Rays of Hope Rejuvenation Center

Rays of Hope Rejuvenation Center

Ann and I have been going to the the RAYS of HOPE Rejuvenation Center located at 113 S. US Hwy 441, in Lady Lake, FL, since they opened in 2015 to use their NovoTHOR  body Light Therapy pod (semi-enclosed bed) that emits red and near-infrared light to receive what is called photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) technology which use to be called low level light therapy (LLLT). Had to copy that technical stuff from their web page, I like the term light therapy.

Since Ann and I have been using this light therapy several times a week we have both had more energy and feel like getting out more and doing more fun activities than we did before using light therapy.

Ann who has lots of body pain issues with Fibromyalgia being the main pain generator was not able to get out of the house much prior to her using light therapy and now she is able to get out of the house several hours a day and we both feel her new found energy is from using light therapy.

Using light therapy sounds like science fiction or some sort of gimmick but it is working for both Ann and Me and as long as it works we are happy to use it to keep us happy.

Our two visits a week are fast and easy, I receive eight minutes while Ann who has more pain issues than I do takes in twelve minutes of light therapy.

We make an appointment, arrive, go into a booth, remove our clothing, go into the secure light therapy area, push the blue button on the therapy pod, the pod comes on emitting those red and near-infrared light lights, climb into the pod, pull the lid down over us, does not completely close so if you are claustrophobic like me you do not have to worry about being closed inside the pod. Close your eyes and let the light do the work for you and once the light goes off, push the lid up, go back into your booth, get dressed and head out for the rest of your day.

We enjoy the treatments and continue to have more energy as well as less pain in various areas of our bodies and have continued to use this new and improved light therapy so we can keep our energy flowing and constant.

I have heard some folks who get the light therapy treatments do not notice any changes in their medical issues, body aches or other issues, while other folks get immediate relief and only do as many sessions as it takes to resolve their issues and do not continue the light therapy.

Ann and I have had such good success with the light therapy treatments we continue to go several times a week just to make sure our bodies are getting all the therapy needed to ensure we keep our energy levels up, everyone is different when it comes to therapy and what works for one may not work for the others.

I feel that we all have to do what works for US when it comes to our health and when you find something that works for you, use it until it no longer works for you.

Robert W. Busby – February 17, 2016

Moments In Time At Fort Gordon, GA

In the early 1970s I was sent to the U. S. Army garrison at Fort Gordon, GA to attend Military Police (MP) Advanced Individual Training (AIT) so I could move from my Basic Combat Training (BCT) status as an Infantryman to being an MP.

This change of status was a calculated move that cost me an extra year in the U.S. Army since being trained as an MP added the extra time to my drafted status as U.S. where I only had to give two years of my life to the Army.

My flight from Fort Lewis, WA to Atlanta, GA on a civilian airline was uneventful but my flight from Atlanta to Augusta, GA was full of excitement since the plane was a twenty seat crop duster of sorts and the weather was rough. It seemed like we took off from the airport headed straight up into the sky leveled off for five minutes and dove straight down and landed at the very small Augusta, GA airport.

The crop duster we were in dove straight down towards the runway, we touched down bounced, skidded, coasted sideways, and broken with the smell of burning rubber filling the cabin. Once at the terminal we deplaned and got our luggage and boarded an old bus that would take us to Fort Gordon, GA.

An old bus picked us up at dark and drove down a very lonely and dark two lane road headed for Fort Gordon, GA and it seemed like any minute the bus was going to break down and leave us stranded in the middle of what looked like something from a southern hill Billy movie.

The buildings we were driving by, when there were buildings, look like they were abandoned and had abandoned trucks and cars in front of them, but there were lights on in the houses. I was from Texas and had not been outside Texas that much, and my trips to Fort Lewis and Fort Gordon were my first real travel outside of Texas.

