CHAPTER 13 ARMS ALOFT! 
 
“And just when you’re thinking about slinking down, I’m gonna pull you up.” 
-Joe Strummer 


The next morning, we all woke up early. And we picked up right where we left off. Alex and Sawyer instantly started rough housing. All our gear was getting tossed around the tent. I didn’t have to unzip the tent door because Alex’s feet were still hanging out. I rolled out the tent door, even though I was still only in my boxers. I reached back in the tent, grabbed my pants, shirt and toiletry kit. I searched for a water faucet. I needed to brush my teeth. I also wanted to get some water on my face. As I looked around, I noticed that Adam was already up. It was amazing, he was up and fully dressed in his camp uniform. He had the food out and our camp kitchen up and running. He was making the patrol a full breakfast of eggs, toast and sausage!  


“Good morning.” I said to him. “You know how to cook? I didn’t know that.”

“Yes. It’s part of the regimen my dad and I go through. We’re up at 6:00 every morning. I make my bed. It takes 10 minutes to hit the head. Then I go downstairs to make breakfast. When you have a military dad, you always stay on schedule.” 

“Great. Well thanks.” 

 

“Guys, knock it off. Breakfast is almost ready.” 

No shit?” Sawyer quickly dropped Alex and walked over to where Adam was cooking. “Look at this spread! Way to go Adam!” 

Kyle appeared from his tent and started yelling at the entire troop. 

“Listen up! You all need to get up and out of your tents now. You have 15 minutes for breakfast. Then we will assemble in the field for our first competition event.” 

“15 minutes!” The troop complained. That’s not enough time.” 

“Then you shouldn’t have overslept!” Kyle barked back.  

The fact was the Kyle overslept and didn’t give everyone enough time to have breakfast. Typical shitty leadership from Kyle, he screws up and then blames everyone else. I looked around at the other patrols. With only 15 minutes, they weren’t going to manage to cook a full breakfast. It was cold muffins and milk for them. We scarfed down our food. Then we all chipped in. We washed the dishes. We made sure all our mess kits and food were stored away. We were the first patrol ready for the day.  

_______________________________________ 2 _____________________________________ 
 
15 minutes later we were down at the field near our camp sites. The other patrols filed in 5 minutes later. We all lined up by patrol. Kyle and his goon squad marched to the front of the assembly and lined up.  

 Then Scoutmaster Miltner and a few other adults stepped up on the small stage at the front of the assembly. 

Our first challenge,” Miltner addressed our crowd, “is a variation of capture the flag.”  

Kyle and the goon squad burst into a cheer.  

Miltner continued. “This challenge was developed by the Red Devil patrol.” Kyle and his patrol burst into a cheer. This was their game, they developed it. So obviously it’s going to be developed for their advantage.  

“The challenge is a variation of capture the flag! In this challenge, all five patrols will compete together. You see around this field we have five goals. Each goal is painted either blue, green, yellow, red or orange. There are also five soccer balls placed around the perimeter of the field. These soccer balls are also painted blue, green, yellow, red or orange. Each patrol will be assigned a color. It is your goal as a patrol to collect all of the colored balls and return them to your goal. But you must also defend your colored ball and keep it from being captured by an opposing team. The twist is you can’t pick up the ball and you can’t carry the ball. You can only kick the ball.”  

“Great” Sawyer says to me and the others. “Kyle and his goons, who are all on the soccer team, design a game using soccer skills. Yeah, that’s not rigged.” 

Miltner continued. “You have five minutes to devise a strategy. The challenge will last for 15 minutes. At the end of the time, the patrol with the most balls in their goal earns a point. They will win one point in the competition.” 

Guys, huddle up.” I gathered the guys. “Who can defend our goal?” 

I can.” Arnaub volunteered. “I played some summer league ball. I can try to defend.” 

Great. Alex, Sawyer, Adam and I will fan out. I think the first thing we need to do is find our ball and defend it.  

Mr. Miltner approached our group. He was holding a small bag in his hand. “Boys I need your team captain to reach into this bag and pull out one poker chip. That will decide your team color.” 

I reached in the bag and pulled out the blue chip.  

“The Magnificent 7 Patrol draws blue. Your goal is on that edge of the field. Good luck.” 

“OK guys, let’s do this.” I told my gang. Arnaub jogged off to the side of the field and set himself up in front of the blue goal. We started looking around where they set the blue soccer ball. 

