Boy Scouts of America has always been one of the biggest repositories of learning. BSA has not only taught me wilderness and survival skills, but also some politics, fingerprinting, and countless different hobbies and sports. Although all the skills taught had some things that were valuable, one that stands out is First Aid, the second merit badge I earned in my time as a Boy Scout.
In the First Aid Merit Badge, we were taught a variety of initial ways to treat an injury while in the wilderness. The counselors started with the basics of simple scratches and cuts. Then, we learned the ways to deal with a puncture wound and how to take a fish hook out of someone’s flesh. I had no trouble in getting the right way of treating insect stings, burns, hypothermia, poisonous snake bites, and heat exhaustion. But when the counselors starting instructing us on treating sprained ankles, wrists, and broken arms, I became totally helpless. I had to use a specific knot to tie a straight piece of wood onto Darren’s “broken” arm, for he was also taking the merit badge with me. My knot was super weak, and the moment Darren lifted his arm, the knot came loose. As Darren laughed uncontrollably at me, I attempted it again. This time, the knot was slightly more secure.
Almost all of these skills have come in handy sometime during my time as a Boy Scout. But, for some unknown reason, first aid skills were particularly important to have during one specific week-long summer camp, which took place on Catalina Island.
Since this camp was Wesley’s first one, Darren was his buddy. I was paired with Naam, another scout who was also our patrol leader, and who always seemed to have an injury somewhere on his body, from simple cuts to broken bones. Surprisingly, Naam came to camp with only a slight scar. But barely an hour into camp, when we were heading down for lunch, Naam tripped on a tree root, skinning his knee. As he washed the shallow wound, I sighed and pulled out a bandage, which I handed to him.
The next day passed without accidents, and I knew this was too good to last. On the third day, Naam carelessly grabbed the flap to our tent, in which a bee was hiding. At the time, I didn’t know what was happening, so I jumped at the sound of Naam’s yell of pain. It wasn’t until I saw the little stinger protruding from his hand did I understand what had happened. I immediately flipped open my pocketknife and used the dull side of the knife to scrape out the stinger. When it finally came out, Naam gave a sigh of relief. I felt lucky that I had taken the First Aid merit badge, for I was about to pinch the end of the stinger to pull it out, which would have released all the bee venom. I remembered the first aid lesson about stings and applied the right instructions to it. If I hadn’t, then Naam would have had a very painful and slow recovery.
Finally, the last day of camp arrived, without further injuries happening to Naam, and I was pleasantly surprised. But, when Naam and I were packing up our tent, he was using his heavy shovel to lever up the tent pegs, which wasn't a good thing. Sadly, I was working next to him, packing up the poles. He lost control of the shovel and sent it flying. The tip of the shovel landed perfectly in the center of my palm, leaving a big gash. I immediately jumped up from my crouch and bit my lip to stop a scream. Naam was paralyzed there, and I had to ask Darren for help on cleaning the wound with a high pressure stream of water. After the wound was clean, I saw that it wasn’t as deep as I had originally thought, which was very lucky.
Of all the skills that I have learned in Boy Scouts, I think that First Aid would count as something very important. It benefits not only me, but my fellow scouts as well. Learning the right way to aid someone is not complicated at all, and it can be lifesaving!