Welcome to Texas Troop 5

Arlington, Texas

Cross Timbers District, Longhorn Council

What's Happening with Troop 5?

2012 is the 100th anniversary of the first Eagle Scout rank, awarded to Arthur Eldred in 1912!

Next Up: Troop 5 is planning a special meeting on Memorial Day.  It will include a gathering at the memorial in Veteran's Park and then a cookout at the Montesorri School.  More details coming soon!

Next Campout: Hard to believe but summer is almost here!   That means we start thinking seriously about summer camp!  This year, Troop 5 is going to Camp Cris Dobbins in Colorado in July.  Several Troop 5 Scouts are going to be working as counselors or counselors-in-training at Worth Ranch during the month of June.  There will be lots of other great summer activities so watch this page for details!

Motorboating Merit Badge: The May campout was a blast as we worked on the requirements for the Motorboating merit badge at Lake Athens.  Cold water but lots of fun!

OA Ordeal at SR2: Congratulations to Max and Mr. McKee as they completed their ordeal to become Arrowmen of the Talahi Chapter.  Also August and Mrs. Riehle completed the requirements for Brotherhood membership!  The Talahi ceremony team performed pre-ordeal ceremonies and three Troop 5'ers are part of that team.  Lots of hard work toward worthy service projects happened on Saturday and the orange hats of Troop 5 were very visible all over the place.  Great work by all our Arrowmen, old and new!

Arlington Sportsman's Club: For our April campout we camped at Loyd Park and traveled to the Arlington Sportsmen's Club to participate in their annual Youth Day.  Ten Scouts and three leaders got a chance to shoot rifles, shotguns, black powder, and archery under the supervision of trained instructors.  We found out once again that we have some very good marksmen in Troop 5.  A couple of them were so good with the scoped .22 rifles that is was downright scary!  Thanks again to Matt Jones and all the volunteers at ASC who make this such as great event every year.  About 160 young people from all over the area had the chance to learn about firearms safety and to experience shooting sports.   

OA Callout: Congratulations to Max, Tim, and Mr. McKee.  They were called out as new Arrowmen at a ceremony as part of the Cross Timbers Camporee on April 14.  Also, three members of little Troop 5 - Alex, August, and Drew - were part of the Talahi ceremony team!  Great job guys!  

OA Tornado Disaster Response: Members of the Talahi Chapter spent their Good Friday helping to clean up an area that was hit hard by the tornado.  Little Troop 5 was well represented with three Scouts and three adult leaders included in the team.  Thanks to those who gave up their time to help their fellow citizens in this time of need.  This is what the Boy Scouts are all about and exemplifies the "brotherhood of cheerful service" that is the cornerstone of the Order of the Arrow!

Flag Retirement: On Saturday, 03/31, four Scouts from Troop 5 - Alex, Drew, Jacob, and August - performed a flag retirement ceremony for the Masonic Lodge of Arlington during their annual Open House.  Lots of positive comments from folks who had never seen a flag retired.  Thanks to these guys for giving up some time on their Saturday to do this community service.  Also thanks to Mr. McKee and Mr. Riehle for being the adult leaders and improvising a fire in front of the lodge (and not burning anything down!).

Court of Honor: Congratulations to all the Scouts who received merit badges and other awards at the Court of Honor.  A special shout-out to our newest First Class Scout, Jakob!   Also a big "Thank You" to all the adults who brought refreshments and to Mr. Fleischman from Friends of Scouting!

Spring-O: Nine Scouts from Troop 5 took part in the Longhorn Council's spring orienteering event, "Spring-O" the weekend of 03/23-25.  We had fun using our map and compass skills to try and find as many control points as possible!   The group also competed in "Night-O" competition after dark!  No one got seriously lost!

Garage Sale: A huge "thank you" to all the parents and Scouts who helped make the Troop Garage Sale a tremendous success!  Especially big THANKS to Angela Pierce for heading up this fundraiser and making sure it ran smoothly!  We really apprecaite all those who donated items and those who gave their time to work the sale.  The "accountants" are still tallying up the final numbers, but we should be able to get the bus brakes fixed up nicely!

Texan Trail Run: On Saturday, 03/03, five Scouts and two leaders from Troop 5 helped out as "trail marshals" for the fun run and 5K at Mary Moore Elementary.  About 300 runners enjoyed the great weather and our Scouts helped them stay on route!  Thanks to Drew, Alex, Jacob, Jakob, and James for getting up early on Saturday to help out!

Talahi Chapter OA Ceremony Team performed an Arrow of Light ceremony for Cub Scout Pack 15 on Saturday 02/25.  The team featured three members of Little Troop 5: Alex, August, and Drew.  Congratulations to these Arrowmen on their cheerful service to this pack.

Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast: On Saturday, 02/25, the Kiwanis Club had it's annual Pancake Breakfast at First Methodist Church.  Troop 5 had a great showing, and a big thanks go out to the ten Scouts who helped make this another sucessful event for our sponsoring organization!  There was also a good turnout of leaders!  All together a great effort for Little Troop 5!

Merit Badge University at UT Austin: Eight Scouts and five leaders made the trip to Austin 02/17-19 and worked on a bunch of merit badges and completed a lot of them!  Troop 5 also did the color guard for the opening ceremony and they did a GREAT job!   