“There, I see it.” Alex pointed across the field. On the sideline, not far from the yellow goal was our blue soccer ball. We fanned out and headed across the field. Instantly, it was clear that this wasn’t a game with any form of strategy or team building. It was just a chaotic free for all. No planning, no rules, no strategy. It was obvious Kyle, and his goon just threw this together at the last minute. They didn’t think this through at all.  
 
Alex and I were headed across the field and Adam spread out wide from us. He seemed to be outflanking the mob. The mob was wildly kicking and thrashing at each other in the middle of the field. A massive dust cloud kicked up. One of the other team’s balls, the yellow ball, popped out free from the crowd. It bounced a few times right in front of Adam. Adam saw the ball and stopped it with his foot. He was thinking fast. He quickly pivoted and tried to kick the ball back to our goal where Arnaub was standing. From Adam’s blind side came two of Kyle’s goon squad. It dawned on me that Kyle’s patrol was defending the yellow goal. They were going after the yellow ball. The two goons came up on Adam just as he was getting ready to kick the ball. He was at his most vulnerable. And here’s where is became obvious that these guys were playing dirty. They didn’t go for the ball.

Adam wailed in pain and right away fell to the ground. But everyone just kept on playing. Alex and I ran over to where Adam was laying in the dirt. The two goons started to jog away looking over their shoulder and laughing. Burnside saw what happened and started running toward us. He ran out on the field. Then, he came face to face with the two morons who had sandwiched Adam. He looked them dead in the eyes and started his infamous Burnside growl. Then he leaned in and whispered to them.
 
“Next time, I’m coming in the game.” He glared right at them.  

The two bullies clearly were ready to shit their pants. They ran from Burnside, leaving the yellow ball where it came to rest at Burnside’s feet. Burnside looked and kicked it over to Arnaub. One point fur us!  

“Dude, are you OK?” Sawyer asked.  

Adam slowly opened his eyes. It must have been a scary sight. Me, Sawyer, Alex, and Burnside were leaning over and staring right at him.  

“Yeah! I just need a minute.” Adam slowly got to his feet. 

“I think you need to take a break. Come to the sidelines and get a drink of water. Let’s make sure you’re OK.”  Burnside suggested.
 
“No!” Adam snapped. This surprised us all, even Burnside. “Sorry, but I’m tired of this. This happens every single day. Someone bigger or older tries to feel good by picking on the little weaker kid. No more. That’s what they think they can get away with. No more. I want to stay in with my team.” 

“You sure?” Burnside asked? 

“I’m staying.” Adam insisted.  

We all rallied around Adam and gave him one of the biggest group bear hugs we could muster.  

“OK. Let’s regroup. We still need to capture the blue ball. ” I said. 

“Over there.” Sawyer noticed the blue ball. He pointed out that a few other patrols were battling for control. “Let’s go.”  

We followed Sawyer into battle. As we started moving, I saw something out of the corner of my eye that made my blood boil. Kyle was standing with the two bullies that just took out Adam. They we’re high-fiving and laughing. Again, cruelty was the point of their game. They were looking for their next target. And they found him. They were looking straight at Alex. Like a pack of hyenas, they started jogging right for him. I yelled out to Alex to warn him. But in the chaos, he couldn’t hear me. Kyle reached him first. Alex just approached the blue ball and was using his foot to try to get control of it. That’s when Kyle struck. Kyle pretended to go for the ball, but he intentionally missed and kicked Alex in his planted ankle. This was his bad ankle. When I first met Alex after soccer try outs, this was the ankle Alex had in a boot to heal. Kyle knew that ankle was a weak spot for Alex and intentionally tried to injure it. Alex went down hard grabbing his ankle.  
I felt the blood rushing to my face in anger. If I saw myself in a mirror my face and ears were probably steaming red. I look like that when I am angry. I looked at Alex on the ground holding his ankle. He made eye contact with me. I started jogging towards him. But he waived me off. “I’ll be OK” he mouthed to me. He pointed at Kyle. He wanted me to go after our blue ball. I pivoted and bolted towards Kyle. His back was to me. So, he didn’t see me coming. Now I was the hyena stalking his prey. 

Kyle was oblivious to my stalking him. He thought he had an easy path to get the ball back to his goal. As usual, he wasn’t paying any attention to his teammates. He wasn’t passing the ball. He wasn’t using his teammates for blocking of protection. He was in his own little world. And that made him an easy target for me.  