The answer of why I was feeling weird and thought the area looked strange came to me as we passed under a street light at an intersection on the back road we were traveling on; the road was named Tobacco Road. My imagination was starting to run wild with visions of all sorts of problems with the bus, the road, the folks who lived in the area, and then we reached Fort Gordon, GA and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The bus stopped at the Military Gate and two MPs boarded the bus and told us to show them our military identification cards, we did, they left, the bus drove onto what looked like a scene from a John Wayne World War II movie, the barracks were old wooden two story left over’s from a long time ago. We drove through hundreds of these sorts of buildings until we got to one that was apparently my new home for the next several months.

As I glanced out the bus window I saw what appeared to be Mr. Clean from the TV commercials in a Drill Sergeant uniform yelling for everyone on the bust to get off, get our gear and stand in formation. Now it all made since, this was an Army thing, the Drill Sergeants at Fort Gordon acted just like the Drill Sergeants at Fort Lewis, WA – Crazy.

Another bus pulled up and unloaded another bunch of folks who joined our formation as they were also being yelled at to move it move it move it.

Once everyone was in formation Drill Sergeant Clean called out the name BUSBY, that could not be a good thing, but as I looked around there was not another BUSBY stepping forward or answering the Drill Sergeant. I answered but was not fast enough for the Drill Sergeant so I got yelled at and managed twenty push-ups before the Drill Sergeant told me to recover and yelled out to everyone I was the AIT Acting Platoon Sergeant till I screwed it up.

Being the acting platoon sergeant may sound like fun, but I had done that at BCT at Fort Lewis, WA and it was exhausting but apparently I did a good job previously and was task with the job once again here at Fort Gordon, GA.

I selected my acting squad sergeants and we all got into the WWII wooden barracks and got settled in, got the duty rosters set, and everyone in bed by 10:00 PM since we would be up at 5:00 AM sharp for the first day of MP AIT.

Remember this is my memory, if you were there and remember the memory differently write it down and post if so we can all see how you remembered it. There are more stories about this on the net now and more to follow as soon as I can remember them – smiles.

Hard Rock 1970s

 U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division Command (CID) Fun - Life Is Stranger Than Fiction

It was 8:00 PM on Friday night in Stuttgart Germany and the fun and excitement for all was about to start, it was pay day on the start of a long weekend.

This was the 1970’s and nothing was as it seemed in the land of German fun where every weekend U.S. soldiers and their families, well maybe not the kids, were out and about looking for fun at the night clubs, bars, and concerts.

 I was at the Officer Bachelors quarters at 5th General Hospital where I was living getting ready to go to work, no rest for the CID when everyone else was out having fun. These days I carried a tape of The Eagles song Heartache Tonight because folks tended to have way too much fun along with alcohol and late nights and early mornings tended to end with folks hurting each other.

These quarters were not all that bad, but I was not used to living alone, I was recently divorced, the life of an Army cop was not always fun, long hours at work, stress, and living far away from the U.S. did not make for a great family life for some folks. My wife at the time was not able to deal with my strange hours, mood swings, and at times being gone for days and weeks at a time. Life does not always work well with family life and at times life does not turn out the way we thought it would.

These times were strange and getting stranger. I had been divorced for about six months and was still not use to living alone or the dating game. I was just out of the shower and getting ready for my first semi-undercover or blend in with the crowd rock concert. I was not sure who was playing at the concert but did not care all that much, it would be a first for me. It was going to be a long night of people, noise, smoke, conflict and paper work.

I was a late twenty something U.S. soldier living life as it came and at this point in my life my luck with life had not been all that great, but I was living an exciting life day by day as a U.S. Army CID Special Agent (SA).

The radio beeped and my partner yelled that he was down in the car waiting and I needed to get moving or we would be late, like that was going to happen. I slipped into my jeans, shirt and shoes. Opened the lock box and took out my 38 Smith & Wesson and slid it into my ankle holster. The one good thing about bell bottom (yes bell-bottoms) pants was that the Smith did not show while I was wearing it. As I was leaving the room I checked to make sure I had my badge and credentials in my back pocket. I left the room and walked down the stairs to the waiting unmarked semi-undercover car and got in. The drive to the concert through Stuttgart seemed like it took forever but we finally arrived and parked.

