Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo
Posted on 02/11/2009 7:24:19 AM PST by mnehring
TATUM — Looking into the eyes of his 18 young Cub Scouts, Pack 549 Cubmaster Glenn Daniels knew breaking the news would not be easy.
"I sucked it up and I told them," Daniels said Tuesday. "They were shocked ... absolutely shocked as was I when I learned of the news."
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Michael Cavazos/News-Journal Photo
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| Glenn Daniels, leader of Cub Scouts Pack 549 in Tatum, stands next to a shelf full of Pinewood Derby cars built by soldiers. Since 2006, members of the Pack have sent cars to soldiers overseas to build. This year's batch was destroyed when a base in Afghanistan was attacked. |
The Pinewood Derby racing cars the pack sent overseas as part of the group's Operation Hero's Scoutreach program — where armed services members craft the cars and return them to pack members in Tatum to race in the derby — all were destroyed in Afghanistan when a military base was attacked.
The attack came three weeks before the Scouts were to race their cars in the derby.
The Pinewood Derby is a racing event for Cub Scouts in the Boy Scouts of America organization. The Scouts, typically with the help of their parents, build the cars from a kit with a block of pine, plastic wheels and metal axles.
"Our contact out there, David Walker, told us mortar shells used in the attack destroyed the case the cars were in that were on the way to Tatum for the race," said Webelos Den Leader Kevin Boatman. "Now we've got 18 Scouts with no cars to race at the derby. It's a real shame."
September 2006 was the first year the pack raced the cars on behalf of their adopted service members. It has since become a pack tradition.
"It was awesome," Daniels said as he glanced over the bookshelf display of handmade cars from military personnel stationed in the Middle East. "They put a lot of effort into making these cars so special for these kids."
As Daniels admired the bodies of the cars, he said each car had a story of its own to tell.
"This car was carved by a guy who flew missions six days a week and made his car with a field knife and a pair of nail clippers," Daniels said as he picked up a red car rough with wooden knots and grooves. As he continued strolling through the cars, Daniels picked out a neatly carved, single seat racer painted red and gray with a war medallion as the weight.
"This car was made by the communications officers of that squad," Daniels said. "This one won the race last year ... This guy really had a lot of time on his hands."
Daniels and Boatman said they are looking for area military veterans that served in the Afghanistan, Iraq and Persian Gulf Wars to help the pack in their race to design, carve and paint 18 new cars before the Feb. 28 race.
"We're looking for some help," Daniels said. "This has never happened before, and we don't want to disappoint those boys."
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Want to help?
Send an e-mail to cspack549@hotmail.com. Put "Operation Hero's Scoutreach" in subject line.
Poor kids! I’m sure there are some vets out there who will gladly help them out.
Guess the boys will learn that war is raging while they are safe at home.
They ought to be building their own cars and thinking about what they can do for the men and women serving our country.
paging Walter Reed...
Bump!
What kind of times do we live in when you see the partial text about Boy Scout property being destroyed... and immediately assume it was some Gay Rights or Campus Progressives group, and are surprised that it wasn’t?
I wish a mortar shell had hit my entry. Slow as molassess.
I swear I had the same thought.
Sad but the scouts still have time to build new ones.
Ever been there?
I'd bet, $100 to a donut, that plenty of guys in the "war zones" would jump at the chance, if time provided. The Scouts are honoring those troops, and yes, they were thinking of actually doing something!
Send the Scout troop a donation... and a care package to some troops!
Geez, they are kids not campus agitators.
I would think most troops- who are probably only a few years removed from their pinewood derby days- would welcome the distraction.
Obama’s fault. Children and Minorities hurt worst. We need a $4 trillion stimulus to bail out the Cub Scouts.
‘m not quite sure how you meant your statement to come out, but it did not sit well with me. Reaching out to our troops is always a good thing.
I like the idea. When I was deployed, anything that had to do with home meant the world to me. If I got something from a youngster back in the states, I would have been thrilled. To be able to build a car for a young Cub, would have been quite a treat.
Did I read the article that the troops were reaching out to the kids and making their pinewood derby cars for them?
If I misread, I’m really sorry.
Yes, been there. Pinewood Derby is a big part of scouting.
Most of the cars are made by the fathers instead of the boys.
The troops building cars for the boys is a great thing, but the boys learned that their cars are the least of it. They ought to be mostly concerned about the men and women’s lives rather than their derby cars.