I managed to catch up to him and stay in his blind spot. He didn’t hear me coming. And as soon as I saw an opportunity open, I pounced. Kyle tried taking the ball to his left. He wanted to take the ball all the way to his goal. But he didn’t see me in his blind spot. As soon as he started his left turn, he turned right into me. I simply had to speed up and I was right in his path. I used my left leg and reached for the ball. This made me pivot right into him, hip to hip. Then with my right leg, I tangled him up. The ball was loose. Technically in a real game of soccer, the play would be dead. I should disengage Kyle and move on. But I didn’t. I should have gone for the ball. But I didn’t. I had Kyle tangled up, and I was still pissed at what he did to Adam and Alex. I was pissed at his power trips. I was pissed that he set this whole damn game up just to bully the smaller kids. I thrust my left hip into his and extended my left leg in front of him.

“Good.” I thought to myself. I wanted to tell him he deserved it. I wanted to stand over his dusty ass and taunt him. But I didn’t. I left him there and just started to jog away. I looked back over my shoulder and Kyle was still laying in the dirt.  

And it hit me. I didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel victorious. I didn’t feel like I got justice for what his goons did to Adam and Alex. In fact, I felt like shit. Kyle was publicly embarrassed, but I also felt embarrassed, on the inside. I just stood there in the middle of that chaos on the field. Nobody stopped to help Kyle get up, not even his own teammates. All the depression and anxiety that I thought was handling so well started to come back to me in waves.

“I am shit. I am an asshole.” I mentally beat myself up. I thought I was going to start crying. But I couldn’t let anybody see me like that. I started looking around for a place to where I run. But there was no place to hide. I just stood there in the field circling around for a place to run.  

Then I saw Burnside standing on the side of the field. “God dammit” I admonished myself. I saw by the look on his face that he saw the whole thing. He saw what I did. He didn’t show any anger on his face. But he certainly wasn’t celebrating. I slowly walked out of that chaos towards him. I was doing everything to hold back any tears. When I reached him, we just stood there, face to face. Then he reached out and gave me the biggest bear hug. I needed that. I haven’t felt safe and …forgiven…like that since my dad died.  

“I’m sorry.” I told Burnside. 

“No. Never apologize. Move on.” He told me. 

“I screwed up.”  

“Hey, who doesn’t?” He put his hands squarely on my shoulders. “The important thing is you know how you screwed up. Do you understand?” 

“No.” I shook my head. “Well, yes. I took out Kyle with a flagrant foul. But I was pissed.” 

“The foul isn’t where you screwed up.” Burnside said. “You screwed up when you started playing their game. You lost sight of yourself and started becoming the chaos. In times like this, the best thing you can do is stop and reset yourself. Understand?” 

“I think so. But not really” 

“Start playing YOUR game, not theirs. Regroup with your patrol and they’ll help you figure it out.” 

Just then the whistle blew.  

“TIME!” Scoutmaster Miltner called out. We all looked around. Kyle’s patrol clearly won, they had captured the most of their opponent’s balls and protected their own goal. The tournament now stood at 2 points for our Magnificent 7 patrol, 1 point for Kyle’s Dark Marauders patrol. There was one more event today and one larger event tomorrow. We need to hold our lead to win this thing. 

_____________________________________ 3 _______________________________________ 

The entire patrol took a break for lunch. We all had 30 minutes to get back to our camp site. We needed to make lunch and be ready back at the field for the next event. We opened our patrol box. We dug out the bread, lunch meat, peanut butter and jelly, and a big bag of chips. We each made our own sandwiches. We sat there in silence eating. We we’re beat up. I knew Adam was still hurting from the double team hits he took. When I looked over at Alex, he was rubbing his sore ankle. I saw tell they both were in serious pain, but they didn’t want to let on. 

“Anybody know what the next event is?” Arnaub asked. 

“No clue.” Sawyer replied. Sawyer was lying flat on his back on the ground. Even he was exhausted. “But I can tell you it’s going to be rigged against us.” 

“You got that right” 

We all turned around. Burnside was sitting in his van. The side door was wide open, and he was sitting half in, half out. He had his lunch all set up.  

“Do you know what the next event is?” I asked Burnside. 

“Yes.” Burnside replied 

“Tell us!” I barked at him. “Help us! We need you. What do we need to do to win this?” 

“No. I won’t tell you. And to be blunt, it doesn’t matter. Even if you knew what the event was ahead of time, I can’t help you.” 

