U.S. admin on 20 Apr 2007 11:26 am
President Bush to Honor “Gnat Guard”
(FiniteTimes.com) – When Bob Pritchett first got the early morning call on April 15th, he thought someone was having him on.
“Here was this guy with a cowboy drawl saying, ‘Bobby Boy, I’m calling up your troops, prepare to get wet, heh heh,’ and I’m thinking yeah, right,” Pritchett recalled. “Then the photo-op crew showed up with their cameras and mics, and I knew my country needed me.”
The midnight cowboy caller in question was indeed President George W. Bush, and the troops he was calling up to deal with area flooding were Boy Scouts from Troop 124, out of Wayne, New Jersey. While the New Jersey National Guard usually gets such assignments, Troop 124 was less busy “bringing democracy,” and thus got the call.
“It was cool. I got to earn my Swimming badge, and my Rowing badge, and my End Times Preparedness badge,” said First Class Scout Rusty Jones.
“Don’t forget old Mrs. Miller. That got us the Taxidermy badge,” piped in Plebe Scout Daniel Ellis.
“Sh, Troop Master Bob told us not to talk about that,” admonished Jones.
The troop performed so well that they will be honored next week in a special Rose Garden ceremony with one-of-a-kind Executive Merit badges. President Bush has been talking up the New Jersey youths in recent days, calling them his “gnat guard” and pointing to them as a symbol of American excellence, service and improvisation.
Not everyone in Wayne was blown away by the boys’ performance in the flood, however. Many complain that they filled more feet of video tape than sand bags.
“They weren’t helping so much as posing for this camera crew that was with them,” said one resident. “They weren’t completely useless, I guess. They’d help you across the flooded street if you swore you weren’t a fairy, and you could stick ‘em on a lawn and keep an eye on the flooding by the water level on their little legs. That’s something, I guess.”
Footage of the troop in action can currently be found on the National Guard’s official Website:
http://www.arng.army.mil/child_recruitment_program.html
____________
Related Stories
