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Disabled Scouts Breaking Barriers 7/5/10
Shelley Childers
schilders@cbs7.com
CBS 7 News
July 5, 2010
Ft. Davis, TX - Boy Scout camp is traditionally thought of with images of young scouts camping and hiking, but there is one troop here in West Texas that throws that image out the door.
This group of scouts follows the same code as other scouts, with integrity and honor, but it is their wide-ranging ages and abilities that set them apart from other troops.
"There's nothing real different about these guys, these guys are eager to learn," said Devin Upchurch, the Archery Director for the Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch.
Mona Free and her husband organized the first special needs troop in West Texas eleven years ago. "In disabled scouting there's no age limit, so they range from 18 to 65 right now."
She says the men of troop 650, prove that even though they may be a little older, they still have what it takes to go scouting. "To make an archery, to make a bulls eye in rifle, to learn about snake bites in trail to eagle."
"Juan, in my class just now, he tried teaching the class because he was so excited about archery, he was making the arrow and he wanted to stand up and show everybody the next part of the arrow," Upchurch said of Juan Callcos.
Many of these scouts weren’t given the opportunity as boys, and some like Jason Younger just needed more time. "I'm happy I got to join back up so I could increase my potential."
Here at the camp nestled in the Ft. Davis Mountains, these men are no only impacting their own lives, but also the lives of the hundreds of boy scouts around them.
"To build relationships, to bond together, that's why we're here to learn to do stuff, then we have time with all the troops," said David Pence, a member of Troop 650.
"And they really have inspired a lot of people and worked to hard for what they've accomplished," Free said of her scouts.