I would guess there were about 10,000 yelling and screaming young Germans and U.S. Soldiers at the concert. The German police were out in force with dogs, riot police and such, just in case the concert got even more out of control than it was. I and my partner met up with our U.S. Military Police (MP) semi-undercover counter parts and went over the plan of what we were to do and how we were to locate and identify U.S. soldiers attending the concert who were having way too much fun.

U.S. soldiers who were observed holding or using illegal drugs would be contacted and an attempt would be made to become friends with the individual(s). Yes, doing the job of a cop can get very involved doing the job can be complicated.

Making friends or getting to know U.S. soldiers who were having too much fun was an attempt to identify the U.S. soldier drug user or dealer to try and determine who sold the drugs to the U.S. Soldiers in the Stuttgart, Germany area.

I did not make the rules, just enforced them. Yes, I was a U.S. Army CID semi-undercover agent in the 1970’s. It was such a strange life but someone had to do it. Where else could you get paid to go to rock concerts (this being my first) and drink beer (we could drink in moderation while working in those days) while doing things that others had to pay for?

At this particular concert I was approached by a beautiful young woman who was obviously a U.S. soldier who had  waist length brown hair who wanted to get to know me so we yelled and screamed to the loud music while swaying with the crowd. I should have known something was wrong right then. We hit it off and were having a great time for most of the concert. This woman was fantastic to look at, easy to talk to, fun to be with and she had a body that called out to me.

Then reality came back to me when the young woman wanted to know if I had any weed aka marijuana. I told her no and she told me she did and we could smoke it together. I knew this was not going to be a pretty outcome to a great night, but I was there to develop sources of information, so why couldn’t they be good looking sources?

We left the main concert area and headed out into the concession area and the parking lot. Once there this fine young woman wanted to smoke and smoke right then and there. I of course did not want to smoke, I wanted to talk. As the conversation continued I began to realize there was something not right with this situation.

The cute and fun woman was now talking about contacts for drugs that she could not possibly have instead of just having fun and enjoying the moment. We decided to walk out to her car to TALK some more. I decided this conversation was going nowhere and even though I liked this woman, once we got to her car and she showed me the marijuana I had a job to do and would have to do it. I gave the signal to my back up teams who had been shadowing me to move in.

Before my back up team could arrive, another group of MP semi-undercover drug agents arrived to arrest me! Yes, the good looking woman was a  semi-undercover MP drug investigator also looking for folks having way too much fun at the Rock Concert!

This happened a lot in those days. One police agency not knowing what the other agency was doing – It was like an episode from a bad television show.

Just as things were about to get ugly with my attempted detention by the MPs my back up team of CID SAs arrived and everyone was yelling and pointing guns at each other. Once everyone realized everyone with a gun also had a silver or gold Army badge the mood changed to one of disbelief.

When we were all finished laughing about this embarrassing incident we headed back into the concert hall to finish doing our jobs trying to keep folks from going crazy from using illegal drugs – the party line. I did not get the name of the young woman and was embarrassed to track her down that night.

I thought since she had such a great body and that very long brown hair she would be easy to find. Several weeks later I was not any closer to locating my mystery woman. While in the Military Police station at Stuttgart I  asked the Desk Sergeant if he knew of a female MP who met the description of this young woman. The Desk Sergeant laughed and yelled for his radio dispatcher to come out and talk to me.

A tall young woman with short brown hair walked out from behind the MP desk. She was nice looking but not the woman I was looking for. The young woman identified herself as Chris and asked if I had been to any more rock concerts! I looked again and sure enough it was the woman from the concert. She had her long brown waist length hair in a bun and the uniform hid her great body.

This was the start of a ten year relationship in Europe and the U.S. that was fantastic while it lasted. Living the life of an Army Cop is not easy and the stress and long hours can get in the way of the best of relationships.

