
