Its a way the scouts connect with the troops, like pen pals, but it is pinewood derby car pals.
When I was in Iceland, it was the job of the alert pilots to answer the letters from the kids. It was a joy to answer those letters, they were from home.:)
I would have been happy to see some small comment about the survival of the troops involved.
The story made it seem that the boys and their scout leader were more concerned about the cars than the lives of the men.
Good point, I’ll do some digging..
You Guys!?!?! This not a traditional Pinewood Derby scenario. Kids are supposed to build these cars, with their parent’s help. I mean, shipping car kits halfway around the world to be built and sent back is an interesting “twist”, but it is definitely NOT normal.
Like one of the other posters here, my family also builds really slow cars for the Pinewood Derby. We have the distinction of finishing in the lower 10% for the last two years, and hope to do so for the next two. Lots of these cars are really impressive. Ours, are not.
My son is wondering why they couldn’t just ship the remains of the cars to the scouts. He informs me that it would be “really cool”. He was also wondering if they could send some of the mortar shells as well. He laments that munition caches are often “blown in place”.
It really makes him sad, “Such a terrible thing to waste”. I guess he’s been listening to public service announcements.
I had the same assumption. BUT, if only the derby cars and no soldiers were destroyed in the attack, it becomes a good story.
But... or butt. Take your pick.
They ought to be mostly concerned about the men and women’s lives rather than their derby cars.
I never had the privilege of hitting the ground. BUT, I sure spent a lot of SEA TIME in the Navy, circa 66-68. I'm an old fart now, but remember lots of dull hours waiting...
War is hell. Good Diversion, of any sort, is as welcome to our "troops", as a box of cookies (except your Mom's, of course)!
Timely story. My son, a first year Cub Scout came home with his first Pinewood derby car/kit. Can’t wait to get started on it with him.
the troops build their cars to be raced by the boys for them...i guess you have never been away from home on an extended tour or duty, so it is obvious you don’t understand...my grandpa used to say “ speak little of matters that you know nothing about “, and it applies here
While the article doesn’t specifically say that the troops were reaching out to the kids, it does imply that the Pack has a relationship with the organizations working on the cars for the Pack.
Whether the military organizations initiated the partnership, or the Pack initiated the partnership is a mute point. The derby connects the scouts with those in the military who are in the Sand Box doing the heavy lifting for those of us stateside.
I never had the honor of building a car for a scout when I was deployed. I would have loved the task.
Many hours of Ready 5 or Ready 15 in my logbook. Time DRAGS, baby. Answering fan mail would have been a great distraction.
Years ago, when my oldest son was in Scouts, I helped him design and build his pinewood derby car. Some weeks before the contest, they brought out the track and demonstrated some cars from last year. The track had a raised center section. The wheels ran on either side of the center section.
I noticed that the cars slowed slightly when their wheels hit or rubbed against the center section. We designed our car such that the axles were long so that the wheels would hit the center section less often. It was no contest; we won the derby.
Not all tracks are like the one we encountered. There are tracks with raised sections on the sides where the car runs in the trough between the raised sections. This would present a different design problem. Also, you need to look at whether the wheels wobble when spun. If they do, you might need to work on your axles to make the wheels run better. Fortunately, our axles required no work and our wheels ran smoothly.
I explained all this to my son as we were building the car together. He did most of the work. The car looked bad with bad saw cuts and all, but he had a great time building it. But, what the heck, it ran like crazy.
I felt the same way back in 1960 just being in Germany, I would have loved something like that to keep my mind off my situation(homesick, alone for the first time, trying to grow up and be a man!)and tie me to home! I think the soldiers were honored to do this, and it is a shame but the realities of war will intrude at times!
Thank You for getting the Information out there for us. As for one closely related to this particular project, I wanted to let you know Our Soldiers were fine. Our boys were very upset and worried about their soldier/teammate. The soldier is always the most IMPORTANT to our pack, the car and race is the icing on the cake. The soldiers were more upset about disappointing our boys then they were at losing some of their own possessions. Thanks to all who were and are supportive to our cause. This is our way of supporting our troops overseas and honoring our heroes.
Thanks for the heads-up on the troop’s status, I know the local news left that important part out of the article.
well, that could have been the case or it was just assumed. I cant say on that, but some of these comments were very harsh and not true. I just wanted to let it be known.
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