“But why!” I protested. I was getting really pissed at Burnside. He knew what was coming, he had the opportunity to help us, and he wouldn’t 

“Because it wouldn’t be fair.” 

“Fair! Nothing about that last event was fair.” Alex protested. 

“I can’t believe you won’t help us.” I was disappointed in Burnside, and he saw it. But he stuck to his guns. 

“Guys. It doesn’t matter if I tell you or not. It doesn’t matter if I give you the secret to winning.” 

“Yes, it does!” I snapped at him. “We need to win this thing.” 

“Robbie, repeat to me what I told you down at the field at the end of the event.” 

“I don’t remember.” 

“Yes, you do. Think.” 

“You said I was playing the wrong game.”  

“Correct.” 

“I still don’t know what that means.” I was exhausted, confused, hungry and now agitated. I was really pissed at Burnside. Here he could help us win and take Kyle down, and he wouldn’t help us. 

“All of you listen to me. I told this to Robbie and now I’m saying it to you. Make sure you are playing the right game. Are you playing your game? Or are you playing their game? Once you figure that out, victory will be yours.” 

“Dude, you’re going Yoda on us. I’m so confused.” Sawyer groaned. 

Then the whistle blew. It was time to get down to the field for the next event. We all helped each other up and started to walk back to the event field. 

“Thanks for nothing.” I quipped at Burnside. 

“You’re welcome.” Burnside chuckled back. 

When we arrived at the competition field, we saw what our next challenge was going to be. A full military style obstacle course had been set up. The course had four main obstacle sections.  

 

“Scouts form up!” Kyle barked. “This afternoon we have our 2nd event. As you can see, this is a recreation of a military obstacle course. Any of you in ROTC will recognize this course.” Kyle’s goon squad started laughing and high fiving each other. 

 “Of course.” I thought to myself. Three of Kyle’s patrol were also in ROTC. So of course, they were going to develop an event where they had had experience and had an advantage. “This is bullshit.” I muttered to myself. 

“To make things even more challenging “Kyle looked over at his patrol buddies. “We are going to add a twist. We are going to make this event even more difficult.”  

The entire troop groaned.  

“Silence!” Kyle snapped. “My job is to make this the most difficult weekend of your scouting career. You’ll remember this weekend for the rest of your lives. And someday you’ll thank me for it.” 

“Oh, piss of you twizzler.” Sawyer yelled back. 

Kyle just didn’t get it. He truly believed it was his job make everything hard. He actually thought that making things more difficult and more painful made us better scouts. He also believed that making things more difficult and more painful made him a better leader. I truly understood how wrong he was. And when I looked over at his patrol, I saw how wrong they were. They bought into that bullshit. These were insecure small people trying to act big. And I also looked over at the side of the field. There was Kyle’s mom smiling. I knew she helped them devise this. I knew she was pushing her son in this direction. This wasn’t leadership. This wasn’t building people up. This wasn’t leadership by example. This was pure insecure cruelty. It was making people hurt to make yourself feel better. The whole thing made me sick. 

“Behind you, “Kyle continued. “Is a standard military issue medical cot. Each patrol will pick one member of their team to be strapped to the cot. The other members must carry their team member through the course. They will transport him as if evacuating in a real-world situation. ” 

The entire troop groaned. 

“What the hell?” 

“Who is the idiot that thought this up?” 

“Someone is going to get hurt” 

Kyle continued, ignoring the protests. “You have two minutes to decide who gets strapped in and get set up. You all need to be lined up at the starting line in two minutes. I will blow the whistle in EXACTLY two minutes. If you are not ready, you will fall behind. 

“What the hell?” Arnaub protested. “All the patrols are running at the same time? That’s going to be worse than the last game. We all can’t fit on some of these stations at the same time. 

 “We need to at least try.” Alex pushed us.  

“OK, who goes on the cot?” Sawyer asked. 

“Each of us needs to obviously take a corner of the cot. But I think me and Alex need to be in the front. We’re the biggest and tallest. We need to block and bulldoze a path through the crowd.” I offered the plan.

The others agreed. We got Adam strapped in and set up at the starting line. We tried to position ourselves right in the center. That gave us a straight line to the first obstacle, the high knees tires. The whistle blew and we were off. Then I noticed how rigged this event was. We were the smallest patrol. Not by body size. We only had five in our patrol. All the other patrols had six or seven scouts. Kyle did nothing to even out the number of members on their team. So, every other patrol has one or two extra team members. They were used to block and push the other patrols out of their path. And, you guessed it, Kyle’s patrol had a full seven members. They had three extra guys just for the purpose of blocking and knocking others out of their way. 