Convoy

The life and times of an Army Criminal Investigator working with the US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) way back in the late 1970s at Fort Ord, California as remembered by ME, Retired Special Agent (SA) Chief Warrant Officer Three (CWO3) Robert (Bob) Busby.

These memories are the way I remember them, if anyone reading MY good old days has a different version, please write down the way you heard about or remember those days of yore in the late 1970s at Ft Ord, CA.

In the early days of my Army career in the CID my second CID assignment was with the Ft Ord District CID near Monterey and Carmel, CA. I had been in the CID just over a year, had my accreditation, and was a Specialist Six (SP6) enlisted SA.

At the time the CID at Ord covered most of CA for military felony criminal investigations. Investigating crime at Ord and the areas around Ord was wild enough, toss in crime at Ft Hunter Liggett and Ft Irwin which were the largest concentrations of Army folks away from Ord, and we had investigation fun just about every day of the year.

One day the Chief Warrant Officer 4 Operations Officer Jack Bennett advised me I was going to Irwin for a month to be the one SA covering any felony crime and would be replaced by another SA at the end of that time. My first day at Irwin I was presented with five assaults and one robbery from the week prior and had real fun just getting the crimes logged in, case files set up, and trying to find the crime scenes and the suspects, victims, and witnesses, which were all spread across this land of sand conducting war games. 

Called in my status report to the operations officer at Ord who said he would send another agent to assist since crime seemed to be jumping at Irwin. At that time there was an armored division from Texas involved in war games and they were not happy with the sand and the heat and were taking that unhappiness out on those around them.

Several days later a senior SA (CWO2 David Clark) arrived at Irwin to take the lead in the investigations. That meant we split the crimes and worked them separately unless they were very serious and then we worked together on them. I reported to CW2 Clark since he was more experienced and an officer.

There are many stories to be told about the cases Dave and I worked at Irwin but several seem more important. Then CW2 Clark, now Ret CW3 Clark is reading this so he will chime in with his versions of his stories of our time at Irwin in the late 1970s.

The wild stuff coming to my mind was finding Ft Irwin, finding a place to sleep and work, two soldiers impersonating a Lt at the Officers Club, cook assaulting a soldier with a soup ladle, military unit reporting a tank as a war loss, robberies of soldier on soldier, stopped by California Highway Patrol (CHP) on way back to Ord from Irwin. Have covered most of these stories in CID Short Stories and Your Story on my FB page, but will now talk about the ride home from Irwin after our month of investigations were completed.

Memory does not remind me how we headed home with three vehicles and six SAs but do remember we were in a convoy of three CID four door sedans with two SAs in each vehicle when we left Irwin.

We had been at Irwin for a month so on the trip back we had lots of case reports, evidence, radio equipment, guns, ammo, metal silver investigation kits that filled the back seat of each vehicle. The trunks were full of our suit cases. 

Dave being the senior SA was driving the lead vehicle and I being the next senior SA was driving the trail third vehicle. We kept in communication with our dash mounted Motorola car radios, we also had whip antennas. We were taking a back road through the mountains, no one was on the road but us or so we thought.

Dave decided we needed to get back to ORD as soon as possible so he was driving at light speed and the rest of us were following. After about three hours of light speed Dave came on the radio and indicated we just jetted by a CHP vehicle and to let him handle the conversation with the local CHP.

Sure enough a CHP vehicle appeared behind us with his lights and siren and as he drove by us he was pointing to the side of the road, then pulled up to Dave and motioned Dave over, we all pulled in behind Dave while the CHP pulled in front of Dave. The CHP officer got out of his car and walked to Dave and talked for several minutes. The CHP officer then started to walk back to the other two vehicles looking into the vehicles as he walked.

Dave came on the radio and said “Quick, cover up the guns and ammo”, but of course the CHP officer was already at my window. He ask who we were and where we were going so fast, told him, he then ask about the weapons and ammo and I mentioned we were on the way back to Ord after a month of solving crime. He smiled and said the guy driving the lead vehicle told him to give me a hard time…Frowns.