Austin Marathon: In conjunction with the merit badge in Austin, we had two leaders, including Mr. Shugart, who ran the half-marathon on Sunday.  Another leader and five of the Scouts ran the 5K.  A great time was had by all!  It was a great example of how Scouts work to keep themselves "physically strong"!

Scout Sunday: On 02/12, Troop 5 celebrated Scout Sunday at Grace Presbyterian Church.   We had four Scouts and three leaders in attendance and it was a great service to honor the 102nd birthday of the BSA!  Thanks to the Scouts and members at Grace for making us feel welcome!

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High Adventure information for 2012 and 2013... 

Scheduled high adventures trips for 2012 and 2013 and the expected budgets.

- July 2-7, 2012 - Wheeler Peak - Scouts $450/Adults $225
- Dec TBD, 2012 – Tentatively - Philmont Winter Program - Scouts $450/Adults $225
- May 24-27, 2013 - Spring Shakedown (location TBD) - Scouts $150/Adults $75
- Summer 2013 - Philmont - Scouts $1250/Adults $775

I know it is hard to commit to these without exact dates, but we know the Winter trip will be between Christmas and New Year and Summer 2013 Philmont will be while the scouts are out of school.  We cannot be more specific because these are assigned via a lottery and we won’t know until final assignment.

Special note…  The Wheeler Peak HA this summer is adjacent to Summer Camp.  This was done for the purpose of saving time and gas.  For those scouts attending both trips, the high adventure crew will meet up with the summer camp crew on the 7th and hand off scouts and adult leaders since both crews require an overnight stay at a midway point and are the same direction.

Worth Ranch in January: Nine Scouts and four leaders headed out to Worth for the first campout of 2012!

Winter High Adventure: Nine Scouts and five leaders from Troop 5 backpacked the Cross Timber trail at Lake Texoma over the Christmas break.  Reportedly a great hike, nearly 20 miles in four days and three nights.  Thanks to Hayden and Michael, two of our new ASMs who went along!

Congratulations to our new SPL, Alex M.!  and all our other new troop leaders...

Troop Senate: The Scouts met on Saturday afternoon to plan the calendar for 2012.  It looks like a really fun year, with a trip to UT Austin for a MB College plus canoeing, ziplining, shooting sports, and camporees!  It will be a great year to be part of Troop 5! 

Congratulations to Troop 5's own Zach W. who was recognized as a Founder's Award winner at the OA Lodge Banquet in Burleson.  Way to go, Zach! 

Summer Camp @ Worth Ranch: Little Troop 5 had a great week at Worth Ranch.  Only one injury that required a few stiches.  (Andrew will be looking for an opportunity to re-earn his Totin Chip!)  Three Scouts were recognized at the Friday night campfire for excellence in their respective merit badges.  Congrats to Drew for completing the mile swim!  Lot of fun and hard work by the Scouts.  Thanks also to the adult volunteers who took time away from their busy schedules to make it possible for the boys to go.  You can check out pictures and details of Troop 5's Big Adventure on Mr. Shugart's blog:-> The Bentfinger Chronicles.  

Check the calendar for this month's activities.

Please check out our donation link to help us reach our sponsorship goals -> http://www.active.com/donate/troop5

Summary of Scouting

Scout Law

Scout Oath (or Promise)

Scout Motto

Scout Slogan

Click here to view the Merit Badge Requirements at USScouts.org.

We are sponsored by The Kiwanis Club of Arlington

The Kiwanis Club of Arlington supports many different youth activities in greater Arlington. One of these youth activities is Troop 5. The Kiwanis Club of Arlington Chartered Troop 5 in 1997. Through their generous financial support of the troop, the troop has two trailers to hold over $10,000 worth of camping equipment for the boys of the Troop. In addition to equipment, the Kiwanis Club of Arlington has provided scholarship to boys to go to the National Scout Jamboree, Summer Camp, Northern Tier High Adventure and Philmont Scout Ranch. Troop 5 is very fortunate to have active support of its Chartering Organization. The Annual Fund Raiser for the Kiwanis Club of Arlington is the Pancake Breakfast. In addition to working the event, each boy of Troop 5 sells tickets to help support the Kiwanis and the Troop.

TROOP 5 – NEWS...

www.texastroop5.org

It's been too long since we added an item to this section, so maybe it has outlived it's usefulness.  Our Scoutmaster now mostly uses his blog to communicate his thoughts about what's going on with Little Troop 5.

Let me say that October has been a fun month so far.   There has been so much activity in Arlington, Texas with the Rangers in the playoffs for the first time in a long time, big college and pro football games at the Cowboys Stadium, and of course great high school football (and bands) all over the city! 

But Little Troop 5 has been busy this month too.  We had a great campout at Worth Ranch where the Scouts attended Junior Leadership Training (JLT) and hiked up to Kyle Mountain.  The weather was just about perfect for camping!

The Monterssori School held it's annual Fall Festival on October 16 and some of the Scouts helped out controlling the parking areas.   It's a small way we can give back to the school that provides us a place to meet every week.

On Monday, October 18th, Troop 5 will be hosting an open house for Webelos dens who are looking for a great troop to join in the spring.  Everyone will be involved and we hope to "put our best foot forward" as we try to show these young Scouts what it means to be "Troop 5"!

It amazes me how much work goes in to making our troop a success.  The Scouts work hard and the adult leadership does too!   Thanks to all who give of their time to make Troop 5 what it is: the BEST BOY SCOUT TROOP in the world!!!

Mack