As soon as the whistle blew, I yelled to my team. “Wait! Hold back!” I was letting the other patrols get ahead of us.  

“What gives?” Sawyer questioned me. 

“Let them thin themselves out.” I gestured towards the tires. As predicted, Kyle’s patrol had three extra guys just knocking down the other patrols. The other patrols were getting knocked over and dropping their manned cots. Once the others were knocked out, Kyle’s team turned and started the tire course. This left and opening for us. As the others were trying to recover, they got their kids back on the cots. They also got them back on their feet. We had an opening. We ran through the crowd and reached the tires. We were in second place. 

“Good call!” Adam called. He was thankful he wasn’t getting knocked off the cot just yet. I sensed he was still hurting from the double-sided hit he took during the soccer free for all. But he wasn’t going to show it.  

Just as Kyle’s crew finished the tire course, we reached its start. As they came off the course, the three punisher goons looked over their shoulders and saw us. Then they laughed. They were out for us. We made it through the tire course slowly but evenly. I was across from Alex and saw that his ankle was still hurting from the hit he took this morning. 

“Slow and easy team. We got this.” I coached them on. We made it through the tires. As we reached the end of the obstacle, the other patrols behind us were just starting.  

We started to jog towards the second obstacle, the balance beam. Kyle’s patrol started to climb up onto the beam and took their first steps to start crossing. But the blocker goons saw us approaching. They turned and left their patrol and started jogging towards us. They were coming in for the kill. We couldn’t run. Our only choice was to brace for impact. There was no way we were going to drop Adam and run for it. Then something happened that stopped Kyle’s goons in their tracks. 

“Nooooooooooo!” 

 But this wasn’t a simple yell or command. This was a growl. This was an ungodly Sasquatch sized wolf howl. Whatever it was, you were not to mess with this beast. Kyle’s goons stopped in their tracks. Actually, that yell was so terrifying, I think the entire troop stopped and started to look around. But I knew exactly what it was. I looked over at the sidelines. It was Burnside. There he was, over six feet tall, leather jacket and fully spiked hair. He was as intimidating as it gets. All he needed to do was whistle at the three goons. He would then point right at them. Finally, he motioned for them to turn around and rejoin their patrol. And they did. They turned and ran like a defeated pack of dogs.  

As we headed down field towards the next obstacle, Burnside walked along the field sideline with us. Eventually Kyle’s mom started to approach Burnside. I knew she was going to start and argument with him. But Burnside simply looked her in the eye and gave her his best jackal growl. That terrified her and she ran off. It turns out that this all-tough talk no action bullies are easy to defeat. If you just get the courage. Something I need to learn and work on. 

As we reached the balance beam, Kyle’s team was just finishing on the other side. They didn’t dare try to come after us. We’re in 2nd place. But considering how the other patrols were completely sidelined we’re still doing pretty good. We just need to figure out how to pass them and take first place.  

We were back in the race. At the end of the beam Alex rejoined me at the front and took one of the cot handles. Arnaub rejoined Sawyer at the back. We ran our fastest to reach the sloped wall.  

Kyle and his team were still trying to navigate over the wall. As usual, they were disorganized. Everybody was yelling different instructions at each other. We reached the wall and went to the far-right side. We wanted to stay away from them as much as possible.  

“Here’s what I think we need to do.” Arnaub suggested. “Let’s drop back a few feet and get a good running start. Once we hit the wall, keep running. If we can get halfway up, that gives us a good starting point. Alex you’re the tallest. Once we lose momentum, we put the cot down. The three of us will hold the position. If you can get to the top and hang on, then you can reach back. You can pull each of us up and over.” 

“Let’s give it a shot.” Sawyer said. 

“Don’t drop me!” Adam begged. We dropped back about ten feet and got ready to run.  

“OK, everyone drop to your knees.” Alex yelled. 

We all dropped down tried to grab any crack in the wood to keep us from sliding back. We dug our feet in to any seam between the wood planks we found. That stabilized us.  

“OK Alex, go” we yelled.  