The CHP officer said to drive the speed limit, he walked back to his car and sped off at his own light speed. I got out to talk to Dave about the incident; Dave waited till I almost got to his car and then sped off. Got in my car and followed the convoy back to Ord.

There is more to these stories but will have to get rid of my current brain fog in order to elaborate on them more.

These are the stories of my time in the Army CID from 1976 to 1991.

Growing Up Moments

As mentioned previously these are my memories and I write them from the way I remember them, if you were involved in any of my memories and you remember them differently, jot down the way you remember those days and share – Smiles.

Getting my teeth pulled was never an easy or fun activity for me or my Mother, Maudy Beatrice (Bea) Dagley Busby but somehow my teeth managed to fall out, or get pulled if needed, no dentist, just me and Mother working to remove the teeth that were ready for removal.

I do not remember ever seeing a dentist while growing up in Waco, Texas - doubt we could afford such a thing unless it was an emergency (my sister had to see a dentist when our cousin Allen Busby (RIP) accidently hit my sister Carla Ruth Busby Miller in the face with a golf club. However I saw my first dentist at the U.S. Military Recruitment Station in Dallas Texas in 1970.

Way back in the 1950s and 1960s, at least at our house, when a tooth got loose we waited for it to fall out and if it did not fall out we tried to jiggle it free or pull the tooth free using various methods.

When we were living on Park Avenue when I was about nine years old one of my jaw teeth was loose and refuse to fall out, jiggle out and was starting to cause me swelling and pain. My view of removing teeth was to let the tooth fairy take care of the removal and pay me for having to give up one of my teeth. Sadly the tooth fairy only left me IOUs under my pillow when one of my teeth fell out.

One morning I woke up to see my Mother standing at the foot of my bed with a pair of pliers with a look on her face that told me my loose jaw tooth was going to come out that morning, Mother was tired of hearing me moan and groan about the tooth.

Immediately my mind came up with a plan and I convinced Mother we could tie one end of a string around the tooth and the other end to the door knob and the slam the door and the tooth would come out. Mother was suspicious but decided to let me try but it had to be done right then and there, no more waiting.

Tied the string to the tooth and the door knob and slammed the door, the string was to long or I was to close so the door shut and the tooth did not move.  On the second attempt I stepped back several more feet so when the door closed the tooth would come out, but once again the door closed and the tooth did not come out.

Before I could suggest another course of action my Mother jumped me (I was not injured in this attempt by my Mother to help me remove my jaw tooth) pushing me to the floor, sitting on my chest, spreading my mouth open, inserting the pliers and removed the tooth before I could complain!

When Mother got up several seconds later I said, see, and the tooth did not come out, and then I saw the tooth in the jaws of the pliers, ouch! My sister Carla who had been watching this amusing tooth removal handed me a large square of gauze to put in my mouth to stop the bleeding laughed and walked away telling Mother what a great job Mother had done.

Mother was a hand’s on individual when it came to getting medical issues taken care of, if the medical issues could not be handled at home and as a last resort we would go see a doctor.

How did those of you reading this moment in my time get your teeth pulled or removed when you were growing up?

Learning how to swim in the 1960s

Way back in the time before computers in the 1960s when most of us had only one television in the house and only two television channels to watch from 6:00 AM in the morning till 12:00 PM at night and spent most of our time in public school from 8:00 AM until 3:00 PM during the week and had to be in the house before dark which was usually about 6:00 PM we still had fun and enjoyed life the best we could.

If we were lucky there was something on TV to watch but most of the time it was news and sports with a few soap operas and game shows tossed in and we had homework so our time was filled with very little to do except read and do homework during the week.

My parents both worked long hours so we did not get out much other than to play after school in the neighborhood before dark. If we had any real fun it would be on weekends when our parents were not working but most of the time we spent our time at home or around home.