Alex was tall enough that he lunged and crawled to the top of the wall. He straddled his leg over the top as if he were riding a horse. He laid down across the top beam and held his arm out for me to grab. But I was too short. I couldn’t reach his hand. I had to find a way to shimmy up the 45-degree wall to get within reaching distance of Alex. A few board up from me, I saw a split in the seams between the boards. If I can get my foot up there, I can wedge it into the seam. I can then use my legs to press and slide up. I used one arm to reach out to Alex. With the other arm, I held onto the cot. Laying on my side, I lifted my lower leg and knee as high. I had to get that foot into the seam. It took a few tries. But on the third try, I got it. Now it was just like standing up. Just use the muscles in my leg to lift me closer to Alex.  

“Guys!” I yelled to Sawyer and Arnaub in the back. “When I try to press up, can you push as hard as you can?” 

“Got it!” Sawyer and Arnaub answered. 

“One, Two Three… PUSH!” I yelled. 

We all heaved upward at the same time. I desperately reached for Alex’s hand and grabbed it! Alex had me! Alex groaned as he started to pull me up. I was kicking with my legs as hard as I could. I was looking for any more seams between the wooden boards that could give me the leverage to climb. I was reaching the top. I planned to kick my leg over the top beam of the wall. I wanted to straddle it like Alex. Then we could both pull the others up together. Then disaster struck. 

We were so focused on getting to the top of the ramp wall that we stopped paying attention to what Kyle’s patrol was doing. They were able to get their cot up and over the wall. Most of their patrol was heading down and heading towards the final obstacle. But two members stayed back, the twins, Timmy and David Delvechio. Everyone in school knew these aholes. They are the kids that believed everything had to be EXTREME! They got suspended from the wrestling team because they thought it was EXTREME to pick up and body slam their opponents, just like wrestling on television. In P.E. class they took dodgeball cruelty to the highest level, throwing the balls as hard as they could. Cruelty and causing the most pain is the goal. Between classes you could always tell they were headed your way. They could never just walk from class to class like a normal human being. They had to constantly yell and kick random locker doors closed on kids just trying to get their books for the next class. Pure assholes. 

The Delvechio twins had control of the climbing rope on the wall. They had taken the rope and threw it over the other side of the wall. Now they were running and swinging on it like a pair of apes. They weren’t even staying with their troop to help with the next obstacle. As they saw first Alex then I straddle the top beam of the wall, they saw us as a target.  

The twins shuffled and pulled the rope all the way to one side of the wall. Then they ran as fast as they could to arc and swing up to hit Alex and me. The first try they came close, but they didn’t get far enough to hit us. But it caught our attention. We now had to hold them off with one arm. At the same time, we tried to pull the other up and not drop the cot using the other arm. Our balance was shaken. After two more tries, the Delvechio twins landed a direct hit. They gained the speed and momentum necessary. This allowed them to make a full arc and land a direct hit on Alex and me. We lost our balance and went over the side. All five of us slid down to the bottom of the wall. We landed in a heap of dirty, splintered, and scratched arms and legs. We were crushed.  

“What the hell happened?” Sawyer screamed.  

“I everyone OK?” I asked?  

“Where’s Adam?” Arnaub asked.  

We looked around. Adam was at the bottom of the ramp. He was still strapped into the cot. But he was lying face down.  

“Help him!” Alex yelled. 

We crawled over to the cot and rolled it over. Adam had taken a mouth full of dirt and was coughing uncontrollably.  

We looked around. Everyone on the sidelines was looking at us. Every parent saw what just happened. But not of them protested or called a foul. To them, this was acceptable.

Burnside came out from the sidelines to help us. “Is everyone OK?” he asked. 

“Yeah.” We all answered.  

“Let’s get Adam out of there.” He crouched down and started to the straps holding Adam to the cot.  

“What the fuck are you doing?” Sawyer snapped. 

“What? It’s over. We lost. We need to get him out of here.” Arnaub lamented.

“Is it?” Burnside asked? “Is this how you want this day to end? 

“We lost.” Alex groaned.  

“Did you?” Burnside challenged him?  

“Dude, take a look. Kyle’s patrol is halfway through the last obstacle. There’s no way we can catch them.” I protested. 

“So? Does that mean you lost?” Burnside pushed back. “Is that the game you’re playing?” 

“Dude, I just don’t get that shit. What are you saying? I don’t get that ‘play our own game’ BS. What are you talking about?” Sawyer snapped. 