My family did not live near a swimming pool, and my Mother did not swim so she did not want me to swim either, so learning to swim was not on my list of things to do until I was about 12 and became a Boy Scout (BS) where we had to learn how to swim.

I have written many stories about my time in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) so it should be no surprise I learned how to swim at a BS summer camp in Central Texas called Camp Tahuaya.

http://www.longhorncouncil.org/camps-properties/boy-scout-camps/camp-tahuaya/

Learning to swim was no easy task for me, but I read the books, practiced the skill in principle without water and was determined to master the fun of swimming at summer camp in 1962. On my forth day at Camp Tahuaya I was scheduled to practice for the BSA swimming merit badge at the Tahuaya outdoor pool along with about fifty other guys. 

On arrival at the large cement pond surrounded by a tall fence it was obvious folks were getting ready to swim, the entire pool was full of guys practicing their swim skills in preparation for the swimming merit badge.

These folks were serious or as serious as I was about obtaining the swimming merit badge, but they seemed to already know how to swim, could I have missed that part of the qualifications for the merit badge? Maybe I embellished my floating and water walking skills when applying for and answering the questions for the swimming merit badge, or maybe my swim skills were better than I thought, but hey I was 12 so life was an embellishment at times.

https://www.meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Swimming

I should point out all of the knowledge requirements for the swimming merit badge were completed with a merit badge counselor at the camping area prior to arrival at the pool, all we had to do at the pool was swim and get our merit badge book signed.

Since everyone else was in the pool treading water, practicing their kicks, flutters, strokes, and ability to enter the water correctly along with a few breathing techniques I jumped in and started my own warm ups for the swimming merit badge.

The swimming merit badge required the following:  

1. Jump feet first into water over the head in depth. Level off and swim 75 yards in a strong manner using one or more of the following strokes: sidestroke, breaststroke, trudgen, or crawl; then swim 25 yards using an easy, resting backstroke. The 100 yards must be completed in one swim without stops and must include at least one sharp turn. After completing the swim, rest by floating.
2. Swim continuously for 150 yards using the following strokes in good form and in a strong manner: front crawl or trudgen for 25 yards, back crawl for 25 yards, sidestroke for 25 yards, breaststroke for 25 yards, and elementary backstroke for 50 yards.
1. Demonstrate water rescue methods by reaching with your arm or leg, by reaching with a suitable object, and by throwing lines and objects.
2. With a helper and a practice victim, show a line rescue both as tender and as rescuer. The practice victim should be approximately 30 feet from shore in deep water.
3.  
1. Float face-up in a resting position for at least one minute.
2. Demonstrate survival floating for at least five minutes.
3. While wearing a properly fitted U.S. Coast Guard–approved life jacket, demonstrate the HELP and huddle positions. Explain their purposes.
4. In water over your head, but not to exceed 10 feet, do each of the following:
1. Use the feet first method of surface diving and bring an object up from the bottom.
2. Do a headfirst surface dive (pike or tuck), and bring the object up again.
3. Do a headfirst surface dive to a depth of at least 5 feet and swim underwater for three strokes. Come to the surface, take a breath, and repeat the sequence twice.
5. Following the guidelines set in the BSA Safe Swim Defense, in water at least 7 feet deep*, show a standing headfirst dive from a dock or pool deck. Show a long shallow dive, also from the dock or pool deck.

The requirements look and sound like a lot to accomplish but in reality we covered the small stuff in groups, then did the major swim task by jumping into the pool at the deep end and swimming to the shallow end, turning and swimming back to the deep end using various swim strokes along the way. Senior Water Safety Instructors were on all sides of the pool evaluating us as we swam, if we met the requirements we passed and if not we got to come back the next session and try again. Lucky for me I was able to get all the swimming merit badge requirements accomplished in my first attempt and get on with other fun aquatic fun stuff.

Out And About With The Boy Scouts Of America (BSA)

In the mid 1960s while I was going to school at North Waco Junior High School (NJHS) in Waco, Texas I walked to and from North Waco from my house located just blocks away at 2701 Herring Ave.

In those days no one seem to worry about us kids being snatched, up-ducted, seized or that we would run away from home. Seemed to me like I walked to and from school without my sister, not sure if she walked or if my parents took her, we did go to the same schools.

One day while walking from school to my house I noticed a sign for the BSA in front of what looked like an old shack. This shack was adjacent to the Richer Catholic High School football stadium and the BSA Troop #262 was sponsored by the Catholic Church.

I had been walking by this location for weeks and had not noticed the BSA sign, I had just started the seventh grade at NJHS so this was a new route for me to walk, previously I walked a different direction to and from my house to North Waco Elementary School.

The BSA sign indicated the troop met at 6:00 PM on Mondays, I was just finished with football practice and it was 5:45 PM so I walked over to the shack and started taking to some of the boys who were there. The Troop Scout Master (TSM) suggested I tell my parents about the BSA and if they agreed to letting me join the BSA I should bring back the forms he gave me to the meeting they were having that day

.

As I was about to leave the BSA meeting shack my father who was on his way home from work drove by, saw me and pulled into the parking area to see what I was doing. Dad met the TSM and they got along right away, it was then and only then I found out my Father had been in the BSA when he was a kid, he had never talked about it.

Dad signed the papers for me to join since I was interested and told me come straight home after the meeting. It did not get dark till late that day so I was not walking home in the dark.

I stayed for the BSA meeting, learned a little about being a member of the BSA and how Troop #262 operated. We formed up in lines or patrols, each patrol had a patrol leader, the meeting started with all of saying the pledge of allegiance and then saying the scout oath. There was a large poster of the BSA oath on the front wall so it was easy for me to say it along with the other.

It was then I learned the BSA had ranks and I was starting off at the bottom as what was called a Tender Foot Scout. Once the Allegiance and the Oath were said, the TSM welcome several of us new BSA Tender Foots, and then turned the meeting over to a BSA Life Scout who talked and gave out information to the Patrol Leaders and then we all broke into small training groups to study up on BSA skills.

In my days in the BSA the rank structure was Tender Foot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, Eagle and of course the TSM.

After an hour of learning about BSA skills we all went outside to play character building games like dodge ball, red rover red rove, and steal the flag. What a great night it was and I was hooked and stayed in the BSA for the next six years.

Since I enjoyed the BSA I rose quickly in the ranks to Eagle Scout with Three Oak Leaf Clusters. Later while in the U.S. Army I would serve as an Assistant Scout Leader and Merit Badge Counselor.

Once I retired from the U.S. Army I would volunteer as a Merit Badge Counselor when needed while living in New Mexico, Texas and Virginia.

I have written and will write more stories of the life and times of me in the BSA. 

Swimming as a job

I mentioned previously that I learned to swim in the Boy Scouts in order to get the swimming merit badge and BSA life guard badge.

Once I had the swimming merit badge I went on to work as a life guard and swimming instructor for my scout troop.

In order to assist other scouts with their swimming I needed to get my junior and senior life saving badges along with my water safety instructor certification.

At the ripe old age of 14 I attended the junior life saving class at the Sun Pool in Waco, Texas . I was rather large for my age and was the largest and youngest guy taking the junior life saving certificate.

The class lasted four hours a day for ten days. We practiced the breast stroke, the American crawl, the side stroke, the back stroke, threading water with our feet only, hands only and then treading water with feet and hands!

We practiced doing the life guard entry into the pool from the life guard stand and the high and low diving boards. We had diving boards at all the pools in the 60’s.

We watched films on how to save a person drowning, how to swim out to them, how to get hold of them, how to hold them when saving them, how to swim with them, how to get them out of the pool, how to give them mouth-to-mouth and CPR as needed.

We practiced saving each other in the shallow and deep ends of the pool.

We learned to use the safety ring to save people as well as how to wade into the water to save people.

There was also a section in the training on how to enforce pool rules, eject people from the pool, and bar people from the pool who would not follow the rules on a daily basis.