“It means we get up off our asses and keep going.” I countered. “Burnside is right. If we quit now, we lost because their way is acceptable. If we quit now, we accept that. We lose because we ate their shit. I’m not going to do that.” 

“Yeah. Let’s finish strong. We decide when we’re done.” Alex was coming around.  

“Play your game.” Burnside turned and walked back towards the sideline. 

“Guys, are we in? All the way to the finish? I’m in if you are.” I asked the group. 

Adam was still laying on the cot. He looked straight up at us. “I’m sick of their bullshit. Strap me back in.”  

We strapped Adam back into the cot and started again. We kept the same strategy. We backed up a few feet and hit the ramp running. We made it up about halfway then again dropped to our knees. We managed to hang on while Alex scrambled for the top. Just like our first try, Alex pulled himself up to the top. He then straddled the top cross beam. He then reached down and was able to grab my extended arm. He slowly pulled me up as I held onto the cot with my other hand. Once I got close enough, Alex grabbed me by the back belt loops and pulled me to the top. I was capable of getting one leg over the top and straddle the cross beam. We pulled Adam and the cot to the top. Arnaub and Sawyer pushed from behind. We were able to grab them and get them up and over the top. Getting down the other side of the ramp was easier. It was simply a controlled slide. We all kept a hand on the cot and slowly slide to the bottom.  

Only one obstacle was left. I looked around and all the other patrols had given up and were sitting on the sidelines. Kyle and his patrol were at the finish line, celebrating, gloating and laughing at us. Their victory celebration a more about our defeat than their achievement. How pathetic. 

We jogged to the last obstacle, the dirt crawl under the net. Since we had the course to ourselves, it was not as difficult as it could have been. We simply laid Adam and the cot flat on the ground. Alex and I stayed in the front and started crawling under the net. We pulled Adam along behind us. Sawyer and Arnaub stayed in the back pushing. We made it under the net obstacle in about two minutes. Not a bad time. From there it was a straight job about 100 feet to the finish line.  

As soon as we crossed the line, we put the cot down and unstrapped Adam. We were all exhausted. I think I was so exhausted I was on the verge of tears. Sawyer came up to me and we just gave each other the biggest bear hug we could. 

“I never wanted this to be like this. I’m so sorry for getting you into this.” I told him. 

Sawyer looked right at me. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. We did it together. Remember what we said when we first joined this shitty troop? Our way?” 

“Yeah. Our way.”  

Adam, Alex and Arnaub joined us, and we all put our arms around each other. We all had the same looks on our faces. We didn’t have to say anything to each other. But I know we were all thinking the same thing. We knew we belonged together. This was our tribe. 

I looked over at the sidelines and saw Kyle’s patrol taunting us. All of them were holding their hands up on fingers posed in an L for LOSER. But I knew they were wrong. We won more than they did.  

Burnside came up to us from the sidelines. He was the only one clapping for us. “Excellent job, guys. I’m very proud of you. You went the distance. That’s all that matters. Head back to your camp site and get cleaned up. You’ve got a big day tomorrow. But tonight, we celebrate.” 

We started walking back to our campsite. But I held back for a second.  

“Burnside.” 

“Yes.” 

“Thank you. And I’m sorry. I’m screwing it up. We’re going to lose.” 

“You sure about that?”  Burnside prodded me. 

“If we don’t win that trophy, nothing will change. We’re screwed. We’ll be losers… for life”  

“Hah. ” Burnside scoffed. “Come visit me at the studio again. I’ve got boxes of trophies. You can pick out any one you want. Trophies are nice. But you really have to know the WHAT and the WHY that made that trophy special.”  

Then Burnside turned and looked right at me. He poked his big dirty finger right into my chest. 

“And don’t EVER let ANYONE let you think you are a loser. I told you before and I’ll tell you again, you’re playing the wrong game.” 

“Are you giving me another lesson to learn?”  

“Yeah.”  

“I still don’t get it.”  

“And neither did I when your dad told me the exact same thing.” 

“My dad?” 

“He’s the one that taught me about playing the right game. Hang in there. You’ll figure it out. Now go join your patrol.”  

As I started to jog to catch up with my troop, I became overcome with a feeling of dread. There was only one event tomorrow. it was worth three points. If we win, we win the entire competition. Then we have a real chance at taking Kyle and his squad out of leadership. If we lose, it’s more of the same. It could be up to 4 more years of Kyle’s stranglehold on the troop. It’s a long road to Eagle. I don’t know if I can go the distance.