Then we also had training on how to clean the pool, run the cash register, receipt for cash, make change, store cash, deposit the daily receipts at the bank, make duty rosters for work schedules, and of course check the chlorine levels.

At the end of the training 10 of the 22 who started the training completed the training. Once the training was completed all 10 of us tested to be a junior life guard and the test was not an easy test at all.

The water safety instructor (WSI) who was at least 20 and going to College at Baylor University would swim out to the middle of the deep end, turn his back to us, then yell go.

We were to swim out to him using the training we had received, take hold of him, swim back to the side of the pool with him, and then get him out of the pool! This was not an easy test but we had to do it. The WSI was six feet tall and in very good shape, so he was not going to be easy to save or pull out if he wanted to fight.

The first five junior life savers’s had no problem swimming out to the WSI, taking hold of him, swimming back with him or in getting him out of the pool. I figured he wanted to get this over with and was not going to fight or cause any of us a problem, little did I know!

When it was my turn, I used the correct entry jump into the pool, used the breast stroke out to the victim who was treading water and facing away from me, slowed, announced my presence while treading water and was just about place the victim into the life saving hold to tow him in from the pool.

You may have already figured out that this was not going to be an easy save like the others had.

The WSI turned as I was about to grab him and leaped out of the water and came down on my head and shoulders! Yep, I was going to be the example for the remaining few on what can happen when you are trying to save someone.

As the sun disappeared from view due to the WSI’s body blocking it from my vision as I was pushed down into the water, I was trying to remember what I was supposed to do in this situation. I could hear the gasp from my fellow life savers to be as they observed what was taking place.

The WSI and I were on the express route to the bottom of the deep end of the pool which was 11 feet deep! I got a good breath of air, ducked my head and face and turned into my chest so the WSI could not get his arms under my chin and pulled my arms in close to my body so the WSI could not get a good grip on me.

Now we were on our way to the bottom and I could hear him laughing and that did not make me a happy camper. As the seconds seemed like hours I hada flash back from one of the films we watched on how to get out of just this sort of situation. However, I did not like the results of that save and I did not like the way this WSI was taking his frustrations out on me in order to prove a point to the class.

I decided to devise my own escape and life saving maneuver and see if what I came up with would save the victim and get me my junior life saving badge.

I waited for a moment to see if the WSI would end this water prank, but he did not seem to want to let me up so just as we touched down on the bottom of the pool I reached up under both of his arm pits and grabbed two hands full of arm pit hair, twisted it, and pulled down as hard as I could.

Did I mention I was 5’11” tall, weighed 170 pounds, ran track and played football and my stomach was in my chest in those days?

I and those from my life saving class heard the blood curdling yell from the WSI who was 11 feet under water with me. I then pulled even harder on his under arm hair when we did not move and we shot to the surface a lot faster than we descended to the bottom of the pool.

Once on the surface I had no problems getting control of the WSI using the proper side stroke and neck and shoulder hold to pull him to the side of the pull. I never let go of one hand full of arm pit hair as we were moving to the side of the pool.

The next challenge was going to be getting the WSI onto the side of the pool. At that moment I let go of the arm pit hair and the WSI stated the test was over and that I passed!

The rest of the life savers completed their test but the WSI did not try anything funny with them and they all passed all ten of us passed.

It was at the end of the day when the WSI handed out the patches that I got a surprise when I got two patches, one Junior Life Saving patch and one Senior Life Saving patch!

I ask about this and was told by the WSI they were short of life guards and I was good at using the book rules for life saving and thinking quickly in order to save lives. He wanted me to work that summer as a Senior Life Saver so he gave me both patches.

Talk about a wild and strange summer for a 14 year old Eagle Scout who did not like water!

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/lifeg.aspx

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges/mb-CAMP.aspx

http://www.ilsf.org/sites/ilsf.org/files/filefield/APP%2006%20ILS%20Junior%20Lifesaver.pdf